FCA to implement a new MFA and EU commissioned education sector planning process in Nepal
FCA will be partnering with University of Helsinki Centre for Continuing Education (HY+) and Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) in the implementation of a new EUR 10 million education sector planning process in Nepal.
THE FIVE-YEAR collaboration is led by HY+ and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland and the European Union (EU) and it will be launched in June 2024.
HY+ won the tender for the implementation of Technical Support Cooperation to School Education Sector in Nepal (TECSES) together with University of Helsinki Faculty of Educational Sciences, FCA and Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK).
The TECSES project supports Nepal’s education sector by improving teacher education, including pre- and in-service teacher training. The implementation in provinces, local governments and schools will support quality, equity and inclusion of teaching and learning in Nepal’s Karnali, Madhesh and Sudurpaschim provinces where for many years the learning results have been below the country’s average.
“In Nepal, we are really excited to be collaborating in the TECSES project together with HY+ and other stakeholders in the education space,” says Sofia Olsson, FCA’s Nepal Country Director.
“We look forward to supporting in the project’s implementation over the next five years and see this project as an important cornerstone in the development and modernisation of Nepal’s education sector,” Olsson says.
Aiming for permanent changes in Nepal’s education system
The education sector cooperation between Finland and Nepal aims to support the improvement of teacher training at the three levels of the governance in Nepal. Finland and Nepal have maintained close relations for 50 years with emphasis on developmental cooperation.
“We see education as a key to success and prosperity in our countries of operations. One of our projects that provides technical support to the education sector in Nepal is a good example of our approach: by working closely with various kinds of partners, as well as the host government, we want to aim at having permanent changes in the education system that benefit the people of Nepal,” says Ikali Karvinen, Deputy Executive Director of FCA.
The project will be implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Nepal; with key stakeholders, universities, provincial education training centres, and local governments and in consultation with civil society, municipalities and funding agencies.
“This multi-stakeholder collaboration demonstrates that Finnish actors have much to give in the developing contexts. Finnish education is well known, and we believe that Nepal can benefit out of this expertise – however, at the same time this is also a genuine learning opportunity for us,” Karvinen concludes.
For more information:
Nepal Country Director Sofia Olsson, FCA, Sofia.Olsson@kua.fi, tel. +977 980 662 5668 Deputy Executive Director Ikali Karvinen, FCA, Ikali.Karvinen@kua.fi, tel. +358 40 509 8050
‘At night I was afraid someone would come’: In Nepal, girls are still banished to so-called ‘menstruation huts’.
FCA works for gender equality and menstrual hygiene rights, so that girls and women have the opportunity to take control of their own lives.
Text: Elisa Rimaila Photos: Antti Yrjönen
TO GET INTO THE HUT, you have to take a big leap up. That’s good, because otherwise snakes and various ground-dwelling insects would find it easier to surprise those sleeping in thisdoorless shack. This is where Nepali Laxmi Sarki, 27, has spent five nights every month for the past almost nine years – ever since her period began.
“At night I was afraid that someone would come. We live on the edge of a national park and there are also a lot of snakes there,” says Sarki.
There are real risks to sleeping alone outside, isolated from others. In Nepal, dozens of deaths have been linked to the practice of Chhaupadi over the last decade. Chhaupadi is the isolation of girls and women in so-called “menstruation huts” during their period and is still practised in some communities, despite being illegal in Nepal since 2005. The deaths are most often caused by bites from poisonous snakes or by carbon monoxide gas from wood stoves that provide heat. Of course, girls and women in isolation are also vulnerable to sexual violence.
The practice of isolation during menstruation stems from the long-held idea that girls and women are unclean during their periods. Therefore, they should ‘protect’ other family members from illness and bad luck by sleeping in isolation for five nights from the day their period begins.
“I feel bad that this has to be done, but all the women here are in the same situation,” says Sarki.
Laxmi Sarki, 27, lives in Kanchanpur in south-western Nepal, in a community where women have to isolate themselves from the rest of the family in a separate menstrual house during menstruation. This isolation is due to beliefs associated with menstruation that women are unclean and can bring bad luck to their families.
Women’s household chores change during the menstrual cycle. For example, they are not allowed to fetch water for their family, or even to water their vegetable garden or take part in cooking. The severity of restrictions and isolation varies from place to place.
In Sarki’s Dalit community in Kanchanpur district, FCA has been working with its local partner organisation NEEDS Nepal to support women’s equality and livelihood opportunities. The work targets particularly vulnerable women.
In addition to training on economics and business, FCA’s work in Nepal has also included sections on gender equality, such as taboos related to the menstrual cycle and the harmful Chhaupadi tradition. This led to the construction of women’s safe houses in communities where women can come during their periods, according to Srijana Joshi, a local expert at NEEDS Nepal.
“It is a testament to the strength of the tradition that it has not been completely abandoned here, even though some of these women have been educated. Equality is still a long way off, but communities have identified harmful practices and this is a first step,” says Joshi.
Last year, Laxmi Sarki gave up her old hut, built of wood, tarpaulin and clay next to the cattle shed. In its place, his family has now built a small brick-built house with a real bed, a lockable door, electric lights and a fan.
“Now I feel safer,” she says.
Preeti Kumari Das, 15, learned to sew reusable pads under Poonam Mahara. The girls have learnt to use old fabrics to make durable garments, so there are no costs involved in making them.
ABOUT 800 KILOMETERS east of Kanchanpur, twenty teenage girls are preparing to learn more about menstrual hygiene. This time, their teacher, community activist Poonam Mahara, is helping them finish sewing their own sanitary napkins.
“We use old saris as materials, fabric that you can find in everyone’s home,” says Mahara.
“I got the idea for the material and the design after watching a video on YouTube. I started thinking that this is a soft fabric and easy to wash and dry in the sun,” she continues.
“To make reusable sanitary pads, we use old saris as materials, fabric that you can find in everyone’s home,” says Poonam Mahara.
There is plenty of sunshine in Nepal’s southern Terai lowlands. At the time of the meeting, the temperature has climbed to 40 degrees Celsius, but fortunately it is possible to hold the lessons in the recess of a building that provides shade from the harshest sun. Carpets of dried grasses act as seating, as well as cooling the air.
Today’s group consists of 20 girls, aged between 10 and 19. Poonam Mahara has picked most of them up from their homes after talking to their parents. In this community, the girls’ lives are very limited and it is by no means a given that they will even get to school.
“Sometimes, especially at the beginning, it was difficult to get permission from their parents, but now I am already known in the community. When I started, I didn’t know many people,” says Poonam Mahara.
Poonam Mahara wanted to make a difference in her community. “I now know more about things myself and I know that menstruation is a perfectly normal thing. I want to teach this knowledge to others. It is important for me that girls know their rights as early as possible and that they are not married too early and are allowed to go to school.”
“In this culture, people tend to get married very young, and in these classes we also talk about why it’s important to take care of yourself and do things for yourself, not just focus on your responsibilities.”
Those responsibilities can start at a very young age, as girls move into their spouse’s home when they get married. Housework usually ends up being the responsibility of the young daughter-in-law under the supervision of her parents-in-law. The legal age for marriage in Nepal is now 20, but often girls, especially from the poorest families, are married or given in marriage by their parents at a much younger age, as young as 13 or 14.
Grita Mahara, 17, says she used to be very shy. “I feel I have changed a lot since I joined this group, got information and got to know others. Now I have the courage to speak up for myself and I want a profession for myself.”
“At that age, the body is still changing a lot and there are other challenges associated with growing up. One of them is menstruation and especially not being able to afford menstrual pads,” says Poonam Mahara.
The project, supported by the FCA, started in December 2022 in a community in the Dhanusa region, based on the observation that many girls from marginalised groups lacked basic information about their own body functions and rights, and that child marriage was common.
“Menstruation is a taboo subject and the stigma around it makes it difficult to talk about menstruation to anyone, even within your own family. Menstruation is not considered a normal thing and that’s bad for everyone,” says Poonam Mahara.
When it comes to menstruation, it is strictly between women. Girls usually can’t even talk about it with their own brothers or fathers.
“Even if these girls get to school, they don’t get this kind of information about menstruation and so on at school. Teachers are usually men,” says Poonam Mahara.
Kajol Mahara, 17, listening next to her, nods cautiously. She has learned to sew herself a proper sanitary napkin in FCA-supported training courses. Her family is poor and she cannot afford to buy her daughter menstrual pads. Many girls and women use some kind of folded piece of cloth to protect themselves.
“In the past, I had to miss school during my period because I didn’t have proper protection. Now I don’t have to,” says Kajol Mahara.
Poonam Mahara herself comes from the same community. She studied in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. It was only after her marriage and return to her home community that she realised how many problems there were in the lives of girls and women. That’s why she wanted to help.
“I’ve also received a huge amount of support from my mother-in-law. She has encouraged me along the way and is like a mother to me. I love her so much,” Poonam Mahara rejoices.
Mother-in-law Sarabati Mahara appears at the same moment. She says that she herself has learned a lot about menstruation and women’s rights from her daughter-in-law.
“Our family are poor farmers, but my daughter-in-law is educated. It’s great that she can do this kind of work and doesn’t just have to stay at home. Because she is working, my grandchildren will also get a good education.”
Harvesting equality in Nepal: FCA & partners talk climate resilient development at CSW
At the 68th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, FCA and Nepali partners discussed the effects of climate change on women while sharing practical solutions.
Gender agenda for women in Nepal
CLIMATE CHANGE and environmental protection form a strategically important gender agenda for women in Nepal now and in the future.
The FCA event took place during the UN’s annual Commission on the Status of Women.
On March 12, 2024, experts gathered in New York during the UN’s event on gender quality. FCA hosted an event, co-sponsored by Finland that focused on how to mitigate the effects of climate change on Nepali women farmers, while remaining gender responsive and supporting economic empowerment.
The event drew on experiences from the GRAPE project in Nepal, a climate-resilient agriculture programme that FCA works on with main implementer, German development agency, GiZ.
Laura Rissanen, the State Secretary to the Minister of Social Security of Finland, opened the session by describing FCA’s work with Nepalis and how grassroots approaches and inclusion of women and girls is when climate action can make an impactful difference.
Ms Rissanen also highlighted that 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of Finland/Nepal diplomatic relations.
State Secretary Laura Rissanen opened the event
Shikha Shrestha from VSO Nepal emphasised that time and again, women’s voices are not heard.
Shikha Shrestha underlined that women must be involved in disaster relief.
“Women are always being engaged in agriculture & our knowledge & expertise is not considered. We need to consider holistic approach & have voices of women making the plan for disaster relief.”
The vivid panel discussion touched on the topic from various entry points with examples from mountainous indigenous women realities on the ground as well as experiences shared by women from marginalized communities, complemented by findings from recent research on how actually climate financing has remain very thin.
Yasso Kanti from the National Indigenous Women Forum narrated from firsthand experience the challenges and triumphs faced by indigenous women in their pursuit of equitable participation in agricultural endeavors amidst the ever-evolving climate landscape.
“There needs to be concrete recognition & action to putting indigenous peoples contributions at the forefront because indigenous people, especially women and girls, are mostly affected by land and climate induced conflicts,” she said.
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
Watch how climate change is threatening women farmers in Nepal
The panel also included DanChurchAid‘s Senior Advisor in Gender Equality, Kira Ugaz-Simonsen and youth climate activist, Tashi Lhazom, who joined remotely.
“Climate Change impacts everyone, but not equally. Key is the decentralization in power & resources. In most cases, it’s not an issue for women to speak out but for women to be listened to,” she contributed via remote link.
Youth climate activist, Tashi Lhazom joined the panel remotely
Targeted actions to mitigate the effects of climate change on women and gender equality remains extremely low whist there are growing needs to finance mitigation measures to women farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs on climate change effects and prevention of further damage.
While the challenges of the Nepali women remain complex with deeply rooted gender stereotypes and practices, the discussion proved commitment and true trust for the better future as long as women’s agricultural role and potential is truly recognised and nurtured.
Panel biographies
Laura Rissanen
Laura Rissanen has served as State Secretary to the Minister of Social Security since June 2023 and is responsible for EU and international affairs that fall within the Minister’s area of responsibility, and matters related to gender equality, occupational safety and health, and farm relief services. Rissanen has over twenty years of experience in policymaking, ranging from municipality decision-making to the European Parliament.
Tashi Lhazom
Tashi Lhazom is a prominent climate activist working at the intersection of climate action, gender equality, indigenous rights, and political literacy. She has spoken at grassroots, national, and global platforms. Tashi is a Co-Founder of two civil society initiatives, is a researcher and filmmaker, using storytelling to bring awareness to critical climate challenges in the Himalayan region.
Yasso Kanti Bhattachan
Yasso Kanti Bhattachan presently holds the position of Vice-Chairperson at the National Indigenous Women Forum. She is an esteemed figure known for her pivotal role as an advocate, researcher and leader for Indigenous Women’s Rights. Yasso is one of the founding members and advisor at the National Indigenous Women Federation and a Regional Council member of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), and the South Asia Focal Person of the Asian Indigenous Women’s Network (AIWN).
Kira-Ugaz Simonsen
Kira Ugaz-Simonsen is a Senior Advisor in Gender Equality at DanChurchAid, based in the head office in Copenhagen. Kira has more than 10 years’ experience working with gender responsiveness in development programming, both as a gender specialist and independent consultant, with experience from a broad range of countries. She has previously lived and worked with gender issues in Mozambique for close to five years and have prior to that, worked for UN Women in Bolivia.
Shikha Shrestha
Shikha Shrestha has more than 25 years of experiences on gender equality and social inclusion, feminist leadership, and good governance. Currently working with VSO Nepal as Country Project Implementation Lead, she completed her masters in forest ecology that helps her to understand agenda of climate change both from gender and ecological perspectives. Shikha has been actively engaged in promoting gender agenda in climate change actions and systematizing efforts of harmful social norms transformation for promoting gender equality and empowerment of marginalized communities.
FCA Nepal has joined an ambitious new programme promoting climate resilient agriculture in Nepal with a whole-society approach.
AGRICULTURE IS a big part of Nepal. Children like me, who grew up in the eighties and nineties were familiar with the phrase in our textbooks that we are a ‘nation of agriculture’.
Agriculture is still the lifeblood of the nation, but it is affected by two major trends; one is the phenomenon of male Nepalis going abroad to earn better wages and the other is climate change, by which we see uneven rain patterns and unpredictable and more extreme weather.
Both trends have the effect that often women are left bearing the burden for farming, on top of family responsibilities.
Nepal is extremely vulnerable to climate-related damage, such as soil erosion. Photo: Monika Deupala/FCA
Nepal’s climate vulnerability
According to the World Bank, Nepal is susceptible to geological and climate-related disasters, due to its geography and social vulnerability. Increases in soil erosion, landslides, flash floods and droughts – all which climate change drives – especially effect its agricultural sector. Poor rural people, who rely on farming for survival have the most to lose.
FCA Nepal has joined an ambitious new project in partnership with GiZ amongst others, and with funding from the EU and Finnish and German governments, to promote Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA). Briefly explained, CRA is the ability of any agricultural system to anticipate and prepare for extreme weather and climate change, as well as adapt to, absorb and recover from it. This can be through new techniques and innovations, but also as simple as ancient arts like crop rotation.
The GRAPE programme
The project, known as the Green Resilient Agricultural Productive Ecosystems (GRAPE) programme, helps farmers, cooperations and small business build their climate resiliency in a sustainable way – both environmentally and financially.
While that means training on agricultural practices, it also means supporting municipalities in integrating climate change into their planning and assisting with information roll-out to the entire region.
Climate Resilient Agriculture is not a common term in Nepal, and we knew that our first step needed to be that of connecting with people, not immediately implementing change. Too many climate response initiatives fail, because they rely too heavily on specialised technology, often brought from outside. We recognised that to change the habits of generations of farmers, we needed a whole society approach.
Participants in our media training course on Climate Resilient Agriculture conduct a group session.
Spreading the message
That’s why we started a media training programme targeting journalists in Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces. While reporters may seem a strange first audience for our project, most of them are closely intertwined with the agricultural community and their stories and already regularly report on the effects of climate change in their areas.
Belumaya Mahatara is a journalist from the remote Humla district. She participated in FCA Nepal’s Climate Resilient Agriculture media training course.
With low literacy levels in the regions, many farmers rely on radio news for their information, so the ability of broadcasters to understand, explain and be excited about the project was key. 32 journalists from various media platforms joined the training with 14 of them receiving an FCA fellowship to continue their support and training on Climate Resilient Agriculture.
Additionally, seven stories both national and local were published about Climate Resilient Agriculture during the training and three more were published later thanks in part to our training.
Engaging civil society
Our next stop was to bring together the widest and most inclusive group of people to form a community of practice, a group that could engage deeply on the topic, raise concerns, share best practices, and find important common ground in moving forward.
We brought together more than 50 civil society organisations including Heifer International Nepal, Plan International Nepal, Save the Children Nepal, World Vision International, Oxfam, Welthungerhilfe and Helen Keller International, amongst others, as well as local NGOs LI-BIRD, CEAPRED and ANSAB.
These organisations meet every two months on the most pressing issues when it comes to climate-resilient and climate-related agriculture, including matters of governance and resourcing.
The first of its kind in Nepal, the group now acts like a think tank, steering the direction of the conversation and maintaining the dialogue on how we achieve climate resiliency in our country.
It’s important to us, because true resilience to climate change doesn’t just encompass agricultural dimensions, but also sociological ones. We’re determined that our project takes in the viewpoints of all affected members of society.
An expert from Action Aid presenting about the crop management during the first half day event of our community of practice for Climate Resilient Agriculture.
Next steps
While continuing to support the ongoing discussion and training, we will also be acting on the lessons we learn putting together gender and disability responsive Climate Field Schools. These initiatives will support value chain producers from marginalised groups, while assisting agriculture and livestock technicians to reach out to these groups with real and practical help.
We’ll also be supporting the production of easily understandable information materials, like infographics and radio shows, so that a wide as possible audience can benefit from proven techniques to make even the smallest of farms climate resistant.
In this way, I hope that Nepalese textbooks continue to reflect our long history of agriculture in the future and its evolution, as it adapts and grows into a new climate reality.
—
Anish Shrestha is a Communication Specialist at FCA Nepal, focusing on the GRAPE programme and Climate Resilient Agriculture.
The GRAPE project is jointly funded by the European Union, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Finn Church Aid (FCA) is Finland’s largest international organisation working for development and humanitarian assistance. FCA specialises in the world’s most fragile contexts and works with the most vulnerable people, within their priority areas.
Fly larvae help Nepalese women create innovative sustainable business
FCA and Womens’ Bank BUZZ project in Nepal uses larvae from the Black Soldier Fly as alternative animal feed due to their high protein and fat content, as opposed to traditional feeds. This reduces solid waste by efficiently converting organic waste into animal feeds and organic fertilizer within the cycle of circular economy.
IN THE small village of Bhardeu in Nepal’s Lalitpur district, a building with a corrugated tin roof is abuzz with activity. Women crowd round small plastic trays, which are writhing with small larvae. One woman gently and carefully lifts a handful of the larvae in gloved hands. She doesn’t seem fazed by the wriggling grubs – in fact, these unassuming worm-like animals represent an exciting innovation in the working lives of these women. They’re a chance to turn waste into value.
“It’s such a new concept in Nepal,” says BUZZ project coordinator Nishi Khatun. “In the beginning, the women who saw our prototype larvae farm were a bit doubtful and sometimes frightened. But since training, they’re really confident with handling the larvae and find the process more convenient and beneficial from the farming they’re currently doing.”
Women observe a demonstration of how black soldier fly larvae can be bred for animal feed in Nepal
With funding from our sister organisation, Women’s Bank, and in partnership with the Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs’ Associations of Nepal (FWEAN), the project aims to provide employment to seven women, who are part of a farming cooperative in the village. All of them face social and economic marginalisation, with limited access to resources, job opportunities and influence within their community
The premise is simple: Black Soldier Fly larvae are raised in a special production facility feeding on organic waste. They then are used as feed for farmed animals and fish. The frass (excretion of larvae/fly) is used as organic fertilizers.
“The organic waste from the household and farming land is reused again and again for the larvae,” says FCA Climate and Environment Sustainability Advisor, Aly Cabrera. “It’s a really good initiative because it reduces land competition between food for human and for animal consumption.”
A close-up of the larvae feeding on organic waste
FCA set up the production facility and provides ongoing training to the women in both the technical skills needed to raise the larvae and the business development skills that will enable them to connect with customers and larger industries. In time, they won’t just be able to maintain their farms, but also sell surplus larvae and frass to others.
That said, it’s a very new concept in Nepal and the benefits of using the larvae are not yet well understood by stakeholders in the agriculture, poultry and fisheries industries.
Other challenges include the delicate nature of the larvae themselves. The grubs are highly sensitive to temperature and humidity and getting the ambient conditions exactly right for them to thrive is crucial.
Despite this, the women in Bhardeu recently celebrated a milestone. The initial insects needed to establish a colony arrived from the western district of Chitwan and they were able to get to work after long months of training. The cooperative issued a statement in celebration:
“We are filled with hope that our dream of economic empowerment through engagement in the Black Soldier Fly business model will finally come true. We envision ourselves becoming successful entrepreneurs.”
The BUZZ project is thanks to a joint FCA and Women’s Bank initiative that develops circular economy projects to increase income opportunities & sustainable agricultural practices in order to improve community resilience.
EU and Finnish Ambassadors visit FCA projects in Nepal
FCA hosted the Ambassadors of Finland and the EU to Nepal, during a trip to visit Nepal’s Far West. They visited free Kamaiya and Kamlaris (ex-bonded labourers) and witnessed progress made by the communities toward self- sufficiency and increased incomes.
AMBASSADOR OF FINLAND to Nepal, Ms Riina-Riika Heikka and Ambassador of the European Union to Nepal, Ms Nona Deprez, saw the varied activities ex-bonded labourers undertake to generate or supplement their incomes. These included vegetable farming, pig rearing and tailoring, supported by FCA with funding from the Finnish government.
The Ambassador of Finland to Nepal, Riina-Riika Heikka during a visit to FCA projects in Nepal. Photo: Deepika Naidu
They were also impressed by the impact FCA distributed bicycles had on farmers’ ability to transport their goods to market, decreasing their reliance on middlemen.
Said Ms Heikka, “I think what has impressed me the most is FCA’s work with women and women’s economic empowerment and linking it also to advocacy work.
But being very concrete on bringing sustainable solutions to the communities and also to women and girls, using local expertise, local knowledge and network and a good partner in order to really strive for sustainable solutions for the future.”
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
Watch Ambassador Heikka’s interview with FCA
Communities in the lead
Working closely with the community has been key in FCA’s success in the region. Lal Bahadur Chaudhary, 52, and his wife Janaki Chaudhary, 48, are a farming couple, who not only serve as representatives for their community but have also made significant strides towards adopting modern farming techniques to increase their yields.
Gita Devi Sarki is an ex-bonded labourer from Kholibasti, who also received support from FCA for her vegetable farm. Photo: Uma Bista
Chaudhary was among the participants in an earlier training visit organized by FCA to Chitwan district. During the session, people exchanged knowledge and experience on sustainable farming, including using indigenous resources as pest control.
Since then, he has not only improved the family farm’s yield, but also disseminated the knowledge he gained during the visit to the other members of his community. Chaudhary’s family no longer needs to purchase vegetables from the market as they can produce enough for their own consumption, with a surplus that can be sold in the market to generate income for their household.
The Ambassadors visited pig farmers in Far West Nepal. Photo: Deepika Naidu
Another income-generating activity that ex-bonded laborers have undertaken with the support of FCA is pig farming. This project has helped the community members to rear pigs and sell them in the local market.
Tailoring is another initiative that FCA has undertaken to support ex-bonded laborers. Salina Chaudhary was one of the recipients of tailoring training in 2020.
Salina Chaudhary in her tailoring shop. Salina gives tailoring training after receiving tailoring training from FCA Nepal in 2020. Photo: Uma Bista
Three years later she now operates her own tailoring business and trains other women in her community. The Ambassadors were impressed with the quality and variety of clothes Salina and her trainees make. Moreover, they recognised the tremendous impact that the project has had on the communities, as it has facilitated the development of valuable skills through the training programs.
Finally, the Ambassadors visited a community group called REFLECT. The FCA supported project is an approach to adult literacy and empowerment which uses participatory learning methods to promote dialogue and critical thinking among community members, enabling them to identify and address their social, economic, and political issues.
“I think the most important thing for me has been to witness the warmth of the people and the atmosphere of going forward and really the atmosphere of movement,” concluded Ms Heikka.
Women and girls became central in our pandemic work
Right after the declaration of COVD-19 restrictions and lockdowns, we understood that child marriage would become a pertinent issue in our working areas, writes Program Development Coordinator Deepika Naidu.
Intensifying gender-based violence (GBV), more domestic work, drop-outs from school, and increasing numbers of child marriage. The covid-19 pandemic hit us all hard, but the consequences of school closures and national lockdowns were especially serious for Nepalese girls and women.
Right after the declaration of COVD-19 restrictions and lockdowns, we understood that child marriage would become a pertinent issue in our working areas. That’s why we wanted to focus on child safeguarding and make it one of our first priorities. We started implementing our activities which included child clubs in school, community dialogues and even educational street drama performances.
We also erected billboards with a message on child marriage and its negative effects on children’s physical, mental, social well-being and legal provisions against child marriage. It was encouraging to see that the billboards were well recognized by the community and local government officials.
In addition to child safeguarding, the pandemic forced us to respond to the crisis in many ways. Our food distributions addressed the immediate needs of the most marginalized groups, especially pregnant and lactating women, and households who had a person with a disability.
As in many other countries, there were more reported cases of gender-based violence in Nepal during the lockdown. We did our best to tackle the problem with our family dialogues, media awareness campaigns and sessions on gender inequality with mixed groups engaging men, boys, women and girls of communities. Some of the cooperatives (supported by FCA) formulated advocacy plans of action including activities to reduce child marriage and addressing GBV, amongst others. These were submitted to the respective local governments.
In consideration of the increasing violence and abuse against women and girls in the quarantine centres, FCA partners advocated for women-friendly spaces with local governments. Our efforts bore fruit: due to this collective voice of Civil Society Organisations, local governments initiated women-friendly spaces in the targeted quarantine centres.
I’m hopeful because our constitution is very progressive and the policies and acts addressing child marriage and violence against women and girls are promising. The presence of the local units of the government at the community level aims to create an enabling environment for women and girls to thrive.
As I am writing this, the Covid-19 pandemic is dominating the news and daily politics for the second year running. In fact, this topic has overshadowed other news to such an extent that it is hard to remember what went on in the world before Covid-19 testing, vaccines and coronavirus variants. Climate change, protracted conflicts, swarms of locusts destroying crops – does any of that ring a bell?
The work carried out by Finn Church Aid focuses on providing education, securing livelihoods and building peace. The objective of long-term development cooperation is to help entire communities become stable and self-sufficient.
We also respond to more urgent needs. After a massive explosion in the port of Lebanon’s capital Beirut in August 2020, we delivered emergency assistance to those affected. When Covid-19 stopped trade and food deliveries at state borders in several parts of the world, we continued to provide emergency food assistance.
Some of the areas where we promote development cooperation, humanitarian assistance and peace do naturally overlap, just as global crises are inextricably intertwined. Many of our programme countries faced profound challenges even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Changes in climate and protracted conflicts have caused food crises, health crises and displacement of millions of people.
In South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, devastating floods have left two thirds of the country’s 11 million inhabitants in need of some form of humanitarian assistance as they are suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition.
Syria also has a disastrous decade of suffering behind it. This conflict-ridden country has spiralled into an economic crisis that, for Syrian people, translates into a shortage of food and lost income opportunities. An entire generation of children has gone to school in emergency conditions.
Muhammad Abdo Hijzai from East Ghouta is a 13-year-old boy who participated in remedial education in, for example, mathematics, supported by Finn Church Aid. Photo: Abu Talib Al-Buhaya.
The global pandemic has ruthlessly exposed the weaknesses of many countries. In Nepal, more than 25 per cent of the country’s GDP has in recent years consisted of remittances by Nepalese working abroad. With the pandemic forcing migrant workers to return home, families have struggled for more than a year, trying to cope without an adequate income to guarantee a decent living.
But the pandemic has not brought all progress to a halt, even if we sometimes feel like it. In a number of projects, the situation has forced us to take a big leap forward in technology. For instance, in Kenya we distributed radios to enable women to participate in peace dialogues. Our objective in such projects was to make communities better equipped to resolve conflicts involving natural resources.
Without a doubt, we will face more challenges in the future. Our climate is becoming increasingly harsh, and in these changing conditions, it is likely that more epidemics will circulate in the population. Natural disasters will force people to leave their homes in growing numbers. According to forecasts, a high population growth rate in Africa will result in massive migration within the continent.
But the good news is that resilient societies are able to take better precautions and prepare for disasters. In time, the Covid-19 crisis will pass, and this is when Finn Church Aid’s efforts to improve education, support livelihoods and forge peace will bear fruit and produce even more tangible results. Those who have participated in our projects have been building a stronger foundation for their lives, enabling them to pursue a brighter future.
Ulriikka Myöhänen, Communications Specialist.
This text twas originally published in our Annual Report 2020 that came out recently. Would you like to know more about what was done?
FCA takes a step towards localisation by forming a Global Leadership Team
Country Director for Uganda Wycliffe Nsheka addresses the graduates at Finn Church Aid’s graduation ceremony for from the Business and Technical Vocational Education Training (BTVET) at Rwamwanja refugee settlement. Photo: Michele Sibiloni.
FCA’s Board of Directors has appointed three representatives of FCA’s programme countries to its newly formed Global Leadership Team (GLT) in June. The GLT is part of FCA’s new organisational structure that came into force on April 1, 2021, and the term of the representatives is 2+1 years.
Country Director of South Sudan Mr Berhanu Haile, Country Director of Nepal Ms Sofia Olsson, and Country Director of Uganda, Mr Wycliffe Nsheka will be starting in their new roles in August. Permanent member of the Global Leadership team are Executive Director Jouni Hemberg and Deputy Executive Director Tomi Järvinen.
The GLT will have a significant role in strategic decision-making in FCA’s new organisational structure that aims to serve better the people FCA works with and emphasise accountability. Having a multi-skilled Global Leadership Team with diverse field experiences will improve FCA’s work, says Wycliffe Nsheka.
“Development cooperation has taken a major shift whereby the focus now is to promote mutual learning. I have been in the sector for 20 years, and there has been talk of localisation for a long time, but there is still work to be done in bringing it to practise”, Nsheka continues.
The new GLT will be committed to making localisation a reality and supporting the Global South to strengthen ownership and sustainability. Berhanu Haile says that the new management model is a significant step towards heeding local knowledge and experience to inform strategic decision-making.
“This is a significant step towards localisation while at the same time transforming FCA to be a global organisation that embraces views from North and South,” says Haile.
“The approach will ensure that we strategically respond to the rights and needs of the marginalised people with whom we work,” says Sofia Olsson.
The Covid-19 outbreak in Nepal is escalating quickly. From reporting around a hundred cases per day a month ago, Nepal currently registers a devastating number of 9,300 daily cases. The rate of positive tests is now the world’s highest – around 49 per cent of all conducted test are positive.
Nepal has a fragile health system and already experiences a lack of hospital beds, oxygen supplies and ventilators. The vaccine rollout has stopped, while the number of new infections is rising fast. Finn Church Aid (FCA) is extremely concerned about the situation, and its office in Nepal closely monitors developments while considering different ways to respond.
FCA Nepal works with the country’s most vulnerable communities and is looking for ways to continue its support amid the health crises, says Country Director Sofia Olsson.
“The situation is incredibly difficult right now. Hospitals have been completely full and overwhelmed for the past ten days, and it is estimated that we have less than 10 per cent of the projected need for ICUs, ventilators and oxygen supplies. The death rate is increasing dramatically due to the lacking resources”, she says.
Olsson says that Nepal urgently needs support from the international community.
“All in-country development partners are already working on this, but what is also essential right now is for the outside world to open its eyes to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Nepal and look beyond the Covid crisis in India. The situation in India is awful, but as Nepal has much less resources and capacities than our big neighbour, we are bound to see a significantly worse development in Nepal unless aid starts flowing in now”, Olsson says.
FCA has worked in Nepal for several years and remains, with its local partners, committed to joint efforts in addressing the humanitarian consequences and the socio-economic impact of the alarming virus outbreak.
