PHASE Austria implemented a comprehensive education programme in 7 VDCs in North Gorkha with the support of the City of Vienna from the Call “Human Rights and Development Cooperation”.
Project communities:
Sirdibas, Bihi, Prok, Lho, Samagaun, Chumchet and Chhekampar, North Gorkha
(PDF 377 KB)The programme has two strategies: On the one hand, the empowerment of women is promoted through literacy courses. The literacy of women not only improves the situation of the women themselves, but experience has shown that it also improves the chances of their children, especially girls, to gain access to education and to graduate from school. It also serves as a basis for planned income generation and poverty reduction programmes.
Secondly, the present project conducted a situation analysis in the seven VDCs of North Gorkha, mapping the current situation of adult literacy and primary education of children, clarifying the actual education provision on the ground, and identifying opportunities for poverty alleviation. From the second year of the project, catch-up classes will start in two previously identified project VDCs, enabling at least 50-60 children who previously had no access to formal education to acquire literacy and numeracy skills, and to transfer to a (revitalised) government school after completing a three-year programme.
An Education Development Facilitator (EDF) will provide on-site programme coordination, situation analysis, community mobilisation and strategy development in collaboration with PHASE Nepal and PHASE Austria management. He/she will also liaise with the District Education Office, and seek support from government schools in the region. The entire programme will be coordinated with the District Education Officer to avoid the risk of creating a parallel structure, and to ensure the cooperation of government agencies and staff. In addition, the EDF will develop a strategy for village development and poverty alleviation, and implement corresponding projects.
PHASE Austria has already been supporting a health post in one of these VDCs, Chumchet, for several years. For the past year, PHASE Nepal has been operating health posts in all 7 VDCs of North Gorkha with the support of our partner organisation PHASE worldwide. This anchoring is very important for the success of this project, as PHASE is already known and, above all, recognised by the population. Currently, the recruitment of the CDF(s) is ongoing in Nepal, we will report regularly on the progress of the project.
This project was made possible by the kind support of the City of Vienna.
The project was completed at the end of 2014. You can read here the project report. This project also resulted in a development class in Chumchet, which was funded by PHASE Austria until 2017 and then handed over to a friendly NGO, Community Action Nepal, in the course of a spatial consolidation of the project areas in North Gorkha.