Nepal: Climate resilience

The demand for reconstruction of resilient and adequate houses across all 32 earthquakes affected districts outstrips the capacity and efforts of the national, district and local stakeholders and all other actors involved into technical and financial assistance. There are still a large number of the households that need assistance in rebuilding. There are many challenges encountered by earthquake-affected households that have contributed to slow progression of reconstruction of earthquake resilient houses. For instance, limited access to technical expertise and guidelines, scarcity of skilled masons and carpenters, high prices for construction materials and subsequent transportation costs and limited knowledge about guidelines have prevented households, especially the most vulnerable ones, from reconstructing their houses. These households cannot address all the barriers on their own.

People in Need and its consortium partners propose to implement a community driven reconstruction program that will address and mitigate those barriers to reconstruction by offering tailored socio-technical assistance according to the specific barriers experienced at a household and community level. The assistance will vary from access to technical consultations by engineer, builder trainers and on-the-job trainings, to provision of skilled masons and carpenters, construction tools or material and transportation cost subsidization in remote areas and facilitation of exchange of labor through community reconstruction groups. The target locations will be selected based on the reconstruction progress and the vulnerability of population, prioritizing the vulnerable households as per the Nepal Reconstruction Authority guidelines.

The Government of Nepal and Nepal Reconstruction Authority have designed a policy pertaining to the relocation of and durable resolution for people both displaced by the 2015 earthquake and at risk of future harm of displacement by geo-hazards, such as landslides. PIN and Community Self-Reliance Centre (CSRC) have formed a consortium to support the implementation of the durable solution programs and to ensure that the affected households are put on the path to resilient reconstruction. The goal is to create a national precedent and framework for fair and voluntary relocation of citizens following a disaster. All displaced and landless households should have viable chance to reconstruct their houses on safe land after receiving new land and shelter support from the programs.

The consortium will ensure that affected people are adequately informed about the relevant policies, households have the documents needed to access government designed solutions, and are supported to enroll in relocation programs and to apply for the Rural Housing Reconstruction Grant. This work will be managed through a secure data management system. Moreover, we will focus on building resilience of displaced and relocated households to make sure they have a reasonable life-chance following their relocation. This shall be done through Her Safety trainings, which focus on empowering women and girls to address their protection needs through the formation of (mostly female) groups called Safety Committees and through tailored trainings on sexual and reproductive health, gender and sexual violence, safe foreign employment, financial management and emotional wellbeing and conditional cash grants to those groups.

People In Need, in partnership with Apeiron, implemented a livelihood recovery project in Sindhupalchok district, to address the needs of the displaced population. The aim was simple: through this project, we wanted to support the return of those displaced by the earthquakes and strengthen their ability to recover livelihoods. We taught women the new skill of knitting so that they could keep their families warm and sell their products. We also provided livelihood recovery support, which included business trainings and small grants to families to help them re-establish their livelihoods.

The project benefitted 1,500 individuals, who were employed through cash for work programming, supported by technical trainings and micro cash grants/in-kind for livelihood recovery, or received winterization support. In particular, women were the direct beneficiaries. Aid recipients for livelihood recovery support (cash grants) were the most vulnerable households especially from IDP camps and returnees.

People in Need has been focusing on renovation primarily in the hard-to-reach mountainous regions of northern Nepal. PIN prepared a program that helped vulnerable communities define their priorities for the reconstruction of key infrastructure in their communities. PIN’s team facilitated discussion between citizens, community organizations and municipality delegates to reach consensus while identifying priorities and to choose those which would help to re-establish people’s livelihoods the best. It is important that the reconstruction process not only takes place according to the needs of the community but also teaches stakeholders and community groups how to identify solutions for the short and long-term needs of the community. For this reason, PIN works directly with local governments and community groups to carry out reconstruction works, providing them with the necessary training and technical support whenever necessary.

Thanks to the financial support of the Czech Radio Foundation, a new school is being built in Baruwa village. All the five schools of this village were destroyed in the earthquake and are merely running under temporary learning centers (TLC). That worsened access to quality education for kids from the community and most of them attend other schools, which are difficult to access. Ganesh Basic School will help bridge this gap. Local people have been mobilized to participate in the construction of the building. Besides an earthquake resistant school building, adequate classroom furniture will be provided: desks, benches, black/white boards, office furniture and chairs.

For this reason, PIN works directly with local governments and community groups to carry out reconstruction works, providing them with the necessary training and technical support whenever necessary. Moreover PIN provides communities by trainings in DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction) and gives technical consultancy to help reduce disaster risks through systematic efforts. PIN aims to see various livelihoods, such as farming, livestock rearing, carpet production, and blacksmiths restored to functionality through the replacement of vital assets, such as tools and machines, and the provision of additional trainings whenever required.

In the remote Himalayan regions, trails are the only way to travel between villages providing access to schools, health facilities, markets, and the forests where people collect natural resources. All the locals, elderly, children, and pregnant women use these trail routes, which are inconsistent, narrow, steep and steps are either slippery or wider in height or short. Therefore, People in Need started Unnat Goreto project to reconstruct the trail providing job opportunities to the local villagers. The project gave priority to female-headed households, families with limited sources of income, pregnant and lactating women, elderly people, people living with a disability and marginalized groups affected by the 2015 earthquake. All the participants are paid equally regardless of their age and gender.

The project reconstructed over 125 km of trails, 9 footbridges, and 15 rest areas and at least 800 meters of handrails along the hazardous areas in remote Himalayan villages by employing over 2,000 residents from the communities. Over 1 million GBP has been dispersed in the local communities through employment. The project provided local residents with temporary jobs, helped revitalize their local economies, and improved access to the entire region. Local people were able to invest into the reconstruction of their houses, livelihood, and their children’s education.

The goal of this project was to identify and understand the real context of displaced households and displacement sites, to support their voices to advocate for systemic changes needed in order to ensure solutions are found for both displaced households’ immediate needs and long-term problems. The project focused on empowering women and girls to address their protection needs in the displacement camps and communities through formation of (mostly women) group as Safety Committee and through tailored trainings and conditional cash grants to those groups.

PIN’s protection ream conducted training on sexual and reproductive health, gender and sexual violence, safe foreign employment, financial management and emotional wellbeing. As part of the trainings, the Committee mapped out risks in their communities, looking especially at safety risks for women and girls. Once they identified these risks, the Committees were given small cash grants to implement their own solutions.

Partners: Oxfam, CSRC, Lumanti