Baitadi's Vital Statistics

General
Location:	Mahakali Zone; 29°22' to 29°27' North Latitude; 80°15' to 82°45' East Longitude
Boundary:	East-Bajhang & Doti; West-Uttarpradesh, India; North-Darchula; South-Dadeldhura, Pithoragarh, India
Headquarters:	Khalanga
Elevation:	390m - 2950m asl
Major rivers:	Mahakali, Chaulani, Suryana, Siyerkhola
Total area:	1482 sq.km.
Political division:	2 constituencies; 13 ilakas; 62 VDCs; 1 municipality
Smallest VDC:	Hatairaj
Largest VDC:	Sharmali
Average rainfall:	127mm
Land use:	agricultural land-28.4%; forest-50%; grazing land-7.4%; others-11.8%
Total households:	32966
Total population:	240,725 (male-51%; female-49%)
Population growth:	1.1% (national growth rate-2.1%)
Ethnicity:	Chhetri-48.4%; Brahmin-18.39%; Newars-1.18%: ‘dalits’-32.39%
Occupation:	Agriculture-79.6%; Indian service-18.2%; in-country jobs-0.8%; others-1.4%
Important Locations:	Temples:Tripurasundari Bhagbati, Jagannath, Nigalsaini Bhagbati, Udayadev, Isworiganga, Gwalek Kedar; Patal Bhumeshwar, etc. Tourism potential: Gwalek; Shigash Dhura
Road Links:	169.5km gravelled motorable road (913 km distance from Kathmandu)
Donor presence:
UNDP:	PDDP in entire district, VDP in 20 VDCs
	REDP in 4 VDCs
	MEDEP in14 VDCs & 1 Muni.
NORAD:	VDP VDCs
CECI:	CEAPRED
Helvetas:	BBLL

Synopsis of Activities bing undertaken under PDDP in Baitadi
(as of November 199)

Even now, people in the rural areas have a different concept of ‘development.’ During planning exercises at the Village Council and the Ilaka Workshops, their demands are limited to drinking water projects, school buildings, construction of roads and irrigation channels. People rarely make demands for hospitals or for improved technology to improve agriculture or livestock productivity. This definitely narrows of the meaning of the term development.

Development, in the broad sense, is allowing our minds to be creative enough to aspire for the best thing for the well being of society, freeing ourselves from the "me" and "my" to "us" and "ours." I believe that the fundamental thing is that we first need to develop our mentality from a narrow personal one to a broader ‘societal’ one and everything will then follow automatically. Thus we need to first develop social capital before moving on to human and physical development. No development is sustainable without the development of social capital.

This is one aspect that was totally ignored by past development efforts. The government was looked upon as the sole agency for undertaking any development activity. Plans were made on an ad-hoc basis from the centre. The people, who are the beneficiaries of development projects, were totally left out of every step of project planning, implementing and monitoring process. As a result there was no one responsible at the local level for managing development projects. Without any ownership, development projects became like orphans. Despite a huge flow of resources in the name of development, the funds were neither mobilised properly, nor were the fruits of development distributed equitably. In many cases development efforts seemed like water poured on sand.

It was with the realisation of this situation that heralded the concept of decentralisation in 2031 BS. Many exercises to strengthen decentralisation followed, but even then, the local authorities, were not really empowered in true spirit. Even today, the question is not only of devolution of power to the local authorities, but also on the capability of these authorities to exercise their new-found power. It is in this context that PDDP, as a follow up to the Decentralisation Support Project, has been found to be most relevant and effective.

Since the past four years I have been able to participate directly in PDDP’s activities, and I have witnessed the changes in development planning exercises. Before PDDP was implemented in Baitadi, development plans were formulated on the basis of personal influence, without consideration for prioritisation or availability of resources, and without the use of any planning tools and techniques. Now the DDC has been using database, GIS maps and other types of information in prioritising development projects. Our exercises in trickle-up planning process have been instrumental in reflecting local needs and aspirations in the district development plans. We still have a lot to learn and long way to go.. but we will try to see that we can get NPC to approve 100 percent of such ‘trickle-up’ plans.

Regarding the Village Development Programme, I prefer to call it the "Programme for Reaching the Unreached Masses." It is the only programme that I know that strives to reach to all the poor rural masses in a community, and the only one which honors all types of people living in a settlement, without any discrimination whatsoever. I have seen that it puts people first and seeks to strengthen the capability of the rural masses thus enabling them to take charge of their own destiny.

The community organisations formed under VDP are all generating sizeable amount of savings and the CO members are utilising their saving to undertake various income generating enterprises. The poor have shown that they can be even more efficient in saving. People in rural communities no longer have to go knocking on the doors of local money-lenders and formal credit institutions for loans. Credit capital offered through LTF has further paved the way for leading these people on the path of self-reliance. The days of humiliation, especially for the poor, in the process of accessing resources, are on their way out.

Similarly, women, who used to run away from newcomers in the village, are now attending their weekly meetings and openly voicing their opinions. They have even gathered enough courage to garland guests who visit their COs.

One beauty of VDP is that it always seeks to develop a sense of ‘We’ instead of ‘I’. The active participation of CO members in decision-making processes has begun to affect their lives and surroundings. The rules that the COs formulate for themselves are perhaps the best example of improved local governance. Another thing that promotes local governance is how the people, for whom the development projects are intended, are given full responsibility to undertake the projects through functional groups. I have observed that trained and able functional groups formed among CO members are the best means for effective and efficient mobilisation of both internal and external resources.

More and more COs are now approaching local authorities and donors for resource mobilisation for projects that they have identified and prioritised. The Bijul drinking water project in Bijul, Rodidewal VDC is a great example of the COs’ functioning as the receiving mechanisms for resources at the local level. The COs channelised about Rs. 28 lakhs from Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH, a British-funded project) for the drinking water project, something that the locals had been trying to achieve for the past 40 years!

Finally, based on my four years of experience with PDDP, I am convinced that VDP through Social Mobilisation could well be one of the most effective tools for poverty alleviation not only in our country, but also in other developing countries like Nepal.

Jhadwo is a settlement located at the top of a gently sloping hill of Shikharpur VDC-5. It is a predominantly Chhetri settlement of one primary school and 70 households.

It normally takes three hours of strenuous walking to reach Jhadwo from the nearest roadhead Mushrautey Shankarpur. Being geographically isolated, this settlement also lags behind from the mainstream of development. And the lifestyle of the people here also looks a bit different from others, especially where social and cultural behaviours are concerned.

With the implementation of VDP in the village and the formation of Shigash-Ga and Galinath II COs in the settlement, the support team had paid a monitoring visit to the settlement. The team included the deputy team leader, the soical mobiliser, the overseer and myself.

After necessary sensitisation about the Programme and offering them guidance on proper account keeping we headed downhill. There we met a group of women who were headed up the hill with pots of water on their backs.

Seeing us strangers, one woman asked us in local dialect, "Tam ko hau? Tam kahabata ayaho? Tam kya gadda hau?" (Who are you? Where have you come from? What do you do?)

As the deputy team leader was answering her questions, another woman from the group retorted, "Isha mans kati aaya, kati gaya, khali kuradi mandarai garnya hun. Hamaro dukha kasailey dekhya naihun. Khali yaha Nepali mandari bolnya jaanya hun. Hita jhaun kati kalirahanr hai tai katha purain." (We’ve seen so many of folks like you. All they do is talk. None of them understand our hardship. They blabber in Nepali and leave. Come on, let’s move. How long do you want to linger in this steep slope?)

The people of Jhadwo used to harvest rain water from roofs into ditches, and used these and the water from ponds for themselves as well as their livestock. During the winter season, a single trip to fetch water meant that the women, whose job it is to mainly ferry the water, had to walk down for 40 minutes and climb back up an hour. Often the residents of Jhadwo had to fetch drinking water from the pond where buffaloes also wallowed.

When the COs of Shikharpur reached maturity and identified their development needs, they discussed about the possible projects at the CMC meetings. Considering the feasibility and the severity of drinking water shortage in Jhadwo, the CMC ranked the Jhadwo drinking water project as top priority. The CMC also pledged to mobilise resources from all around to complete the project. Soon, with the COs pitching in 66 percent of the expenses, the VDC 2 percent and 32 percent contribution through Seed Grant Fund, the project was completed successfully.

Our team visited Jhadwo after drinking water was flowing from the taps. There again, we met the women we’d talked to before. We had nearly forgotten them, but it seems we were still fresh in their memories. One of them looked towards us an exclaimed "Dhanya ho tam" (you are great). Then pointing to her back she said, "Look at our backs. We used to have a thick callus all over. Now our skin is becoming tender. Now we don’t have to walk more than seven minutes for a single trip of water. We save so much time and labour."

The women then said that they intended to spend their spare time for undertaking income generating activities. Mr. Ratan Bahadur Mahara, secretary of the functional group formed to undertake the project expressed his satisfaction over the successful implementation of the project. "I had never dreamt of Jhadwo’s drinking water problem being solved. There had been many surveys in the past, but none of them declared the project feasible. We raised our voices in the DDC and the VDC many times too, but they never listened to us. It was only after VDP was implemented in our village that the whole thing became feasible.

Mr. Nar Bahadur Mahara, treasurer ºof the functional group told us, "Look how clean everyone is now. Look how clean their clothes are." He also said that the incidence of water-borne diseases that used to plague the settlement has now been drastically reduced.

Mr. Sauk ar Budha, one of the oldest members of the CO, talking about the benefits of having piped water in the neighbourhood said, "Now we will not face the problem of finding suitable boys and girls as sons and daughters-in-law. Previously, our girls used to look so unkempt that no one wanted to take them away as brides. And it was equally difficult finding brides for our sons, as parents feared their daughters’ lives would be doomed to fetching water the whole day! Now look, even the buffaloes in our sheds are clean. And look at all these vegetables we have been able to grow!"

Forest Nursery: The COs in Melauli VDC have started showing exemplary works of coordination and cooperation. The Bhrikuti, Jai Melauli and Deurali COs have, with the support of the District Soil Conservation Office (DSCO) of Baitadi established a nursery for various kinds of tree saplings. The COs have appointed a CO member Mr. Dhan Bahadur Negi as the caretaker of the nursery as per the need based on the poverty profile of the COs. Mr. Negi will get Rs. 1200 per month from the DSCO for two years for being the caretaker.

By mid-1999 the nursery had produced 4500 saplings of chiuri, 2000 pine, 1200 ipil ipil, 900 eucalyptus, 1200 jacaranda, 2600 lapsi and 4500 rittha saplings among others.

Afforestation: Members of the Deurali CO received a support of Rs. 20,000 from the DSCO for afforestation purposes. The CO then planted 6400 saplings of various trees on 4 ha land in Deurali and Rayla settlements. They cleared and barred the land for afforestation through their own labour, and saved Rs. 2000 from the DSCO support for the CO. With that money they bought a set of 20 stainless steel plates, tumblers and bowls for the CO’s use during ceremonies. Previously they had been using leaf plates and bowls. The utensils have all been marked with the CO’s name. When any member borrows the utensils, they have to add a plate, a bowl and a tumbler to the collection.

VDP, with the support of the DSCO provided 720 saplings of various citrus fruits to 45 members of the Siddhartha, Jai Durgey and the Deurali COs for plantation. These COs have also planted Napier fodder grass. Mr. Ganga Singh Nayak of Siddhartha CO planted the grass in 1.5 ha of land.

Social Activities: Members of the Phulpati, Pragatisheel and Deurali COs have pooled in their efforts to carve out a trail leading from Dehi of Ward # 6 to Deurali of Ward # 7 and on to Gheudi of Ward # 8. The trail is part of the path leading to Kailpal. The Phulpati, Pragatisheel and Deurali COs dug 800, 700 and 600 metres of trail for the purpose.