News

Bikash Ko Bato
by: RAP 3      on: 14th Dec, 2018

Program: Bikash ko Bato

 

Episode: 18                                        Broadcast Date: 16, 17, 18 December 2018

 

Issue: Initiatives of Local Governments to solve Drinking Water Problem.

 

The provision of drinking water is one of the major concerns of local representatives in those places where water is scarce and this week Bikash ko Bato discusses about expectations of local people about their local governments solving water problems. The programme starts with the expectations of members of local communities in Manma and Kalikot about the lack of drinking water in their areas. This episode includes a story from Tatopani Gaupalika of Jumla where the Gaupalika is planning to solve the drinking water problems of Ward Number 1 by bringing water from neighboring Ward Number 3 which has spare water resources. Likewise it will discuss the solution Amargadhi Municipality of Dadeldhura has adopted to provide drinking water to its locals communities.

Hamri Didis add NCELL re-charge cards to their basket of goods
by: RAP 3      on: 14th Dec, 2018

NCELL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with RAP3 CONNECT to offer over 400 women the opportunity to become retailers of NCELL re-charge cards.

“We are pleased to partner with RAP3 CONNECT to offer income generating opportunities to women starting in remote areas of Province 6 and 7 of Nepal. The partnership is in line with our commitment to create sustainable business opportunities to the communities we operate in, contributing in small ways we can to improve lives of people this initiative brings,” said Andy Chong, Chief Commercial Officer of Ncell.

The MoU will benefit women micro-entrepreneurs associated with RAP3 CONNECT by adding NCELL recharge cards in their sales basket, enabling them to function as retailers of the company. NCELL hopes this will support the women to secure sustainable incomes, and also enable some of them to build their business to sell e-charge and SIM cards in the future.

With the MoU, NCELL joins an existing partnership between RAP3 CONNECT, Unilever Nepal Limited (UNL), Bottlers Nepal Limited (BNL) and Prabhu Bank Limited (PBL) that is working to enable women in remote areas of Province 6 and 7 to establish small businesses. 

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RAP3 shares lessons from the CONNECT pilot with MDFN
by: RAP 3      on: 14th Dec, 2018

Yesterday, RAP3 hosted the 8th Market Development Forum Nepal (MDFN) learning event and presented lessons from the CONNECT pilot.

MDFN Convener, Mr Bharat Upadhyay, chaired the meeting and RAP3 CONNECT Team Leader, Ruth McPake presented on behalf of RAP3.  There followed an engaging discussion on CONNECT's approach to selecting partners, access to finance, organic certification and where CONNECT fits within the context of M4P.

MDFN was formed to enable like-minded development practitioners to share knowledge and experience, and to learn about new ideas for pro-poor market development.  Read more about the forum on their website (link is external)

Design and Estimate of NCCSP in Achham
by: RAP 3      on: 11th Dec, 2018

Nepal Climate Change Support Programme (NCCSP) is being implemented in Kamalbazar municipality of Achham. In collaboration with NCCSP, RAP3 is currently providing support in design, estimation and contract documentation to NCCSP. As the estimation prepared by the municipality was not detailed enough to provide guidance on design, RAP3 DTA including RTL and AE surveyed four NCCSP’s sites (excluding water supply sites) and prepared detail design and cost estimates. The estimates were finalised after review by TMO and submitted to NCCSP on 7th December 2018. The estimates were prepared in line with NCCSP’s budget of NRs. 10 million with NRs. 1 million additional budget provided by the municipality and 15% being the User Committee’s contribution.

Public Audit Completed in Humla
by: RAP 3      on: 10th Dec, 2018

RAP3 DTA Shreenagar, Humla has successfully completed LRUC level Public Audit on 6th and 7th December 2018 of the works carried out on the Galphagad-Shreenagar-Kalika District Road Corridor of Shreenagar LRUC and Shreenagar-Kalika LRUC respectively. The audit was carried out for the payments to LRUCs from the 3rd to 6th running bill of IY5. The meeting was attended by 111 members (77 men & 34 women) of the Shreengar LRUC, chaired by Mr. Puskar Luhar and 97 members (71 men & 26 women) of the Shreenagar-Kalika LRUC, chaired by Mr. Mohan Phadera, along with ward chairpersons from wards 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. Likewise, 6 members (EO, SDO, GE, IoW, SMs) from RAP3 DTA attended the meeting. The main objective of the audit was to check that payment has followed RAP3 guidelines and confirm that transparency has been maintained among group members.

Cooperative Management and Account Keeping Training
by: RAP 3      on: 10th Dec, 2018

RAP3, Kalikot has successfully completed a 5-day training on “Cooperative Management and Account Keeping Training” in Manma. The main objective of the training was to build up the capacity of executive members of new cooperatives formed by ex RBG members who worked on RAP3 corridors. The Pragatshil Savings & Credit Cooperative Society Ltd and the Navadurga Savings & Credit Cooperative Society Ltd were formed at JRDR and SSDR road corridors respectively with the support from RAP3 DTA, Kalikot. The training was facilitated by Mr Keshab Bahadur Thapa, former Undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperative and Sunil Babu Shrestha, SDO, RAP3 Kalikot.  In total eleven members of the two cooperatives participated in the training. After completion of training, Mr. Ramesh Kahtakho, ADTL and Mr Kesab Bdr Thapa jointly distributed the training completion certificates to the participants. Similarly, RAP3 provided a “Certificate of Appreciation” to the main trainer, Mr. Thapa for his contribution.

Infrastructure Development Office established in Achham
by: RAP 3      on: 10th Dec, 2018

After decommissioning of the District Technical Office (DTO) in Accham, a new office called the Infrastructure Development Office has been established under the Sudurpashim Province Government, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development, Transport Infrastructure Directorate in Achham, which will look after Achham and Bajura. The office is located at Sanfebagar and will help manage provincial road and bridge projects. Mr. Junga Bahadur Thapa has been appointed as the Chief Officer who was previously a DTO officer of Bajura. Since RMG budget for FY 075-76 has been allocated to the office, the office has decided to continue RMG works (which was stopped since Kartik 2075 due to uncertainty of GoN fund allocation) from the month of Mangsir 075. The office has also informed all local levels and RAP3 about the continuation of RMG works.

Inventory Survey Completed in Humla
by: RAP 3      on: 10th Dec, 2018

RAP3 DTA Shreenagar-Humla has completed an inventory survey of Galphagad-Shreenagar-Kalika District Road Corridor. The survey works was carried out over the entire corridor of 12.205 km from 2nd December 2018 to 5th December 2018. The survey team was comprised of GE, SAME, IoW and STSs. All the constructed structural works such as gabion walls, dry wall, composite walls (GW+DW), side drains, public utilities, bio-engineering works, cross drainage (causeways), irrigation canals were recorded into the prescribed inventory format provided by the TMO. Finally the recorded data will be transferred into the line diagram of inventory. Likewise, DTA has plans to conduct a total station survey from 2nd week of December 2018.

Bikash Ko Bato
by: RAP 3      on: 7th Dec, 2018
Bikash Ko Bato

 

Episode: 18/17                            Broadcast Date: 9th, 10th & 11th December 2018

 Issue: Internal Income of Local Government

 

 

Recently Bikash ko Bato has been discussing tax related issues because they are not well understood by local communities, in particular how the local taxes they pay is used for the development of their locality and are one of the main sources of internal income of their local government. This week the programme invites local representatives from Dailekh and Mugu municipalities to explain how the main sources of income of local government includes not only internal sources but also budgets from central and provincial sources. They will explain how this total budget is allocated to different developmental plans and programmes and why it is important for local communities to understand how this process works.

 

What happens to ex RBG members?
by: RAP 3      on: 5th Dec, 2018

Chetraj Giri (42 years old) and Ram Bahadur Thapa (50 years old) were members of Thakolghar and Budiganga Road Building Groups formed at Maure- Kailashmandu DR, Bajura. They have been working as RBG members for almost 4 years, where they learnt about construction technique of various different kind of structures such as; Gabion wall, Stone Soling and Dry wall construction.  After the completion of their assigned RBG tasks and subsequent drop in the volume of RAP3 work, these groups had been demobilised. Now Ram Bahadur and Chetraj are using the skills gained on RAP3 to work as masons on the construction of local buildings in their community. We wish them the very best for their future.