I want to thank the Herald for its story (Herald, May 8) on ways to help people in Nepal after its devastating earthquake. You mentioned the dZi Foundation, and I wanted to give readers a little more information about dZi.
The dZi Foundation works in some of the most remote communities in eastern Nepal. During its almost 20 years in Nepal, it has built 18 schools, 20 water systems, 17 community buildings, 10 bridges and two health posts. To improve village sanitation, it has built almost 3,000 sanitary toilets to replace traditional pig toilets. About four years ago, we had a study session about earthquakes, and from that moment on, all our schools and other community buildings have been engineered to better withstand earthquakes. Our staff says the schools are all in good shape after the earthquake and are serving as temporary housing for people whose homes were destroyed in the earthquake.
Our development model is unique. We commit to a VDC (similar to a county in the U.S.) for four to seven years. During that time, our 18 Nepali staff members help the community build its capacity to work together to identify and solve its most pressing problems. Starting with small block grants, community members learn how to organize a project, report spending and manage volunteer hours. All of our projects are built with community volunteer labor supplemented with local skilled craftspeople as needed. This means that donor dollars go a long way.
The communities have defined how progress is measured. Besides the usual measures of health, wealth and education, they have added community, environmental and cultural preservation.
When we leave, communities are well-equipped to find funding and complete projects with high levels of equity, transparency and accountability. The year after we left one community, it submitted 23 grant requests to various Nepali and international organizations and received more than $100,000 of funding for projects entirely identified and managed by the community. This is real sustainable development.
To learn more, visit dzi.org. There is also a Facebook page that the staff updates often.
John Byrd, board member, dZi Foundation
Durango
