The Nepal Operation
The office staff in Kathmandu are an integral part of our operation. Without their commitment to efficiently help implement requests from the UK, nothing would happen in Nepal. Directions to the CAN office in Kathmandu can be found here.
CAN operates across 10 districts, Dhankuta, Makalu, Solu Khumbu, Helambu, Sindupalchowk, Nuwakot, Kaski, Rasuwa, Lamjung and Gorkha and within these districts CAN supports 17 different communities. Each community elects three CAN General Members and from this body an Executive Board is formed at the AGM which is held in February each year when every elected member will serve for a three year overlapping term. In effect every grass-root area is represented in the structure of the organisation in Nepal.
The conduit between the Nepalese Executive Board and the UK is Ian Wall, CAN’s UK Representative who now lives in Kathmandu. All information and communications on general issues regularly take place daily between myself and Ian who then works with Murari Gautham our Nepali Project Manager to implement our plans. All our staff are profiled in the newsletter.
Health
The staff based in the Kathmandu office, apart from Ian and Murari are Rajani Ghywali, the Health Manger and her two Senior Nurses, Kalpana Khadka and Sunita Tamang. Between them they manage a team of 14 nurses who staff our six Health Posts. At community level each Health Post and the nurses are supported by a community health committee. Each Health Post has a nurse qualified in midwifery and one with clinical skills and a helper selected from the community. Each nurse is appointed to a health post for a two year overlapping term which is then rotated yearly after the annual health training workshop which is held in Kathmandu in October. Many of our nurses are married and have young children and it is a mark of their dedication that those serving in the remotest of the CAN areas don’t get to see their families that frequently.
Standing and wearing an orange saree is Health Manager Rajani then Shova,
Niru, Ita, Shanta, Rita, Uma, Goma and Senior Nurse Sunita In the front row,
Sarita, Devoka, Alija, Goma, Kabita and Sanymira.
Purna Gautham is the Executive Board Chairman from Melamchigaon.
Kalpana: one of the two senior nurses is pictured at her desk in Kathmandu
Gobinda Sharma is the man who oversees all the CAN building projects. CAN will only support a community providing they submit the appropriate request supported by the agreement to contribute manpower to the value of 30% of the total cost, to consider the environmental impact of the project and eventually the sustainability of the project if on-going costs are to be incurred.
Overseer Gobinda Sharma near Gorak Shep
Gobinda will estimate the cost of the project based strictly on local costs not the inflated rates that are often passed onto foreign investors. This information is then forwarded to the UK for the Trustees discussion. Once it is agreed to start a capital project and Ian has been informed he will discuss it with Murari and the Executive Board. Gobinda will then visit the community to form a Construction Committee. Subsequent visits will be made at periodic intervals by Gobinda to sign work off to an agreed point. Only then will money be paid over and the next stage started. Finally Gobinda will visit the project to complete all the snagging work and chair a public audit of all the bills. If the community agree that everything is in order the building will be handed over, however CAN continues to monitor the use of the building and an agreement is entered into by the community to maintain it to the best of their ability with CAN’s support.
Income Generation
Hem Bahadur is in charge of income generating activities and he will motivate a community to explore ways to generate income that will go into supporting the Health Posts and other CAN projects that might be happening in that community. Hem regularly visits CAN community’s to support them with farming and agricultural income generating activities. He also supports with infrastructure schemes.
Hem Bahadur
Education
Ian who is a retired teacher oversees the education project along with Purna Gautham who is also the head teacher at Melamchigaon School. CAN has twenty three teachers in all working alongside government teachers in government schools, eight of which have been funded and built by CAN.
Mrs Komal Khadka, Mrs Kalpana Pandey, Mrs Suk Maya, Mrs Sirjana Ranjit and Neelam Gurung, Mira Maya, Lami Maya, Mitra K Gurung, Tara Gurung, Nita Mahaarjan and Nilu Shrestha. The male staff are Chet Bahadur Magar, Kiran Adhikari, Nirja Bahadur Rai, Prem Prasand Pokhrel, Ramji Shah, Ramchandra Adhikari, Keshav Sapkota, Sagarmani Pokhrel, Tika Ram Limbu, Surendra Psd Dahal, Ramesh Kumar Rai, Badri Prasad Nepal, Hira Kumar Khadka, Madan Kumar Rai are CAN’s present teaching staff.
CAN (Nepal) Finance
Finally but by no means least there is Binita and Sujata who manage the finances. This is a complex part of the CAN operation due to the different financial procedures that exist both in Nepal and the UK. By December Ian will have submitted an annual budget that covers all aspects of CAN’s operation in Nepal, this is then considered by myself and the UK Trustees. Eventually the agreed finance is in turn drawn down in the form of quarterly requests as appropriate for the work due to be undertaken in that quarter. The funds are transferred into the INGO account where they are signed over to the NGO account by Ian at the appropriate time. Sujata deals with the INGO account while Binita’s work is directly related to the NGO finances and the paperwork that accompanies such transactions.
Ian generally oversees the CAN operation and ensures that the projects I have taken on with the approval of the trustees and the vital support of our donors are dealt with. He works closely with Murari who is the Project Manager and direct line manager of all Nepali staff. Ian also liaises with other INGOs, government and relevant regulatory bodies in Nepal and regularly visits the CAN communities to profile the work of CAN and to represent the UK arm of the organisation at grass-root level.
With the successful appointment of Murari, our project manager, the office is working much more efficiently. This should allow Ian more time for field visits. His next appointment will be in the Langtang, where CAN have much work to do. Watch this space for Ian's next report in 'Latest News.'