Rooted in the grassroots

Many, if not all, development agencies operating out of Kathmandu claim to value local participation and inclusion. Yet, donor priorities often prevent organisations from acting on community needs. But as residents of remote villages of Khotang and Solukhumbu districts are finding out for themselves, a bottom up approach to development is possible.

Working across seven VDCs, the dZi foundation collaborates with villagers to create community-defined projects that run the gamut from organic agriculture to toilet construction to establishing Parent Teacher Associations. Work begins only after locals send a formal invitation to the organisation. “dZi didn’t just show up at our village and tell us what to do. They came here at our request and realising that we needed a formal means for local leadership, they started assisting us,” recalls Suka Ram Rai, president of Nayayug Ekata Bikas Samiti (NEBS), a local NGO in Cheskam VDC of Solukhumbu set up to serve as a dZi partner in implementing projects.

Projects are designed keeping in mind the existing infrastructure and strengths of the community. The foundation then steps in by providing financial, technical, and training assistance. No one project can benefit an individual member or interest group exclusively.

With the 2015 deadline for Millennium Development Goals approaching, community-based models like the one practiced by dZi offer an alternative to the typical top-down approach. “We are 100 per cent committed to never letting donor demands trump community needs and have worked very hard and deliberately to build this model over time,” says country director Ben Ayers.

As partners and stakeholders, villagers contribute 20-75 per cent of funds or labour for any given project. In 2012, locals donated the equivalent of over $175,000 in material and labour, which was more than half of the foundation’s total project budget. “This fact challenges the notion of community members being ‘poor’. In fact, they are our single largest donor,” explains Ayers.

Nir Kumari Gautam, a teacher at a dZi supported school in Sotang, Solukhumbu says prior to the introduction of a PTA, her school like many other government schools rural in Nepal suffered from poor teacher performance, absenteeism, and disengaged parents. “Now the parents are involved and there has been a big change in how we run our classes,” admits Gautam. dZi hopes that having a number of complementary and inter-connected projects will help build a deeper sense of community and lead to much greater efficiency and impact. But not all agree. Says Mark Galpin, country director at United Mission to Nepal, “Smaller organisations have a real role to play in terms of their flexibility, speed to adapt and therefore often (but not always) innovation, and larger organisation are likely to have a wider impact. But issues of funding and project design are critical at the project level.”

Ultimately, the long-term success of Ayers and his team will depend on how well the villages sustain the projects following the organisation’s departure. So as the final step in the ‘development process’, dZi trains youth in agricultural practices and teaches them to run small firms so they can become local leaders and provide employment to others in the community.

Says Chatur Kulung, a student from Cheskam who was trained by dZi in social mobilisation: “To change any community, the change has to come from oneself. I think the people of my village will become independent in the future.”

www.dzifoundation.org