One Development Opportunity Leads to Another

1. One Development OpportunityLeads to Another NEWAH’s Experience of promoting kitchen gardening in WATSAN projectsin Nepal Presenter: Labahari BudhathokiMUS Group Meeting, Delft, The Netherlands 13 February 2007

2. Presentation structure • Introduction to Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH) • General context of kitchen gardening in Nepal’s remote rural sector • Rationale for promoting kitchen gardening in NEWAH programmes • What is waste water? • Possible activities for waste water reuse • Policy interventions to promote livelihood through the use of waste water • Community level support • Evident impact through the use of waste water • Challenges • Lessons • Conclusion

3. Introduction to NEWAH • Established in 1992 as a national level NGO working in the water and sanitation sector in rural parts of Nepal • Vision: Improved quality of life (socio-economic status) of all Nepali people through Water, Health and Sanitation services • Operating through regional offices throughout the five development regions of Nepal with 140 regular staff • Supports to implement WHS projects in partnership with local bodies, NGOs, CBOs and users groups in communities • Gender and Poverty Sensitive (GAP) approach followed at institutional and programme level • Served 0.9 million beneficiaries through 880 projects with the support of over 400 local partners in 50 districts of the country • WHS programme linked to livelihood opportunities - kitchen gardening, saving and credit, biogas, improved cooking stove etc.

5. General context of kitchen gardening in Nepal’s remote rural sector • Limited technical knowledge on kitchen gardening at community level • Inaccessibility or unavailability of improved vegetable seeds in the local markets • Inadequate water to maintain a kitchen garden in communities • Lack of awareness on the importance of vegetable consumption for good health • High risk of malnutrition / nourishment due to poor consumption of green vegetables • Shortage of cereal crops due to less vegetable consumption pattern • Significant time consumption due to sources located far off, limiting time for other activities

6. Rationale for promoting kitchen gardening in NEWAH programmes • To support in improving livelihoods of communities through optimum utilisation of water made available • Greater use of kitchen garden due to the combination of increased water supply and livelihood supporting activities as per the findings of GAP pilot assessment • To contribute in achieving the MDG No. 1 on poverty reduction • To support the sustainability of water and sanitation schemes through increased income • To help improve the general health status in communities

7. What is waste water? • Used water for personal hygiene activities such as bathing, washing clothes, hand and foot washing • Used water for washing dishes • Used water for washing vegetables (note: all these activities take place at the tap stand and water flowing from these get collected in a waste water pit located below the tap stand) • Over flow water from reservoir tanks

8. Possible activities for waste water reuse • Irrigating kitchen gardens • Small scale fish farming • To extinguish fire incase of an outbreak • Cooling the engines in grinding mill • Water for livestock

10. Policy interventions to promote livelihood through the use of waste water • Kitchen gardening provisions introduced in GAP approach and policies • Training to staff on kitchen gardening promotion • Existing guidelines and manuals collected to facilitate kitchen gardening in communities • Working procedures on kitchen gardening prepared • Review meetings carried out timely and working process improved • Water scheme designed to supply 20% more water for other uses such as kitchen gardening incase of enough water available at source • Supported to improve the irrigation canals and ponds located within the project area of the proposed source

11. Community level support • Community level training on kitchen gardening to all the members of the users committee, community health volunteers, caretaker and sanitation masons • Demonstration kitchen garden displayed along with practical knowledge during training • Drip irrigation technology introduced in the community • Four to five different seed variety provided to poorest of the poor households to initiate kitchen gardening activity

13. Seeds provided and a revolving fund made available to the users committee • Kitchen gardening awareness generated through household visits, community mass gatherings and in all the tole (cluster) education groups through project staff mobilised • Facilitated to introduce coordination/linkage with sector GOs, I/NGOs for technical support to ensure sustainability of kitchen gardening practices

14. Evident impact through the use of waste water • Increase in kitchen gardening practices leading communities towards economic growth • Increase in production, consumption and sale of vegetables in the market • Crops saved at household level due to kitchen garden promotion • Access to greater income for women and support to their empowerment • Improvement in health status and reduction in health expenses

16. “It is good for the farmers here that the system of exchanging paddy for vegetables has ended. Even if they do not sell their vegetables in the market, their crops are saved up in their own houses,” says Narayan Bhattarai a local resident of Nepaltar bazaar.

17. Urmila Dahal, Udayapur, Nepal Urmila has bought two goats worth Rs. 4000 (approximately 44 Euro) from the money saved through the sale of the vegetables. She assumes that after rearing them for a year she can sell them for more than double the price she invested on them. Urmila Dahal, Udayapur, Nepal

18. According to Mahendra Bahadur Biswakarma the maintenance caretaker from the Sandane project since the intake of vegetables in the communities there have been improvements in people’s health. He says, “Before we ate anything dull or dry, but now we have more than enough vegetables to eat with our rice. I have become stronger as compared to before eating the vegetables.”

19. Environmental balance maintained (more greenery, prevention of small water sources from drying up) • Kitchen gardening using waste water a regular activity for women and men in communities • Grinding mill established in the community saving women’s time • Increase in kitchen gardening practices in neighbouring communites • Support to children’s education • Support to the sustainability and greater ownership over the project • Increase in the awareness about the importance of water

20. Baburam Khatiwada of Bhalaya Danda in Nepaltar valley says, “I came to realise that vegetable farming is four times more profitable than cereal crops after watching farmers from Jagretar grow vegetables and sell them in the market.”

21. The money I earn selling vegetables is enough to buy salt, oil, kerosene, soap, spices and copy & pencils for my children. Kitchen gardening has actually served to meet our daily expenses Parbati Bhandari, Sanodhappar, Udayapur

22. Challenges • Lack of technical and other support from the concerned bodies at local level • Lack of know-how in dealing with insects and plant diseases • Kitchen gardening not possible for all the households in communities due to tap location and lack of adequate water sources • Limited water preventing kitchen gardening on a large scale • Limited access to markets • Drip irrigation technology unaffordable for all the community members • Unavailability of qualitative seeds in the local markets • Mismanagement of waste water may lead to spread of diseases and sometimes to major accidents

23. Lessons • Greater productivity and adaptability of locally produced seeds than advanced/imported seeds • Support in mobilisation of regular maintenance fund • Experience sharing helpful to resolve problems related to kitchen gardening • Replicable in other communities • Production of off seasonal vegetables supports to increase income • Possible to facilitate kitchen gardening in regular WATSAN projects in hill areas through allocation of additional funds amounting to 110 – 115 Euros for a project size of 100 households • Possible to earn an annual income of 5 -176 Euros through vegetable production in a kitchen garden sized 200 – 3600 square ft. (apart from daily consumption)

24. Conclusion • The positive impact brought about as a result of a drinking water project initiating kitchen gardening practices can truly be considered an example of one development opportunity leads to another. • Long term impact on poverty reduction: for e.g.. positive improvements in community health, women’s empowerment and increase in women’s accessibility to income and support to livelihood opportunities • Indigenous knowledge at community level can be further harnessed through external interventions

25. Thank you Any ?s Please