Renu Kshetry

Kathmandu, January 3

The Research Centre for Educational Innovation and Development (CERID) is launching a basic Education for Poverty Alleviation project in the Bungamati VDC, Lalitpur.

Starting tomorrow, the project aims to transform solid waste into a means to generate income.

"Bungamati could be a role model for the uplift of the living standards of the locals," co-ordinator of the project, Dr Lammichhanne, said.

Solid waste, dirt, filth and environmental degradation are the main problems facing residents of Bungamati.

Keeping this fact in mind the project is based on preparing organic manure from the solid waste there.

The project would also help the marketing and networking of the product to generate additional income, which would eventually help reduce poverty.

"The main objective of this project is to develop functional literacy and empowerment through special training packages," Lammichhane said.

A total of 40 women of the VDC have undertaken the training and will utilise their skills in earning money.

"Most of the programmes in the past failed due to lack of means to identify the problems and utilising them for the benefit of the locals," Lammichhane said.

"Earlier, the lack of marketing for the local products had discouraged the communities," he said.

According to Lammichhane, the result will be seen after six months during which there will be a constant monitoring in every three months.

The project is conceptualised by the CERID as part of the functional literacy programme with financial assistance from the UNESCO.

"The community will not have to spend a penny and if they feel that their labour would materialise monetarily, they would be all the more enthusiastic," said Lammichhane.

The project also envisages preparing curriculum development for functional literacy.

Poverty is often accompanied by several other problems like unemployment, perpetual debt, malnutrition, exposure to environmental risks, low status of women and illiteracy.

About 80 per cent of the rural population constitute the total population of around 23,000,000. About 95 per cent of the poor belong to rural areas and around 82 per cent of the rural poor are subsistence farmers or labourers.

Employment opportunities other than farming are few and labour demand is highly seasonal.

The CERID will help teach the rural people as it believes in providing trainings through education while the marketing and networking section will be handled by the Industrial Enterprise Development Institute.

The project will identify the factors essential for enabling and empowering people to reflect on the poverty situation in the country and plan for a change.

It further seeks to convey people of the various existing means of poverty alleviation.