Kuli Maya, 74, lives a single life at Bhedabari in Dhading district of Nepal. As an elderly female living alone, she had to struggle more for water than others in her community. Like other community members, she also had to walk about an hour to fetch just a bucket full of water. However, her age did not allow her to do it on usual basis. But nowadays, Kuli Maya is very pleased with her life as the water flows right in her door steps.
“I am very happy that I received such support from the community. This has made my life easy,” says Kuli Maya. The water supply system built in her village in Bhedabari has benefited 621 people including Kuli Maya, whose lives has now changed due to immediate and safe access to water. It has been about 15 months since the water taps were built and, since then, the main problem of the village has been resolved.
Purnima project implemented in Dhading by Oxfam in Nepal with support from Focus Nepal, Prayas Nepal and Action Nepal has already built 24 water supply schemes, directly benefiting 16,945 community members of Dhading. After having direct access to water, villagers including Kuli maya has been utilizing their time in vegetable farming. And, the approach has been to utilize the waste water in farming by directly connecting it to the farmland. Kuli Maya has done the same.
She is growing different types of vegetables which is helping her fulfill daily needs. Earlier, the limited water was used for cooking, washing and bathing, which was not always feasible. However, things have changed, and regular supply of water has made life easier. Kuli Maya is growing potatoes and green vegetables in her kitchen garden. In Bhedabari, Oxfam with support from local partner has built 106 water taps that are providing community people with safe and direct access to water. Two tanks consisting of 26,000 liters of water has been built which are connected to the household taps.
About Purnima Program
WASH program under Purnima, a UK support to Post-Earthquake Recovery in Nepal is currently being implemented by Oxfam in Nepal in partnership with local organizations in Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot and Lalitpur districts since September 2017 with funding support from DFID and administrative support from Mott MacDonald. The number of unreached populations serve through Purnima WaSH program will contribute the target of Government of Nepal under Sustainable Development Goal no. 6 as ensure access to water and sanitation for all by 2030.
Construction of water systems are managed by water user committee with technical support from Oxfam and partners. After the approval of design and estimate of the water supply system, MoU is done between Water Users Committee, Local government and Oxfam’s partners. Once triparty agreement is complete, an agreement with water users committee is complete between water users committee and Oxfam partners with clear role and responsibility of each. Non-local materials are purchased through the local partners and fund is transferred to WUC for other work such as procurement of local materials and workmanship. Certain construction activities such as excavation of pipeline, collection of local materials is ensured through the community contribution.
Since the earthquake in 2015, the Nepali people in the affected districts have shown enormous resilience in coping with the devastation and trauma. However, many years after the earthquake, basic services have still not been stored and the initial humanitarian response is winding own even before the longer-term reconstruction and development phase has started.
Purnima's vision is for a transformational program that supports people, especially poorest and most vulnerable, to rebuild their community and livelihood so that their lives are better and more secure than before the earthquakes. The Purnima program aims to rebuild the damaged water supplies, ensure that the road destroyed by landslides are built back higher standard and enable the better planning to deliver more resilient infrastructure. Program will see the opportunity to strengthen economy by placing small and medium sized enterprises at the heart of reconstruction effort. Program is administering challenges of funds that will transfer the lives of most vulnerable by enabling people to rebuild their livelihood and stand on their own two feet again. Purnima is implemented through following five key outputs.
Output 1: Technical Advisory to Government for to improve coordination and planning
Output 2: Delivery of reconstruction
Output 3: Private Sector Development
Output 4: Leave no one behind component and transformation for women and girl.
Output 5: Evaluation and Learning.
And, Purnima program by Oxfam is implemented under Output number two.