Future Programmes

Foundation Nepal believes that overseas aid must be targeted to promote self-sufficiency.

Millennium Villages project

Once we have funding in place, we plan to build on our current CHEWI (Community Healthcare, Education, Women’s Empowerment and Income Generation) Programme by rolling out an adapted version of an integrated development model called the Millennium Villages project. This is a five-seven year programme that seeks to eradicate poverty and empower communities to become fully self-sufficient. It aims to develop an integrated, cross-sectoral approach that comprehensively addresses all of the root causes of poverty, and in a relatively short space of time enables people to get out of the poverty trap.

The Millennium Village project is based on the findings of the UN Millennium Project and is led by The Earth Institute at Colombia University, a US NGO called Millennium Promise and the United Nations Development Programme. It is currently being implemented in several African countries.

Adapting the model

One of the main criticisms of the Millennium Village approach is that it is extremely expensive. Our aim is to implement the model in a cost-effective way using local people, which also adds to the sustainability of the programme. Our current CHEWI programme is consistent with the Millennium Village model, but it will require an expansion in the range of activities into areas such as food production, irrigation, community forestry, environmental conservation etc. It is a complex model to implement, as each sector impacts on every other sector, so the linkages and co-ordination between the various elements need to be carefully managed.

Once funding is secured, we plan to trial the Millennium Villages model in a village called Thehe in Humla. We have already established good relationships there through the successful running of our CHEWI Programme, and the population of 4,200 is also an ideal size to start working with. If we can get the model working in Thehe, the plan will be to roll it out into other villages in Humla, and ideally into other parts of Nepal. Ultimately, it would be rolled out into other countries, and we would hopefully be in a position to assist other development organisations to implement the model.