2. Did you know ...
... that we contributed to the foundation of the
national dairy sector in Nepal
3. Did you know ...
... that we started building industrial
manufacturing capacity in Balaju Yantra Shala
4. Did you know ...
... that we facilitated the production of some
small, but important products over time
Source: Nepal Yantra Shala Energy
5. Did you know ...
... that we were involved in the manufacturing
of the steel parts for the first suspension bridge
6. About HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation
• Founded in 1955 as first private Swiss development
organisation
• Politically and denominationally neutral association
• Supported by about 100‘000 members and private donors
• Projects and advisory services in 33 partner countries in
Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe
• Worldwide more than 1’250 staff members and 143 staff
members in Switzerland
• 12 active regional volunteer groups in Switzerland
Respected guests, colleagues and friends – 60 Years towards a better Nepal! HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation is proud of its longterm engagement since 1956 in the country. Over the years the organisation has adapted to new needs, has changed its approaches, has developed newly required technologies and, most importantly, has touched the lives of 15 million people over time. Women, men, from the hills, from the planes – HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation does not make any difference, but emphasizes on affirmative action to support the ones most in need.
A couple of facts: did you know that ….
HELVETAS’ first venture, the Dairy Development Programme, has laid the foundation for a successful dairy sector in 1956. It all started with the purchase of equipment and training of technicians. Three alpine cheese dairies followed and a central milk collection and processing centre was established in Kathmandu. Out of this grew the Dairy Development Cooperation in 1969, which is still a major player in the sector and has inspired the birth of a number of private dairy enterprises. It became soon clear that steel parts and equipment for the sector would have to be manufactured locally, which ….
… gave the inspiration of Balaju Yantra Shala – a shareholding company with industrial manufacturing capacity. The activities in Balaju were initiated in 1960 with the aim to strengthen manufacturing capacity instead of importing. Skilled human resources were then identified as a major constraint which led to a training centre and later on to a number of skills related programmes and projects – most notable the recent Employment Fund that has trained around 100,000 un- and underemployed youth.
Balaju Yantra Shala – or BYS as it is also known - benefited from the early experience of a small workshop in Ekantakuna, which had produced ….
… the boarding step for the flight to Simara for the occasion of Queen Elizabeth’s state visit in 1961. Another product that can be traced back to Balaju are the first locally fabricated turbines in Nepal. In 1962 a first micro hydro plant produced in Nepal was established at Godawari fish pond. From 1962 to 1988 HELVETAS developed and installed mini hydro turbines in remote areas of Nepal to drive flower mills and small electricity generators. This engagement also led to the development of the T-Series crossflow turbine in BYS – still now a product marketed globally by a number of manufacturers.
And, probably most importantly, …..
…. the steel parts of the first suspension bridge across the Marshyangdi were made by BYS in 1961. Earlier, modern trail bridges were manufactured in Scotland and sent in parcels to Nepal for erection at the site. The new manufacturing capacity in Nepal allowed to produce all the steel parts locally.
The trail bridge sector since then has never looked back – establishment of the Suspension Bridge Division in the Government, development of new bridge technologies, standardization of different technologies, endorsement of the trail bridge strategy and celebration of 6’000 bridges in 2015. The knowledge of Nepali professionals now also supports trail bridge construction and sector development in other South Nations - in Laos, Burundi, Indonesia, Cameroon, Ethiopia to mention a few.
This rich history in Nepal is the backbone of the organisational history as well …
HELVETAS – or Schweizerisches Hilfswerk fuer Aussereuropaeische Gebiete as it was called then - was founded as the first private Swiss development organisation in 1955. The organisation aimed at showing solidarity to countries which were less fortunate which at its core remains still the same up to date. The politically and denominationally neutral association is supported by more than 100,000 members and supporters. It implements projects and technical advisory services in more than 30 countries in Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and, with increasing importance, in Africa. The organisation counts about 1,400 staff globally. Many of us are not aware that advocacy for development cooperation and solidarity with Southern nations in Switzerland is one of the main tasks supported by 12 regional groups and numerous volunteers.
But what are we known for in Nepal? …
HELVETAS started working in Nepal in 1956. Since then trail bridges have probably become the biggest identifier for us – whenever I am asked in the field for which organisation I work and the name ‘HELVETAS’ draws a blank, ‘jhulunge pool karigram’ – trail bridge programme – does the job. More on the trail bridge sector I have already mentioned earlier.
Water supply has been at the centre of our focus since 1976. More than 600,000 beneficiaries have benefited from the different water programmes over time. Construction of gravity flow and rainwater harvesting drinking water supply systems were our earlier strengths and remain so up to date. However, now we engage also in hygiene promotion and water governance – important aspects for longterm sustainability of the water infrastructure.
Forestry? – Yes, forestry! Intercooperation, one half of the organisation HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation that was founded after the merger in 2011, implemented the Nepal Swiss Community Forestry project from 2000 for 12 years on behalf of SDC. HELVETAS engaged as part of the Palpa Development Programme in community forestry to combat degradation.
We are also known for coffee after our more than 37 years involvement in the coffee sub-sector since 1979. Early on we promoted coffee as a soil conservation crop on degraded land. It then became the centre point for income generation for small holder farmers in the Palpa Development Project, during which the Nepal Coffee Producers' Association – NCPA – was founded in 1990. And now we provide technical assistance in the sub-sector working with farmers, cooperatives, traders and the Nepal Tea and Coffee Development Board.
A recent addition is riverbed farming: thanks to our engagement in the sector and our collaboration with different INGO and NGO partners in the Riverbed Farming Alliance we have been able to promote this production approach and technology suitable for landless and landpoor farmers in the Tarai. The Alliance now reaches about 13,500 farmers in 21 districts and .
In Nepal HELVETAS is also engaged in irrigation, hygiene promotion, water governance, road side stabilisation,
business development, productive use of electricity, value addition and processing,
Third party monitoring, safer migration, promotion of good governance, unpaid care work, village development periodic planning, rights to information, ...
Riverbed farming, banana and orange value chain development, sustainable agriculture, integrated pest management, ...
Climate change adaptation, disaster risk management, forestry, ....
Both then and now, we supported technology development …
We engaged in value addition and processing of agricultural and forestry products to create jobs in the rural areas. …
We always had a gender focus and supported in women’s economic and social empowerment. While the jobs were perhaps a bit more traditional and stereotype in the early days, we now have opened up the job market for men and women in different tradionally perceived men’s jobs: We support women becoming carpenters, masons, welders. We make both women and men aware about the importance of unpaid care work – with the aim that some of these burdens are taken over by the fathers, husbands and sons some day. We have been engaged in campaigns against chaupadi and we continue to make efforts towards a more balanced workforce within our organisation itself.
From early on HELVETAS worked in close collaboration with the Government – herewith supporting the development of systems with longterm sustainability. On these pictures we are showing our engagement in the water sector where we have supported the development of design guidelines for water supply, that were not only valid for our project, but also other projects of the Government. Some of the HELVETAS promoted approaches have become standard and are included in the Government’s policies – I may remind you of the Waster Use Master Plan to mention one of them. Similar developments could be shown in the trail bridge sector or in coffee. And we are convinced that more will follow …
The earthquakes in April and May 2015 showed that not everything can be part of a system. We had to learn quickly in order to respond. But we did and we are proud of our immediate response after the earthquake, where we supported *** with ****
Our support has continued through skilling for reconstruction and rehabilitation of earthquake damaged trail bridges, bot with funding support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. We support shelter and water supply reconstruction and livelihood recovery in Melamchi in collaboration with Solidar Suisse and with funding support from Swiss Solidarity. We also engage in school reconsturction in collaboration with Caritas and are about to finalize the reconstruction of coffee processing centres in several districts.
On 25 April we commemorated the event with pictures of the buildings that were constructed with our support – by today we have constructed 451 private houses and completed skills training of 1’232 trainees
We have just started with the implementation of our new Country Strategy from 2016 to 2020 which emphasizes on our changing role from project implementation to an increased importance of advisory and advocacy. We want to support others with our experiences and our knowledge and provide our technical assistance. We also want to continue to support an enabling environment through evidence based policy advocacy. While we in the past engaged very directly and often replaced existing actors, we want to take on a more facilitate role – support actors and not take over their duties. We will engage both with the once seeking for services and the ones providing services – be they from private sector, the government or civil society.
So what will we be known for in 2026, when we will celebrate 70 years HELVETAS in Nepal? Perhaps it will be safer migration, macadamia nuts, productive use of electricity, walnut oil, hazelnuts, bioenergy, unpaid care work, banana paper, ….
