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“...HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies Volume 37 | Number 2 Article 11 December 2017 Disaster Governance and Challenges in a Rural Nepali Community: Notes from Future Village NGO Lai Ming Lam Osaka University, christieJaiJam@gmail.com Varun Khanna Osaka University, varun.osakauni@gmail.com Rob Kuipers Osaka University, rob_kuipers@icloud.com Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya Recommended Citation Lam, Lai Ming; Khanna, Varun; and Kuipers, Rob (2017) "Disaster Governance and Challenges in a Rural Nepali Community: Notes from Future Village NGO," HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies: Vol. 37 : No. 2, Article 11. Available at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya/vol37/iss2/11 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Macalester College This Perspectives is brought to you for free and open access by the DigitalCommons(2)Macalester College...”
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“...ts We wish to acknowledge the financial support provided by Osaka University for this research project. Furthermore^ we gratefully appreciate government officials; NGOs workers; scholars to share their disaster relief and recovery experiences with us. Finally we are very grateful to the many villagers in our research area who shared their views on; and experiences of; hope and hopelessness in post-earthquake time. This perspectives is available in HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies: http:/ / digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya/vol37/iss2/11...”
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“...Disaster Governance and Challenges in a Rural Nepali Community: Notes from Future Village NGO Lai Ming Lam Varun Khanna Rob Kuipers More than two years after the 2015 earthquakes devastated Nepal, Katunge village in Dhading district, Nepal, remained as destroyed as it was right after the earthquake. While the villagers were rather hopeful about rebuilding their houses and lives during the immediate relief effort in which we engaged, one month after the earthquake, now only a few are confident that they will ever rebuild their homes. In this article, we describe the reconstruction progress, followed by a critique of why the reconstruction progress has been so slow. We conclude with reflections on reconstruction challenges interwoven into the context of our NGO experience. During our trips to the region, we have observed and experienced the difficulties people and organizations are facing in the reconstruction process. We interviewed government officials and NGOs that have been involved in...”
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“...places in Nepal in September 2016. Having been involved for years with a grassroots Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) called Future Village, we decided to provide emergency relief and establish a reconstruction project in our project area, Katunge village, in Dhading district.1 While prior to the earthquake our NGO mainly focused on providing free education and health care to the most disadvantaged families in the village, our efforts after the earthquake focused on supporting and assisting all affected families. Since the earthquake we have made several visits to Nepal to con- tribute to the project and to study the post-earthquake situation. During our trips, we have observed and experi- enced the difficulties people and organizations are facing as they try to rebuild, and have spoken to several govern- ment officials and NGOs that have been involved in the reconstruction. In this article, we discuss our perspectives on the reasons why the reconstruction progress in Nepal has been slow;...”
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“...donors held in June 2015. During this conference, donor countries pledged nearly 4.1 billion USD for the long-term recovery of Nepal, a level of commitment that surprised many, and covers just under half of the 9.18 billion USD the Nepali government now expects will be needed to rebuild the country. In return, the Nepali government promised to establish a national reconstruction authority that would centrally organize all the reconstruction efforts and ensure they are carried out expeditiously and fairly. Indeed, the government was able to rapidly map the needs and damage in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and communicate those needs to international donors, which was promising. This makes it even more disappointing that the reconstruction prog- ress has been slow, despite the availability of extensive resources (Nikhil 2016). What's Wrong with Rebuilding Nepal? The slow progress of post-earthquake reconstruction is in part the result of deeper socio-political conflicts in the Nepali...”
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“...disaster-af- fected communities to self-recover by reinforcing their local knowledge and community resources. Nepal has faced many governance challenges in the post-disaster period. Political dysfunction resulted in a serious delay in the establishment of a reconstruction authority. During the Donor Conference in June 2015, the Nepali government promised to establish the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). This authority was supposed to oversee all reconstruction work includ- ing eligibility assessment, project approval and policy implementation. It was also responsible for coordinat- ing, guiding and supporting the activities of ministries, local authorities and partner organizations (HRRP 2017). Despite the crucial need for the establishment of the NRA, the authority was only established in January 2016 after several delays. During these eight months from June to January, Nepal was left without an official national recon- struction policy. The delay in establishing the NRA clearly reflected...”
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“...post-earthquake scenario is the lack of trust between NGOs and the government of Nepal. In our discussions with national and international non-governmental aid (NGOs/lNGOs) workers, respon- dents stated that they were confused about the frequent changes in the reconstruction policy and admitted that the one-door system where all reconstruction projects had get approval from NRA weakened their autonomy. On September 9, 2016, when we were on our way to meet officers from an INGO, we suddenly heard the news that the newly-appointed Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, had proposed to increase the housing grant from NRs. 200,000 to NRs. 300,000. Together with a proposed low interest rate loan, the new housing package for each eligible household would be up to NRs. 800,000. The INGO officers were shocked and suspected this may be just another ploy to obtain popularity, as it did not seem realistic in a poor country like Nepal. One officer asserted that “this amount is huge even for people living in...”
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“...NGO governance in the post-earth- quake context. While the number of NGOs and INGOs in Nepal has increased dramatically in the past three decades, their governance has long been questioned due to their lack of transparency in the monitoring and evaluation of project expenses and of their general activities (Dhakal 2007). This explains why the guideline requires at least 80% of an organization’s total project budget to be allocated to project activities, not staff salaries and traveling expenses, which is fair. However, this attempt to avoid corruption and mismanagement in NGOs has resulted in many NGOs simply giving up on their house rebuilding plans, or allo- cating funds to other recovery activities. It is estimated that less than 2% of the rebuilding of private houses will be supported by non-governmental organizations. The NGOs are very suspicious of the one-door recon- struction approach in Nepal. Some NGOs are concerned that they will not be able to be accountable to their donors for...”
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“...coordination existed among NGOs, we could distribute resources wisely and widely so that more schools could be benefited faster. The sustainability of the top-down reconstruction approach has been a serious concern. In our two-year observation, the coordination between the State, the NGOs and INGOs, as well as local communities, has been very limited. Instead of simply offering financial resources in an efficient way, we believe that good governance and effective coordination will determine whether Nepal can be rebuild. Our NGO experience in post-disaster recon- struction clearly demonstrates that there is reason hope for revitalization as well as immense hopelessness. Hope and Hopelessness: Future Village Housing Reconstruction Experiences The earthquake caused extensive damage in the rural vil- lages outside of Kathmandu, and the Future Village project area was no exception. All the houses had collapsed, and some people were killed. Most local school buildings were destroyed, villagers had no...”
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“...also formed to coordinate this rebuilding work. Implementing Reconstruction As the community agreed with the implementation of our reconstruction project, we decided to ship the first batch of steel frames from China (the only country close to Nepal where such frames are currently made) to Katunge in December 2015. During this period, we first encountered the political dysfunction in the post-earthquake period: as there was no policy established for reconstruction projects, the authorities were not willing to allow our frames to enter Nepal at the border. In the days that followed, it was difficult to talk to the authorities, and the responses they gave us were contradictory. In the end, we finally gained approval to transport the frames into Nepal, however, we were fined a heavy tax as the customs office was only willing to approve 82 HIMALAYA Fall2017...”
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“...neither heard anything back from local govern- ment officials nor from the NRA. This has made it difficult for our organization to make long-term plans. Indeed, their bureaucratic-bureaucracy, which included inconsistent information, as well as unclear systems, procedures, delays, and negative responses from reconstruction authorities, discouraged many NGOs like ours from continuing to con- tribute to the post-earthquake revitalization effort. Two years have now passed since the earthquake hit Nepal and since we first started to contribute to its revitalization, we have helped to build 27 earthquake resistant houses, one temporary school, one community center, one multi-pur- pose education center and seven earthquake resistant classrooms. We still have funding left to build a few more houses, but it is difficult to plan what further steps we can take due to the lack of government support, complicated bureaucratic processes and changing attitudes among the villagers who are largely affected...”
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“...need to build them so that they will survive well into the future. We talk about equality in rebuilding, but not about justice for the most vulnerable. These man-made aspects of the disaster that hinder revitalization of communities after natural calamities can only be resolved when all social institutions work together cohesively to create a better human society. By mobilizing earthquake victims, it is possible to rebuild houses and revitalize communities; conversely, little progress to rebuild Nepal can be made so long as both poor governance, and poor or no coordination between major reconstruction actors, prevail. Postscript After two years, the reconstruction process remains onerous. Out of the 750 affected national heritage sites, the NRA has completed the reconstruction of 20, while 132 are still under construction. In the private housing sector, 554,996 households (86% of eligible households) have received their first reconstruction installment, 14,466 households have been verified...”
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“...She has been carrying out research on the welfare impact of conservation-led displacement on local communities, particularly in Nepal, since 2002. Over the past 11 years she had dedicated her life to improving the livelihoods of rural populations, and she is the founder of Future Village Nepal. When the 2015 earthquake hit rural Nepal, her NGO not only provided emergency relief, but also implemented long-term disaster recovery and reconstruction projects. Varun Khanna is a scholar with interests in Education, Globalization and Development at the School of Human Sciences at Osaka University, and a European Commission fellow with a concurrent position at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, University of Amsterdam, and University of Oslo. He is also part of the project panel for The Chance Initiative and Future Village, NGOs in Nepal. He has previously held other nonprofit positions such as National Vice President of Stonewall Japan, Vice Chair of Foreign Ci...”
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“...Society Governance in Nepal. Journal of Administration and Governance 2(1): 61-73 (Accessed on November 2, 2016). Jaiswal, Pramod. ed. 2016. Constitution of Nepal: Evolution, Development and Debates. New Delhi: G.B. Books. Jalai, Rita. 2002. Civil Society and the State: Turkey After the Earthquake. Disasters 26 (3): 120-139. HRRP. 2017. Nepal Earthquake 2015: Housing Reconstruction Two Years On. Housing Recovery and Reconstruction Platform. Version 1. National Planning Commission. 2015. Post Disaster Needs Assessment. Government of Nepal. (Accessed on January 3, 2017). National Reconstruction Authority. 2016. Rebuilding Nepal, (Accessed on October 26, 2016). ------. 2017. Rebuilding Nepal, (Accessed on May 15, 2017). Nepal Economic Forum. 2016. Economic...”