Ek Pahila Foundation

Report 2011-12

Ek Pahila Foundation is a non-prot organization established in France and aims at supporting rural government schools in Nepal with the needed educational infrastructure, resources and sustainable solutions for the long term.

@ekpahilanepal

ekpahila.blogspot.com

Ek Pahila Nepal

ekpahilanepal@gmail.com

Background Devisthan Primary School, a government funded school, established in 1977, is located in Devitar, approximately 10 KM North East of Banepa, a commercial town on the main highway linking Kathmandu with Tibet. The school provides education up to grade 7 and currently has 350 students of which 55% are females and 45% are males. This village has a population of nearly 4000, of which a large majority are Tamangs who are considered among the under-privileged cast in Nepal. Due to poverty, illiteracy and lack of social awareness, Tamang community in this village lack in all aspect of modern development. Since the establishment of the school, it had no permanent access to clean water for drinking and toilet facilities. The surrounding elds and bushes around the school premises were used as open toilets by the school community and the people of the nearby surrounding areas. As a result of such unhygienic conditions, students were exposed to various illnesses and also caused embarrassment to girl-students. Although two toilets were constructed in early 2011, they were non-operational due to lack of water supply. The schools infrastructure needed immediate revamping and repairs. Due to insufcient government funds and no other external nancial assistance, the school had been functioning very poorly. ! Ek Pahila Foundations primary goal was to help the school build and improve its existing infrastructure through active participation of the parents, the local community and the school management team for a better learning environment to their children. In addition, the aim of this project was also to encourage strong social relationships among themselves and help them realize that the school is an important long-term asset for the village and that a collaborative approach to maintain the school and its infrastructure will ensure a better future for the students of Devisthan Primary School. !
2

Grade 6 5 4 3 2 1 Kindergar den

Male 15 26 17 28 33 22 12

Female 25 29 23 30 27 39 21

Total 347 Students

A. Project Summary

Project Title: "" Project objectives:#

Devisthan Secondary School Bring reliable and clean water supply - building, repair and maintenance of the school infrastructure supporting the adult literacy program providing sustainable solution through agriculture program 1 year and 2 weeks 1st June 2011 15th of June 2012 Students, teachers, parents and local community members 347 students and adults

Project period: # Beneciaries: "" Target number: "

Total Expenditures: # 6047 $ Supported by: " List of donors - see the appendix 1

Program management: Ek Pahila Foundation and Devisthan Secondary School

Accomplishments
1. Permanent water supply and pavement construction 2. Classroom refurbishing 3. Balcony construction 4. Desk & Benches 5. Bathroom roong 6. Locker for teachers 7. Agriculture project 8. Staircase and Balcony Construction 9. Adult Literacy 10. Celebration of International Womens Day 11. Retention Wall 12. Hand-Washing campaign 13. Sports and recreations goods - contribution from a donor

Project Timeline 2011- 12

1. Permanent water supply and pavement construction Project duration: June 10 - July 15, 2011 Ek Pahila Foundations rst step was to set up a permanent and clean water supply and for this purpose the school was supplied with nearly 2000 meters of high quality half inch PVC pipe to connect to the water source nearly 2km southwest of the school. A tank of 1cc meter for water collection was also constructed at the source and all necessary materials such as cement, sand, concrete, steel rods, G-I pipes, a tap were also provided for the construction work. The parents, local community, school staffs and the students volunteered to lay the pipe underground from the source to the school. The entire work was accomplished in a month. In addition, volunteers were also provided with a lightday meal during the work period. As a result, the school now has a clean and permanent water supply. Along with this, a concrete pavement of width- 5ft breadth x length-65ft was also constructed in front of the main school building in order to prevent the building foundation getting weak from rain water seepage. Besides that, it also serves as a corridor passage to enter the classrooms.

Construction of Pavement

2. Classroom refurbishing Project duration: October December, 2011 The classroom oor of kindergarten situated in the 2nd building was parqueted with wooden planks and refurbished with a new carpet and the broken door was also properly repaired. In addition, educational materials and toys worth Rs 10600/ 104 Euros were also provided to the school for the kindergarten class. Previously, the toddlers sat on dusty cemented oor and the teacher also had hard time teaching in the absence of any sort of educational materials. Now with these innovative educational materials and a restored classroom, she is now able to teach in a more fun and creative manner.

Before

Carpentry Work

Parqueting

Carpeted

After

Before

After

3. Balcony construction A wall of 65ft in length, 2.5ft in height and 1.5 ft. in breadth was built on the 2nd building corridor for strengthening the steel poles supporting the roof. In absence of this wall, the poles were weak and some were even dangling because they were not rmly xed under the ground. After the construction of the wall, the poles holding the roof have been strengthened and entire front roof is one solid structure besides it also serves as a sitting place for students. Furthermore, it has also improved the general outlook of the building.

Before

After

Classroom building refurbishing project expenditures

60000 45000 30000 15000 0 Benches

Wooden Flooring

Balcony wall

Locker for teachers Bathroom roong

Side View

4. Desk & Benches Students of grade 2 and 3 also lacked sufcient desk and benches and sat cramped on the existing old and some were even broken. Twelve sets of new desk and benches were provided to the school for these classrooms and most damaged ones were also repaired. With the addition of the new desk and benches, the students can sit and study more comfortably.

5. Bathroom roong The bathrooms roong was left unnished with corrugated galvanized steel roofs sheets drooping down exacerbated this problem. The metal sheets were placed randomly on top of the walls and stones blocks were placed above to hold it from being blown away by strong winds. It had a dilapidated look and there was always a possibility of the sheets falling due to the sagging of the metal sheets. The roof has been xed properly with additional welded steel pipe supports and is now completely safe for use.

Before

After

6. Locker for teachers Besides many other basic necessities, the school had no locker facility for the teachers where they could keep their books, les and other essential things. As a result, they had to carry them to their homes instead of keeping safely in school causing great inconvenience to them. essential things. A locker with 9 compartments was provided and since then each teacher has his/her own space to keep their

7. Agriculture project Project duration: September - December, 2011 A long-term plan of this project is to generate additional income to the school through utilizing its existing surplus 10 acres of fertile land for seasonal vegetable farming. In order to achieve this objective, necessary tools and fertilizers were provided to the school community along with 950 kilograms potato seeds. A total of 3245 kilograms of potatoes were harvested and sold in Banepa which generated a net income of nearly Rs. 48,000 to the school. The school management community is condent that it is possible to harvest at least three different crops in a year. Another benet of this project is also to provide employment to the local farmers who are in most cases the parents of the students themselves. The income generated from farming will help the school to meet some of its day to day expenses.

8. Chautari (resting place) construction Chautari, a resting place beneath a tree in Nepali, is very common in the hills of Nepal. A chautari with Ek Pahila Foundations name engraved was built and a!kapur tree (Dryobalanops aromatica) was planted as a remembrance of Ek Pahilas contribution to the school and the community.

9. Staircase and Balcony Construction Project duration: February 15 - April 20, 2012 As a result of heavy monsoon rains, large areas in the mountains are often washed away due to erosion, mudslides and landslides and Devitar village is no exception to it. The school had no staircase and the students had to climb on the mud hill to reach their classrooms on the main building. For this purpose, a staircase and a balcony in front of the main building were constructed. This also prevented the students from accidents of falling. In addition, the staircase also functions as a retention wall to the eastern side of the school building. With these additional facilities, the students and the teachers are able to safely commute from the main building to the lower building.

Before

After

10

10. Adult Literacy Project Duration: February July, 2012 The main objective of the Adult Literacy Program was to provide basic education to elderly people. As stated earlier, a large number of this village are illiterate and have no formal education. The six-month literacy program was tailored to teach adult students basic mathematics and Nepali language. Donors were free to choose to sponsor the students and receive their proles via email or regular post and also view short snippets of the teaching program via YouTube. All adult students were females except one male adult. Interestingly, these adults were the parents of the students who are currently attending Devisthan Secondary School. This adult literacy program has helped the community to understand the importance of education even further.

11. Celebration of International Womens Day On the occasion of International womens day on March 08, 2012 Ek Pahila Foundation Program director Madhab Shrestha distributed cotton bags along with sweets and stationary to all the students of the adult literacy program. These bags were specially designed by Ek Pahila foundation so that they could carry their books and copies for their evening class.

11

12. Retention Wall Project Duration: May 2 - May 20, 2012 A retention wall below the bathroom and the adjoining building surrounding was constructed in order to protect the entire structure from soil erosion caused by heavy monsoon every year. A stone retaining wall of length 90 feet x an average of 5 feet in height and 1.5 feet in breadth was constructed during this project. This structure is an additional support to the bathroom and the classroom building against any further mudslides or landslides.

Stone retention wall under construction

12

13. Hand-Washing campaign On the occasion of Inter national Childrens Day on June 1, 2012 Ek Pahila Foundation launched a Hand-washing Awareness" campaign. The campaign was focused on teaching school children effective techniques of hand-washing and its importance. A dozen soap bars were distributed to the school along with an illustrated diagram showing the techniques of proper hand washing.

14. Donor visit One of our regular donors Agathe Devos visited the school on March 1st, 2012 and gifted sports and recreations goods worth Rs 5600 to the school in order that the students may benet from these goods for their physical and mental development. !Earlier, there were only two footballs for the boys and a few skipping ropes for the girls and their sport activities were very limited. !

Extra coordination costs Ek Pahila Foundation is taking into account coordination and visit costs which includes the transportation cost, meals and phone expenditures. The program director of Ek Pahila made several visits to the school and spent couples of night during the implementation of the project.

13

Expenditure Table
Total spent in NRS 96900 41412 18972 51510 17952 11628 5100 36720 137088 81600 5304 81600 4284 ! 26724 616794 Total spent in Euro 950 406 186 505 176 114 50 360 1344 800 52 800 42 ! 262 6047 Total spent in USD 1101 471 216 585 204 132 58 417 1558 927 60 927 49 ! 304 7010 Medico Lion Club France Donation and LLeo Club La Baule Presqu'ile France Donation and Le Monde est un Bijou - Fair trade products sales Donation and Leo Club La Baule Presqu'ile France Leo Club La Baule Presqu'ile France Donation Donation NGO Le Noel des Mamans and Le Monde est un Bijou - France donations Donations Donations Donations Donations Donations Donations !

S.n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ! Project Permanent water supply and pavement construction Classroom refurbishing and distribution of educational materials Balcony construction Desk and benches Bathroom roong Locker for teachers Chautari construction (tree shade) Agriculture project Staircase and balcony construction Adult literacy Celebration of International Women's day Retention wall Hand washing campaign Contribution from Agathe (voluntary) for 56 euro Extra coordination cost Total amount spent

Funds sources Donation

14

Total expenditure for Devisthan Primary School 2011-12

classroom refurbishing 29%

Agriculture 13%

water supply 18%

Staircase Balcony construction 21%

Retention wall 16%

Adult Literacy program 3%

15