2010 Results

(A) Food Production / Micro business / Micro Finance

Our agri-business programme has had very dramatic results in the two years it has been operational, increasing women’s average annual income by a whopping 116%, as well as providing nutritious food for their families.

This programme has lots of benefits:

• By earning a cash income (which women are traditionally forbidden to do) it gives households money for buying food, clothing, investing in better seeds, medicines, school supplies and gives women control over their families future.
• It reduces malnutrition by increasing food production (32% of the children under 5 at our health posts in 2010 were suffering from chronic malnutrition, while 95% of households’ harvest is insufficient for their families’ food needs for the year).
• It increases mothers’ ability to get their children to primary school as they don’t need their young children to work to enable the family to survive.
• It increases women’s status as they take control over the family finances, and reduces their vulnerability to domestic violence and exploitation, and allows them to become leaders in their community.

We run this programme in three phases:

1. Phase 1 trains women on better agricultural methods and helps them to build permaculture sheds (greenhouses) and grow vegetables and other nutritious foods. We also run trials and pilot plots to increase the yields of core staple crops such as potatoes and maize, to help increase food production, looking at different seeds and agricultural methods, and their impact on food yield.
2. Phase 2 enrols some of these women into intensive, 6 month literacy programmes (only 35% of our Phase 1 women are literate) which covers maths, Nepali reading and writing, legal rights, education on health care, sanitation and nutrition for women and their children. When they have completed the literacy training, they can then join their local savings and credit group (we have now formed 15 of these since 2009 with 265 members) and start to take loans to expand their semi-commercial vegetable production. We also support them with additional training to help them expand their output from their micro businesses. This year we will also be starting a poultry programme with our Phase 2 women, and other smaller businesses. We would like to expand this programme to more of our Phase 1 women, subject to funding.
3. Phase 3 we hope to begin later this year subject to funding, which is more advanced economic development of the district and setting up women’s co-ops to commercialise opportunities such as herbal and medicinal plants, sustainable tourism and other initiatives.

Healthcare

In 2010, 22,031 patients were treated, 73% of which were women and children. 32% of children who were presented at the health posts under the age of 5 were suffering from chronic malnutrition. The main illnesses suffered by children were vitamin A deficiency, albinduzole (worm infestations), acute respiratory infections, severe pneumonia and diarrhoea. In addition, 1,563 children were immunised with the BCG, DPT, Polio and Measles vaccinations. The main illnesses suffered by women patients included ante-natal and post-natal complications, prolapse of the uterus, and childbirth. (Overall patient numbers appear to be down as we supported three health posts rather than four during 2010, having successfully handed over two health posts to PHASE Nepal who continue to provide services at Maila and Melchham villages). We also supported the construction of a toilet at Kharpunath health post, and we helped to fit out and equip new safe birthing centres at Thehe and Dandaphaya health posts.

Education

Pupil enrolment at the schools has doubled since this initiative was begun in 2008. We completed the construction of Thehe primary school in early 2010, and continued to support 1,500 children at 8 primary schools in the district with essential school supplies.

This year we need to make some repairs to Thehe school, which was damaged during a landslide last year. The school is operational but without repairs, one wall may collapse.