April 23, 2018
Unica Foundation received a significant number of visitors from the Netherlands for project monitoring and research last months. Tom van Dalen and Gretta van der Pols, students from Wageningen University, went to Tangting WaSH project in Kaski district for an impact study. Tangting WaSH was completed in 2010 where the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) Kaski was the implementing partner of Unica. The project catered 206 households in the mountainous village by providing clean drinking water as well as smokeless ovens. Their fieldwork is continued thus far.
Likewise, Bram Onrust and Chiel Koenjer from Windesheim University of Applied Sciences also came for a research. The purpose of their research was to find out existing issues of the electric pump system in Arnakot and to recommend possible solutions, as well as to visit solar energy company and explore the technical options and gaps to design smarter systems. They met with the technical staff of partner organization NRCS Kaski and gathered information on how the hardware and the technical part of the project have been arranged. They also met with Nabin Bhujel, Director, Suryodaya Urja and had an open conversation about the solar based pump system, quality and sustainability, and maintenance. They have visited the WaSH project Arnakot in Baglung as well as Kalika & Tangting in Kaski districts. They are now back in the Netherlands and started writing the report.
Roy Voss, Program Manager for the Unica Foundation, also visited Nepal last month to monitor the projects. He has visited the WaSH project in Thulodhunga, Kalika and Tangting in Kaski district, and two solar-based irrigation sites in the Rupandehi and Kapilavastu district respectively. The purpose of the visit is to observe the technical aspects of the ongoing projects and to see and communicate the impact of the completed projects. During his visit, he met with the partner organizations, such as NRCS Kaski and Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness (ECCA) in Nepal.
