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Oxfam in Nepal

Oxfam work's with rural communities in Nepal to help them find ways of coping with an increasingly unpredictable climate. Photo: Jisu Mok

From our staff

Prabin Man Singh, Climate Change Programme Officer

 In Nepal, we make a clear link between our work with poor communities and our work pushing for policy changes at district, national and even international levels. For example, we might work on a community project focused on agriculture and managing water, and then use the results and what we learn to advocate for change.

My particular focus is on making sure climate change is considered in all of our work. Nepal is prone to disasters including landslides, earthquakes and floods, and so we need to do all we can to help people prepare and respond, and reduce the risks people face. 


Full details of what Oxfam is doing in Nepal (PDF, 168KB)


In 2010-11 Oxfam helped:

200,000
people in
Nepal

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Related reports and papers

Snapshot of Oxfam in Nepal

Photo 1/10 photo by: Tom Pietrasik

Communities in the mountains of western Nepal are some of the poorest and most disadvantaged in the country. Farmers are restricted to very small plots of land - dependent on erratic rainfall – and food shortages are common. Oxfam provides farmers with simple but effective farming solutions like this pond being constructed to help irrigate community vegetable gardens.

  • Communities in the mountains of western Nepal are some of the poorest and most disadvantaged in the country. Farmers are restricted to very small plots of land - dependent on erratic rainfall – and food shortages are common. Oxfam provides farmers with simple but effective farming solutions like this pond being constructed to help irrigate community vegetable gardens.
  • We also help communities cope with an increasingly unpredictable climate by introducing seeds that are at less risk from drought and training farmers in skills to cultivate enough food to feed their families and become self-sufficient. Here, women carry stones for the construction of an Oxfam-funded seed bank in their home village of Dola.
  • Our livelihoods support has also included providing families with goats from our Oxfam Unwrapped gift catalogue. Goats breed easily so families can sell off baby kids to raise some money, while those they keep are a valuable source of milk and manure. “This goat will increase our income, helping us educate our children - it will bring a lifetime of change for us,” explains Balu Minor.
  • Poor access to clean water means many rural communities in Nepal have to make a several-hour round trip to collect water that is often dirty and unsafe. Our public health work includes rehabilitating water sources and providing special rainwater harvesting tanks like this one, to help communities living in remote areas access clean water. We also build latrines and run hygiene promotion sessions.
  • Women's rights are central to all we do. Here, Krishna Rana teaches a literacy class for women in Dola village as part of a Participatory Learning Centre initiative funded by Oxfam. These classes help build women's confidence and increase their leadership potential by involving them in community initiatives such as building new facilities and distributing vouchers for grain to those most in need.
  • Another element of our work is supporting communities in the flood-prone south of the country to be better prepared for, and able to cope with, disasters. This includes helping raise houses above flood levels (pictured), building and maintaining community cyclone and flood shelters, providing first aid training and rescue boats, and setting up early warning systems to alert people if the weather changes.

The impact of our work

 I am very keen to learn so I go to class whenever I have time. They taught us how to get water from here to here, how to dig, what materials to use... I have also learnt how to write my name and also make my signature. This is important because I feel like someone now.


Yema Gharti, participant in Oxfam Participatory Learning Class