In Palung Bazaar, 26 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu in Makwanpur District, stands a community building called Bikas Ghar which doubles as a vegetable depot for the locals and also hosts community meetings and seminars. It’s like any other community building that one can find across Nepal, but the story of how what was once a huge rock transformed into Bikas Ghar makes it a special story.
As said, Bikas Ghar is carved out of a huge rock which once stood where the building stands today. It happened when Rup Chandra Bista, a local politician and a social worker, sought the locals’ participation for construction of a community building. [break]Bista, who was then appointed as Pradhan Pancha, or village headman, during the Panchayat system, improvised the budget allocated for a government office with contributions from the local community. His idea of directly involving his community to amend the decisions made by the government has served the local community at Palung for the past 45 years.
Bista’s philosophy of impartial participation for development, popularly known as the “Thaha” Movement, however, hasn’t been put into practice in the current social structure. The value of community participation and contributions for its own development has taken a backseat in the present state of affairs.
“Community participation isn’t a new concept in Nepal but it’s declining, as people have become more self-centric,” says Rabindra Mishra, chief of BBC Nepali Service, journalist and an advocate of what he calls “practical philanthropy.”
In the absence of proper implementation of development plans by governments and neglect from the community itself, many development projects have perished in a short time or some even before its completion. Huge gaps have thus been created between development processes and public participation.
On the other hand, contributions from the community for its own development not only create a sense of ownership in the people but the participation process also increases communication among the locals themselves.
The effects of this idea have been demonstrated by recent volunteering activities in the capital that was solely put together by communities – for themselves.
Last year, for instance, a group of volunteers cleaned the Kal Mochan Temple premises at Tripureshwor and Kanti Children’s Hospital at Maharajgunj. The group, consisting mainly of young participants, accomplished the job that would have taken the authorities concerned much budget allocation deliberations and a lot of workforce. Rather than remaining complacent, this proactive group established that community participation can be a strong force for change for itself.
Realizing the power of community participation for development, many NGOs have also started to seek local involvement in their projects.
Commencing such steps is the NGO called Laxmi Cares and initiated by Laxmi Bank’s own employees. It has recently installed solar lights on the Bagmati Bridge connecting Thapathali in Kathmandu and Kupondole in Patan. The NGO had called for participation on their annual bike ride to Godavari from Mangal Bazaar in Patan on March 22 for the project.
Though the costs for the project, which was two million Rupees, didn’t entirely come from the participants’ fees, the response from them was very encouraging, says Suman Joshi, CEO of Laxmi Bank. “Some people dropped in donations of Rs 1,000 at our office although they weren’t able to attend the event,” he says.
Laxmi Cares had illuminated the Patan Durbar Square area in a similar event last year.
“Nepalis don’t lack resources or zeal to participate in philanthropic activities. It’s just not directed in the right way,” says Raj Gyawali, Director of Socialtours, one of the organizing partners of the Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge.
The Kora cycling event is also a recreational event where bikers take up the challenge to ride 50 kilometers around the Kathmandu Valley and people pledge certain amount for each kilometer they ride. They have collected Rs 950,000 – an encouraging increase from last year’s collection of Rs 450,000 through a similar event.
Gyawali says that it would’ve been a tedious task if they were to raise the equivalent amount of fund through any government or non-government organizations. “There would be a long list of official formalities to be fulfilled if we had to apply for funds. But since we collected the money through individual contributions, no bureaucratic procedures were required,” he says.
The organizers say that the money raised this year will be used to facilitate a maternity centre in Rukum.
In the fiscal year 2010/11, the volume of foreign aid received by Nepal Government was US$1.66 billion. Likewise, many NGOs also heavily rely on foreign donors to conduct their development projects.
HelpNepal Network, however, is one such organization that, instead of asking funds from foreigners, encourages Nepalis living in different parts of the world to provide monetary assistance for its development works across the country.
While the government is struggling to provide basic health and education facilities to the rural population of Nepal, HelpNepal has already established more than 40 schools and libraries in different parts of the country, running a health post in Mugu for seven years, and is soon opening an orphanage at Dhulikhel. All these works have been made possible by the donations made by Nepalis at home and abroad.
The successes of the network testify to community participation as a strong means to development. The contributions from the communities not only provided resources to the network but also the freedom to utilize the resources as per the needs of each target community.
A group named Tweet4causeNepal has also been operating in similar ways, using Internet technology and social media for open and impartial participation for their various causes. The group operates through Twitter, a micro logging site, for discussing and implementing the ideas for contributions to the community.
Theirs is an open forum that encourages people, anyone who uses Twitter, to raise an issue where contribution is necessary. The discussion takes place through the social networking site about the issues and the ways for contribution. Individuals also volunteer their time on Twitter as well as in the field besides raising funds. Tweet4causeNepal has made contributions to schools and organizations working for deprived groups.
They have more than 2,000 followers on Twitter. “There’s no such specific circle,” says Anil Ghimire, an active member of the group. “However, the group functions through certain people who are eager to contribute on their own, without request or invitation.”
Apart from asking specific communities to take part, one major positive attribute of participatory philanthropy is the pace on which a project is completed. If a certain amount of money is to be funded by any organization, there will be a long list of formalities to be fulfilled, and much time and effort is spent in writing proposals and reports. But when a community comes forward and every individual contributes even one Rupee each, it totals up to a considerably large amount.
One example of this sort was set by Nepalis residing in South Korea. They collected one million Rupees in two hours to support HelpNepal’s philanthropic causes earlier this year.
Changes in the government and lack of budget are big hindrances to development activities in Nepal. But these issues can be outmoded if the community comes together to work for its own improvement. Giving to one’s own community will also stimulate democratic processes, with the community not just contributing to its just causes but deciding its own fate as well.
The writer can be reached at mail2asmita@gmail.com
Related story
Dalit and indigenous communities more vulnerable to monsoon-ind...
