NATIONAL 5 (Spotlight Weekly)]

‘We Experience A Lot Of Dynamics At Grassroot Level’

— PETER RHODE

Peter Rhode, director of GTZ, has a long experience in working with development projects. Rhode, a former journalist, spoke to KESHAB POUDEL on 25 years of GTZ in Nepal. Excerpts :

How do you evaluate 25 years experience in Nepal?

Actually German Development Cooperation with Nepal started already nearly 40 years ago with the "Technical Training Centre Thapatali" in 1961 with our predecessor organisations BfE/GAWI — the then "Federal Agency for Development Aid". When GTZ was created 25 years ago it could draw on these prior experiences.

I think our joint cooperation saw a lot of ups and some downs in the last quarter century but the overall summary is definitely a positive one. It was here in Nepal that quite a number of new development concepts and techniques were designed which we disseminated later to many more countries in the region and some even world wide. I want to mention here only the famous "green roads", which are planned, built and maintained by the villagers themselves in an enviromentally acceptable way with our technical and limited financial support. The Small Farmers Cooperative Ltd. (SFCL) emerged here in Nepal as an innovative and succesful new saving and microcredit concept, and the Bhaktapur Development Project gave some fresh ideas of integrating town planning with the preservation of the beautiful architectural heritage, the rehabilitation of the physical infrastructure and the generation of employment in industry and handicraft.

All these success stories are heavily linked with the involvement and active participation of the people themselves, who became the real owners of these projects.

What are the priority areas of your cooperation?

Our two governments agreed to focus mainly on four key sectors
Rural Development and Forest Management
Urban Development
Health and Family Planning and
Private Sector Promotion.

Beside this we are assisting the Ministry of Finance in preparing the Income Tax Reform, we are active in the field of Child Labour and are preparing a new phase of our Small Hydropower Project.

How do you see the role of foreign aid in a country like Nepal?

Foreign donors should never substitute local initiatives but only stimulate and complement these efforts. We define our role — especially in our field of Technical Cooperation — of becoming more and more moderators and facilitators instead of being implementors ourselves. That means we are sharing our German, European and international Know How and experiences with our local partners and assist them to rely on their own strengths and ressources. The Income Tax Reform which aims to broaden the tax base and increase the government ressources is one of the examples to make Nepal less dependent on foreign donors. Being one of the poorest countries in the world Nepal will on the other need also in future the influx of foreign capital — be it private or in the form of Official Development Assistance.

What are the challenges in Nepal faced by GTZ?

The greatest challenge in this country is how to reduce the widespread poverty and how to lift the living standard of the poor people.

In line with HMGs policy Poverty Alleviation is very high on our agenda. Especially our Rural Development and Health Program are trying to break the vicious circle of having a rapid increase of population, poor health and education facilities, limited natural ressources including agriculture land and a growing number of unemployed people. These massive problems can only be solved in a concerted effort of the Nepali Governments, the donor community and the people themselves.

As one of the largest and oldest organizations working in Nepal to improve the living condition of the people how do you see the rate of success?

I see our rate of success closely linked to the participation of the people as one of the determining factors. With the concept of decentralisation and social mobilization we receive an overwhelming positive response by the rural and urban population. The villagers are willing and able to contribute their time, labor and money to develop for instance rural infrastructure in our Food for Work Project. The people are self confident and proud to take their own fate into their hands. To talk to women groups and to follow their empowerment in the villages is very much encouraging.

On the other hand it will be a long way to mobilize line agencies and parasitals and to make them customer oriented and development minded. The civil service reform plays here a crucial role as well as the privatization of State Owned Enterprises .

Are they any new projects GTZ is going to support?

We are just appraising and preparing three new projects:

The forthcoming "Communal Drug Project" aims at improving the procurement, distribution and the overall management of medicines in a decentralized way.

The "Small Hydropower Project" will support especially private investors in planning and erecting Small Hydropower Plants and to make the best use of rural energy even at off-peak-hours.

A 'Tea Study' is investigating the various bottlenecks of the Nepali Tea Industry and ways to make tea growing and marketing more competitive.

At the same time we are just merging some of our individual projects into programs in order to make them more effective and to better coordinate them with HMG and other donors. This process is quite advanced in the Rural Development and in the Health Sector.

How do you see Nepal's development process?

Frankly speaking with mixed feelings: as mentioned already we experience a lot of dynamics at grassroot level. This is very encouraging and makes me optimistic.

Then there is a lot of apathy, red tape and lack of responsibility for development issues — corruption is part of this grim side of the picture — which hampers the development here in Nepal. I think every politician should realize that time is running out and that national problems are ranking higher than party feuds. But also every normal citizen should also keep in mind that it is their own country, their own enviroment and it is the future of their own children which is at risk. Donors are only here temporarily and can definitely not solve the problems of Nepal.

What is your impression on democratization process in the local areas?

I think here Nepal is moving in the right direction. The decentralization policy of HMG means local empowerment and means strengthening of democratic institutions on district and village level like municipalities, DDCs and VDCs. The recent Local Development Act is maybe not perfect but makes an important contribution in this regard. A country like Nepal cannot be ruled from the capital Kathmandu up to the last village in Far West or East.

Democracy is a learning process. This is also our own experience in recent history in Germany. This process needs time, patience and a lot of education and information. We at GTZ are happy to contribute to this process.

‘Youths Should Contribute to Create a New Civilization’

— KIYO SASAKI MONRO

Born in Fukuoka, Japan in 1941, KIYO SASAKI MONRO now resides in Massachusetts, USA. She is a conduit of Universal Energy and serves as a lecturer and healer. Kiyo teaches the practical application of spirituality in human life. A lifetime member of the International Association of Conselors and Therapists, she is a Reiki Master Teacher, she has authored a book "Love and Hope: A Message for the New Millennium." A member of advisory committee of the Global Youth Meet, Kiyo was recently in Kathmandu. She spoke to BHAGIRATH YOGI at Hotel Radisson for half an hour. Excerpts of interview:

How could people from all over the world apply spirituality in their daily lives in the new millennium?

People think sometime that spirituality and every day life is a bit different. When you go to shrines, to temples, to churches to pray you feel very spiritual. When you go to home, go to work, run around the house you think spirituality is little different and is not practical. I would like to say that spirituality and every day life have to come together. They are one thing in each of us. When we wake up, say Good Morning to yourself, to your spouse, to your family you are really bringing beautiful energy and sharing with everyone. I would like to convey the whole human species to bring love and spirituality into their every day life. I believe the world to become more peaceful and harmonious to life in the new millennium.

There are so many different ways to reach the God. How would you convey the message of spiritualism to the people who believe in different religions?

When we look deep down into the origin of each religion they all tried to help their people to be healthy, to be well off, to be peaceful and to be prosperous. During the course of our history, because of the difference of language, environment and family rules we thought each religion teaches different things. But if we look deep down it is the love and caring that the first originator wanted to share and convey and teach. Of course, we have to start communicating. We have to be very patient because lack ok patience, lack of tolerance, lack of communication lead us to violence. What did we win, what did we earn by violence and killing? I was born in the year when the World War II was started. I was four years old when the war ended. I thought Japanese lost, they suffered. Later, when I started traveling around the state I found that in the Winner State, the American people suffered too. In the war really there is no winner. So, I think this is the time we expand our family, friends, and our country into the neighbors, sit down and listen to each other. If we start searching the commonness of love and sharing, wise people can develop their minds to solve people's problem.

Despite much technical advancement, nearly half of the six billion people of the world are living in poverty and hunger. How could their fate be changed in the next century?

We have developed so much advanced technology in transportation and communication systems. In Japan, if people have some problem in Hokkaido, a northern island city, the whole country comes out to its help. If we can develop that kind of attitude and if any country has problem then we can solve those problems. These are man-made problems and men can solve them too. We should go beyond close family ties because the earth is one. There is a way to avoid all the illiteracy, all these violence. Yes, there is. That's my belief.

Could there be some practical measures to tap immense potential of the world youth in order to create a just and equitable society?

Youths, who are young physically and those who are young in their heart and mind, get together and bring new technologies, new information and new ideas to share. I have much information that I would like to share.

What message would you like to convey to the young people?

People-- young people, young at heart people-please come and learn to trust in you. You have every thing in you. Have patience, love yourself and develop your hidden potential. There is no one who is not born genius. When you find that and help yourself to develop it use it yourself and for the rest of the humankind and nature. I would like to convey this message: Trust yourself and work to bring your potential and flourish like a beautiful flower.