Generating A New Hope

Despite the intensification of Maoist insurgency and absence of elected representatives at the local level, Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Program (TRPAP) has become a boon to the conflict prone areas of Chitwan district. The successful implementation of TRPAP in hilly areas of Chitwan shows that the active participation of local community can make a lot of difference even in conflict hit areas. At a time when the government agencies are unable to execute the development projects in many rural parts of the country, the TRPAP has won overwhelming supports from the local people including all political sides. As new infrastructures have already been constructed and institutions are established, three hilly villages of Chitwan can become a model on how tourism can help to alleviate the poverty
KESHAB POUDEL, in Shaktikhor village of Chitwan
Although the escalation of the conflict has stalled the flow of tourists, Hugdi, 90 kilometers west on the side of Pokhara highway, and Shaktikhor, a foot hill of Mahabharat range, 20 kilometers north east of Bharatpur, have already been linked as a trekking route between mountain and plain up to the Royal Chitwan National Park bringing opportunities to transform the lives of people living in four villages of Chitwan district.
Chepang Village in Chitwan : Unique destination for culture tourism
From Sirachuli mountain peak, from where one can see splendid view of sunrise, to Chepang Hill Trekking trail and houses of Gurung, Magar, Chepang and Tamang cultures, one can find all kinds of rural tourist attractions in this area before entering to the Royal Chitwan National Park to enjoy the nature and wildlife.
Ignored and neglected from the mainstream development for long period of time, no one can imagine that the living standard of the area – which is mostly inhabited by Chepang, an indigenous tribe with daily income of less than one dollar – can be transformed by establishing link with Royal Chitwan National Park . From economic upliftment to social and cultural change, the four northeast villages of Chitwan district are now in the process of complete transformation.
Under the programs supported by TRPAP, the poor villagers living in the remote parts of Chitwan have many things to boast as they have learnt new ways to grow off-season vegetables, commercialization of agriculture, values of educations, sanitation and health. Most importantly, one can see a holistic change in Chepang community as well.
“I have never imagined in my life that we could grow vegetables on our own. There were no places for vegetables in our daily food,” said Ramji Maya Chepang, 48. “We were always afraid to see people from other community around us but now the situation has changed.”
As Shaktikhor is developed as an entry point of tourism route, lives of many other men and women like Ramji Maya Chepang is also changing. After the completion of the infrastructures development by TRPAP, there are enormous opportunities around the villages.
If the situation were normal, the economy of the region would have transformed in a much faster rate than the present one. Despite uncertainty, more than 100 Nepalese and foreign tourists passed through the Shaktikhor village this year and the farmers are making money selling off season vegetables and local handicrafts.
From accommodating tourists under home stay programs to guiding trekkers, growing vegetable and making handicrafts, local people are equipped with news skills to intensify their economic activities. They have also learned the ways to prepare all kinds of primary facilities required for the rural tourism.
The project - which has been implemented at the worse period of political crisis – was launched just a few months after the Royal Palace Massacre in June 2001. Since then it has already passed many critical phases in the face of drastically declining tourist arrival.
Designed to be implemented through the local elected bodies, the project, however, saw all political mobilization stalled following the expiry of tenure of office bearers of Village Development Committees and national parliament in year 2002. The electricity, drinking waters and school buildings were constructed before 2001. Local people still remember then Minister of Water Resources Govinda Raj Joshi for supporting the electrification of their villages.
Despite lack of locally elected representatives, the TRPAP has achieved major successes what many other projects failed to achieve thanks to its way of mobilizing communities at all levels. Because of community mobilization, the project did not encounter a major hurdle in implementing infrastructure activities.
“We follow transparency in program implementation and all the projects are designed and implemented after taking consent from the communities. When programs are directed to whole community and their benefits, the local people themselves defend them,” said Lal Bahadur Chepang, a resident of Shaktikhor Village Development Committee. “This project is ours and all of us irrespective of political ideology are stakeholders.”
The approach of community mobilization has made a lot of difference. “In initial year, there was certain level of uncertainty but when the community began to shown overwhelming response, even insurgents had to support the project,” said Jit Naryan Shrestha, vice president of Nepal Red Cross Society village committee. “This program has transformed the lifestyle of general population.”
One of good approaches of the project is that it does not intervene in the project implementation. From project selection, to implementation and execution, local committees are given complete control.
Whether it is the construction of public toilet or drinking water, construction of trails or, irrigation, the TRPAP has brought everything necessary to uplift the life of rural people. As people realize the importance of consumption of vegetables and its market value, there is growing trend to plant the off-season and on-season vegetables.
Transformation in Lifestyle
The life of Lal Bahadur Giri, 36, secretary of Sustainable Tourism Development Committee of Kaule Village Development Committee of north eastern Chitwan, has changed a lot as he is earning Rs. 3000.00 (US dollar 40) monthly making handicrafts using the locally available materials. “My income is enough to buy kerosene, oil, salt, books and stationary to my two children,” said Giri who visits Chitwan at least twice a month for trekking.
Situated in the middle hill of Chitwan bordering Dhading district, all the residents of Kaule know the way for income generation but conflict continues to block their way to prosperity.
With an objective to promote tourism in the rural parts of Nepal to alleviate poverty, TRPAP has introduced a number of changes in the local mind set, infrastructures and physical outlook in four remote villages Siddhi, Korak, Shaktikhor and Kaule of Chitwan district, 150 miles north east of Kathmandu.
Till a few years ago, people of the region hardly knew about the important issues. In the last couple of years many local people got training in the area of small hotel management, local tour guides, cooking, banking, tourism and environment awareness program and management capacity enhancement and handicraft making.
After receiving handicraft training, Giri, who is also the secretary of Sustainable Tourism Development Committee of Kaule, and many of his villagers are busy producing handicrafts using local raw materials. “We don’t have problems of market as demands for local handicraft are high in Chitwan,” said Giri. “If the situation returns to normal, we will see many trekkers in our villages and the income of local people will go up.”
As half of the population of these four villages are Chepang, an indigenous ethnic group, there is a greater tourism potential in the region as Chepang has unique culture and way of living. TRPAP financially supported to construct Chiwan-Chepang Hill trails for trekkers.
“If we have greater market access, we will produce more vegetables. For instance, I have to sell tomato at less than Rs. 2 per kilo. If I carry it up to the main market, I will get better price,” said Lal Bahadur Chepang. “ If the number of tourists increases, the market of my vegetables will come to my own village.”
Rural infrastructures: Building a base
Covering 20,731 square kilometers, the TRPAP covers 4119 households with population of 23,737 including 12,464 Chepangs. For social mobilization, altogether 39 new community committees, working groups, 10 cultural groups and 69 consumer groups have already been set up in the four villages. In the process towards institutionalization, four Sustainable Tourism Development Committee have already been set up along with regulation of Sustainable Rural Tourism Fund and Management Plan of Participatory District Tourism Development.
As the main goal of the TRPAP is to reduce the poverty through the development, promotion and marketing of new tourism models in the areas and institutionalize tourism in local self-governance, the project focuses its attention to launch more income generating activities offering enormous opportunities.
“I am proud to say that the TRPAP is one of the highly successful programs in the district. In the last three years, most of our other programs had hardly spent 30 percent of development budgets but the committees working under TRPAP have proved that they are the pioneer by spending over 95 percent of annual budget in development works,” said Binod Prakash Singh, Local Development Officer of Chitwan District. “As there is massive involvement of local community in planning and project implementation, no one can stall the program. TRPAP has taught us a lesson on how to make progress in the program initiated in the remote villages.”
According to the district, till the end of July 2005, TRPAP has already spent Rs. 1,49,18,834.03 or about 94 percent. On the other hand, spending by local bodies are very less. “Our village has sanctioned more than Rs. 200,000 for other projects in villages but no community has shown any interest to implement it. Less than 30 percent of our annual budget were spent last year,” said Bharat Babu Kanel, secretary of Siddhi Village Development Committee, one of the VDCs covered by TRPAP. “Since TRPAP spends money through the grass root level organizations, communities take care of every thing.”
New Breed Entrepreneurs
Setimaya Chepang, a resident of Shaktikhor village, has seen many changes in her village. A woman from underprivileged and economically backward ethnic group, Setimaya had hardly imagined that she would one day be running small lodges for home stay program. She did not know that her village had such potential for tourism development.
Setimaya, 50, has recently built a small house to offer home stay package to the tourists. Along with neat bed, Setimaya also offers food with organic vegetables produced in her garden. “I can accommodate three tourists at a time as I have three beds in my new house, along with utensils and other facilities,” said Setimaya, who has already hosted two groups of Nepalese tourists. “I received loan financial support from the TRPAP to build the small house and buy the utensils to cook food.”
Under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, United Nations Development Program, DFID, SNV-Nepal and Nepal Tourism Board are providing financial and technical assistance to implement TRPAP projects in six districts of Nepal . Chitwan is one of them.
“Within three years period, we have been able to implement the programs in a community with no history of socialization,” said Rabi Jung Pandey, national program manager of Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Program. “One of the main aspects of our program is the community involvement in planning, program designing and implementation. Despite all kinds of uncertainties, we have already built infrastructures to sustain tourism in these remote villages of northern Chitwan. If we are able to divert a small percentage of tourists visiting Sauraha to these villages, it will bring a lot of changes in their livelihood.”
Although the Village Development Committees are defunct, the District Development Committee is a main partner of the project.
In absence of elected bodies, a large number of new community organizations were formed in all the districts to carry out the infrastructures development projects. More than 100 community organizations were formed in three districts Dolpa, Chitwan and Solukhumbu. In Chitwan alone there are 20 such organizations with total members numbering 200 with half of them from specially targeted groups.
Institutionalization of rural tourism started from the year 2004. The program envisioned that the Sustainable Tourism Development Committees (STDCs) would be independent tourism sub-committee within the VDCs, responsible for the development and promotion of tourism products of their respective villages as well as for developing infrastructures.
“Because of physical threat by the Maoists, we have been working from District Development Committees. Our report is that the Sustainable Tourism Development Committee of Siddhi village has already completed number of projects through the mobilization of local communities,” said Bhimsen Devkota, secretary of Siddhi Village Development Committee. “District Development Committee has already sanctioned more than 70 percent of the budget allocated to the infrastructure development in the village.”
Poverty Alleviation
Villagers: Waiting to welcome guests
After implementation of several programs including capacity enhancement to skill development and improvement of infrastructures, TRPAP has caused substantial change in the number of people living below the poverty line.
In all four villages, one can see tangible changes in the income of local population. Along with this immediate impact, the long-term impacts of the project in the area of poverty alleviation are much greater.
As number of infrastructures have been already built, local people are in position to offer minimum facilities to the tourists who want to visit their villages. This is a major asset the villagers have acquired.
Challenges For Future
As the project is running in the final year, people are uncertain about the future. This uncertainty is quite high among people living in the remote parts of the country.
At a time when there is no sign for early peace, people don’t have any option now other than to continue to work to improve the existing condition of their life. Despite conflict and lack of government programs, the TRPAP has given new hope to them proving that involvement of international communities through the participation of local communities can bring about substantial changes.
However, there are worries whether it will continue or not. “This is the only hope in our village through which we have made a lot of changes in our communities,” said Setimaya Chepang. “We want to see continuation of this project.”
For the past four years of its implementation, TRPAP stood as the hope of the rural poor of Chitwan. In a situation when the situation is still abnormal, people want to see the continuation of the project for some more years.
The TRPAP has also taught a lesson to the policy makers and planners that community’s involvement is prerequisite to successfully implement infrastructure development projects in conflict prone areas.