‘Treks-to-Build Health, Community & Hope in the Hidden Himalayas – A New Tourism for a New Century’.
The Nepal Trust, a pioneer in responsible tourism in the far Western corner of Nepal since 1995, was the first development organization in this vast region, if not the entire country, to initiate the so-called ‘Treks-to-Build Health & Community’ program.
This program relates to an environmentally responsible tourism that provides direct benefits to natural areas and to the social, cultural and economic welfare of locals, promoting conservation and sustainable development.
In order to achieve this, our organization responds to the needs of local communities for improved access to basic health, education, employment, food security and renewable energy resources.
The Nepal Trust ...
About You
Contact Information
Title
er.
First name
Jeroen
Last name
van den Bergh
Your job title
Director of Operations
Name of your organization
The Nepal Trust
Organization type
NGO
Annual budget/currency
18,000 Pounds
Mailing address
Ward - 4, Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal
Telephone number
+977 1 437974
Postal/Zip Code
GPO 8975, EPC 4131
Country
Nepal
Website
Email address
Alternative email address
Your idea
This will be the address used to plot your entry on the map.
Street Address
Ward – 4, Maharajgunj
City
Kathmandu
State/Province
Bagmati
Postal/Zip Code
GPO8975/EP
Country
Nepal
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of benefit to residents for the destination .
Organization size
Small (1 to 100 employees)
Indicate sector in which you principally work
Community Organization
Year innovation began
1995
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
General destination stewardship/management, Other.
Name Your Project
‘Treks-to-Build Health, Community & Hope in the Hidden Himalayas – A New Tourism for a New Century’.
Describe Your Idea
The Nepal Trust, a pioneer in responsible tourism in the far Western corner of Nepal since 1995, was the first development organization in this vast region, if not the entire country, to initiate the so-called ‘Treks-to-Build Health & Community’ program.
This program relates to an environmentally responsible tourism that provides direct benefits to natural areas and to the social, cultural and economic welfare of locals, promoting conservation and sustainable development.
In order to achieve this, our organization responds to the needs of local communities for improved access to basic health, education, employment, food security and renewable energy resources.
The Nepal Trust ...
Innovation
What is the goal of your innovation? Please describe in one sentence the kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
‘To strengthen the ability of poor communities to implement effective community and enterprise initiatives to help them improve their livelihoods’.
Please write an overview of your project. Include how your approach supports or embodies geotourism or destination stewardship. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the map located on the competition homepage.
The Nepal Trust, a pioneer in responsible tourism in the far Western corner of Nepal since 1995, was the first development organization in this vast region, if not the entire country, to initiate the so-called ‘Treks-to-Build Health & Community’ program.
This program relates to an environmentally responsible tourism that provides direct benefits to natural areas and to the social, cultural and economic welfare of locals, promoting conservation and sustainable development.
In order to achieve this, our organization responds to the needs of local communities for improved access to basic health, education, employment, food security and renewable energy resources.
The Nepal Trust believes that tourism development can only succeed if the needs and wishes of the local people are respected and accounted for. As such we work closely with the host populations and with our visitors, to ensure that locals are not oppressed, that their daily life is not disturbed unnecessarily and their dignity remains intact.
Unlike many other industries, The Nepal Trust believes that tourism can turn the geographical remoteness and rugged landscape of Humla - the very things that normally hinder development in Nepal's remotest districts - into economic assets for its native inhabitants.
Explain in detail why your approach is innovative
Our program aims at a sustainable kind of tourism, whereby travelers, who want to leave more behind than just their footprints, waste and by-products, can instead educate and enrich themselves, as they are offered the unique opportunity to get involved hands-on with community-based development projects that are related to health, renewable energy, environmental issues, education, heritage preservation and food security.
This allows them to connect on a deeper level with the host populations in order to contribute to the sustainable development of the tourism destination itself.
Hence, visitors are offered a unique opportunity to enter a hidden world within their destination. Due to past development works of Nepal Trust, local people are strongly connected to our organization and will welcome our clients to activities that will normally remain unknown for tourists, i.e. rituals, dances, festivals, etc.
Our clientele consist out of people who want to face a challenge and make a difference in a part of the world that desperately needs it - individuals who can trek and work in a team and as a team together with local communities that need the support of a New Tourism For A New Century.
Impact
Describe the degree of success you have had to date. How do you measure, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the impact on sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How has it transformed or contributed to the power of place or demonstrated the sustainability of tourism? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
To date the Trust invested over $4,150,000 and implemented 5 micro-hydro plants, 6 village health posts, 3 village solar projects, installed solar equipment in the district hospital and at its regional office and guesthouse and renovated monasteries, including Nepal’s oldest monastery Halji Gompa.
Tourists from all over the world contributed to develop people in one of the last untouched places on earth in the fields of health, renewable energy, education and heritage preservation and brought employment, happiness and hope to those living in harsh conditions, far away from western modernization.
Over 2,000 households gained access to electricity, which decreased the use of firewood for cooking and heating, but also has a positive impact on the environment, deforestation and the overuse of natural resources and at least 1,000 households registered themselves at our health clinics.
This resulted in improving health standards (hygiene), better sanitary infrastructure (hot water), decrease in physical problems (electricity for food grinders, oil expellers) and better literacy and education (light to study, environmental education).
Also community participation in our projects and light availability in community houses, schools and monasteries enhanced social interaction and created senses of positive change, social cohesion and inclusion among local villages and marginalized groups.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your work, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
Host populations contribute both financially as well with ‘sweat equity’, whereby local communities have to commit themselves to do a certain amount of physical labor and use as much local resources as possible, in order to create a sense of project cohesion and ownership.
If communities have difficulty in collecting funds and if they meet the criteria, they may be offered a ‘loan’ granted by The Nepal Trust or by other potential project partners. Local people respond positive to this as they are offered a chance to learn business principles and to get employment opportunities for income generation.
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
The unique aspect of Nepal Trust is that it is also a development organization consisting of people from our project areas, who can show potential visitors their project sites, This definitely motivates their local community members. Nepal Trust has worked on grass-roots level for the last 15 years in Humla, even as only organization throughout the Maoist insurgency, we have build up a great relationships with local populations.
This provides us the privilege to access many facilities and inclusion in community life, that we are happy to share with tourists. Examples are home-stays, community parties, visits to spiritual leaders, etc.
Describe how your work helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues.
In 2007 12 UK scouts and their leaders trekked up to the very remote village of Til in Limi Valley, to install on behalf of Rotary International approximately 50 solar panels and 200 lights to electrify houses, the school, monastery and community house.
The group included teachers, health workers and a biologist, Roy Cameron, who worked in Bhutan and is affiliated with the Centre of Environmental Education Nepal. Roy conducted research and gave presentations to locals and tourists regarding water and its linkages to local tourism industries. Also local people educated tourists on Tibetan culture and religious sites were visited.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
The community-based projects, related to our tourism program, are mainly financed through Rotary International, UNESCO, governmental bodies (NTB) and (I)NGOs (SNV/ DANIDA).
Our clients are individual participants (i.e. engineers, doctors, students, builders or Rotarians from donor clubs) that pay all their own expenses. Professional affiliation with our projects is not needed; a lawyer can work together with a shoemaker on the installation of solar panels.
The treks and the projects have separate budgets, as they are financed through different procedures/ bodies. The tourism-related budget of 2007/8 was approximately $175,000 and generated $50,000 profit. For this we used 6 full-time staff, 225 part-time workers and 2 volunteers.
We also have individual fundraise events, i.e. with James Heart Dyke, personal painter for the Prince of Whales, who trekked up to Humla and Everest Base Camp with Nepal Trust to make several paintings, which were exhibited and generated income for our development projects.
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? Is there a potential demand for your innovation?
The income generated from our ‘Treks-to-Build’ form additional income but are separated from the donor project finances deliberately. This due to the fact that local people should still be able to get their project in case tourists don’t sign up.
All profit that is generated on our treks is re-invested in the local villages through community based projects, medicine distribution, social activities, incentives, salaries and administration cost for our (local) staff, health workers and regional office in Humla.
The last decade several initiatives came up (i.e. charity, experience tourism, responsible travel), so there is a growing interest in the market.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
Main difficulties are Nepal’s unstable political situation, the extreme poverty of the local people and the fact that we work in a post-conflict area that is highly remote.
Many decisions are taken ad hoc by the Government, which can form a hindrance to our works, such as the sudden prohibition of transporting petrol to remote areas while on trek.
Also local politics, which have their influence on projects, are difficult to tackle.
This is not illogic however, when one takes the underlying context of caste systems, ethnic diversity and lack of social cohesion, the very things that in general encumbers Nepal to become a solid and unified nation, into account.
We mainly have projects in Limi Valley; a former restricted area that will take one around two weeks by strenuous trekking to conduct a visit and return to the district head quarter, Simikot. Including the time it takes to go up and down Simikot from Kathmandu, it safely can be said that it will take around a month to assess some project sites a single time.
In all, it takes a lot of time, financial resources, commitment and physical strength to visit our organization’s project sites to do our work.
What is your plan to expand or further develop your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
Nepal Trust is trying to extend ‘Treks-to-Build’ as a model for responsible tourism, by appealing to international travel agents, development organizations and individual travellers worldwide, starting with Nepal’s poorest districts, notably Dolpa, Mugu, Bajura and Kalikot, that lack basic (social) infrastructure but have tremendous tourism potentials.
Currently we are selected as program manager for the ‘Great Himalayan Trail’ development program, an initiative from SNV, UNWTO/ST-EP and Nepal Tourism Board to promote tourism throughout Nepal in order to reduce poverty levels.
The Story
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Jeroen is born in India, but has been raised in Holland. With a background in leisure, tourism, nature conservation and environmental issues, he has worked in these fields in Holland, the Caribbean, Romania and Nepal for the last 6 years.
Jigme is originally from Humla and has been working in community development since 1996. Both worked with various organisations on grass-roots level and have led Treks-to-Build.
They are now responsible for the planning, coordination and implementation of projects related to all practice areas. They feel rewarded to contribute to the solution that may alter the livelihoods of people in need.
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell the Changemakers and media communities what prompted you to start this initiative.
The Nepal Trust is a registered charity in Scotland (SC022552) established in Britain in 1993. The founder, Alan Jacobsen, is a retired Scottish businessman and former British Indian Army Major, who served alongside Nepalese Ghurkhas in Burma during World War II and was later moved by the poverty in their home country when he visited Nepal in 1993.
The main reason why Humla district was chosen at that time, was due to its extreme poverty and remoteness and the fact that Humla had not been included in other development programs.
Project development and decisions are implemented by Nepal Trust Scotland managers and reviewed and sanctioned by both the Board of Directors in the UK and through the Nepal Trust Nepal - a partner organization with the Scottish charity that is a registered Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), with offices in Kathmandu and Humla.
The Nepal Trust ran a small advertisement in a couple of British newspapers in 1994 for a trek to build a health post in Humla (Torpa village) and within 6 months 5 English and 4 Scottish trekkers were trekking from Jumla district North over a hundred miles to Humla to work with the men, women and children of several villages in the Dozam valley of Humla to build the area’s first effective community health center.
Within 2 years of completion of the health post, villagers from as far away as 3 days walk were making their way there for desperately needed medical treatment and hope. The trek helped to pay for this community service and the trekkers contributed humor and work towards the effort that was organized, partially financed and completed by local people.
Since that time The Nepal Trust has run ‘Treks-to-Build’ or renovate several health posts, a community guesthouse, an ancient monastery and we are the first to run ‘Treks-to-Electrify’. There have been 5 ‘Treks-to-Build’ village micro-hydro plants that provided light and power to hundreds of people for the first time in their history. We have also run numerous ‘university student’, ‘medical research’, ‘monastery renovation’ (including the 10th century Halji Gompa) and ‘mobile health camp’ treks.
Our ‘Treks-to-Build Health and Community’ program is an attempt to transform tourism in the developing world as a pro-active force. We hope to create a new form of tourism that strengthens local management capability, cultural integrity and environmental awareness and that gets results and community projects done in the field.
We support hands-on community projects that are clearly needed and sustainable with the people of North West Nepal, that emphasize local participation and responsibility and encourages Western tourists to put something back into the society they have derived so much pleasure from by participating in building projects and working with local people.
Aiming at improving the quality of human life, it is our practice to ask the Nepalese what they want in terms of development and then to assist them to make it happen. The Nepal Trust recognises local people as the ultimate custodians of their homelands and community projects.
Describe some unique tourist experiences that your approach provides. Be specific; give illustrative examples.
All Nepal Trust staff in Humla are local Humli people from our project sites who know the village people where we bring our clients to. This offers tourists unique opportunities to meet family members and friends and stay at their houses (home stay), local priests, monks, artisans, crafts men, doctors, teachers, students, political leaders, etc.
Next to the opportunity tourists have to work with local people, we also organize interaction programs with locals, including project activities, interviews and cultural celebrations with local drinks, food, music and dance to welcome and thank our foreign visitors.
Please see a recent example below from Rotarian Adrian Lawrence, RC Wells, Distr. 1200, during the Somerset Rotarians ‘Trek to Build Health & Community’ 2007 that illustrates this.
When it was time to leave, the whole village gathered on the roof tops offering apples, chang (the local homebrew) and yak butter, smeared onto our hair for good luck. The ladies dressed in their traditional costumes and jewellery. It was a very emotional moment and a lasting memory of how kind and happy these people can be, even when facing such adversity.
This article is an extract from the original, which is reproduced in full on www.nepaltrust.org
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
Partnerships with international development organizations, donors, embassies, private sectors, social groups and universities are considered beneficial.
Nepal Trust believes that community - and tourism development should go hand in hand along with durable (social) enterprise initiatives. Examples are partnerships with SNV/NTB/UNWTO to promote tourism throughout Nepal for poverty reduction, UNESCO to develop and promote cultural tourism and national heritage or Rotary International to provide the basic needs related to health, education, renewable energy and infrastructure to create local economies that allow people to sustain themselves.
 | 159 weeks agoJeroen van den Bergh submitted this idea. |
