NGOs galore, Humla sees no change

RENU KSHETRY

HUMLA, Nov 16 - Laldhan Sunar of Dumpada, Simikot says he has taken numerous training sessions from livestock farming to micro-finance from various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) but none of them have helped to improve his economic condition. "They invite people like me to their training since we ...

Humla in remote western Nepal is still one of the most impoverished districts in the country although some 154 NGOs are working for a population numbering just 40,595 in all. There is a massive presence of NGOs, but it is really hard to see significant changes coming about in the lives of Humlis. They still complain about poor socio-economic conditions and lack of opportunities for the betterment of their lives.

According to locals, the people of Simikot and surrounding VDCs such as Chirpa, Kharpunath, Bargaun and others have taken at least five different training sessions from various NGOs.

According to the district development committee (DDC), the number of registered NGOs increased between 1999 to 2003 as the government involved local institutions and NGOs to implement its programmes during the conflict.

There are 46 NGOs registered in the district headquarters Simikot alone, while the rest are outside the town. Simikot has a population of 2,501, according to the census of 2001.  The majority of NGOs focus on poverty alleviation, electricity and solar energy, co-operatives, health and education, agriculture and forestry and tourism sector development.

"Of the 154 registered BGOs, only 20 are active," said Nain Bahadur Karki, acting chief district administrative officer. "We have received applications for six more NGOs.

He says there is a district-level committee to monitor the activities of the NGOs registered in the district.  "But since nobody files complaints, we cannot do anything," Karki said.

The NGOs have their own stories to tell. Basanti Shahi, executive director of Snowland Integrated Development Centre (SIDC), a local NGO working on agriculture, poverty alleviation through microfinance and hydropower energy since 1993, said the communities here have this concept that every single development work should be done by NGOs, donors and the government.

"Inability of NGOs to make the communities understand about their programmes, has led to this misconception. This, in turn, has backfired on the NGOs since they end up doing everything," says Shahi, a local from Simikot.

According to her, if an NGO-built irrigation canal needs some maintenance work later, communities, instead of taking the initiative to repair it, wait for some NGO to do the job.

The current emphasis on the rights of people without educating them on their responsibilities has made people's expectations too high, says a Humli who runs an NGOs in the district.

Karnajit Buda, CA member representing CPN (Maoist) from Humla says that most of the NGOs are doing good 'business' selling the name of impoverished Humlis.  "There has been no significant changes in the lives of local people despite the mushrooming of NGOs because the NGOs implement programmes for their own vested interests rather than for the benefit of the people," said Buda.

"I have already directed the chief district officer and local development officer not to approve any more programmes haphazardly as in the past," said Buda.

Buda, however. said that the work of the NGOs is really good and hence there needs to be a classification of the NGOs based on their performance. "We will soon look into that matter," he added.

Unlike Sunar, Karsangma Lama, a woman of Burgaun VDC of the district says that NGOs have made a very positive impact on her life. She received training on growing green vegetables using greenhouse - a revolutionary concept in Humla from USC, Canada nearly a decade ago. She has become a role model in cultivating green vegetables and is making money.

"Now NGOs should come up with a scheme to provide oil grinding machine to us as we have started cultivating mustard here. It will be a huge relief for locals who are compelling to pay Rs 300 per liter of cooking oil. For us those programmes will be effective that change  our lives directly," she says.