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Part-IV
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
Economic Programs Serving Camp-based Refugees
While limitations imposed by the Government of Nepal on refugee rights legally restrict refugees’ freedom of movement and their right to work, camp borders are porous and a few livelihood opportunities exist. Some of these opportunities are taken advantage of by the refugees, without any agency support, other advantages are seized upon by UNHCR and her implementing partners. Further opportunities exist, however, which are not capitalized on.
Relief Substitution
UNHCR supports a number of relief substitution projects, managed through refugee groups such as the Bhutanese Women’s Forum, in the seven Bhutanese refugee camps whereby refugees are paid on a piece-rate basis to produce non-food items for in-camp distribution rather than purchasing the products outside the camps. The largest such project involves the production of sanitary materials. Refugees dye, dry, weave, and cut material for women’s sanitary cloth which is purchased by UNHCR and distributed to all females between the ages of 15 and 49. Chalk is also produced in the camps for distribution to all the schools and laundry soap is produced for distribution to all refugee families.
Vocational Training
“We have no ambition for the future. Training is a waste of time. We are like blind.”
Bhutanese male refugee youth, Sanischere camp, January 22, 2008.
A number of vocational training programs are offered for refugees both inside and outside the camps. The majority of the in-camp trainings are short, covering only basic information, and are, according to the refugees, insufficient in terms of both depth and length for students to develop competence in the sector. Course offerings include driving, computer literacy, knitting, weaving, tailoring, electrical wiring, mechanics, beautician, necklace making, carpentry, and bamboo handicrafts. Additionally, some of the vocational training programs only target out-of-school youth which puts those young people who do stay in school at a disadvantage in terms of non-academic skill development.
Few vocational training programs provide start-up kits or link with loan programs. Additionally, many of the materials refugees require to practice the skill developed are not available in the camps. Further, refugees state that they have no money to buy raw materials to practice their skill and that there is no market for their products within the camps. Others complained about market saturation in the camps – too many tailors and barbers, for example, the competition from which made it impossible for any of them to earn much. Out of 120 adult vocational training program graduates surveyed, only 20 were actually using the skills they were taught and even then only earning a small amount of supplemental income. There were a few exceptions, however. One refugee woman, who was trained as a tailor, said that she made enough money, about 500 rupees per month (approximately $8) to buy vegetables and clothes for her family. A young refugee male who does flashlight and umbrella repair said that he can earn up to 150 rupees per day ($2.50) during the monsoon season and 40-50 (.75-.80 cents) rupees per day during the dry season. Other refugees stated that they were sometimes able to earn a little bit of money from their skill but not much – generally just enough to buy a few vegetables.
“Whatever training is offered; it’s important to have a market.”
Male Bhutanese refugee in focus group discussion, Beldangi II camp, January 23, 2008.
Refugee youth and women asked for more in-depth courses that offer much more than the basics. They also wanted training courses in such occupations as shoe-making, noodle-making, bakery training, housekeeping, hotel and restaurant work, expanded nurses training programs, more advanced computer training, vehicle repair and more extensive driving courses. They specifically asked for trainings that would be marketable including those skills that would be marketable in third countries for those pursuing resettlement.
“We want to have training programs that will be useful in a resettlement country.”
Bhutanese refugee woman in the Goldhap camp, January 24, 2008.
“Whatever skills are needed in third countries, we need training in – here in the camp.”
Male refugee youth, Goldhap camp, January 24, 2008.
Vocation training centers outside the camps are used to place a smaller number of refugees in more specialized courses in such occupations as community medical assistants (CMA) (nurses’ aides and lab technicians) and agriculture extension workers. The CMA course is particularly popular although only twenty scholarships for refugees per year are available to attend a local nursing school. Many young refugee men and women would like to participate if there were additional scholarship opportunities. Teacher training is also provided to 65 – 85 qualifying refugees per year, based on available funding, at a teacher training college outside the camps. The training is particularly lucrative and hundreds of refugee graduates now work as teachers in private schools throughout Nepal (the government does not allow the public school system to hire refugee teachers). The downside of this, however, is that good quality teachers leave the camps for better paying positions outside (as they are only eligible for refugee incentive pay inside the camps about 1,100 rupees per month for an in-camp teacher). As a result, students report that the quality of education in the camps is decreasing.
“We want courses that will lead to careers – long-lasting jobs!”
Refugee youth focus group participant, Beldangi II camp, January 23, 2008.
“We don’t know the market. We don’t know what kind of training would be helpful. It’s the NGOs job to find out.”
Refugee youth focus group participant, Beldangi II camp, January 23, 2008.
Specific vocational training courses are also offered for refugees with disabilities. Viable courses appear to those that teach watch and bicycle repair – sectors where the trained refugees are reportedly working and earning at least a bit of income. Painting, bead work, and music classes are also offered courses although these skill sets have few opportunities for sustainable income generation.
The most successful vocational training programs include certificates for graduates. Nepali society places high value on certificates and certification programs leads more readily to employment opportunities.
“We have only taken trainings. We have not had an opportunity to earn money.”
Bhutanese refugee woman graduate of a vocational training program in Beldangi II camp, January 23, 2008.
Refugee Incentive Staff
The majority of NGOs operating within the camps employ refugee incentive staff as skilled and unskilled casual laborers, teachers, and health care workers. Casual laborers, who assist with infrastructure rehabilitation and construction, are hired, as needed, on a daily basis for 40-50 rupees per day. In addition, there are 2,100 regular refugee incentive staff employed by NGOs on a longer term basis within the camps, such as teachers. Refugee incentive workers are paid according to a four-tiered pay scale, dependent on position, ranging from 840 – 1,514 rupees per month (for reference, minimum wage in Nepal is 3,000 rupees per month).
Small Business Development
One NGO targets only those families with malnourished children and, through an individualized approach, assists these families to start small businesses and cottage industries within the camps. The NGO provides training, with trainers hired from the Nepali business community, and seed money. Activities focused on include: bamboo crafts, mushroom production, banana fiber crafts, and jute carpet making. They have also established village savings and loan associations in the camps. In addition, the NGO is bringing together the government, business community, and refugees to promote the sale of refugee products outside the camps. Mushroom production has been the most successful home-based activity with producers able to sell all their products and earn 500 – 800 rupees per month (approximately US $8 – 12). The refugees involved in this income generation activity are in the process of expanding their production as, at present, demand is out-stripping supply. The NGO is planning to expand to all seven of the camps in 2008, introduce new income generation activities – such as incense making and organic pesticide production – and focus on marketing and advocacy with the government to promote access to additional markets outside the camps.
Micro-Finance
“In the beginning we were illiterate and knew nothing. We’ve come to know how to solve our money problems.”
Bhutanese refugee woman participating in the loan program, Sanischere camp, January 22, 2008.
The World Food Programme, through the collection and subsequent sale of empty rice sacks and tins after their use for food distributions, funds a small loan program. Loans of 3,000-6,000 rupees ($50-$100) are available to qualifying refugees, generally women, and the women receiving loans use them to become fish and vegetable vendors within the camps or to make and sell mo mo (samosas). Repayments are said to be good although refugees report that they would like longer repayment periods. One refugee male who took a loan admitted that he repaid his loan by borrowing money from other refugees. WFP has also started a bakery through this project in one of the camps and brought in bakers from India to teach the refugees how to make doughnuts and cookies.
Clearly while access to credit and perhaps even more important, access to safe places for saving money, are as vital to refugees as they are to everyone else, the impact of credit at the household level needs to be further understood. Are refugees, through access to credit, increasing their business opportunities and income generation, or are they entering into a cycle of debt? How have refugees used their loans? What has been the impact at the household level - on their food security, the nutritional status of their children, and their children’s school attendance?
Missed Opportunities
Camp-based Economy
In spite of the restrictions on freedom of movement and the right to work, as in all ‘closed’ camps, an informal economy does exist. There are small markets where women sell vegetables and clothing; men and boys with bicycles hire themselves out to transport refugees’ bags of charcoal briquettes to their shelters on distribution days; girls spin thread from cotton yarn which is collected and sold outside the camps by Nepalese middlemen; and women weave mats from palm leaves which, too, are sold outside the camps. No doubt many more informal economic activities are going on in the camps but it appears that none of the partner organizations have studied the camp-based economy and assessed the further opportunities that may exist. Further, none of the organizations offering vocational training courses tapped into this informal market and adapted vocational training courses in order to prepare more refugees to participate.
Work outside the Camps
According to interviews with UN and NGO staff, some one-third of all refugees work outside the camps on a fairly regular basis. The majority work in the construction industry in the nearby town of Damak, which is experiencing a construction boom. Others, including female youth, leave the camps to harvest tea leaves and plant rice for local farmers. While technically forbidden by the Government of Nepal’s policies on refugees, leaving the camps to work in the local labor market is a known, apparently tolerated, reality. None of the vocational training programs, however, focus on the out of camp market and those occupations refugees are engaged in to look at how they might better prepare refugees to work in those sectors. Further building the refugees’ skills in occupations in which they are already working might facilitate them accessing higher paying positions and undertaking current jobs more safely.
Third Country Resettlement
Large numbers of desiring and qualifying refugees will resettle to third countries, namely the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Scandinavian countries over the next five years. In-camp vocation training courses should focus on the development of those skill sets that prepare these refugees for entry level positions in western resettlement countries – such as nurses’ aides and care for the elderly, restaurant and hotel work including waiting, bussing, and housekeeping, child care, and job skills (punctuality, work behaviors, basic business and financial literacy).
Migration and Militaries
Migration is a Nepalese mainstay and an ever-growing phenomenon. Every year tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Nepalese migrate to India during the winter months as a livelihood strategy. It is often the only way families can continue to feed themselves. The length of the seasonal migration, three months to six months to a year or more, is, according to some NGO workers, an indicator of vulnerability. That is, the longer the migration, the more vulnerable the family. For many, this seasonal migration is seen as a right of passage for young men – something necessary, even desired. However, as a long-term strategy, when one or more family members are required to migrate year after year, it becomes increasingly a hardship. Most migrant males work in the construction industry in India – sleeping rough, often on the streets, earning relatively little and are exposed to abuse and exploitation.
Increasingly, migration patterns are extending further a field and are increasingly feminized. Malaysia a current popular destination and a planeload of migrant workers reportedly depart for Kuala Lumpur daily. More and more Nepalese women now migrate as well. Many to work as domestic workers, while others end up, often trafficked, in the commercial sex industry in India. Migration has, as well, become a vector for the spread of HIV and AIDS mostly through men who visit the brothels in India and come home and infect their wives. As seasonal migration is a fact of life in Nepal, there is a need to assist people reduce the associated risks.
Historically, too, serving in various militaries has been a livelihood strategy for many men. To serve as a Gurkha fighter with the British military not only brought much status and better pay but provided opportunities to see new parts of the world. These positions are still highly coveted regardless of their seemingly ‘mercenary’ nature. Gurkhas began serving as troops under contract to the East India Company in the Pinaree War of 1817. British Gurkhas are, in fact, now fully integrated soldiers of the British army. Gurkhas also serve in the Indian army and in the city state of Singapore.
In addition, Nepal has, over the years, contributed 51,661 military, police personnel and other civilians to twenty-nine UN peacekeeping operations around the world and these are also highly competitive, sought-after positions. Of the current seventeen UN peacekeeping operations, Nepal has contributed more than 3,500 peacekeepers for thirteen operations including Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo and Liberia. In fact, Nepal is generally one of the five largest troop contributors. Largely for economic reasons, fighting for others or keeping peace for others has been and remains a desired livelihood option for thousands of Nepalese men.
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