COMMUNITY RESILIENCE, NUWAKOT DISTRICT, NEPAL

The team travelled to Nuwakot recently, just ahead of the monsoon which will make travel there difficult soon.  During the visit, the team assessed the standards of cleanliness and environment in each of several villages. It was great to see improved domestic hygiene, good hand washing practices in place, clean and hygienic food preparation areas, well tended kitchen gardens and irrigation channels.

Parent education talks on nutrition were delivered to communities. A menstrual hygiene management sub programme was kick started with a rapid survey of teenage girls at three schools to assess their knowledge on menstruation, influence of cultural taboos and facilities at schools. This will be followed up with more educational sessions, reusable pad making and regular inspection of school toilets and disposal facilities.

Local people are showing great signs of resilience in the ways that they are planting rice, growing vegetables in kitchen gardens and ensuring living spaces are clean and tidy. Household toilets are showing great improvements in terms of cleanliness. Schools too have worked to clean their environments and children have been conducting rubbish clean ups. School toilets are being inspected regularly as well as hand washing facilities.

Local community mobilsers meet often and work with school communities to improve environmental awareness and ensure school facilities are clean and tidy. They have also been trained on giving community education talks. 

It is wonderful to see improved awareness in the majority of the communities that are part of this programme. We continue to work to educate people about junk food, not throwing rubbish and growing awareness about trafficking, domestic violence and keeping girls in schools.