Disaster Response Nepal Project #20368

Nepal Earthquake

by The dZi Foundation

Project Report | Dec 28, 2016
Sisu Secondary School in Maheswori, Nepal

By Mark Rikkers | Executive Director

Community member transporting materials

Overview

dZi Foundation has been working in very remote communities in Nepal since 1998. Our work has made a tremendous impact in these communities, which have seen little or no support from the Nepal Government or other sources. dZi Foundation and Global Giving have partnered to build an earthquake safe 6-classroom building for the Sisu Secondary School in the very remote community of Maheshwori in Khotang district, Nepal. This school has a total of 12 classrooms, 6 of which were damaged beyond repair by the April 25^th, 2015, earthquake. This new building will provide a safe and child-friendly learning environment for 284 students each year studying in grades one to ten. This project will build upon the combination of our experience with earthquake safe design and construction, and our long-standing connection to the community of Maheshwori.

Project Need:

The village of Maheshwori is one of the most remote inhabited communities in Nepal. To reach here, one must walk for nearly two days from the nearest reliable airstrip or road. The communities here exist much as they have for centuries, depending upon subsistence farming and traditional healing practices.

The earthquakes on April 25 and May 12^th of t2015 totally destroyed about 1/3 of all homes in Maheswori; the remaining 2/3 were all damaged and needed repair. Additionally, some 70% of all public infrastructure including schools and community buildings were totally destroyed. Miraculously, the earthquakes both occurred on days when schools were not in session, saving students and staff from major injury, or worse. Some children in the community were injured in the earthquakes, and parents, staff and students alike reported significant fear around returning to school. The Sisu Secondary School is the only option for young children in Maheswori, and children already walk upwards of an hour from their homes to reach there.

Construction of a new, safe school will go a tremendous distance towards helping community members heal and attend school without fear, and will ensure that students can continue with their education. Again, this building will serve 284 students from an extremely poor community. The final classrooms will be bright, clean, and provide an excellent learning environment for students. The building will be constructed to a rigorous engineering standard that is designed specifically to withstand future seismic shocks.

Strategy:

This project will be implemented in a manner modeled after our proven earthquake safe school construction techniques. The building will incorporate a site-specific design by a certified engineer, and will incorporate techniques and guidelines established by government bodies including the Department of Education and the National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET).

As with our previous earthquake safe school building construction projects, this project will also be completed with substantial amounts of local contribution. In the past, community members have donated extremely high levels of local materials and labor to our projects - equivalent to nearly 15 % of the overall project budget. The community in Maheswori has committed a similar amount to this project.

Activities and Anticipated Outcomes:

dZi has finalized most of the preliminary work leading up to the actual construction of this school. We are currently procuring and transporting materials to the project site. Below is a high level timeline for the project as a whole:

Design and estimation of the projects by certified engineer - July 2016.
Meeting with the School Management Committee, parents, and community members to form a local Construction Committee - August 2016.
Pre-construction trainings given to local masons, and construction committee members; community members mobilized to begin local contribution of materials and labor – December 2016
Procurement and transportation of building materials; construction of actual school building; providing regular oversight and monitoring for quality of construction – December 2016 - June 2017
Final reporting, building inspection and certification by engineer, and public audit process – July 2017
Coordinating with district Government agencies to register the earthquake resistant school building construction, and handover to local school management committee - July 2017
Monitoring and Evaluation of the project outcomes – Ongoing.

In summary, with Global Giving's direct support, dZi Foundation and the community members of Maheswori are beginning an important new project in one of the most remote villages of Nepal. Upon completion, 284 students will study in safe classrooms, and their vulnerability to injury from further earthquakes will be greatly reduced. Students, staff and parents will no longer be afraid to attend school, and the quality of education will be improved through a significantly improved learning environment.

Thank you to everyone involved in supporting this project. We will update everyone with photos and stories from the project once we actually break ground! Happy New Year and Namaste from everyone at dZi, both in Nepal and the US.

Locals digging foundation for a school

Transparency:Public Audit banners at project sites

Students in a damaged and unsafe classroom

Links:

Learn More about dZi Foundation's Work Here !

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Oct 2, 2016
Mistakes led dZi Foundation to Change Fiscal Year!

By Mark Rikkers | Executive Director

"We can't close the school windows."

At dZi Foundation, we are proud of our mistakes; they are what help us learn to do even better. We go to great lengths to listen to community members, to learn from our past experiences, and to troubleshoot before we begin new projects.

We strive to be a true learning organization, and to be flexible and agile so that we can respond to changes as they occur. One of the major sources of learning for us is our project evaluations. We evaluate each project and collect community feedback to understand impacts, challenges, and what we could do better next time. When looking at our evaluation data, we noticed that 70% of evaluations noted that the timing of projects was a significant challenge.

Last year, we made a massive organizational change to address a need that community members were voicing subtly over a number of years. As a US-based organization, it made sense to pin our fiscal year to the standard Western calendar that starts on January 1st. This made financial record keeping and yearly auditing much easier on the US side, and we aligned our Nepal office records to match.

Accordingly, our projects all broke ground in January – right in the middle of the dry season. This then only allowed for five months of good weather before the monsoon rains began – not enough time to complete a major construction project like a school.

One unintended consequence of this short timeline meant that the wood used for construction often did not have time to properly dry after it was cut to specifications. This led to warped window and door frames which would only close with great effort.

Monsoon is also a time where community members are extremely busy working in the fields to plant their annual rice harvest. Asking for local contribution to projects during this time would put undue pressure on local families, not to mention the fact that working in the rain is miserable.

Travel and transporting materials during the monsoon is extremely dangerous due to flooding and extremely slippery trails. Projects that carryover into the monsoon put local community members at greater risk of injury while contributing local materials.

In response to this clear message, we began the process of shifting our official fiscal year to match the Nepali fiscal year which begins in July. This required a fair amount of juggling and reworking our financial systems – but it was well worth it. We officially began our new fiscal year on July 1st, 2015.

Changing our fiscal year, and in turn the timing of our project cycle, has made our construction work even stronger and more in sync with the natural seasons in our partner communities. Now, our community partners can prepare for the construction season by purchasing materials and preparing construction sites during the monsoons. This is followed by eight months of continuous good weather and the bulk of construction happening when community members have more time to contribute.

While something like when we choose to close our books may seem at the outset to have little bearing upon the lives of our community partners, it can actually make the difference between a door that opens or a door that is permanently shut. We are certain, as well, that this isn’t the last aspect of our work that will need to be reflected upon and improved. Indeed, we are looking forward to our next mistake – as this provides us with another opportunity to listen, to learn, and to do even better.

Transporting materials in Monsoon is challenging!

Our old Fiscal Year and Project Cycle

New Fiscal Year is much better for project cycle!

Links:

Read about it on our website!

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Aug 22, 2016
In Nepal -- When it Rains it Pours

By Mark Rikkers | Executive Director

Children cross a landslide on the way to school

The monsoon rains have struck Nepal with an unusual ferocity this year, adding to the woes of a country already reeling from political instability and the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes. The Nepal Government has issued flood warnings along nearly all of Nepal's major rivers, and landslides on slopes loosened by last year's earthquakes have been rampant. In the past two weeks alone, over eighty people have died in landslides or flooding incidents and thousands of houses have been destroyed.

"The landslide above our village is still active. We have cut a small channel to divert the water, but we are still scared every time it rains. I can't sleep at night because I'm scared," states JB Rai - a community leader in the village of Chachalung. The steep valleys and extremely rough terrain in our working areas makes our partner communities particularly vulnerable to landslides. In the village of Cheskam, 14 houses have been lost already this season - with over fifty residents now living in temporary shelters.

Communities also become cut off from essential health services, schools or access to markets when landslides block roads or stream crossings become impassible.

While we cannot control the weather, our model helps our partner communities overcome whatever challenges they face. We have constructed ten bridges to make travel during the monsoon safer for children and families, and we are working closely with vulnerable communities to come up with strategies to help slow landslides and stabilize soils disturbed during the earthquakes.

Resiliency is a product of teamwork. In our rapidly changing world, predicting future crises is less important than knowing who we can count upon for support when those crises occur. Our community partners know they can count upon their own neighbors, and upon dZi. This has been made possible, in turn, by your ongoing support. Come rain or shine, we're grateful to be in this together. Learn more through the links below.

Link: Central drinking water saves students time

Link: Meet dZi's Program Officer Rupak Maharjan

Links:

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