Transcript One Development Opportunity to Another Leads NEWAH’s Experience of promoting kitchen

One Development Opportunity
Leads to Another
NEWAH’s Experience of promoting kitchen
gardening in WATSAN projects
in Nepal
Presenter: Labahari Budhathoki
MUS Group Meeting, Delft, The Netherlands
13 February 2007
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Presentation structure
• Introduction to Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH)
• General context of kitchen gardening in Nepal’s remote
rural sector
• Rationale for promoting kitchen gardening in NEWAH
programmes
• What is waste water?
• Possible activities for waste water reuse
• Policy interventions to promote livelihood through the use
of waste water
• Community level support
• Evident impact through the use of waste water
• Challenges
• Lessons
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• Conclusion
Introduction to NEWAH
• Established in 1992 as a national level NGO working in the
water and sanitation sector in rural parts of Nepal
• Vision: Improved quality of life (socio-economic status) of all
Nepali people through Water, Health and Sanitation services
• Operating through regional offices throughout the five
development regions of Nepal with 140 regular staff
• Supports to implement WHS projects in partnership with
local bodies, NGOs, CBOs and users groups in
communities
• Gender and Poverty Sensitive (GAP) approach followed at
institutional and programme level
• Served 0.9 million beneficiaries through 880 projects with
the support of over 400 local partners in 50 districts of the
country
• WHS programme linked to livelihood opportunities - kitchen
gardening, saving and credit, biogas, improved cooking
stove etc.
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General context of kitchen gardening in
Nepal’s remote rural sector
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Limited technical knowledge on kitchen gardening at
community level
Inaccessibility or unavailability of improved vegetable
seeds in the local markets
Inadequate water to maintain a kitchen garden in
communities
Lack of awareness on the importance of vegetable
consumption for good health
High risk of malnutrition / nourishment due to poor
consumption of green vegetables
Shortage of cereal crops due to less vegetable
consumption pattern
Significant time consumption due to sources located far
off, limiting time for other activities
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Rationale for promoting kitchen
gardening in NEWAH programmes
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To support in improving livelihoods of
communities through optimum utilisation of water
made available
Greater use of kitchen garden due to the
combination of increased water supply and
livelihood supporting activities as per the findings
of GAP pilot assessment
To contribute in achieving the MDG No. 1 on
poverty reduction
To support the sustainability of water and
sanitation schemes through increased income
To help improve the general health status in
communities
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What is waste water?
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Used water for personal hygiene activities
such as bathing, washing clothes, hand
and foot washing
Used water for washing dishes
Used water for washing vegetables
(note: all these activities take place at the tap stand and water
flowing from these get collected in a waste water pit located below
the tap stand)
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Over flow water from reservoir tanks
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Possible activities for waste
water reuse
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Irrigating kitchen gardens
Small scale fish farming
To extinguish fire incase of an outbreak
Cooling the engines in grinding mill
Water for livestock
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Policy interventions to promote
livelihood through the use of waste water
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Kitchen gardening provisions introduced in GAP approach
and policies
Training to staff on kitchen gardening promotion
Existing guidelines and manuals collected to facilitate
kitchen gardening in communities
Working procedures on kitchen gardening prepared
Review meetings carried out timely and working process
improved
Water scheme designed to supply 20% more water for
other uses such as kitchen gardening incase of enough
water available at source
Supported to improve the irrigation canals and ponds
located within the project area of the proposed source
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Community level support
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Community level training on kitchen gardening
to all the members of the users committee,
community health volunteers, caretaker and
sanitation masons
Demonstration kitchen garden displayed along
with practical knowledge during training
Drip irrigation technology introduced in the
community
Four to five different seed variety provided to
poorest of the poor households to initiate kitchen
gardening activity
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Seeds provided and a revolving fund made
available to the users committee
Kitchen gardening awareness generated
through household visits, community mass
gatherings and in all the tole (cluster) education
groups through project staff mobilised
Facilitated to introduce coordination/linkage with
sector GOs, I/NGOs for technical support to
ensure sustainability of kitchen gardening
practices
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Evident impact through the
use of waste water
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Increase in kitchen gardening practices
leading communities towards economic
growth
Increase in production, consumption and sale
of vegetables in the market
Crops saved at household level due to
kitchen garden promotion
Access to greater income for women and
support to their empowerment
Improvement in health status and reduction in
health expenses
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• “It is good for the farmers here that the
system of exchanging paddy for
vegetables has ended. Even if they do not
sell their vegetables in the market, their
crops are saved up in their own houses,”
says Narayan Bhattarai a local resident of
Nepaltar bazaar.
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Urmila Dahal, Udayapur, Nepal
Urmila Dahal, Udayapur,
Nepal
• Urmila has bought two
goats worth Rs. 4000
(approximately 44 Euro)
from the money saved
through the sale of the
vegetables. She assumes
that after rearing them for a
year she can sell them for
more than double the price
she invested on them.
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• According to Mahendra Bahadur
Biswakarma the maintenance
caretaker from the Sandane project
since the intake of vegetables in the
communities there have been
improvements in people’s health. He
says, “Before we ate anything dull or
dry, but now we have more than
enough vegetables to eat with our
rice. I have become stronger as
compared to before eating the
vegetables.”
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Environmental balance maintained (more greenery,
prevention of small water sources from drying up)
Kitchen gardening using waste water a regular
activity for women and men in communities
Grinding mill established in the community saving
women’s time
Increase in kitchen gardening practices in
neighbouring communites
Support to children’s education
Support to the sustainability and greater ownership
over the project
Increase in the awareness about the importance of
water
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• Baburam Khatiwada of Bhalaya Danda in
Nepaltar valley says, “I came to realise
that vegetable farming is four times more
profitable than cereal crops after watching
farmers from Jagretar grow vegetables
and sell them in the market.”
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Parbati Bhandari,
Sanodhappar, Udayapur
• The money I earn selling
vegetables is enough to buy
salt, oil, kerosene, soap,
spices and copy & pencils for
my children. Kitchen
gardening has actually served
to meet our daily expenses
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Challenges
• Lack of technical and other support from the
concerned bodies at local level
• Lack of know-how in dealing with insects and plant
diseases
• Kitchen gardening not possible for all the households
in communities due to tap location and lack of
adequate water sources
• Limited water preventing kitchen gardening on a large
scale
• Limited access to markets
• Drip irrigation technology unaffordable for all the
community members
• Unavailability of qualitative seeds in the local markets
• Mismanagement of waste water may lead to spread of
diseases and sometimes to major accidents
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Lessons
• Greater productivity and adaptability of locally produced
seeds than advanced/imported seeds
• Support in mobilisation of regular maintenance fund
• Experience sharing helpful to resolve problems related to
kitchen gardening
• Replicable in other communities
• Production of off seasonal vegetables supports to increase
income
• Possible to facilitate kitchen gardening in regular WATSAN
projects in hill areas through allocation of additional funds
amounting to 110 – 115 Euros for a project size of 100
households
• Possible to earn an annual income of 5 -176 Euros through
vegetable production in a kitchen garden sized 200 – 3600
square ft. (apart from daily consumption)
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Conclusion
• The positive impact brought about as a result of
a drinking water project initiating kitchen
gardening practices can truly be considered an
example of one development opportunity leads
to another.
• Long term impact on poverty reduction: for e.g..
positive improvements in community health,
women’s empowerment and increase in
women’s accessibility to income and support to
livelihood opportunities
• Indigenous knowledge at community level can
be further harnessed through external
interventions
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Thank you
Any ?s Please
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