‘Treks-to-Build Health, Community and Hope in the ‘Hidden Himalayas’.
Location
The Nepal Trust is a registered charity in Scotland (SC022552) that has worked for the past 14 years in one of the world's most impoverished and remotest areas of human habitation; Humla district in the Upper Karnali River Zone of North West Nepal. The Nepal Trust is a non-religious and non-political organization.
Over the years the Trust has gained the reputation of a committed and cost-effective organization that strongly believes in value for money and tries to take a different approach by combining development projects with social enterprises. The organization is constantly looking for new opportunities and partnerships that will further advance its community-led development goals in Humla district and throughout NW Nepal.
The Nepal Trust does not support charitable work that creates dependency - instead it does its best to create opportunities for marginalized communities based upon their felt needs, ability to take responsibility and the amount of sweat equity they are willing to put into the work. We have largely been successful in achieving our objectives and this is due to our commitment to the work and our demand responsive approach to village-based initiatives and our emphasis on community participation linked to both project activities and business principles.
Your idea
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Street Address
4 Marina Quay
City
Lossiemouth
State/Province
Moray
Postal/Zip Code
IV31 6TJ
Country
United Kingdom
Year innovation began
1995
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of benefit to the people of the desitination
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
Community Organization
Geographic location
Urban, Rural, Suburban, Mountain, Multiple locations.
Plot your innovation within the Mosaic of Solutions
Main insight addressed
Develop community assets
Name Your Project
‘Treks-to-Build Health, Community and Hope in the ‘Hidden Himalayas’.
Describe Your Idea
The Nepal Trust is a registered charity in Scotland (SC022552) that has worked for the past 14 years in one of the world's most impoverished and remotest areas of human habitation; Humla district in the Upper Karnali River Zone of North West Nepal. The Nepal Trust is a non-religious and non-political organization.
Over the years the Trust has gained the reputation of a committed and cost-effective organization that strongly believes in value for money and tries to take a different approach by combining development projects with social enterprises. The organization is constantly looking for new opportunities and partnerships that will further advance its community-led development goals in Humla district and throughout NW Nepal.
The Nepal Trust does not support charitable work that creates dependency - instead it does its best to create opportunities for marginalized communities based upon their felt needs, ability to take responsibility and the amount of sweat equity they are willing to put into the work. We have largely been successful in achieving our objectives and this is due to our commitment to the work and our demand responsive approach to village-based initiatives and our emphasis on community participation linked to both project activities and business principles.
Innovation
What is the goal of your innovation?
‘To strengthen the ability of poor communities to implement effective community and enterprise initiatives to help them improve their livelihoods’.
How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
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.
Describe your approach in detail. How is it 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 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.
Our clientele consist out of positive-minded 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' - a tourism that is a part of the solution and not a part of the problem for our world.
People are offered an unique opportunity to combine tourism with development to rebuild communities in the forgotten Himalayas that have suffered through a decade of a destructive insurgency.
Tourists visit our project sites where they can contribute to community-based projects, such as helping with the construction of a health post or micro hydro power plant, renovation of monasteries or the installation of solar panels.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
The Nepal Trust believes that community - and tourism development should go hand in hand, along with durable enterprise initiatives related to health, education, renewable energy and infrastructure to create local economies that allow people to sustain themselves.
Examples are partnerships with UNESCO, to develop/ promote cultural tourism or the German Embassy to construct the first guest house with conference, accommodation, restaurant, solar shower and communication facilities in North West Nepal, which now also serves as a regional office.
Partnerships with international development organizations, donor agencies, embassies, private sectors, social groups, universities and students are considered beneficial to our work.
Impact
In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
‘To change lives of tourists and host populations by leaving permanent and positive impressions in both mind and earth behind’.
Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts? 200 words or less
To date the Trust invested over $4,000,000 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.
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
All Nepal Trust staff in Humla are local Humli people from our project sites. Therefore they know the people in the villages where we bring our clients to. This offers tourists the unique opportunity to meet with family members and friends and stay at their houses (home stay), local priests and monks, artisans, crafts men, doctors, teachers, students, engineers, political leaders, Maoists leaders, etc.
On our treks we organize interaction programs with local people regarding project activities, interviews among villagers and big parties and cultural celebrations with local drinks, food, music and dance to welcome and thank our foreign visitors.
Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area’s cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
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 meeting hall.
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. Roy and The Nepal Trust currently work together on a big watershed program.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
Host populations contribute in both financial terms as well as with ‘sweat equity’, whereby local communities have to commit themselves to do a certain amount of physical labor in order to cut project cost and to create a sense of project cohesion and ownership concerning the project output.
If communities have difficulty in collecting funds, if they meet the criteria, they may be offered a ‘loan’ granted by The Nepal Trust or with other potential project partners. Local people respond positive to this as they are offered a chance to learn business principles and get employment opportunities for income generation.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
The Nepal Trust offers great value for money for its treks and guarantees people the best service, a high quality standard of food and beverages, qualified, friendly and English speaking staff and a great time against a very competitive price.
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.
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 (DANIDA) and local (I)NGOs.
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 trek and the project have separate budgets, as they are financed through different procedures/ bodies. The tourism-related budget of 2007 was approximately $250,000 and generated $85,000 profit. For this we used 8 full-time staff, 175 part-time workers and 6 volunteers.
We also have individual fundraising events, i.e. with James Hart Dyke, personal painter for the Prince of Wales, who trekked up to Humla and Everest Base Camp with The Nepal Trust to make several paintings, which were exhibited and generated income for our development projects.
What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
The Nepal Trust has sincere intentions to extend its project activities throughout the entire Karnali zone, notably the remote districts of Dolpa, Mugu, Bajura and Kalikot; Nepal’s poorest districts that lack basic (social) infrastructure.
This will provide means for mountain villages to improve/ sustain their livelihoods through clean energy technologies and to have locally trained staff to keep these assets maintained and operating.
These technologies will be interlinked with our other practice areas, such as primary healthcare, (environmental) education, heritage preservation, food security, social enterprise development, but also will create employment opportunities and establish market linkages to bigger regional hubs.
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 illogical 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. It will take a person around two weeks of 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.
The Story
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
I am originally from India, but have been raised in Holland. With a background in leisure patterns, tourism, nature conservation and environmental issues, I have worked in these fields in Holland, the Caribbean, Romania and Nepal for the last 3 years.
I am familiar with working in developing countries on grass-roots level with locals and am active for The Nepal Trust since February 2007, where I am involved in the planning, coordination and implementation of projects related to all practice areas.
I feel rewarded to contribute to the solution that may alter the livelihoods of these people in need.
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
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 3 ‘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.
Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on the competition homepage.
The Nepal Trust is a registered charity in Scotland (SC022552) that has worked for the past 14 years in one of the world's most impoverished and remotest areas of human habitation; Humla district in the Upper Karnali River Zone of North West Nepal. The Nepal Trust is a non-religious and non-political organization.
Over the years the Trust has gained the reputation of a committed and cost-effective organization that strongly believes in value for money and tries to take a different approach by combining development projects with social enterprises. The organization is constantly looking for new opportunities and partnerships that will further advance its community-led development goals in Humla district and throughout NW Nepal.
The Nepal Trust does not support charitable work that creates dependency - instead it does its best to create opportunities for marginalized communities based upon their felt needs, ability to take responsibility and the amount of sweat equity they are willing to put into the work. We have largely been successful in achieving our objectives and this is due to our commitment to the work and our demand responsive approach to village-based initiatives and our emphasis on community participation linked to both project activities and business principles.
