Reconstruction in Nepal: the next few years

In the year since the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal, PWRDF has worked through the ACT Alliance to provide immediate relief and then to begin reconstruction work. Food, water, medicine, shelter, household supplies and psychosocial support were all needed in the days after the quake, and the ensuing months transitioned from providing these necessities to beginning to rebuild.

PWRDF’s work in Nepal has not finished yet. Over the next few years, we will engage in several projects to help rebuild homes and to help people get their businesses off the ground again.

Through the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, PWRDF will provide meal rations to 950 families in the Raswa district of Nepal. The families will work to repair four agricultural roads and two irrigation systems in the communities engaged in the program, helping themselves to be able to get back to their work as farmers, with better access to nearby markets and more water to increase the yield of their crops. Every dollar PWRDF puts into this project will be matched 3:1 by the Foodgrains Bank, so PWRDF’s $50,000 will do $200,000 of work.

In Sindhupalchok district, PWRDF is working with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) to help them to sustain their livelihoods. 1800 families in the district received 5000 rupees each (about $75Cdn) to purchase seed, tools or supplies for their farms or businesses in the first year after the earthquake. This year the focus will be on linking families to others doing similar work so they can form cooperatives to learn together, share best practices, pool their resources, and sell their goods together. These cooperatives will not be limited to the families who received the seed capital, but will be open to others in the community, increasing the reach of the program.

In Lalitpur district, a similar program will be supported by PWRDF through LWF. Many women’s cooperatives are already in place in the communities of the program. They need help to recover from the disruption of the earthquake. These cooperatives help the women who are members not just with their businesses, but also supporting each other through difficulties including domestic abuse, family crises, and other issues.

This reconstruction and livelihood work will help families and communities to build back better and stronger -improving their homes, communities and businesses so that they will be more prepared to recover should another disaster like the April 2015 earthquake befall them.