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Neighborhood Watch Scheme-Phase I
Neighborhood
Watch Scheme, project of the Friends of the Bagmati, initiated from
the January 2004, which mainly aims to identify the team leaders from
the community and educate them about the importance of the Bagmati
River by providing training, awareness campaign etc. The NWS working
area is the Bagmati River between the Thapathali Bridge to the
Teku-Dovan, The community residing along the bank of the river are the
target group of this project.
Workshop/Training/Awareness campaign
First Workshop:
13 October, 2001
A Friend of the
Bagmati workshop was held on Saturday 13 October 2001 at Teen Dewal
situated on the banks of the Bagmati. Over 200 years old, this
temple, along with others on the 3km stretch of the Bagmati, from
Patan Bridge to the point where the Bishnumati River enters the
Bagmati, has fallen into disrepair.
With the
objective of gathering information about similar groups and
identifying strategic partners as well as formulating a plan of
action, the workshop was attended by 22 invited participants from 15
different organizations including Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC),
Nepal River Conservation Trust (NRCT), Environment & Public Health
Organization (ENPHO), and the Bagmati Area Sewage Project.
By the end of
the workshop, participants had put forward a calendar of events and
activities for the coming year broken into four sections: - Awareness
& Education, Advocacy, Clean a Heritage Site Greenery: Plant & Care
for Trees.
Second workshop:
5 Feb, 2004
Another workshop
was organized by Friends of the Bagmati on 5 Feb, 2004 at Dwarika’s
Hotel in order to create a networking with those organizations
interested towards the Bagmati Conservation.
With the
objective of identifying the area of cooperation and creating
networking with the organization, Friends have invited 15 different
organizations among which Environment & Public Health Organization (ENPHO),
Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), PRO-PUBLIC, Nepal River
Conservation Trust (NRCT), World-Vision International, Women
Environment Preservation Committee (WEPCO), Nepal Forum for
Environmental Journalist (NEFEJ), etc were some of the participants
presented in the workshop.
By the end of
the workshop, FOB was able to identify the area of cooperation with
the other organizations in the upcoming event of the FOB. Everyone
presented in the workshop committed towards the Bagmati Conservation.
Health Camp
Friends of the Bagmati in association with the Narayan
Pariwar Club, a local club organized a one day free health camp at
Bagmatighat, Milanmarg at Teku on 15 May 2004,
mainly focusing the people living along the bank of the Bagmati River
between Thapathali- Teku Dovan towards the Kathmandu Side.
The main objectives of the Health Camp were:
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To establish the
positive relationship with the local community.
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To introduce the
idea of working in partnership for a common concern.
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To survey profile
of the local inhabitants.
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To research and
compile findings into a data base regarding health and sanitation.
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To utilize findings
in order to establish relationship between environment and health.
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To utilize the
findings to plan for awareness program.
Among the 172 local people who signed in to the program, 146
people had undergone their health check up. There were altogether 6
doctors conducting the check up session. Among which 2 doctors were
from Maternity
Hospital, Thapathali; 3 from Bir Hospital, one was senior medical
practitioner.
Several of the pharmaceutical companies were being requested
for the free medicine samples. Among which some of the pharmaceutical
companies that provided samples were: Deurali Janata Pvt. Ltd,
Hattisar; Vijaydeep Pharmaceuticals, Kupondole; and G.D.
Pharmaceuticals, Birjung. Apart from the pharmaceutical companies,
some doctors also contributed several medicines for the health camp.
After the check up session, all the waste generated from the
health camp was burnt with the help of local people in order to make
them realize that we do care for them and their environment.
Almost 60% of the patients examined were suffering from the
Diarrhea, Dysentery and Abdomen pain problem. From this we can guess
that the people of this area either uses dug well or hand pump as a
source of water. Contaminated ground water that seeps from the river
could be the possible reason for such a high number of diarrhea
patients.
Despite diarrhea and dysentery, majority of the people have
complained towards the weight loss and weakness, cough and cold.
Training
on Composting
Friends of the
Bagmati along with Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), and Women
Environment Preservation Committee (WEPCO) organized training on the
Composting to the local people living along the bank of the Bagmati
River (Bagmati Ghat, Milan Marga), Teku on
30
July 2004.
The day began with the clean up campaign. In the beginning
of the day, a cleanup campaign was organized at the initiation of
local people at Milanmarga, Teku. The main objective behind cleanup
program was to spread message regarding the clean and healthy
environment, which can be, achieved even with individual efforts. The
locals and the local clubs also actively took part in the clean up
campaign jointly organized by the Friends of the Bagmati, Nepal River
Conservation Trust and Sustainable Tourism Network and the local
people.
Composting training was imparted to the local communities
residing by the side of the
Bagmati River at
Teku-Dovan. Five compost bins and other necessary accessories
including 40 segregation buckets for segregating inorganic and organic
wastes was provided to the women of that community who attended the
composting training.
The training was imparted by the officials of the Community
Mobilization Unit of the
Kathmandu
Metropolitan City.
The main objective of the training was reduction of waste
at source. Since a large portion of the waste is organic, compost
making would not only reduce the generation of the waste it would also
help the local people to generate a small amount of income from their
wastes.
Friends of the Bagmati (FoB) has plans to continue such
initiatives that directly benefit and involve local communities.
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