Opportunity Village Nepal (OVN) of the Good Shepherd Sisters Nepal

A short update on the Gorkha District Project

Taklung VDC (Village Development Committee) Health Post Construction and Seed Funding for Livelihood:

During mid-July (13-16, 2016), a field visit was carried out by OVN staff as a part of ongoing follow-up and monitoring/support visit to Gorkha. The following have been the findings and documented accordingly: The health post construction work in this VDC is almost 60% completed and the remaining work

is going on smoothly although a few challenges like the power outage is causing difficulty along with the timely supply of materials due to monsoon, landslides and so on that affects the transportation to this rural part of the district.

Under the seed funding, met all the beneficiaries who received goats and chicken three months ago. It was observed and found that the beneficiaries are taking good care of them by feeding them regularly and with frequent check up by the veterinary doctor. Due to diarrhea and related illness, out of 10 beneficiaries, 3 have lost the goat kids.

The details are as follows: SN. Names of beneficiary Place No. of goats received No. of goats remaining Remarks 1 Tika Maya Koiral Taklung VDC 3 2 1 kid(goat) died 2 Gita Shrestha Taklung VDC 3 2 1 kid (goat) died 3 Phampha Magrati Taklung VDC 2 1 1 kid (goat) died 4 Khad Maya Sarki Taklung VDC 1 2 Got new kid (goat)

5 Kamali B.K Taklung VDC 2 3 Got new kid (goat)

6 Kabita Sirmal Taklung VDC 2 3 Got new kid(goat)

7 Suku Maya Mangrati Taklung VDC 2 2 In good health

8 Kabita Sirmal Taklung VDC 3 3 In good health

9 Suku Maya Koiral Taklung VDC 2 2 In good health

SN. Name of beneficiary Place No. of Chicken

received No. of Chicken remaining

Remarks

10 Suk Maya B.K Taklung VDC 100 86 14 chickens died Note: Suk Maya B.K., sold the remaining 86 chickens and earned 8000.00 NRP. As per the revolving scheme, she bought 100 chickens from the earned amount to give for the next person (beneficiary). A discussion is going on among the women’s group who to select for the next beneficiary.

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Latest pictures from Taklung VDC:

Back view of Taklung Health Post

Ongoing work of construction

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Seed Funding: Poultry and goat farming

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Tanglichok VDC (Village Development Committee) Health Post Construction and Seed Funding for Livelihood:

After completion of the regular visit to Taklung VDC, another visit to Tanglichok was carried out from 17 – 20 July, 2016. Following are the findings in this VDC: The construction of the health post is completed except with cleaning around and arranging

outside materials in the store. The other additional work is with the fencing around the health post that is wide and open. Although this part of the work does not include in the contract made and MoU signed with the Ministry of Health and related government offices like the District Health Office, it has been felt that leaving the health post without putting the gagged wire fencing to protect from animals coming in and damaging as well as from any other harm, the finishing of the entire effort and resource investment will leave a different message. This is why the OVN management of the Good Shepherd Sisters discussed extensively and decided to source out a fund for this important work. Therefore, the only work remaining with the completion of the construction work is with this fencing around the health posts which is underway and is expected to be completed by first week of August.

As with the seed funding and as in Taklung, the beneficiaries continue to take good care of goats and chickens by feeding them regularly but here in this VDC, they are finding difficulty with providing medical care as the veterinary is not there and the village does not have vet medical person. So, they are requesting to provide some medical facilities for their goats and chickens when needed. A discussion is going on how to help out and that they have access to such facility. Out of the 10 beneficiaries, 2 have lost their goats.

The details are as follows: SN. Names of beneficiary Place No. of goats

received No. of goats remaining

Remarks

1 Maiti Maya Chepang Tanglichowk VDC 2 1 1 goat slipped and died while grazing in the hill

2 Som Maya Praja Tanglichowk VDC 2 1 1 goat took away by a tiger while grazing near the jungle

3 Kamala Chepang Tanglichowk VDC 2 2 They are in good health 4 Sarki Praja Tanglichowk VDC 2 2 They are in good health 5 Ram Maya Chepang Tanglichowk VDC 2 2 They are in good health 6 Chameli Chepang Tanglichowk VDC 1 1 Will give birth to kids next month 7 Bishnu Maya Chepang Tanglichowk VDC 2 2 They are in good health 8 Sita Chepang Tanglichowk VDC 2 2 They are in good health 9 Ganga Bahadur Praja Tanglichowk VDC 2 2 They are in good health 10 Gun Maya Praja Tanglichowk VDC 2 2 Will give birth to kids next month

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Latest pictures of Tanglichowk VDC:

Front view of the health post

Side view of the health post

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Passage

Flooring

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Office Room: Falls ceiling and flooring with anti-bacterial Paints

Solar water heater and water tank

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Seed funding: Goat farming

Seed Funding: Goat farming

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Climate change – post training/workshop:

Some formal/informal visits, meeting and orientation was also organized during this field visit with several of the participants who attended the workshop on climate change in mid-March this year from both Taklung and Tanglichok VDC (Village Development Committees). It was primarily to get to know and evaluate how it has been helping the local people in dealing with the issue of climate change and its affect in their community after the workshop. Many of the community people like the school’s principal, leaders of women’s groups and key members of community forestry users’ groups, agriculture and water preservation committees and other local leaders were also asked about their contribution after the workshop. Some of them shared about increasing their understanding about the issue of climate change and is helping a lot in their work after the knowledge gained from the workshop – these were mostly the teachers and members of the community forestry users’ groups, agriculture and water preservation committees.

However and as they expressed, there is a lack of adequate understanding on the issue and knowledge on how everyone in the community could contribute in dealing with the issue of climate change. Some of the participants who attended the training and are involved in similar field like forestry, water and agriculture groups in their community which also form a part of the larger local level civil society organizations, talked about lack of support both technically and financially from the government in terms of spreading mass community awareness and in making local community people accountable and engaging them to deal with the issue.

In course of the discussion, it was also proposed that OVN of the GSS could support and promote measures and raise awareness and that the community people will fully support in leading the initiatives at the local level. A few also wanted to know if the organization could support with afforestation, organic farming and other agricultural activities as well as water harvesting/preservation especially in the context of post-earthquake when most of the water resources have gone dry.

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