WASH Leadership Hiking 7th Series at Nagarjun Height

On the occasion of World Toilet Day 2013 Paschim Paaila organized hiking at Nagarjun Height. There were 90 energetic hikers from various institutions and parts of Kathmandu valley to celebrate World Toilet Day. The Resource person for the event was Mr. Himmat Singh Lekali. The main objective of the event was to learn with Fun on WASH issues and to boost the Leadership among the participants. The event was full fun with many leadership activities and WASH knowledge. The participants of the event were divided into four group named as Water group (Blue), Sanitation group (Red), Hygiene group (Green) and Rapid Responders (Orange) respectively.

The event was facilitated by Mr. Buddha Bajracharya. The whole day event included WASH quiz, balloon game, some games of rope etc. which were facilitated by Lekali Himmat Singh, Buddha Bajracharya and Roshan Chaulagain. Since there were some games, adding all points of each group, Sanitation group was declared as winner of the event. The event also included sharing of Mr. Lekali's motivational speech.

During the hiking the Hikers enjoyed the natural beauty of the Nagarjun Height. At the beginning of the Hiking some of the participants felt tired but as soon as all the participants reached top of the Nagarjun and viewed the mesmerizing Mountains just right in front of them all the tiring moments were forgotten. The whole hiking was package of fun with learn, so the hikers found the event very much fruitful and motivational.

Written By: Ms. Urmila Lama

Youth WASH Concern Workshop VI series

Youth WASH Concern Workshop VI series

Participants of Youth WASH Concern Workshop VI series

WASH Concern workshop is an interactive attempt of Paschim Paaila to incorporate youth in WASH. Here youth from different colleges were gathered to share their views and to boost up their knowledge in WASH. The VI series of WASH concern Workshop was conducted on 6^th July 2013 at Thames College with total of 24 participants.

Mr. Ash Kumar Khaitu from ENPHO, Mr. Phurba Sange Moktan from UN-HABITAT and Mr. Sarbagya Shrestha from Water Aid Nepal were the key speaker of the Workshop.

Youths during the sessions

The program began with warm welcome from Event Coordinator Mr. Buddha Bajracharya who introduced Paschim Paaila , its vision, objectives, past activities, recent activities, upcoming plan and goal.. Mr. Ash Kumar Khaitu from ENPHO started the session of "Water and hygiene including youth" where he discussed about Open defecation free (ODF), quality maintenance of water, some facts and figures about coverage of water in public and water pollution.

The second session which was of personal hygiene and health was facilitated by Mr. Phurba Sange Moktan from UN-HABITAT who started the session with the comparison of human mind with the glass. Then description on personal hygiene was discussed. The session had lots of group works.

In the session mode of transmission of feaces and what and where can be the barrier to stop the transmission, critical condition of hand washing and hand washing technique were discussed. Different energizer games were played to entertain the participants.

Engagement in Games and Group work

The third session was of sanitation and waste management including role of youth which was facilitated by Mr. Sarbagya Shrestha from Water Aid Nepal. The session was started with the experience sharing from participants on open defecation. Mr. Shrestha then defined sanitation and its types; Improved sanitation, on site sanitation, Food sanitation, Environmental sanitation and Ecological sanitation.

Some facts about sanitation of our country were revealed during the session i.e. 62% of rural school has at least one toilet. 29% of total waste generated is generated by Kathmandu valley only. And only 45 % of total waste generated is collected. He also shared some triggering method in order to make people aware about need and importance of sanitation. Some live examples of proper utilization of waste were also discussed during the session.

Active Involvements of youths

He concluded youth as key for social change, most energetic and proactive age of life, critical mass for action and present leaders. The session was ended with the individual commitment of the participants and feedback collection. Participants rated the workshop as interactive, fun filled and informative.

Youths getting information on Gender and WASH as the matter of concern

Youths getting information on Gender and WASH as the matter of concern

WASH forum is a common interaction forum for knowledge sharing and advocacy regarding water, sanitation & hygiene which is conducted every last Friday of English month. Following this trend, in 28^th December 2012, WASH forum entitled “Gender and WASH: A matter of Key concern to Youth” was held at Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) hall, Thapagaun, New Baneswor.

The objective of the forum was set as to provide the opportunity for social interaction and knowledge sharing on Sanitation, Gender and Youth; and to critically analyze the issues of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) relating to gender and Youth, focusing on how it can be a matter of concern to this particular group.

Nurse by profession, Ms. Kalawati Pokhrel, country coordinator of Nepal WASH Alliance (NWA) was the key speaker of the WASH forum who not only drew youth’s attention towards Gender friendly WASH and its importance but also made us realize about the current scenario of water, sanitation and hygiene. Her long experience and good sense of humor kept the spirit of the forum where she even showed us the proper way of formation of WASH committee which is gender friendly and inclusive. Ms. Pokhrel related youths with gender, and requested them to be honest, sincere, responsible and corruption free.

The program had total 32 participants which was facilitated by Mr. Roshan Chaulagain, and coordinated by Ms. Rubita Pulami. Mr. Rajesh Adhikari, Promotional Manager of ENPHO, encouraged the participants with his enthusiastic welcome speech and Mr. Phurba sange Moktan inspired them with his concluding words.

“Creating income generating activities in the community involving entire group, male, female and specially Youth, will help Youths to get engage in the development activities and there will be equal distribution of work” answered Ms. Pokhrel upon the query of one participant that how cooperation between male , female and youth at Village can be done.

Prepared by: Rubita Pulami.