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Part-III
Nepal: Don’t Call It Shangri-La
Economic programs targeting refugees and returning displaced populations in Nepal
Special report on livelihoods field assessment about IDPs and refugees in Nepal
-Dale Buscher & Lauren Heller, Women’s Commission, USA
II. Methodology
The Women’s Commission conducted a field assessment in Nepal from January 8 – 26, 2008 which covered Kathmandu, the conflict-impacted Midwest Region, specifically the communities of Nepalgunj and Birendranagar and surrounding villages, and the Southeast Region around Damak, where the seven Bhutanese refugee camps are located. Qualitative data was collected via focus group discussions, structured interviews, field observations, and informal conversations.
Meetings and interviews were held with twenty-two national government ministries, UN agencies, international and local nongovernmental organizations, as well as with refugees, returnees and program beneficiaries. Fifteen focus group discussions were held with displaced returnees, community groups, and refugee women, men, and youth. Data collected included:
community involvement in program design and implementation
beneficiary selection criteria
market assessment tools utilized
program measurement and impact indicators employed
Project sites, vocational training programs, refugee camps and local markets were also visited. The findings present a picture of trends and needs in Nepal but are limited by time constraints and the subsequent inability to meet with all engaged agencies and ministries.
III. Findings
Reintegration of the Internally Displaced
Supporting the return and reintegration of IDPs in Nepal has been challenging for both the government and the humanitarian community due to problems with identification, fears of return of the part of those displaced, and the relatively small scale but widespread nature of displacement across the country. Reportedly 73 out of the country’s 75 districts were affected by displacement and wildly different numbers of IDPs have been reported – ranging from 100,000 – 450,000. Less than 1% of the total population was displaced over a huge geographic area making it virtually impossible to have targeted programs serving the IDPs. Targeting communities impacted by displacement and return is a more pragmatic approach.
The lack of solid information about who they are and where they are has made supporting the IDPs and facilitating their return and reintegration difficult. The Government of Nepal, for example, only has 32,000 IDPs officially registered and, at present, only provides transportation return assistance which many IDPs report using for subsistence needs rather than for transport home. Too, for those who have been displaced in urban areas, return to rural areas where education and health care is less available is undesirable. Women have enjoyed more freedom and more ‘public space’ in the cities and are reluctant to give up these privileges and return to more traditional rural villages. The conflict, in fact, simply accelerated the large rural to urban migration that was already underway.
An additional challenge in serving all vulnerable populations in Nepal where agricultural production is the major source of income is that many of the poorest of the poor are landless and, hence, agricultural interventions cannot be the only programs implemented. Further, land parcels, when owned, have become so small with the sub-divisions of family land from generation to generation that plot size is often no longer large enough to support a family. Other challenges in serving vulnerable populations include limited education that inhibits understanding about possible opportunities; the inaccessibility of markets in many remote villages and districts; and the challenge of addressing existing caste and gender inequality to facilitate community inclusion.
Children Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups (CAAFAG)
A number of organizations implement reintegration programs targeting children associated with armed forces and armed groups (CAAFAG). The CAAFAG includes those recruited by the Maoist and the government – soldiers, porters, and all associated with either armed faction. The best of these programs have an assistance package that allows the children, generally youth, to make choices about their future. The assistance can either be used for school fees and related costs (books, supplies, uniforms) OR for an income generation activity (IGA). IGAs supported include goat-raising, vegetable production, and the establishment of small commercial shops.
The better programs include support for vulnerable children in the community as well as the CAAFAG children – usually on a one-to-two basis as well as including support for the school, if education is the child’s choice, or the community cooperative or working group that supports the income generation activity. Supported schools, for example, may rehabilitate toilets or classrooms – something that must directly benefit the supported CAAFAG child.
When the CAAFAG child decides to pursue an income generation activity, a cooperative, such as a goat-raising or vegetable production cooperative, is supported through membership fees, so that the child becomes a shareholder. An initial deposit is also often placed into the cooperative’s savings and loan program which the CAAFAG child can generally access after three months. Coop members serve as mentors and trainers for the CAAFAG youth and provide ongoing technical support for the young person’s IGA project. The inclusion of vulnerable children within the community as well as direct support to schools and cooperatives assists with the CAAFAG child’s reintegration by reducing discrimination and stigmatization while promoting community inclusion.
The majority of these programs, though, suffer from inadequate financing – support is only given for one year which makes the sustainability of school re-entry doubtful as there are no mechanisms to pay school fees and related costs for year two. Additionally, the amount of resource support provided, 10,000 - 12,000 rupees per child (roughly US $156 - $188) is considered by implementing agencies to be too small to make a significant impact on the child’s reintegration. The amount is subsequently divided into a reintegration package where the CAAFAG actually only receives an in-kind benefit of 2,000 rupees ($31), a vulnerable child from the community receives support worth 2,000 rupees, and the structure that supports the child, be it a school or a cooperative, receives the equivalent of 6,000 - 8,000 rupees. While an apprenticeship model is often used with young people who opt for income generation activities, the funding amount is too small to support placing the youth in formal vocational training centers.
Many CAAFAG youth were placed in government-operated cantonments following the disarmament and demobilization process. Thousands remain in these cantonments and it is unclear when they will be released and the type of support services that will be available to them. While services are being provided to them within the cantonments, as the cantonments are closed facilities - it is not known if these services are, in fact, preparing them for reintegration into society and/or preparing them to re-entry the formal educational system or the job market.
Vulnerable Women
Female heads of households and widows face particular challenges in returning to their communities of origin. Widows’ property rights and enforcement of such remain problematic. Not only do other family members wish to claim the property, the Maoists have also been reluctant to hand back confiscated land.
Other Projects Targeting IDP Return and Reintegration
“My family is totally dependent on my income from this [off-season vegetable production].”
Dalit woman growing off-season vegetables in the western Terai region of southern Nepal, January 18, 2008.
A number of organizations implement agricultural projects that target or include IDPs. Off-season vegetable production is a particularly lucrative livelihood activity as there is a market for the products and families can supplement their diets through the harvests. Production generally requires irrigation and some organizations are using low-cost, appropriate technology to support off-season production through, for example, treadle foot irrigation pumps and micro-irrigation drip systems. Initial investment input is reportedly $50 - $100 per family targeted while income earned per household is approximately $250 per year – generally a doubling of household income. Organizations provide startup funds, for example, for the irrigation systems, as well as training in vegetable production, pest control, fertilizing, and harvesting. The organizations also link the production groups to village and district level agriculture extension workers for ongoing technical support.
Women report that their participation in the project has resulted in improved nutrition for their children (due to the increased consumption of vegetables in the home), earnings of 6,000 rupees per harvest (US $93) and that the labor only requires about three hours of their day thereby allowing them time for their other household responsibilities. These interventions must be within an hour of a road to be successful, however, or access to large enough markets is problematic. Other supported projects include livestock disbursal, fishpond construction, medicinal/aromatic plant harvesting, and the development of coffee and tea plantations. The introduction of processing technology and the establishment of a specialty coffee industry has, for example, increased coffee production from 0 to 200 tons since 2002.
Another project focuses on cardamom value chain development working with both farmers and traders and bringing in improved dryers. The project aims to improve the quality of the product and thereby increase the price to sellers by working through farmers groups and organizing traders to help them access new markets.
Working with community forest-users groups is another intervention being implemented. While the projects do not specifically target IDPs, returnees are included if and when they are members of the forest-users groups. Advocacy is done with the government to encourage handover of the forests to the users groups who are assisted with putting together operational and management plans with a focus on conservation. The forest-users groups collect herbs and medicinal plants, such as chamomile, lemon grass, citronella, menthe, and eucalyptus, the majority of which are exported to India.
The responsible NGOs, with the support of the government, provided inputs for the building of small distillation units to extract the vital oils and provides training, technical support, and assistance with marketing. The distillation of the plants reduces the need to transport huge amounts of bulky raw products long distances and allows the users groups to add value to their products. The distilled oils are much more easily transported and command a much higher price. Linkages with Aveda and the Rainforest Alliance have also been forged for the high-end export market. Per household income for participating households has increased by 11,202 rupees annually (US $174). Other project impacts include using fallow and marginal land to cultivate aromatic plants; providing local communities with access to distant markets; the development of technical know-how on cultivation and processing; and employment generation for local community members.
Besides analyzing the value chain and assessing where interventions could add value or increase productivity, the project also educates both buyers and sellers and links local groups with socially responsible international retailers. The supporting organization also formed a ‘sustainable buyers group’ and hosts a non-timber forest products donors and members group. Major challenges for this highly successful intervention are geography, as it is difficult to bring even small scale technology to rural areas and the economy of scale is so low making it difficult to entice international buyers. Meeting rigid organic certification requirements, particularly in EU member states, has also been a challenge.
“I used to grow only wheat and earn 1,000 rupees per harvest. Now I grow a variety of crops and earn 10,000 rupees per harvest.”
Farmer in a small village outside Birendranagar in Surket district.
A number of NGO projects target impacted communities instead of individual returnees. One such example is the establishment of an agro-collection center whereby individual farmers can sell their produce daily to a collection center-storage facility. The manager of the collection center then links to local markets to sell in the collected farmers’ products in bulk. The project reduces farmers’ previous dependency on a once-weekly market where their products may or may not sell. Additionally, since the farmers are only delivering their products to the agro-collection center, they no longer have to spend an entire day staffing a market stall in order to access potential buyers. As a result of having a ‘sure market’, farmers have increased their production and the diversity of the crops they grow. The farmers now want to start an animal collection center as well as to diversify further into seed and sapling production.
The project, though, is not without its challenges. At present, the collection center manager has been able to sell the majority of the products he buys from the farmers locally. As more farmers get interested in utilizing the services of the collection center, over-supply could become a problem and it will be necessary to access bigger markets. Access to broader markets and wholesalers, though, is complicated by poor local road conditions that result in high transportation costs and that become impassable during the monsoon season. An addition challenge is how to promote post-harvest food technologies like processing, drying, and preserving to minimize the rotting of surplus vegetables and fruits.
Another intervention was the establishment of a marketing and planning committee who formed and set up a local market as a place where farmers could sell their products in a region where no local market existed. The market serves eleven villages and 180-200 farmers come twice a week to sell their fruits and vegetables. Previously, without regular market access, there was little local vegetable production and most vegetables were imported from India. The planning and marketing committee charges rent for space to the sellers, fees for the use of their weights and scales, and a vehicle entrance fee. In turn, the committee provides a stall area for selling, toilets and sanitation facilities, marketing sheds, a store house, and advertising on local radio.
8-15 metric tons of produce transit through the market each market day worth approximately 100,000 – 150,000 rupees (US $1,550 - $2,335). The establishment of the market has resulted in an increase in local vegetable production as well as in employment and income. Income has, for example, reportedly increased by 15% an average for each small farmer. The increase in production, however, has resulting in a decrease in prices as supply is beginning to outstrip demand. There is a need as the market, and hence supply, continues to grow, to link with larger wholesale and regional markets in order to expand market demand.
A valuable complementary project entitled “Other Vulnerable Children” serves as an add-on to several of the aforementioned projects. Targeted beneficiaries are participants in the economic programs, mothers who have children under five and pregnant women. The project targets these households as well as traditional healers, whom these households generally access for their health problems, to educate them on the importance of hygiene, nutrition, and school attendance through drama, healthy baby competitions, nutrition demonstrations, billboards, and radio messaging. The objective is to ensure that the extra income earned benefits the children.
“If the mother is a little bit aware, the whole family is benefiting.”
Interview with the Program Manager of the Other Vulnerable Children Project, Nepalgunj, January 18, 2008.
A further example is a micro-economic initiative focused on providing in-kind grants for business start up to vulnerable IDPs and returnees which begins with an individual assessment of skills, available resources and capacity. Many of the target beneficiaries are widows and female heads of household. Goat-raising, vegetable farming, setting up small street stalls, tea shops, and groceries, and the purchase of bicycle rickshaws are common livelihood activities supported although some beneficiaries do sell their in-kind inputs for cash to meet basic needs. Project participants, though, often request support to small industries in the villages as they prefer daily labor work to entrepreneurship.
Overall, the presence of long-term development actors enhances the quality of livelihood programming serving IDPs and returnees. Multi-year funding cycles, a better understanding of the social and economic context, and more experience conducting market assessments and value chain analyses, results in more effective, sustainable programs. The prior existence of cooperatives and village savings mechanisms also facilitate livelihood project development as there are pre-existing structures to utilize and build upon. The humanitarian assistance community is particularly adept at the identification of the most vulnerable community members, such as returnees and children associated with armed forces, and in securing quick impact funding. Linking the humanitarian assistance and development actors’ programming on-the-ground through client identification and referral mechanisms, could greatly improve service delivery and sustainability. Topography, however, and the lack of access to roads, communications, and markets severely impact program effectiveness and reach.
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