E-Kantipur

The Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) Outstanding Commitment Award is an award presented annually to participants exhibiting an unparalleled level of commitment and STH in various fields. These fields include education, energy & climate change, global health, peace & human rights, and poverty alleviation. CGIU engages and supports a batch of young leaders each year who don’t just discuss world challenges, but take necessary steps towards solving them. The awards aim at encouraging youths to use their creativity, knowledge, and skill to promote peace and development in their communities and throughout the world. And this year, three Nepali students have won Outstanding Commitment awards in the fields of energy and climate change. Dristy Shrestha (Psychology and Spanish Major, Middlebury College), Shweta Rajbhandari (Political Science Major, Middlebury College) and Priyanka Bista (Architectural Science Major, Ryerson University) have proven that Nepal is committed to making positive changes in the fields of sustainable technology and natural resource management.

Dristy Shrestha, previously a student at St. Mary’s School, Lalitpur, and the United World College of the American West, says, “I had initially submitted this proposal for another competition (Project for Peace), but my project was selected as the Runner Up, so I did not get the grant. I submitted it again to this committee, and was actually working on this project in Mapikel (Lalitpur) when I received news that I had won the grant.” Shrestha’s project works at developing micro hydropower plants in rural Nepal. She originally aimed at developing enough hydroelectricity to power at least 30 households, but as of Jan. 9, 2010 , the plant powers 32 houses in the village of Kerabari in Bhimkhori, Kare. The project uses a peltric set to generate the electricity, and Shrestha was most happy that locals chipped in on the effort- “They helped us transport all the equipment, construct the power house, install poles… so many things, “ Shrestha says. 

Shrestha has been awarded US$ 7,000 for her project, and she is determined to put it to good use. “After thorough research, I realised that one reason why micro-hydropower plants were not flourishing in Nepal was because of a lack of funding. Impoverished villages have neither the resources nor the funds to gain access,” she says, stating her decision to say this, “I aim, through my project, to continue electricity generation, and hope to positively change the living standards of rural Nepalis.”

“Having grown up in Nepal, I am aware of the conditions in which most Nepalis live in. After my research, I found out that there are a practically unlimited number of things that need to be done, and they can be done,” she asserts. Hydropower, being a renewable source of energy means that it can go a long way in alleviating poverty and educational constraints.

Priyanka Bista’s project seeks to conserve the environment by raising awareness and emphasising environment education in the Bhedetar VDC in Dhankuta. The programme has also introduced low-tech, sustainable agricultural practices, and a more hands-on outdoor learning. 

The grant she received, amounting to US$ 2,000, will be used to create an outdoor agricultural plot for a newly-constructed school in Bhedetar’s Dharapani. Her Green Village initiative is anticipated to serve as a role model for other villages and Bista firmly believes that it will strengthen the farming community.

 “After finishing my Bachelor’s degree and working in Canada for over a year and a half, I came back initially to research the vernacular architecture in the eastern villages of Nepal,” says Bista. “I found buildings that were thousands of years old, which had evolved as a result of climatic, cultural, and geographic factors and survived for so long, that were now being demolished and replaced with concrete bunkers. As we rapidly become more developed and progress technologically, this connection between the land and the people will just be lost, if efforts are not made to conserve it.”

Despite living in Toronto since she was 15, Bista believes that she has a good understanding of Nepal’s problems, as she has seen them through a different lens. She hopes that her initiative will allow children to express their creativity, and generate new, eco-friendly ideas of their own.

To the casual onlooker, Shweta Rajbhandari’s rainwater harvesting system seems a bit of a cliché. Sure, it is a good use of otherwise wasted water, but hey, haven’t we all seen it before? However, Rajbhandari believes that her project has something that no other has had: drive. “I believe I won the award because my project reflected ambition,” she says. “I was very focused, and confident about my work. I had a clear idea of my goals, and the process of implementing my goals.”

Rajbhandar’s initiative involves a long-time commitment in constructing affordable, locally-based, and, most importantly, sustainable, rainwater harvesting systems. Her project has currently been implemented in the Pumdibhundi village, Kaski, one of Nepal’s driest regions. Though she was initially awarded US$ 8,000, she has managed to raise a further US$2,700 for the project.

“I wish for my project to be a model that will inspire even communities in wet regions to utilise their immense water-wealth” says Bista. And looking a the current situation in Nepal, this initiative might just be a timely grace. With daily loadshedding coming up to 10 hours a day, her initiative might be just what Nepalis need to combat the current crisis. Bista sees the project as her personal vendetta against this, and has attempted to empower villagers and allow them to fulfil their potential without any electrical constraints. “There could not be a more opportune time than right now for us, as a nation and as individuals, to evaluate where our strengths lie,” says Bista.

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