At the time of developing this project, Caritas Nepal was preparing a large earthquake recovery programme funded by Caritas Internationalis members. Considering the overlap in the programme areas and the lengthy process involved in getting government approval for the project, this project was made part of the overall Caritas Nepal Earthquake Recovery Programme. The activities included in the CADIS proposal are part of the CN programme in Sindhupalchowk. The programme is being managed and implemented by Caritas Nepal, and CADIS staff in the field has only advisory roles.

The project was scheduled to begin in January 2016. However, Caritas Nepal had to obtain approval from the Social Welfare Council to implement the programme. As Nepal embarked on a massive and unprecedented reconstruction programme, the country had to revise or formulate its policies and guidelines to manage the recovery programme. This delayed the government approval process. When the integrated proposal was submitted to the government, Caritas was asked to submit separate proposals for shelter, WASH, livelihood, etc. Finally, the approvals came through by June 2016.

The new government policy mandated NGOs to cover 100% affected the population in the targeted VDCs instead of targeting only the extremely poor. Therefore the project support will be made available to nearly 90% of the village population.

In the meantime, there was a leadership change at Caritas Nepal level, which also caused some delay in programme implementation.

Outputs

  • A household survey covering both poverty assessment and mental wellbeing is being carried out by programme staff. The survey data and analysis will be used to identify programme beneficiaries based on their need and vulnerability. • 1,702 families have received 12.5 kg paddy seeds each for monsoon crop.
  • 72 Community-Based Psycho-social Facilitators from 4 districts including 18 from Sindhupalchowk, have been identified and trained for five days in July. They have been assigned to one hamlet (ward) each to build rapport with the families, understand issues related to protection and mental wellbeing issues and refer the cases to qualified service providers for follow-up.
  • Formation of Farmers and Livestock groups to provide training and agricultural livestock support has just started. 

This project desires that the a) community has improved its understanding of protection issues and established a committee to identify and follow up this protection issues; b) community capacity is enhanced preparing to respond to future disasters; c) enhanced mental well-being, and d) enhanced food and livelihood security.