11th Annual Sharing of Paschim Paaila Organized

 Prepared by: Ms. Sushama Sharma, Member, PP Batch III

Edited by: Ms. Anita Bhuju, Network Coordinator

Paschim Paaila organized 11^th Annual Sharing Program on 23^rd August, 2020 through zoom platform to celebrate the completion of its 11 years of journey serving in the sector of WASH, Emergency, Disaster and Epidemic with voluntary essence and to share progress of FY 2019/20 and way forward in presence of guests and Paaila members.

The program started with one minute silence for the departed souls in an epidemic and pandemic as tribute from Paschim Paaila. The program continued with presence of valuable guests Dr. Roshan Raj Shrestha, Deputy Director at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as Chief Guest, Mr. Bhushan Tuladhar, Chairperson of ENPHO and Environmentalist, Prof. Dr. Murali Gopal Ranjitar, Chairperson at NIHE, Mr. Bipin Dangol, Senior Sanitation Expert at Islamic Development Bank, Ms. Bhawana Sharma, Executive Director at ENPHO, as Special Guests, Mr. Manjeet Dhakal, LDC Support Team Head, Climate Analytics, Mr. Raman Bhattarai, Intellect Disease Specialist and, Mr. Phurba Sange Moktan, Immediate Past President of Paschim Paaila as Guests.

Ms. Anita Bhuju, Network Coordinator/Member Secretary of Paschim Paaila, shared the progress on activities of FY 2019/20 of Paschim Paaila which was followed by announcement of Paaila Idea Fund 2020. The basic objective of “Paaila Idea Fund” is to encourage youths of Nepal for the creative ideas into action in WASH, SDG and Emergency intervention initiatives. The introduction session of energetic youth volunteers as PP Batch III members was then followed by announcement of Paaila of the Year 2019/20 Award. Every year Paschim Paaila has been acknowledging the effort of volunteerism and dedication with the title “Paaila of the Year” award. This year, Ms. Sushama Sharma, PP Batch III member, was awarded as “Paaila of the Year 2019/20 Award”.

In the program, Chief Guest, Special Guest, Guest and Paaila members gave valuable remarks and assured to be with Paschim Paaila. During the remarks, Paschim Paaila team were appreciated for the initiative of Mask-Mandu Campaign. The campaign aims to aware and sensitize general public on proper use of mask and to maintain hygiene behaviour to prevent the spread of Coronavirus/COVID-19 engaging most energetic youths.

Dr. Roshan Raj Shrestha said, “I have never seen such leadership of youth in the sector in any part of the world. It is great to such leadership of youth in Nepal but it now needs to be spread worldwide through social media and networking” during the guest remarks.

Altogether 40 Paaila members attended the Annual Sharing program as Guests and general member. Mr. Buddha Bajracharya, President of Paschim Paaila formally closed the program summarizing remarks and with the vote of thanks to guests and paaila members for the presence and remarks.

WASH FORUM Reloaded on “Stress Management Among Youths”

Prepared by: Paaila Sushama Sharma, Member, PP Batch III

Edited by: Paaila Anita Bhuju, Network Coordinator

On 20 August 2020, Paschim Paaila in collaboration with ENPHO (Environment and Public Health Organization) organized 9^th WASH FORUM Reloaded on “Stress Management among Youths” through zoom platform. The main objective of the program was to share about stress and its effects on career development of youths, acquaint youths about how to Reduce, prevent and cope with stress as well as to share importance of psycho-social well-being. In Nepal, 40% of people are younger than 18 years of age and COVID-19 pandemic may be a stressful situation for young people regarding career development. Public health actions, such as social distancing, can make people feel isolated and lonely and can increase stress and anxiety. Coping with stress in a healthy way will make you, the people you care about, and your community stronger.

Dr. Narendra Singh Thagunna, Vice President of Association of Psychologist was the speaker for the program. The session was initiated with evaluation on mental health condition of participants through a form filling process with specific questions. During the session, different types of mind exercise were conducted. The meaning of stress, cause of stress on students, consequences of student’s mental health on were mostly highlighted in the session.

Dr. Thagunna explained 6 stress management strategies to prevent from unhealthy stress coping mechanism. Also, participants were encouraged to build a positive mental health by creating healthy routine, owing your feelings, eliminating toxic influences, supporting each other, and connecting with others also shared the tips for success on life.

The program had an overwhelming participation of more than 90 participants from different part of Nepal. At the end, Dr. Thagunna addressed queries from the participants. Paaila Amrit Bista, Member, PP Batch III facilitated the overall program.

Celebrated International Youth Day-2020

Prepared by: Paaila Sushama Sharma, Member, PP Batch III

Edited by: Paaila Anita Bhuju, Network Coordinator

Every year International Youth Day (IYD) is celebrated on 12 August, 2020. This year’s theme for International Youth Day was “Youth Engagement for Global Action”. The engagement of youths at the local, national and global level enhances the process of national and institutional activities. Paschim Paaila and ENPHO has been celebrating International Youth Day to motivate, celebrate the energy of youth, engage them and enhance their capacity. Paschim Paaila and ENPHO organized the talk program, “Connecting Youth to Youth: An Inspirational Talk” and continued campaign “Mask-Mandu Campaign” to celebrated International Youth Day 2020.

An Inspirational Talk Program

The program “Connecting Youth to Youth: An Inspirational Talk” was jointly organized aligning with

this year’s theme through zoom platform on 12 August, 2020. This event was organized to transform stress in strength, encourage youth engagement in Hygiene Campaign and exploring the opportunities connecting youths to inspire and encourage for global action from local efforts.

Mr. Kshitij Raj Lohoni, Software Engineer at Apple Company and Founder of Krinjal Foundation was the Speaker of the program. The session started with life experience sharing of the speaker. Mr. Lohoni, as a part of session, reflected on the way to move forward in life with a positive thoughts and have determination to achieve the targeted goals to inspire and motivate youth. The program continued with direct question and answer session with the speaker to get suggestions and guidance regarding various topics including involvement of youth for COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 50 youths directly attended the session that started at 8 in the morning through zoom.

Mask-Mandu Campaign

Later on the day, aspiring youth volunteers of Paschim Paaila conducted Mask-Mandu Campaign at Basantapur, Kathmandu. Mask-Mandu Campaign is a youth led initiative to sensitize and aware the general public on proper use of mask and promote safe Hygiene behavior to prevent the spread of COVID-19. People walking around without mask in public, street vendors, shop owners are the target group of the campaign. During the campaign general public of different age group, economic background and professions who were walking without mask, wearing mask improperly and/or just holding mask were sensitized on importance of proper use of mask and hand hygiene. As a motivational factor, those people, walking around without mask were supported with a mask.

More than 200 public people were counselled on proper use of mask, good hygiene practices to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and its importance focusing on the present pandemic situation among which masks were distributed to 47 people. Paschim Paaila youth volunteers have been counselling and distributing mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19 with a personal safety first such as use of masks, sanitizer for both the parties, volunteers and general public and wearing face shield.

Empowering Youths: WASH-CO Workshop II Series

Paschim Paaila and Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), jointly organized three day “WASH-CO Workshop II Series 2020” from 7 to 9 August, 2020 through Zoom platform. This workshop was organized to enhance the capacity and knowledge of youths on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), its linkage to COVID-19 and safe hygiene behavior motivating youths for the initiative to aware general public to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The major highlights of three day workshop were brief of COVID-19 and its status worldwide, impacts of COVID-19, safe hygiene behavior such as proper use of mask, maintaining social/physical distance and proper hand hygiene. The workshop also held sessions on youth motivation and plan of action for implementing actions to share and trigger communities and general public on importance of safe hygiene behavior and proper use of mask as preventive measures for COVID-19. Altogether 30 participants were selected through an application to attend the workshop from various educational background.