CHOICE Humanitarian’s expansion into 180 villages in the Lamjung District of Western Nepal has led to meaningful improvements in villager satisfaction and has contributed to a decline in the rate of extreme poverty in the region. CHOICE Humanitarian Nepal 18-Month Progress Report 2015 James Mayfield Bishnu Adhikari Todd Castagna Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 3 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 4 Background of CHOICE Humanitarian’s Engagement in Nepal ............................................... 4 Investment Summary and the Significant Reduction in Extreme Poverty ................................. 5 Section One: Background and Objectives ................................................................................... 10 A. ........................................................................................................ CHOICE Humanitarian’s Mission ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 B. Key Steps in the Development of the Nepal Self-Developing District Program ........... 10 C. Four Phases of the NSDP initiative .............................................................................. 162 D. Objectives of this Report ................................................................................................ 17 Section Two: Methodology – Sources for Measuring Change .................................................... 18 A. Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) ............................................................................... 18 B. 2013 Census ................................................................................................................... 19 C. 2015 Sample ................................................................................................................... 19 D. Challenges or Potential Survey Data Issues ................................................................... 19 Head of Household Gender and Age (Representative Sample) ................................................ 20 Section Three: The Challenge of Extreme Poverty ..................................................................... 22 A. The Reality of Extreme Poverty ..................................................................................... 22 B. Contrasts between the extreme poor and the non-extreme poor .................................... 28 Section Four: Project/Programs Implemented During the Past 18 Months .................................. 31 Development Projects/Programs: Types, Numbers, and Money Spent .................................... 33 Assessment of Development Projects ....................................................................................... 39 Section Five: Five Dimension Scoring and Improvement .......................................................... 40 Key Highlights .......................................................................................................................... 41 Section Six: Five WOWs and Corresponding Survey Results ..... Error! Bookmark not defined. Health ........................................................................................................................................ 42 Education .................................................................................................................................. 43 Income ....................................................................................................................................... 43 Environmental/Infrastructure .................................................................................................... 45 Leadership and Local Culture Enhancement ............................................................................ 46 Other Important Survey Observations ...................................................................................... 47 Section Seven: Go-Forward Plan ................................................................................................. 50 Section Eight: The April 2015 Earth Quake: Challenges and Opportunities .............................. 53 1 Section Nine: Conclusions ............................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 57 The Thirty Indicators of Program Progress .............................................................................. 57 Program Scoring by VDC ......................................................................................................... 58 List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ 60 Questionnaire Responses .......................................................................................................... 60 2 Acknowledgements This 18-month progress report of CHOICE Humanitarian’s work in Nepal was concluded through the efforts of several people, including James Mayfield, Bishnu Adhikari, Kiran Neupane, Todd Castagna, and David Sallay. The results of this Nepal Self Developing District Program (NSDP) would not have been possible without the generous donations of time and money from many individuals over the past nearly two years. We would also like to express appreciation for the Nepalese government and President Yadef for their support and continued interest in CHOICE’s program. Our expansion into 180 villages in West Central Nepal would not have been possible without their sustaining support. Lastly, the data, which was thoroughly and oftentimes painstakingly collected, is the result of countless hours spent by our Rural Development Facilitators (RDFs). Special thanks goes out to them and to all of the local CHOICE staff – including In-Country Director Bishnu Adhikari – for their hard work in making the dream of a poverty-free Nepal more of a reality. 3 Executive Summary Background of CHOICE Humanitarian’s Engagement in Nepal CHOICE Humanitarian is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that has been actively involved in poverty alleviation in Nepal for 15 years. During this time, we have been privileged to work alongside a people who have a rich culture and a strong desire to improve their lives and the lives of their children. With the encouragement and support of the Nepalese government, CHOICE has been able to expand its footprint in Nepal beginning in late 2013 via its Nepal Self Developing District Program (NSDP). CHOICE’s groundbreaking poverty alleviation methodologies will now be available to 180 villages containing approximately 75,000 people in the three market towns (and accompanying rural areas) of Bhorletar, Sundarbazar, and Besishahar in the Lamjung District of West Central Nepal. CHOICE’s overriding goal is to end extreme poverty and improve quality of life through a district-level, self-developing village-centered approach. Extreme poverty is today defined as people who live on less than $1.90 per day per capita. This means a family of four subsisting on less than $8.00 a day would be in living in extreme poverty. Village Development Committees (VDCs), composed of a collection of respected and democratically-elected village leaders, are being trained to understand the resources available to them and how to most effectively and efficiently improve the well-being of the people in their villages. VDCs over the past 18 months have generally selected programs and projects that fall into one of five major categories, known as the five dimensions of rural development: 1) Education (Adult Literacy) 2) Health and Nutrition 3) Income (Agriculture and Non Agriculture Enterprises) 4) Environmental/Infrastructure 5) Leadership and Local Cultural Enhancement (Core Values) CHOICE’s NSDP program in Nepal can be divided into the following four phases. CHOICE is pleased to report that as of the writing of this report, it has successfully navigated through phases one and two, and has already begun making significant progress in phase three. Phase One: Trust and Awareness Building: (First 3-6 Months – Second Half of 2013): In this entry phase, the CHOICE staff (20 Rural District Facilitators, or RDFs) were trained in processes of rural development, and the general strategy of the Nepal Self Developing District Program (NSDP). Through face-to-face interviews with all 13,000+ families in some 20 Village Development Committee (VDC) areas, the RDFs came to understand villagers’ problems, concerns, opinions, and goals for a better quality of life. This effort to visit every family in these VDC areas has proven to be an innovative and crucial way of preparing the RDFs in several aspects. First, it helps them to truly understand the villagers and their present situation, second, it helps to build a relationship of trust and mutual respect between RDFs and villagers, and third, it facilitate villagers’ ability to take responsibility for their own development and improvement. 4 Phase Two: Strengthening Village Leadership (12-18 months – 2014-2015) Working with formal and informal leaders (both men and women, both young and elderly, both upper and lower poor), CHOICE-trained RDFs introduced a leadership training curriculum designed