National 4 (Spotlight Weekly)

“The UMN’s Aim Is To Help The Poor And Be Responsive To The People’s Needs”

— Jennie Collins

JENNIE COLLINS, Executive Director of the United Mission to Nepal, has been in Nepal for the last three and a half years. A New Zealander Collins, however, had been in Nepal for around seven years during the 1980s working for the UMN. The UMN is celebrating its 50th anniversary of working in Nepal. She spoke to KESHAB POUDEL and SANJAYA DHAKAL at her office regarding UMN’s activities and its five-decade-long service in Nepal. Excerpts:

How do you see the UMN’s five decade in Nepal?

When we first came soon after the change of 1950, Nepal had just opened its border to the outside world. There were enormous needs, particularly, at the rural level. And that was the UMN’s focus area for support. We always say we want to focus on the poor – but not exclusively on the poor because what is important is while you need to work at grass root level with the poor, you also need to use that knowledge and experience to influence further up politically and socially in order to make the overall situation better. Initially, we mostly engaged ourselves at the grass root level, particularly in the rural health sector. But, we also were involved with the Shanta Bhawan (Patan Hospital) here in Kathmandu. We always think that there is a big connection between the center and the rural poor. There is a need to work at all level if you want to maximize benefits. The first decade of our service was focused on meeting the basic needs.

What are your priorities?

Apart from health, we also got into education and infrastructure development. We moved into the formal and non-formal education sector. We were doing pioneering works in those days. We helped run the Gandaki Boarding School, which is still one of the best education institution in the country, and Mahendra Bhawan school, the first all girls school. When girls played gymnastics and swimming in the school, it was considered revolutionary change in those days. Many women, who studied at the school, are now in the leadership role. That is why we believed that we needed to move to the upper level. We could not just limit in rural works. We needed to identify reasons why people were constantly poor and sick.

What about your contributions to the infrastructure sector?

Somewhat parallel to the education development, we moved into the infrastructure, particularly the hydropower. People could not use hydropower electricity because they did not have the technology and manpower. Then we started to implement the appropriate technology. Likewise, we also involved ourselves on vocational education. Butwal Technical Institute, which is four-decade-old now, train people with vocational skills. Much later we came with the Karnali Technical School. The school started to train those who did not have School Leaving Certificate (SLC) but still had skill and ability to learn things. One of the aims of the school was to train them with skills appropriate to that region.

What kind of courses did you teach in Karnali?

The curriculum taught at Karnali was very different from those taught in Butwal. While Butwal had an industrial base, Humla and Jumla lacked them. From education to infrastructure, we also started to work at the community level. We also worked in the sector of agriculture improvement. We started the rural development training in Pokhara. We also started basic training in animal husbandry and worked in forestry sector. We did many good things in the early history of our organization when there were enormous spaces (for working) throughout Nepal. We have also built a hospital in Okhaldhunga in the east and initiated rural development program in Achham in the west.

What are the objectives of your programs?

We did all this because we want to serve the poor and be responsive to the people’s needs. The UMN has also worked in the sector of mental health. We have training programs in the mental health. We are not a lobbying group but we also work with the government organizations to put out the problems. The oral health is another area where we have done extensive work. In the past, we conducted a study, which revealed that the fluoride level in the toothpastes here were very low. Then we lobbied with the toothpaste manufacturers like Pepsodent and Colgate; and now almost all toothpaste sold here have standard level of fluoride.

When UMN started its programs, there were only a few donor organizations here. Now there are many donors working in various areas. How do you distinguish yourself from other donors?

One of the distinguishing things is that we have been here for the last fifty years. Most of the times, when we start a work, we continue with it. We do not do something today and pull out tomorrow. Sometimes we do pull out but only after being convinced that it is appropriate. Because, change takes a long time to occur. Donors are driven by their governments. They keep changing their policies. UMN’s money comes from individual and non-governmental donors. Perhaps, that is why we have been able to continue doing things. We have not had to stop or withdraw. We have been able to do our things based on necessity. Most of our staffs are Nepalese.

Do you have faced difficulties working in the environment of conflict?

Well, in some places, there are difficulties and in others, there are not any. We have learnt a lot in the last three years about how to work amid the conflict. One of the reasons why we are changing the way we are working is also because of this. We have been changing our role from an implementation organization to that of a facilitator. We have started to work much more with our Nepali partners. We are learning how to facilitate things rather than be necessarily involved in the field ourselves. We are learning the modalities of working in the conflict-hit areas through our local organizations and other INGOs. It is not easy to work and greater pressures come on the Nepalese staffs.

Have you closed down any of your programs due to the conflict?

We had to close our work in Jumla. We, as I said, set up the KTS. Then, what we did was we handed it over and set up a community development project along side the institution to provide practical training. This was a community-based program where the students of the KTS did practical. We had to close that because of the problems of insurgency. We also had to close our community development program in Achham; but we were able to set up and facilitate a Nepali NGO. In Dailekh, we had a very big program including non-formal education, agriculture and animal husbandry where we worked with local women. We have been facilitating local women groups to set up cooperatives now.

How do you see the transformation of Nepalese society?

There are certain things I see as very encouraging, particularly on certain areas like infrastructure and community development. There are many more cohesive communities now than they were in the past. I am not talking about the insurgency prone areas since I have not visited them. One of the things I was impressed with when I returned to Nepal three years ago was the forestry conservation and its usage. There is real awareness among some of these issues. One of the disappointing things is that the democracy is really struggling at this moment. I do not understand all the reasons for that. There could also be some external influences. I do see the development of a civil society.

What is your own general impression?

I find that all the time people criticize Nepal. I want to say here that Nepal’s interaction with the outside Nepal is only five decade old. This is a very little time. Democracy came to this country only after 40 years of peoples’ exposure with the outside world. For most of the people, the exposure was very recent. Democracy came actually very quickly here. People could see that they want something in democracy. But few were aware of their own responsibility to enable that to happen. So, I get quite frustrated with people who are very critical but I guess this is understandable if you look at the time scale.

Recently, the Nepal Development Forum (NDF) meeting was held in Nepal. How do you see it?

It was quite a closed forum. INGOs including the UMN, as a part of the Association of International Non-governmental Organizations, did get invitation although disappointingly late. We were unable to engage in the content. We were invited to some of the formal interactions but not really at the heart of the discussions. It was very much between the government and the bilateral and multilateral agencies. These organizations are powerful and they have a big voice. They also have a lot of money. But, if you put together the INGOs, they also have a lot of money and are bringing them to fulfill the development budget of this country. Many of them have grass root experiences. This is why it was disappointing that we could not really dialogue on the content. However, this time I was encouraged with some of the pressures put on by the bilateral donors. They need to be careful since this is a sovereign state. What I do not want to see is so many conditionalities that Nepal cannot do anything. We want pressure but not the dictation for Nepal to do this or that to get money. A good thing was that the NGOs and INGOs are getting behind civil societies who have tried very hard to influence the process and bring out some of the major issues.

How do you assess the achievements of the UMN in the last 50 years?

We have done works in different levels. At the central level, we engaged in supporting and advocating for national issues. Take the case of fluoride level study in toothpastes. We think it was quite an achievement. Other achievements are the change in the livelihood of people at the grass root and rural poor. Communities have changed because of interventions of the UMN. I find very interesting to talk with the officials at the ministries and departments who know what is UMN all about. From community to the higher level of society, so many people know about our organization and our contributions. There are many people who are influenced by the UMN. From schools to hospitals, people have gotten various kinds of assistance. I meet people in different places who have, one way or the other, received our service.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary, do you have any plan to expand your programs?

In the last couple of years we have been looking at the organizations and the environment we work in. We are monitoring not only the environment in Nepal but also the global one, as it will have an impact. We probably need to be less structured, less programmatically inclined and geographically focused.