Dohuk Dam- in Iraqi Kurdistan, northern Iraq.

The Dohuk Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Dohuk River just north of Dohuk in Dahuk Governorate, Iraq. The dam was completed in 1988 with the primary purpose of providing water for irrigation. It is 60 m (197 ft) tall and can withhold 52,000,000 m³ (42,157 acre·ft) of water. The dam has a bell-mouth spillway with a maximum discharge of 81 m³/s (2,860 cu ft/s). - https://en.wikipedia.org

Healthy Garden Healthy Home (HGHH)

Healthy Garden Healthy Home

Healthy Garden Healthy Home (HGHH) is a system of farming around household premises which satisfies the family nutrition and food requirements to some extent. The main feature of HGHH, it is situated around household area and sustains family for its food and nutrition requirement as well as supports in income generation activity for family. HGHH provides vegetables, fruits, spices and fish required for a family while it also conserves herbs and flowers that have aesthetic and religious value. Garden utilizes the land available near to house and grows various species of plants useful for fulfilling family requirements. It also conserves biodiversity by retaining various useful species and helps to maintain biological diversity around household. Health garden provides opportunity for income generation as well as saves money for buying daily vegetables and fruits.

Family Nutritional Security

Nutrition refers to the food required by a person to live a healthy life. It is required for growth and development of cells, tissues or required for repairment of damaged cells and production of energy required for the body of a human being. Family members should consume all the nutritional food required for their healthy living. Basically, nutrition is divided in five major types  and these are; carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, fats, minerals and water. Carbohydrates provide energy required for the body; proteins build up the tissues and organs; vitamins supports in growth and development of cells, tissues and body; fats protects heart, liver and lungs; minerals help in growth of muscles and water regulates temperature of body. Therefore, it is quite necessary to consume foods that provide the essential nutrition for growth and development of body. Foods such as cereals, pulses, green vegetables, meat and eggs when consumed during meals and dinners provide all the essential nutrition. Combination of foods that provide the entire nutrient necessary for human growth and development is called balanced diet.

Features of Health gardens

Healthy garden establishment includes better planning including its layout of the various components like compost, water sources, vegetable areas, fruits plantation regions etc. Better planning of home garden allows utilizing spaces and resources. Healthy garden has its specific plots. It is established to fulfill the nutritional requirement of the family. It is required to plan for various crops to be grown in the garden. Separate areas are allocated for vegetables with various types of growing habbits and season. This is required to utilize the sunlight, moisture, soil nutrition and spaces. Healthy garden has some major features, these are:

-          is around household vicinity

-          produces year round crops

-          utilizes local available inputs

-           helps in food diversity and bio-diversity

-           ensures family nutrition security

-           promotes integrated crop production

Vegetable gardening is a major component of healthy garden. It is an allocated area inside a garden where seasonal as well as off-seasonal vegetables are produced. It is experienced that for a five-membered family at least 200 square meters’ vegetable garden is required. Vegetable garden provides daily vegetables for a family in a year-round basis. Therefore, it is taken as most important part within healthy garden. It provides opportunity to cultivate year round crops and also supports for income generation by selling surplus produce in nearby market.

Action Research and Field Implementation

DCA is starting the concept with 700 families in Gorkha and Dhading districts and plans to scale up from the learning. In between we will need to do a lot, prepare ourselves, and come up with clear implementation guideline. We are thankful to DCA and our partners for their hard work thus enabling us to live up the “health home healthy garden”.

The agriculture and livestock activities around the homestead is ensured by the technical and trained staff. They provide technical training and support on the appropriate agriculture and livestock inputs. This may vary from the drought resistant seed varieties to latest breeding bucks. Homestead refers to the home and the immediate surrounding land used by the family. Many small plot production activities happen at this level including vegetable and fruit production or household fish farming. Most of the poor people spend a very high proportion of their income on food as they do not have enough land to produce food for all  their needs. They grow some produce on small plots of land around their homestead or on common property resources or common lands. Homestead plots are easily developed under individual initiative. Growing vegetables within the homestead is also more convenient and secure.

Additionally, the disaster risk reduction is mainstreamed into the concept by preparation of disaster risk management plans undertaken through identification of hazards and vulnerabilities. Ensuring that people have access to safe water, water safety plans are embedded into each water supply systems. Water safety plan is a management tool for securing drinking-water safety from water source to point of use through continuous monitoring and preventive maintenance of water supply systems. For further reinforcing resilience of the community, technical advice will be facilitated for agriculture and livestock insurance. Given the high acceptance of the community on livestock insurance, DCA has planned to expand insurance schemes to water supply systems. There are many water supply systems across the country that have been damaged due to natural disaster such as landslides and flood or pipeline damaged during road development in the rural areas. The insurance of these systems would be helpful for the communities when major repairs are required. The premium for the insurance can be paid through the routine monthly water tariff collected by the users committee. 

For more : Chiranjibi Rijal, csrijal@gmail.com

                  Cecial Adhikari, cecial.adhikari@gmail.com

Village with cloud

CVA/CTP - Seed and tools voucher for Bibibidi refugee and host community in Uganda

In Uganda, DCA has been implementing a joint project with the UNHCR to Increased self-reliance through cash interventions and livelihood support to conflict-affected South Sudanese refugees and host communities in Bidibidi refugee settlement and around host communities in Yumbe District. DCA is working with the 2,040 households identified as a vulnerable farmers as in 68 farmer groups (30 beneficiaries in each group) who will be supported with livelihoods protection multi-purpose cash grants during the lean season while at the same time building their capacity through training on improved agronomic practices and agricultural inputs.

DCA is facilitating to develop the linkage with agro-shop private sector service for refugees and host communities in West Nile. The main objective of this linkage intervention is to provide quality seeds and tools for agriculture production. The privet sector vendors have provided seeds and tools in the targeted area of DCA projects operation. Seed and tools vendors from the different areas mobilized as in the targeted refugee settlements and host communities. DCA is providing two types of vouchers to the selected beneficiaries refugee settlement and host community. One is fixed commodities from vegetables, cereal crops, and tools and another is an open value voucher. The targeted beneficiaries could radium the voucher with agro-venders in their respective location during the seeds and tools fairs.

Through the market fair, a seed and tools voucher is a means for accessing the required seeds by the targeted farmers for immediate planting in their garden. Many refugees cannot establish their gardens, due to the lack of seed in their homes. They had been growing similar crops in their home in South Sudan. They have on-hand experience in agriculture activities. DCA Uganda with the support of UNHCR has provided the seed and tools voucher to the selected beneficiaries. DCA is promoting quick maturing and drought-tolerant crop varieties are supporting their livelihood, nutritionally rich, and culturally acceptable in the selected groups. DCA has mobilized the private sector seed vendors from Yumbe, Koboko, and Arua as an open market system for accessing the seeds and tools in their community/village. DCA has provided the seed voucher to the selected beneficiaries. Those beneficiaries, having seed vouchers, get seeds and tools from those private-sector seed vendors in the refugee settlement.

Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA)

Refugee beneficiary communities in Zone 5, Bidibidi Yumbe District which started a Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA) Scheme, using a “water bottle” as their “saving box”, has grown their savings and started offering loans to members. The group that initially started with 6 members, now has 30 members in total. The group boosts a total saving amounting to three million, one hundred thousand Uganda Shillings (3.1M Ugx) and have so far lent out one million, five hundred thousand Uganda shillings (1.5M Ugx).

The project intervention that aims to improve the livelihoods of at least 600 South Sudan refugees and host communities is supported by DanChurchAid and UNHCR.

 #DCA #UNHCR #Livelihoods #CVA

Experiencing Uganda - Chiranjibi Rijal

When DCA Nepal decided to deploy me for an official mission to Uganda, there was no bound of my happiness. It’s not only because a new country was adding in my list, but for an expectation of new leanings and experiences that I’d be gathering from this new venture. This is my second mission in the African Region. In 2012, I spent almost three weeks in South Africa for a Local Economic Development course, but this mission seems to be little different.

Beneficiaries Satisfaction

It’s been almost two years since I joined DCA under the capacity of livelihood officer for earthquake recovery project. In the past two years I have seen people making significant change in their livelihood with the support from DCA. I have spent more than a decade, of my professional time in rural Nepal with various organizations. As a development professional, the only thing we want to see is happiness on the faces of beneficiaries after their dreams come true. We are not just supporting with seed money to start entrepreneurship but also to guide them and show a path towards sustainability.

With Different Beneficiaries

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Ugandan economy has improved radically. The government is attempting reforms in order to achieve economic stability and has privatized several public companies. Corruption is widespread in Uganda and it affects the poorest part of the population heavily. The situation here in Uganda is pretty similar to Nepal. We get to hear and see such news everyday. Now, I am in Northern Uganda at Yumbe district, where many South Sudanese refugees are being hosted by the Uganda’s government. Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and UNHCR is officially leading the process of refugee registration and settlement processes. DCA and many other international organizations are operating their mission in Yumbe with the help of OPM-UNHCR’s coordination.

I have been involved in the humanitarian response activities to the South Sudanese refugees in Bidibidi Settlement in Yumbe, Uganda for leading the cash based livelihood intervention and develop interventions, market linkages, income generating activities, cash for work, and skills training package for the project among others. The role is almost similar to what I was doing in Nepal except the beneficiaries are different. Refugees are having a tough time here and we humanitarian workers are trying to make their life easier. My role doesn’t end here. It also includes to identify opportunities for market based livelihood options linking refugees with the host populations, develop training programs for implementing team to assist the families in developing new skills, as well as their traditional skills to establish alternative livelihood options and develop livelihood strategies for livelihood programs. Finally, I have been granted this opportunity to learn and grow both professionally and personally. It’s an honor to be a part of the DCA Uganda Team and so thankful to everyone who supported to make this happen. 

Healthy Garden Healthy Home

An approach creating resilient communities

Cecial Adhikari - Programme Manager – Earthquake Recovery Programme

Chiranjibi Rijal - Livelihood Program Coordinator – Earthquake Recovery Programme

“Build back better” or “building resilience” has been the most discussed about topics post-earthquake. However the challenge still remains as to our strategy to make sure that this happens. Currently DCA is implementing different recovery projects aiming to reinforce resilience mainly by restoring lives and livelihood of the communities. This entails bringing affected communities back to the situation they were in before the earthquake and gradually strengthening their capacity for a better life. This has been supported through different components that have enabled DCA and its local partners to address some of the basic needs in the poor communities where we are working.

 For this, we are supporting water schemes to increase access to clean and safe water along with improved access to decent latrines at homes so that people do not fall sick. We are also supporting School WASH activities so that students have adequate water and toilets in schools. Promotion of hygiene behavior for good hygiene practices stays as an integral component. Livelihood activities are supporting to increase income of the most vulnerables either by supporting household level business plan or imparting knowledge on improved technologies or input support. Community based psycho-social support through community mediators and awareness in the schools through trained teachers to prepare for the future disasters, shocks and stresses is mainstreamed into each programme component. The project is also supporting to develop skilled masons by providing skills and knowledge on construction of earthquake resilient structures. 

Although DCA has been responding through a multi-sector approach to meet multiple needs of the earthquake affected communities, at times it has been felt that the integration between the sectors or working in tandem has been a persistent challenge. We have been continuously trying to systematically bring together the different components for increased impact on people’s lives. During our different field trips and interactions with many people from different ages, gender with different occupations, castes and ethnicities in Gorkha and Dhading, the major issues that we were consistently hearing had revolved around water access and uses among others.

It was mainly about difficult access to water for domestic uses or for cattle or watering their garden or farms. Many communities did mention about dried spring sources after the earthquake probably due to ground movement. The results or the consequence from having limited access to water were clear to us. Communities reported that there were increased incidences of diarrhea, disease outbreaks and increased prevalence of malnourished children after the earthquake. These practical challenges triggered us to come up with a concept that we named as “Healthy Garden Healthy Home” (HGHH). It is about bringing various components together such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition, income generation, food security, disaster risk reduction for reinforcing resilience of the communities by providing multifaceted benefits.

 This concept puts water in the central stage as water is a key component towards diversifying livelihoods. This focuses at the homestead level and targets ultra-poor families. This is building upon field experiences and feedbacks received to address some of the challenges emerging in the post-earthquake scenario. Over a decade of working in different regions in Nepal, DCA has learned that the water demands in the communities or individual extends beyond use for a single purpose. People often tend to use domestic water around households for productive uses which include a range of small-scale activities that enable people to grow household food, produce fruit and vegetables for consumption and sale, keep livestock, rear fish etc. 

 The priority proposed in the concept is that people first have access to clean and safe water that is ensured through supporting to build robust and resilient water conveying structures. The surplus water can be diverted to the kitchen garden and for other homestead productive activities such as growing vegetables and other productive uses. The households can have easy access to nutritious food in their backyards and they can also sell surplus in the local market. This is also about small scale management of water resources that can give the poor good nutrition, and more diverse and more secure income. Therefore, wherever adequate water is available, the approach ensures that each household has a small kitchen garden of a few square meters, where onion, tomatoes and leafy vegetables are grown along with management of water for their livestock. 

There are many ways in which “Healthy Garden Healthy Home” can be implemented. The multiple uses of water can be accommodated from the beginning during the water service provision design and can be done by installing certain add-ons. This can be planned from startup phase during the design and implemented through a phased expansion. Different water sources can be used simultaneously such as springs, streams, rainwater, surface runoff or waste water. Each source can be used for the most appropriate purpose. DCA has been supporting structures for rainwater harvesting for both domestic and productive uses whilst prioritizing domestic use in areas with extreme water scarcity.

HGHH is also about attaining water security which means that people and communities have reliable and adequate access to water to meet their different needs. They are able to take advantage of the different opportunities that water resources present and are also protected from the water related hazards. The technologies required for the activities of the concept is not new or special. The skills needed for technical design and details can be managed by the technical staff at local NGOs that are currently involved in survey, design and implementing current water supply projects. The major difference is the way we perceive things from the conventional Projects.

The agriculture and livestock activities around the homesteads are ensured by the technical and trained staff. They provide technical training and support on the appropriate agriculture and livestock inputs. This may vary from the drought resistant seed varieties to the latest breeding bucks. Homestead refers to the home and the immediate surrounding land used by the family. Many small plot production activities happen at this level including vegetable production, fruit production or household fish farming. Most of the poor people spend a very high proportion of their income on food as they do not have enough land to produce food for all of their needs. They grow some produce on small plots of land around their homestead or on common property resources or common lands. Homestead plots are easily developed under individual initiative. Growing vegetables within the homestead is also more convenient and secure.

 Additionally, the disaster risk reduction is mainstreamed into the concept by preparation of disaster risk management plans undertaken through identification of hazards and vulnerabilities. Ensuring that people have access to safe water, water safety plans are embedded into each water supply systems. Water safety plan is a management tool for securing drinking-water safety from water source to point of use through continuous monitoring and preventive maintenance of water supply systems. For further reinforcing resilience of the community, technical advice will be facilitated for agriculture and livestock insurance. Given the high acceptance of the community on livestock insurance, DCA has planned to expand insurance schemes to water supply systems. There are many water supply systems across the country that have been damaged due to natural disaster such as landslides and flood or pipeline damaged during road development in the rural areas. The insurance of these systems would be helpful for the communities when major repairs are required. The premium for the insurance can be paid through the routine monthly water tariff collected by the users committee. 

 DCA is starting the concept with 700 families in Gorkha and Dhading districts and plans to scale up from the learning. In between we will need to do a lot including prepare ourselves, and come up with clear implementation guideline. We are thankful to DCA and our partners for their hard work thus enabling us to live up the “Healthy Garden Healthy Home”.

A Study on the collection of Waste PET Bottles in the Kathmandu Valley