Habitat for Humanity Nepal recently marked a joyous occasion during which it celebrated the progress made with the help of partners and unveiled its bold vision for the future.
During the event held at Megha Malhar, Soaltee Crown Plaza in Kathmandu, HFH Nepal celebrated the 10,000th house built; presented partner awards and launched its 100,000 Housing Campaign.
Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada, governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, the country’s central bank, was the chief guest. He spoke of his admiration for HFH Nepal’s cost-effective and environmentally friendly bamboo housing in the east of the country.
The governor acknowledged that the government cannot tackle the problem of inadequate housing on its own. He commended HFH Nepal for motivating others to find a solution to the problem.
Dr Yuba Raj also launched the 100,000 Housing Campaign which aims to galvanize all Nepalese to harness resources, tap cost-effective construction technology and use locally available materials to meet the housing need in the country.
Representatives from various sectors – artistic, business, government, microfinance, banking and business and corporate – will work with HFH Nepal on the five-year campaign.
Other guests who were present included Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bamsha Acharya, goodwill ambassadors of HFH Nepal; Dr. Chhewang N. Lama, member secretary, Social Welfare Council; Leonilo Escalada, regional program manager, Asia-Pacific, Habitat for Humanity; Suresh Acharya, joint secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Work and Upendra Adhikary, joint secretary, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare.
In his opening speech, HFH Nepal’s country representative Aruna Paul Simittrarachchi shared how Habitat was able to accelerate the growth of its program with the help of partner organizations.
HFH Nepal presented awards to several partners in recognition of their contributions in areas such as serving the largest number of families, cost, timely repayment from clients and holistic program development.
Habitat goodwill ambassadors and well-known Nepali comic duo Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bamsha Acharya spoke in support of Habitat’s cause. Hari Bamsha stressed that the need for decent housing is as important as the need for food and clothing. Having experienced living in inadequate housing, Hari Bamsha is even more determined to ensure that everyone in the world has a decent place to live.
For Madan Krishna Shrestha, volunteering in the 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project was a memorable experience. He lauded HFH Nepal for helping low-income families to build cost-effective houses and cited the advantages of bamboo housing. It is also encouraging to see greater involvement of women through village banks and MFIs, said Madan Krishnan.
Kunti Devi Rai from Bhadrashiva Bank, a partner organization, spoke of how HFH Nepal has been instrumental in enabling a village bank to be transformed into a cooperative.
Habitat home partner Jhala Kumari Dulal shared how she is able to live with pride in society because of a decent and affordable home. She is glad that she could provide a good living environment for her family, especially her children.
... ... ... nepalawaz
0 comments:
Speak up your mind
Tell us what you're thinking... !