Healthcare & Education in the Hidden Himalayas

Dear Supporter,

Our programs are evaluated and monitored by the government, represented by the Social Welfare Council (SWC). Earlier this year a monitoring and evaluation team of the SWC conducted and submitted an extensive evaluation study, covering the last 5 years, on The Nepal Trust’s programs and projects in Nepal to the central Nepal government.

Linkage with the Government of Nepal policy in the report

The Nepal Trust and its partner organizations are committed to enhancing the Government of Nepal's initiatives in collaboration with local communities in the project areas.  They aim to address the communities' needs for improved access to fundamental services such as healthcare, education, agriculture, food security, clean water, employment, and sustainable energy resources. The Trust's contribution lies in empowering underprivileged communities to enhance their own quality of life.  The Nepal Trust has taken into consideration a range of government priority plans, including the National Health Strategic Plan (1997-2017), the National Safe Motherhood & Newborn Health Long-Term Plan (2006-2017), the Agriculture Perspective Plan (1997-2017), the Renewable Energy Subsidy Policy (2016), the Post-Disaster Recovery Framework (2016-2020), and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) while implementing the project activities.

Strengths

The Nepal Trust boasts an extensive track record spanning more than 25 years of engagement in Nepal. Its primary objective centers on collaborating with local communities to empower them through capacity-building initiatives. The organization has been successful in promoting awareness regarding girls' hygiene and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) activities among others. 

Notably, the organization has established an effective network for coordination. The allocated funds appear to be judiciously utilized; meeting compliance conditions outlined in agreements. A noteworthy aspect is the unwavering support provided by the Nepal Trust UK Donors, sustaining project activities for over two and a half decades as of now.

Opportunities

This initiative has been executed in an extremely isolated and economically disadvantaged region of the Himalayas in Nepal, called Humla. As a result, the endeavors of the project have the capacity to instigate significant positive transformations in the designated districts, particularly in those that are remote and underserved.

Sustainability

The Nepal Trust actively involves local communities in its initiatives, encouraging them to secure local funding as a means of contributing to projects. This approach aims to establish a sense of ownership by the local government and helps to create a sense of ownership and motivation within communities, fostering their ability to sustain and care for their assets. Additionally, the Trust assists communities in tasks such as local grant writing and obtaining subsidies, establishing connections with local agencies and government bodies to enhance collaboration for long-term success. 

Beneficiaries expressed a strong desire for the program to continue, signaling their willingness to play an active and proactive role in supporting ongoing development efforts. 

Impact

In the healthcare sector, the project in Humla focused on community health, constructing health facilities, providing medicines and medical equipment, and raising awareness, particularly amongst women's groups, children, and maternal healthcare. Other efforts included child health education programs, such as the Little Doctors initiative, benefiting over 330 students, and support for government health facilities. 

In the education sector, the project contributed to the construction and repair of school buildings in various locations, providing libraries, capacity-building programs, and educational materials.  The project has generated lasting impacts across various dimensions in the project districts, including social, economic, behavioral, environmental, and infrastructural aspects. These effects are expected to persist even after the project concludes.  

All the health clinics from the project have now been brought under the government system in close coordination with the HO and respective local bodies. It also paves the path of sustainability through the transformation of resources and responsibility to the government to continue the services in future. Likewise, schools that have been constructed through the support of the project and have also been handed over to the government for their proper operation.

The overall performance of projects undertaken by Nepal Trust UK has been commendable, reaching a substantial number of beneficiaries and achieving the desired project outputs. Through analysis and on-site visits, the financial performance of the project has proven to be highly satisfactory.  In all it goes without saying that your valuable contributions and support towards us made a significant impact, over the last 5 years, in which over 35,000 treatments took place and many lives have been helped.

On a very sad note we have to inform you that one of our main supporters and past chairman of The Nepal Trust, Tony Sharpe, has passed away at the age of 84 last week.  Many of our supporters will have known Tony through the years of attending our AGMs, or perhaps even trekked with Tony in Nepal.  We send our sympathies to Pat and family at this very difficult time.  Tony was a pillar in making the Trust a success and was a life-long supporter.  We are sure he was very proud of what we, together with you as our supporters, have accomplished over the last years to help those in need in Nepal.

Rest in peace Tony.

We hope that we can carry on to do him proud and will continue our work with your support through this GlobalGiving platform, that Tony helped connect us with. We hope that in the upcoming years we can help many more people in need as well.

Namaste,

Jeroen and Anna, on behalf of The Nepal Trust team.

Links:

• Donate here

Dear Supporters

In our last report, we set out our plans for the Nepal Trust Healthcare and Education Programmes in the Hidden Himalayas through to 2028 and hopefully, with your continued support, beyond.

These followed the deliberations surrounding the restructuring of our UK Board and the reshaping of working arrangements with international partners, but were very much based on the input and feedback from the members of staff at SHIP, our local delivery partner.  They are responsible for the delivery of the healthcare programme across Humla, with input from individual members of the local communities.

The continued delivery of our Little Doctors and Mother and Child health awareness programmes remains core to our plans, as does our aspiration to launch an adult First Aid and Health Awareness programme. Over many years of operating in Humla, we are well aware that funding education in healthcare and hygiene is as important as the provision of medicines and treatments.

In this report, we are sharing with you some of the feedback received from one of our health workers, Prajit, one mother, Jaspuri, with small children in Bargaun village, and a grandmother, Nakder, along with some facts and figures relating to the programme outcomes in 2023.

Jaspuri earns her living in agriculture and has had 7 children, one of whom sadly died. After her first baby died, she asked for help from a traditional birthing helper for her next deliveries, which were successful. The babies were delivered at home with help from the birthing helper, but after delivery she was always weak as she did not receive any additional care or support, nor nourishing food.  She has very little knowledge of child birth issues and her family are not able to give her much information.

Nakder also worked in agriculture, now aged 92, only helps in the simpler tasks, made similar comments and observations. She had 13 children, of which 5 died and only 8 survived. Her views were that it was very difficult to be pregnant when she was young, as at that time there were no health services available at all, and there was no opportunity to get a health check-up, or get advice and information on pregancy, delivery and aftercare; also due to lack of food she suffered malnutrition after her deliveries, which made her feel very weak.

When she was young, the government was not able to provide health services. At that time, people were ashamed of talking about these issues with other people and she did not think too much about the future and just had many babies because society demanded it. But now, she observed, there has been a significant change in her village due to the arrival of the birthing center constructed by Nepal Trust. However she cautioned many people still lack awareness and education and not all receive proper help even when it’s available:  more educaton in the village is required. Nevertheless, she is happy with the progress achieved and that her children and grandchildren can have better health services in comparison to when she was young.

From these two stories, which have been repeated many times, you can appreciate why our mother and child healthcare programme needs to maintain its focus on education and awareness.

Prajit, a Health Assistant at the Simikot hospital, views the benefit of the Nepal Trust birthing centers and health posts is giving an easy and accessible way of getting health services and addressing problems with basic treatments. Not only can villagers come to talk about their problems, but also they can get information which raises their awareness on health issues.

Prajit would like to see more centers with sufficient medical equipment, as to enable local healthworkers to carry out their work. However as the government lacks the funds to provide this, the communities remain dependant on other organizations such as the Nepal Trust to achieve this aim.

Slowly people are recognising the difference between modern healthcare and the traditional ones and more and more people are accepting modern healthcare methods which they see are proven to work. He see’s the Nepal Trust Little Doctors programme, which we plan to continue delivering for many years to come, as a vital component in maintaining this trend.  However a core problem remains - people often don’t have access to such services and do not have enough money to pay for treatments.

We have already built 8 primary healthcare posts with birthing centres, yet in Prajit’s opinion more are needed. In Humla, the villages are scattered around and it can take hours if not days to reach a nearby health post. More clinics are needed at strategic locations, though of course funding them would be a real challenge.

Turning now to facts and figures in the period April to June 2023, the following treatments were recorded across the Nepal Trust clinics in Humla:

• Water/Food borne illnesses (dysentery, diarrhoea,...)   428
• Other infections (Bronchitis, pneumonia,...)                   674
• Nutritional related                                                             42
• Skin diseases                                                                 313
• Nose & Throat Infections                                                251
• Oral and dental issues                                                     96
• Eye problems                                                                   66
• Obstetric and Gynae Problems                                        90
• Cancer related                                                                168
• Falls and Injuries                                                             895                                                                                

Going forward the provision of treatments and cares for diseases and incidents will also remain at the core of our programme. Your continued support is making a real difference.

Thank you and Namaste