The presentation on biogas
Being the students of Development Studies and Environment studies, we were eagerly waiting for the presentation on biogas by Mr. LG, the First Vice Chairman of Nepal Biogas Promotion Association. He started his presentation at 9:30 am mentioning about the brief history regarding the introduction of biogas in Nepal. As the presentation took its pace, he described about the advantages, scope and feasibility of biogas in Nepal. Through his presentation, we came to know Nepal is getting dual benefit from biogas plant, first it is a alterative energy source having lots of economic and environmental advantages for local people and second Nepal annual receives some amount of fund from Clean Development Mechanism by trading carbon with developed countries. And through our evening discussion, we found out that concept of community biogas is useful for the community having less number of cattles and 2 cubic meter biogas is more feasible for the poor people who can’t afford cattles and larger biogas plant. 2 cubic meter biogas plant also helps in efficient management of biodegradable solid waste.
Women’s cooperative working for the financial betterment
After the presentation, we had lunch at 11 am which was really delicious ( personal experience). Then, we headed towards Shree Bacchauli Nari Chetna Tatha Sahakari Santha at around 12:20 pm. It is a women’s cooperative working for the financial betterment of the women of that area. All Japanese including professors and technical staffs were delighted to see the cooperative members welcoming them in red Sari, a traditional dress. Then, they introduced themselves and their organization. They enthusiastically explained about their history, motto, function, members, depositing and loan taking processes and interest rates and other information about the organization. In the question- answer session some of the students including Japanese members asked their queries to the members and were satisfied to get their answers.
Indicators Survey
Then at 2:20 pm, we spread towards 19 households( one pair in one house) guided by the women’s group member. In the household, the respective pair discussed about the indicators with the household members. As indicators were long and there was added task i.e. questionnaire regarding gender issues, it took a lot of time to complete the task. It was really a hectic task. At around 4:30pm all the members walked towards hotel passing agricultural fields, houses, domestic animals and local people. It seemed that all the Japanese members enjoyed the walk as they came across many new things.
Our dinner started at 6:30pm. Then there was a group discussion regarding today’s activities which was followed by the presentation by one NC and one TCU students from each group.
The discussion session was really fruitful for the students as many new ideas and last but not the least the confusion regarding the indicators were cleared out.
