Impressions from the Field

As I write this, it’s 8.10am Wednesday morning and I’m travelling as a paying passenger in a Tata 4x4 enroute from Rupandehi to Kathmandu.

I’m one of 8 passengers, plus the driver in a jeep, I’m lucky enough to have a seat on the front bench, not beside the driver but what we would think of as the back seat. Unfortunately I’m in the middle so I’ve no window to look of. I’m about 40 minutes into what will be a bumpy 8 hour drive up from the flat planes of the Terrai area in Nepal to the middle hills of Kathmandu. The road is fairly clear – no roadblocks or Bundhas (strikes) today which is great and the traffic consists of colourful Indian lorries, rickshaws, bikes, tractors and the occasional ox-drawn cart and absurdly overloaded cycle-trailor.

We’re driving along the foothills of the Himalyas so the land is flat, the fields are dusty and filled with what looks like maize, cabbages and corn at various stages. It’s foggy – hence my travel by road… I was meant to fly yesterday but at the last minute the airport was closed and I had to make other arrangements for getting back. This time of year the weather on the Terrai is unpredictable, but it seems I’ve been extra unlucky as I had to get the bus both ways. On Friday I spent the day in Kathmandu airport waiting for my 9.20am flight, but at 3.00pm they told us it was cancelled and we quickly made arrangements for a bus!

Anyway, I was listening to some worship songs (on my ipod touch!) before I listened to a podcast from Rob Bell and Happy Day came on and unexpectedly I was propelled out of the bus and right back into West Church on the evening of our commissioning service and I thought I should write. Thanks for the emails, the parcels, the gifts and the prayers – they are truly appreciated. I suppose I should also say thanks to George for bringing back my ultra-tiny netbook on which I’m able to type in a bumpy Neplai bus!

But enough of that, so what have we been up to?

Basically the last few weeks have been brilliant as I’ve started work proper, moved into my office and started getting my head around what I’ve got to do. About five years ago I sat in our kitchen after dinner with George and told her that I was looking for a job with accountability, where I could make an impact, which I could believe in, which brought change and improved peoples lives and here I am five years down the line and God has put me in exactly that position. It is incredible.

UMN’s approach to development is first class, it’s not the typical project approach, rather they have commited to achieving long-term sustainable development, by building up the skills of Nepali organisations at community level. In theory this sounds straight forward, if you want Nepal to develop, get Nepalis to do it. However the practical challenges are huge. Building the skills of communities who have had less than 60 years experience of modernity is not easy. Cultural beliefs and traditions need to be taken into account if change is to be meaningful and adopted. Travel to and from the target communities is hoorendous with large parts of the country being inaccessible for large parts of the year. Not to mention the difficulty in telling UMN’s donor community that we’ve stopped doing projects and therefore can no longer demonstrate our contribution by counting hospital, beds, patients or scholarships. Instead we’re asking them to believe in a time consuming, largely invisible approach which builds the skills of Nepalis to do the actual development work. But five years into UMN’s new direction, it is clear that it is working. What were terribly small local NGOs a few years ago have been taught how to think for themselves, how to be accountable in financial and community matters, how to be transparent, how to manage projects and how to work with and for the poorest people in their communities.

This past week I’ve been on a field trip to one of UMNs’ cluster to get a picture of our work and understand the benefits and challenges of our approach. It has been an excellent experience and has been a testimony to the UMN leadership over the past few years.

Gamin Umdil Women’s Co-operative, is a tiny local women’s savings and credit co-operative operating along the Indian border. It provides savings-driven loans to members for micro enterprise within their community. Small groups of members work with each other to ensure loans are spent appropriately and repaid in a timely manner. When UMN started working with them, three years ago, many of the members were illiterate and would typically be living in the house, doing very hard labour without any chance of an alternative. Yet with UMN’s help the leadership committee were taught to think about the root causes of poverty within their community and develop an action plan that addresses each of the barriers to development. Three years later, these ladies confidently presented a powerpoint presentation to the Local Government District Development Official outlining their achievements over the last 6 months, their budgets and plans for the next 6 months. One lady shared how she bought a cow with a loan of 30,000 rupees but decided that it wasn’t going to give her enough income, so she took out a second loan of 63,000 rupees and started a small fashion shop which now generates 4,000 rupees a day. Materially this is a fantastic example of local enterprise and individual determination to help themselves if only they are given a chance.

A second group introduced me to 5 new HIV/AIDS peer educators that they had just recruited to raise community awareness of HIV/AIDS and to help remove the stigmatisation of people living with HIV/AIDS (that includes the infected person, their families and friends impacted by their illness). These young people were an inspiration. Normally in Nepal the youth are a disgruntled lot, educated but with no employment opportunities and there is very high political pressure to get involved in riots and social destruction. Yet here were 5 young people who were enthusiastic about social development in their communities, desperate for change and working voluntarily to restore relationships and bring hope to those living with HIV/AIDS. UMN’s support again focused on building the management capability of the group’s leadership so that they were clear in what they wanted to achieve, their target community, and where and how to source local funding opportunities.

UMN’s approach is micro-level institutional development, building the skills, behaviours, processes and networks that will bring about local sustainable change. It is about advocacy, empowerment and training so that Nepali NGOs can be more effective in who and how they intervene. But it is difficult. It takes time, resources and is largely invisible to target communities (i.e. the guy in the street). On top of that it is very hard to sell to a donor community that want metrics and quick impact. Even at the best of times never mind the deepening financial crisis. That is going to be one of the major challenges I face over the coming years. Not only developing UMN’s strategy so that it brings long-term development yet balances the need for immediate support and tangible input, but then selling that approach to donors and asking for a high level of commitment and belief in the long-term return on their investment. But thankfully, it’s not just me. God has put us here, He knows the whys and the hows of what lies ahead so my job is to trust Him and do my best to seek His guidance and listen, watch, learn and do.

Right now we’re still driving west. The road is washed out in parts with large bumpy deposits of red earth forcing us to a snail’s pace. We’re starting to climb and the fields have been replaced by the fringes of jungle. When I think of work I know it’s going to be a long road ahead but right now we’re here for the duration…