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A long-awaited turn-around

For the locals of the village of Gadhi in Surkhet, a UNDP-supported water-supply project has completely altered their prospects, particularly that of women

Story by UNDP Nepal December 8th, 2016

When the water sources that they had been relying on for generations dried up some 35 years ago, the people of this little village perched on a hill somewhere in Nepal’s mid-west knew their lives would never be the same. Elderly women here still tell stories of how, back then, they had to walk three to four hours everyday to fetch water.

The Gadhi Village in Surkhet, which straddles a 2,500-meter mountain, used to be a fortress accommodating a small kingdom in the days before Nepal was unified in the early 1800s. It had been a bustling place at the time—surrounded by fertile terraced land and boasting a vibrant economy.

Gadi, the Fortress
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However, as the flow of water from the centuries-old sources started to dwindle towards the late 1970s, so did the appeal of living in the area. Long-time residents started migrating to greener, more favorable lowlands to the south. And those who chose to stay put—namely, the poorest of the lot who could not afford to pick up and leave—suffered a great deal.

A drinking water system had been inaugurated by the then-King Birendra in the 1980s, but it only served to bring water up to the low-lying parts of the village, leaving those in the upper reaches high and dry.

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It wasn’t until several decades later, in 2012, when the United Nations Development Programme lent its support to the community as part of a climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction initiative, that water was finally brought up to the very top of the village. To enable this, a 10-kilometer gravity-propelled water pipe, along with three huge storage tanks, had to be installed. The community received support worth Rs. 2 million under the UNDP implemented Integrated Climate Risk Management Programme (ICRMP*) that helped the community build their adaptive capability through measures such as installation of this very drinking water system, rainwater harvesting system, tunnel farming and off farm vegetation. Funded by the Government of Sweden, ICRMP is being piloted in six countries namely Armenia, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal and Uganda.

“We needed a catalyst,” says Lok Nath Bhandari, Chair of the Bayalkanda Community-Based Disaster Risk Committee and one of the beneficiaries of the drinking water facility. “Once we had some funds in hand, all the villagers came together… we contributed our own physical labor and also managed to convince the government to chip in.”

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Today, Gadhi appears to have regained much of its lost glory. Once more, people have flocked to its slopes, and each of the 200 or so households that constitute the village now have piped water supplied through a locally-managed distribution system.

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As part of the climate change adaptation measures, the locals harvest rain water, which is used in irrigating off season vegetable farms.

Yesoda Chalise, a local, says that access to safe drinking water from the comfort of their home has changed the family’s lives in many ways.





“Only those who have suffered a water crisis can know what it means to have it piped right into your kitchen: this has saved me a great deal of time and effort, which I can now invest in other more productive activities like income generation and my child’s education, among others,” she says.
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Indeed, the easy availability of water has led to a sudden spurt in economic activities in the village: Gadhi is today the largest exporter of dairy products in the district. “Almost every household now has at least one or two buffaloes, and it’s a good source of income,” says Man Kumari Rosa as she prepares fodder for her own buffalo behind her house. She claims to earn Rs. 200 a day from selling milk.

Meanwhile, for Sita Acharya, Rosa’s neighbor across the street, access to water has meant substantial improvement in the health and hygiene of her family. “It’s so much easier for us to wash clothes,” she says. “We even have [waste] water to flush our toilets.”

UNDP Deputy Country Director in Nepal, Sophie Kemkhadze, says that local ownership is the key to the success of the project. “The project is locally-planned and locally-owned—co-invested, implemented and maintained by the men and women of Gadhi,” she says, referring to how the community—recognizing the urgent need of access to water in the village, particularly for women—have contributed both labor and funds to the effort. “UNDP simply offered the people the innovation and technological know-how, so as to empower them,” Kemkhadze adds.

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One among the locals who played a crucial role in the project was Binisera Lamichhane Magar, 72, who donated her own land for the installation of the tanks and pumping system. “The best parts of my life were spent struggling to get water. I gave up my land because I don’t want my daughters and granddaughters to suffer the way I did,” she says, indicating towards her two-year-old granddaughter.

The continuing pervasiveness of gendered division of labor within many Nepali families means that household chores—including fetching water and cooking—still fall mainly on the women. “The project has naturally meant more to women than to men,” Magar says. “Our men are more interested in drinking,” she adds with a chuckle.





“The best parts of my life were spent struggling to get water. I gave up my land because I don’t want my daughters and granddaughters to suffer the way I did,” she says, indicating towards her two-year-old granddaughter.
Binisera Lamichhane Magar feels contended to have helped improved lives of her grand songs and daughters.
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Sunita Lamichhane Magar, a local social activist, confirms that since the improved water supply has allowed women more free time, there has been visible progress in the level of awareness regarding gender equality. “Now that the burden on women has been reduced somewhat, they have started taking more active part in decision-making in the village—they are more inclined to sending their daughters to school, participating in users’ group meetings and starting lucrative micro-enterprises,” Magar says. “This has, to some extent, empowered women both politically and economically, and led to clear changes in their relative positions.” This is an example to show how we can integrate Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and livelihoods promotion with full participation and ownership of local communities and local Government, says Deepak KC, senior project officer overseeing ICRMP.

What the project has made evident is the sheer exigency of establishing and upgrading basic community infrastructure if places like Gadhi are to thrive, and in the process, build resilience against the adverse impacts of climate change. For this small community, access to water has been the turn-around the locals have long waited for, one that has completely altered their prospects.

Sunita, the social activist in the Gadi village, believes the transformation of her village has set an example for others.

WATER CRISIS: WHERE DO WE STAND

While Nepal is one of the richest countries in terms of fresh water sources, a significant chunk of its population has been facing serious water crisis. The extreme landscape in most of the hilly and Himalayan districts presents a huge challenge for Nepal’s development, including in terms of transport management, urban planning, infrastructure development and delivery of basic services and utilities. This has made water supply an extremely complex and costly project for Nepal despite the fact that the country boasts several perennial rivers, lakes and Himalayas. Rough estimate has it that almost half of the total 30 million people in Nepal do not have access to piped water.

In the past one and a half decades, Nepal made some progress in providing access to safe drinking water as part of the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs]. The proportion of the population using an improved drinking-water source increased from 46 percent in 1990 to 83.6 percent in 2014.

The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6] targets to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030. To that end, Nepal aims to increase percentage of households having access to piped water supply from current 49.5 to 95% by 2030. And with this the SDG 6 also targets to increase the percentage of population using safe drinking water form current 15% to 90%.

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*The Integrated Climate Risk Management Programme (ICRMP) is a global programme spearheading UNDP’s climate risk management (CRM) approach, which aims to strengthen the risk management practice by harmonizing risk reduction and adaptation to effect a holistic, positive impact on poverty reduction and development. Funded by the Government of Sweden, ICRMP currently spans six pilot countries (Honduras, Armenia, Kenya, Uganda, Nepal, and Indonesia).

The ICRMP builds upon the climate risk assessment methodology and experiences under past UNDP programmes, especially the Climate Risk Management – Technical Assistance Support Project (CRM-TASP ), which was completed in 17 countries to assess the overall risk that climate change poses to sensitive development sectors, including agriculture, water and sanitation, food security, healthcare and managing the environment, and to identify actions that governments and communities can take to protect lives and livelihoods.

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Footnote: Photo Essay by: Kamal Raj Sigdel, UNDP Nepal