KATHMANDU, May 5: The Nepal Development Marketplace-2005 branded locally as ‘Launa Aba Ta Kehi Garau’ (Let’s do something now) concluded Thursday by selecting 20 innovative proposals for service delivery in the conflict hit-areas.
Out of a total of 1.037 entries, forty proposals were in the final competition. The 36 jurists represented prominent figures from various walks of life and had evaluated the proposals after personal interaction with all the final competitors.
The winners received Rs. 1.4 million each from the World Bank as seed money to implement their ideas whereas the other 20 final competitors were also provided Rs. 20,000 each for their efforts. Rastra Kabi Madhav Prasad Ghimire rewarded the winners. The winners include Light for All: Solar Tuki Bids Goodbye to Kerosene Wick Lamps of Center for Renewable Energy; More Rice for Food Deficit People by Useless Inputs of District Agriculture Development Office; Cardamom Cultivation in Community Forestry of Suspa Educational Development Committee; Benefitting Rural Areas Through Wi-Fi Technology of Himanchal Higher Secondary School; Agro-Based Income Generation Project of Nucleus for Empowerment Through Skill Transfer; and Use of Local Resources for Sustainable Self-Independence of GIFT - Bajura.
Community organisations, NGOs, individuals, government institutions and the private sector were allowed to participate in the competition. The project is a joint effort of the World Bank (WB) and Poverty Alleviation Fund Nepal (PAFN).
Speaking at the award ceremony, Rastra Kavi Ghimire wished for better result of the projects in benefiting the people of the conflict-hit areas.
He said that this effort should be fruitful in mainstreaming the deprived communities in the development process.
At the inaugural ceremony, Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Dr. Shankar Sharma said that the projects could play a crucial role in poverty reduction as they were prioritised by the people themselves.
Even in a situation of conflict, food security has not worsened and peoples’ efforts at poverty reduction have not dimnished.
“The good growth rate of agriculture during the last 3-4 years could be the reason behind the stable food security situation,” he said.
Dr. Sharma said that poverty had dramatically declined to 31 per cent from 42 per cent during the last eight years. “Both the government and the donors have reoriented the development activities and that might have triggered the dramatic decrease in the poverty,” he said.
Inaugurating the programme, Praful Patel, WB vice president for South Asia, said that the project was a meaningful way to bring people, the government and the international development partners together in the development process.
He termed the community organisations and the NGOs’ effort as something out of the box for development.
He said that the selected 20 schemes would receive a maximum of US$ 20,000 whereas the other participants would be provided Rs. 20,000 for their efforts.
Chief Secretary, Bimal Prasad Koirala, stated that the creativity and capability were being rewarded under the Launa Aba Ta Kehi Garaun programme.
He said that there had been difficulty in ensuring the delivery of government services in the conflict hit zones, adding mobilising the community organisations would be fruitful in meeting the objectives.
Mohan Man Sainju, vice-chairman of the PAF, said that the community’s efforts’ in the development process would make the projects less expensive and effective.
