At a time when thousands of youths are fleeing their villages in the wake of escalating conflict, a growing number of youths are returning to conflict-hit areas to help local communities in their local level development endeavours.
Samuhik Abhiyan, a non-governmental organization, is mobilizing youths in rural areas to support development activities of local communities.
Under its National Volunteer Mobilisation Programme (NVMP), Samuhik Abhiyan, has been mobilising fresh graduates to support development activities at the local level since 1997.
The Abhiyan has already mobilised 70 volunteers in different communities including in the conflict affected areas of the Mid-Western region.
To begin with, the SA selects candidates to join the NVMP from the local and national level. The volunteers play the role of social mobiliser in selected communities.
Working as volunteers, young men and women spend up to 18 months supporting the activities of the communities and making communities aware about their development needs and raising awareness about their rights.
The volunteers get only minimum remuneration for working in the communities. What motivates them to work in difficult situations at a very low remuneration is the respect of the community and result of their work.
Samuhik Abhiyan offers 15-day long training to volunteers before sending them to the field and provides them 45-day long training in course of their 18-month long stay with the communities.
“Thanks to the tireless works of our volunteers, people have become aware about their rights and development needs and are able to raise their voices with the concerned authorities, ” said Kapil Neupane, programme director of NVMP.
According to Neupane, Samuhik Abhiyan launched the programme without seeking funds from donors. “We don’t engage in development works directly. All we do is play a catalytic role for development by mobilizing volunteers,” he added.
So far, volunteers mobilized by the Samuhik Abhiyan have not had any trouble at the local level from the warring sides as they working with local communities without any political or other interests.
The NVMP has mobilized volunteers in 31 communities including some conflict-hit districts. In the fifth group, volunteers have been mobilized in 14 communities of nine districts.
“First, people did not believe that we could contribute in any way for the betterment of the society as we did not have any money or projects to offer to local people. But, slowly they realized our importance and started treating us as their own members,” said Divya Raj Acharya, who worked as volunteer among the Dalit community of Kailali in far- western region.
He advised that the programme should be extended and there should be some provision to fill in the gap after volunteers return after co
mpleting 18 months.
Due to their commitment for the betterment of the society, ex-volunteers have formed a Volunteers Forum, which is actively working for the continuity of the programme.
Impressed by the performance of volunteers, MS Nepal and Action Aid Nepal have been extending cooperation in NVMP from the fifth group.
The local community has to pay 9,000 rupees as participating fee and provide food and lodging facilities to the volunteers under this programme.
“Some communities are also demanding for the extension of volunteers even after 18 months and have also agreed to pay the cost for it,” Neupane added.
During the 1970s, the Tribhuvan University had launched the National Development Service (NDS), popularly known as Rastriya Bikas Sewa, under which all post graduate students were required to dedicate one year as part of their Masters degree studies to go and work in rural communities.
The NDS is considered by many of having a catalytic social development experiment in the life of the nation. In the opinion of some observers, the NDS was a highly successful students’ ‘volunteer’ program, and perhaps one of the most successful national programs in Nepal.
In 1973 and early 1974, 22 volunteers in two small trial projects were sent to live and work in rural communities. In July 1974, the NDS program was formally launched, and the first regular batch of 212 students (57 female, 155 male) was sent to the field.
From the beginning until the program was closed down five years later in 1979, a total of 3,063 students were enrolled and posted to the rural areas (of which nearly 21 percent were female).
Though the programme was very successful, it was closed in 1979 due to the fear that the student volunteers might persuade rural people to vote in favour of multi-party democracy against the then Panchayat polity. Officials, however, said NDS was closed due to funding problems.
Late King Birendra had called for a referendum between the Panchayat polity with reforms and multi-party democracy in 1980 in which the former was declared winner.
In 1998, amidst the phenomenal growth of Nepal’s civil society institutions, the National Planning Commission (NPC) members decided to revive the tradition of volunteerism and took initiative to launch a similar programme.
In the winter of 1999, the council of ministers approved a new volunteer program, the ‘National Development Volunteer Service (NDVS),’ which was launched formally in April 2000.
Local people involved in development activity of a village (nepalnews.com)
During 1998, a pilot program was inaugurated involving 220 volunteers posted in 25 hilly and mountain districts. Since then, the program has expanded to include 42 hilly, mountain and lowland (terai) districts.
By mid-2002, a total of 520 volunteers had been mobilized, most of whom were new graduates with technical skills in agriculture, engineering, solar energy and water management along with a smaller number of liberal arts, management and planning graduates, according to the NPC.
The National Volunteers Management Programme (NVMP) being implemented by Samuhik Abhiyan is not only complementing the NPC’s programme in its own way, it has also shattered the myth that today’s educated youth don’t want to return to villages once they graduate
Samuhik Abhiyan, a non-governmental organization, is mobilizing youths in rural areas to support development activities of local communities.
Under its National Volunteer Mobilisation Programme (NVMP), Samuhik Abhiyan, has been mobilising fresh graduates to support development activities at the local level since 1997.
The Abhiyan has already mobilised 70 volunteers in different communities including in the conflict affected areas of the Mid-Western region.
To begin with, the SA selects candidates to join the NVMP from the local and national level. The volunteers play the role of social mobiliser in selected communities.
Working as volunteers, young men and women spend up to 18 months supporting the activities of the communities and making communities aware about their development needs and raising awareness about their rights.
The volunteers get only minimum remuneration for working in the communities. What motivates them to work in difficult situations at a very low remuneration is the respect of the community and result of their work.
Samuhik Abhiyan offers 15-day long training to volunteers before sending them to the field and provides them 45-day long training in course of their 18-month long stay with the communities.
“Thanks to the tireless works of our volunteers, people have become aware about their rights and development needs and are able to raise their voices with the concerned authorities, ” said Kapil Neupane, programme director of NVMP.
According to Neupane, Samuhik Abhiyan launched the programme without seeking funds from donors. “We don’t engage in development works directly. All we do is play a catalytic role for development by mobilizing volunteers,” he added.
So far, volunteers mobilized by the Samuhik Abhiyan have not had any trouble at the local level from the warring sides as they working with local communities without any political or other interests.
The NVMP has mobilized volunteers in 31 communities including some conflict-hit districts. In the fifth group, volunteers have been mobilized in 14 communities of nine districts.
“First, people did not believe that we could contribute in any way for the betterment of the society as we did not have any money or projects to offer to local people. But, slowly they realized our importance and started treating us as their own members,” said Divya Raj Acharya, who worked as volunteer among the Dalit community of Kailali in far- western region.
He advised that the programme should be extended and there should be some provision to fill in the gap after volunteers return after co
mpleting 18 months.Due to their commitment for the betterment of the society, ex-volunteers have formed a Volunteers Forum, which is actively working for the continuity of the programme.
Impressed by the performance of volunteers, MS Nepal and Action Aid Nepal have been extending cooperation in NVMP from the fifth group.
The local community has to pay 9,000 rupees as participating fee and provide food and lodging facilities to the volunteers under this programme.
“Some communities are also demanding for the extension of volunteers even after 18 months and have also agreed to pay the cost for it,” Neupane added.
During the 1970s, the Tribhuvan University had launched the National Development Service (NDS), popularly known as Rastriya Bikas Sewa, under which all post graduate students were required to dedicate one year as part of their Masters degree studies to go and work in rural communities.
The NDS is considered by many of having a catalytic social development experiment in the life of the nation. In the opinion of some observers, the NDS was a highly successful students’ ‘volunteer’ program, and perhaps one of the most successful national programs in Nepal.
In 1973 and early 1974, 22 volunteers in two small trial projects were sent to live and work in rural communities. In July 1974, the NDS program was formally launched, and the first regular batch of 212 students (57 female, 155 male) was sent to the field.
From the beginning until the program was closed down five years later in 1979, a total of 3,063 students were enrolled and posted to the rural areas (of which nearly 21 percent were female).
Though the programme was very successful, it was closed in 1979 due to the fear that the student volunteers might persuade rural people to vote in favour of multi-party democracy against the then Panchayat polity. Officials, however, said NDS was closed due to funding problems.
Late King Birendra had called for a referendum between the Panchayat polity with reforms and multi-party democracy in 1980 in which the former was declared winner.
In 1998, amidst the phenomenal growth of Nepal’s civil society institutions, the National Planning Commission (NPC) members decided to revive the tradition of volunteerism and took initiative to launch a similar programme.
In the winter of 1999, the council of ministers approved a new volunteer program, the ‘National Development Volunteer Service (NDVS),’ which was launched formally in April 2000.
Local people involved in development activity of a village (nepalnews.com)
During 1998, a pilot program was inaugurated involving 220 volunteers posted in 25 hilly and mountain districts. Since then, the program has expanded to include 42 hilly, mountain and lowland (terai) districts.
By mid-2002, a total of 520 volunteers had been mobilized, most of whom were new graduates with technical skills in agriculture, engineering, solar energy and water management along with a smaller number of liberal arts, management and planning graduates, according to the NPC.
The National Volunteers Management Programme (NVMP) being implemented by Samuhik Abhiyan is not only complementing the NPC’s programme in its own way, it has also shattered the myth that today’s educated youth don’t want to return to villages once they graduate
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