October 15, 2018
Unica Foundation has supported a project named Solar Multiple Uses System (MUS), which is designed by Renewable World (RW), a British NGO active in Nepal. Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA) supports the large chunk of the project activities. The project location is in Surkhet. The Surkhet district, part of the Karnali province, is one of the ten districts of Karnali located about 600 kilometers west of the national capital Kathmandu.
This project aims to make a difference to the communities by providing solar-powered water pumps which lift water from their nearest source and direct them to taps outside their homes, with a slogan which reads, ‘Solar MUS: Relieving poverty in Nepal in the light of a changing climate’.
The project had started in March 2018 and will last until February 2021. The inception phase of the project is now continued. The following activities has been carried out in the project till date.
- Selecting the local partner organization that will be responsible for implementing the project at the ground level, i.e. will have primary responsibility for liaising with the beneficiary communities. Sundar Nepal Sastha has been selected as a local implementing partner.
- Completing and submitting the Project Agreement (PA) to the Social Welfare Council (SWC). Every organization needs to get official consent from the SWC to implement any project in Nepal. Renewable World is now awaiting the response, with a view to signing the PA soon.
- Preliminary identification and pre-feasibility study of probable Solar MUS sites in Surkhet district is completed. These four new sites are currently under consideration for the solar MUS project:
i. Raga Sundarpur – 178 households – 979 beneficiaries
ii. Sanneghari – 198 households – beneficiaries
iii. Jabden Bhaktadi – 85 households – 428 beneficiaries
iv. Jugedhara – 105 households – 525 beneficiaries - Workshops has been carried out with central and regional staff to develop and prepare the Detailed Implementation Plan/Guideline, and a full Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and the financial literacy & Good Governance training manual. Health and Safety guidelines have also been drafted and are in the process of being finalized.
- Water User Committees were already present at each of the four sites and were legally registered.
