| Abstract |
Rural Village Water Resources Management Project (RVWRMP) started its activities in october 2006 and will continue till the end of august 2010. RVWRMP works in nine (9) hilly/mountainous districts of the Far- and Mid-Western Nepal. In addition, arsenic mitigation activities will be carried out in Kailali district. The main objective is to improve the quality of life
of the local people, improve environmental conditions and increase opportunities to rural livelihoods, through rational, equitable and sustainable practices of water resources planning and use. The overall budget of the project is NPR 1274 million, equivalent to EUR 13.7 million. The project districts have been ranked either as “poor” or “very poor” in the UNDP’s Nepal Human Development Report 2004. According to the same report, the annual per capita income varies between USD 125 in Dailekh and USD 242 in Dadeldhura. Average adult literacy rate is between 20% (Humla) and 40% (Baitadi), while female literacy is as low as 5% in Humla and reaches just 23% in Baitadi. Some 43% of the total population has access to tapped drinking water systems. Sanitation services are practically non-existing. There is also high demand for irrigation systems development. The project idea is to develop the use of water resources on the basis of comprehensive Water Use Master Plans (WUMPs) to be prepared for 80 priority VDCs selected by DDCs. WUMPs will be prepared by the concerned VDCs and the communities themselves, facilitated by social Support Organizations and technical consultants. Community Organisations (CO), comprised of representatives of all the households in each settlement, will be the backbone of the inclusive approach of the Project; separate COs will be formed for women and men of the community and special attention will be paid on inclusion of women, Dalits and other vulnerable groups in the
COs and at the VDC-level in Water Resources Management Committees (WRMC). After preparation of WUMP, the people’s own priority schemes will be implemented by User’s Committees (UCs), with the help of local support organizations (SOs), and the COs will form a basis for people’s participation in all project activities and the sustainability of the schemes. In this way the project aims at ensuring active and meaningful participation of women, Dalits and other
deprived groups in all phases of the project, from planning to post-construction, and at creating ownership and sustainability at the local level.
(authors abstract)
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