7 Water and Sanitation
93. Over the last decade, Nepal has steadily improved
access to water and sanitation to such an extent that it has exceeded
the target for the Millennium Development Goal (MGD) on water
and sanitation (achieved = 88%, 2015 target = 84%).[85]
However, DFID notes that wonderful achievement may disguise the
fact that there are severe discrepancies between urban and rural
water and sanitation coverage. There are still between 10,000
and 13,000 preventable child deaths due to waterborne diseases
every year, mostly impacting women and girls. Alongside diseases,
women also suffer from violence associated with having to travel
long distances to reach water collection points.[86]
94. DFID has allocated £10 million to Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) from 2011 to 2015. Development Initiatives
points out that this figure is low (4% of total donor spending)
given that this sector features as a priority under the 'human
development' pillar outlined in the DFID Nepal Operational Plan
(2011-2015).[87] The
bulk of this figure has been given to the Rural Water and Sanitation
Programme (RWSP) which has been implemented by the Gurkha Welfare
Service (GWS). The remainder of the funding has been directed
into pillar projects such as the Community Support Programme,
Education and Local Governance and Community Development programme
as these programmes are linked to social mobilisation.[88]
Source: DFID
95. We visited communities in Nepal which had benefited
from the RWSP programme implemented by the Gurkha Welfare Scheme.
We heard that it had been a great success and we were impressed
by the projects we saw. The Minister of State told us that the
work of the GWS "outshines what else is available"[89].
96. We asked the Minister how villages were chosen
to be part of the GWS scheme and whether the projects were founded
on the basis of the poorest communities, not just their ties to
the Gurkhas, and the Minister of State told us that:
[He] asked specifically the question as to how
villages were prioritised, and was assured that they were the
remoter ones and the ones with relatively smaller populations
that therefore would not benefit from Government intervention.[90]
Mark Smith, Deputy Head of DFID Nepal, added:
Yes. The Gurkha Welfare Scheme operates in the
hilly areas, which are some of the poorest areas in the country.
There are other donors and the Government operating in the Terai.
There is a £196 million water and sanitation project
being implemented by six development partners and the Government.
They are very complementary but they are different. These are
working in small communities. They are not targeting Gurkhas;
they are just in the areas where Gurkhas have traditionally been
recruited, which are also some of the poorest areas in Nepal.[91]
97. The GWS told us that it was eager to continue
working with DFID in the future. We pressed the Minister of State
and he said that he had doubled their funding for the next five
years to £2 million per year. [92]
98. As the GWS sets the highest bar for workmanship
in Nepal, "the gold standard"[93],
as Mark Smith put it, we asked the Minister if there was a possibility
to allow Nepali Government engineers to take secondments with
the GWS and he said:
Yes, undoubtedly. [...] I am glad that the Government
is now showing great interest in the standards that have been
implemented by the Gurkhas, and other agencies are interested
as well.[94]
Mark Smith continued by saying that:
Secondment of Government officers is something
we are looking at; sharing lessons with other providers of water
and sanitation is something that is already happening.[95]
99. We welcome DFID's support for the GWS and
recommend that the scheme be expanded with a brief to work with
the poorest communities, including considering working with the
Terai, and not only in areas with Gurkha connections. We recommend
that the GWS share its knowledge and expertise with the Nepali
Government, and other WASH providers, in order to improve access
to WASH across the country. This might be done by secondments
of Nepali Government engineers to the GWS.
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