Category: Current project

Awards and Events in the Memory of Dr. Harihar Dev Pant.

 Year 2016

Thesis Writing, Mini Research and Essay Writing Competition in the subject of Microfinance.

Nirdhan especially wants to reward imaginative research work that takes an innovative approach in the field of microfinance sector, the methodology and/or the research questions in the field of rural development.The Nominations of works that take a broadly understood comparative perspective and use an interdisciplinary approach are especially encouraged as well as those contributing to the understanding, practice with new innovative approach that can be implement in the field of microfinance rural development of the country and also essay writing competition in the subject of microfinance.

The winners of the competition:

Details	Thesis Writing	Thesis Guide	Mini Research	Essay Writing
Name	Mr. Tika Ram Budha	Mr. Rajesh Gurung	Mr. Nischal Risal	Mr. Dilip Kumar Shrivastav
Title	Assessing Clients Satisfaction of Microcredit	Assessing Clients Satisfaction of Microcredit	An assessment of Customer Satisfaction in Microfinance Institutions.	Development, Importance and Challenges faced by Microfinance in Nepal.
Prize Money	Rs 30,000.00	Rs 10,000.00	Rs 40,000.00	Rs 10,000.00

Year 2017

Dr. Harihar Dev Pant Academic Excellence Award and Essay Writing Competition in the subject of Microfinance.

Essay Writing Competition Winner: Ms. Prerna Gautam, Essay Titled -Microfinance, Prize Money Rs 10,000.

This academic excellence award,given annually since 2017, are intended to recognize important contributions by Master students in these specific subjects. Dissertations from the same discipline that are based on significant original research, raise thought-provoking questions in the specific field, and open up new perspectives are recognized through this award.We hope this award helps to inspire other students also to give their best. The awards this year were handed over by our Chief Guest Dr. Chiranjibi Nepal, Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank. at an event on 6th Sep 2017.

Chief Guest Dr. Chiranjibi Nepal, Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank handed over Dr. Harihar Dev Pant Academic Excellence Award with cash prize of Rs 50,000 and appreciate letter to Mr.. Dharmendra Timilsina for securing highest marks (74.2%) in Monetary Economics subject of 2069/70 batch. ⇒

Chief Guest Dr. Chiranjibi Nepal, Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank handed over Dr. Harihar Dev Pant Academic Excellence Award with cash prize of Rs 50,000 and appreciate letter to Mr Milan Bagale for securing highest marks (69.1%) in Rural Development subject of  2069/70 batch.

 

 

Nirdhan Business Development Services (NBDS):

Nirdhan has BDS program to the MFI clients, especially NUBL clients.  Presently, MFIs are addressing livelihood for their clients.  BDS is the tool for helping to MFIs clients for their business skill Development and scale up their business. MFIs can address the poverty reduction through their Micro-Credit Services with integration of  NBDS.

Objectives:

1. Creation of business awareness and motivation among rural communities.
2. Qualitative and Quantitative improvement of self- employment and small-scale enterprises in the rural area of country.
3. Creating more employment and Self- employment opportunities for women and youth.
4. Assisting members to select suitable enterprises.
5. Providing training for entrepreneurship development and technical skill training.
6. Business consultancy and advisory services.
7. Building market linkages.
8. Providing training for feasibility studies of proposed business.
9. Creation of a favorable credit culture.
10. Ensuring a better standard of living for MFIs clients.

Nirdhan Technical Training Services

With the aim to provide vocational and technical skills to the youths and adolescents of deprived sector of society on affordable prices and easily accessible to deprived sector, Nirdhan technical institute (NTI) was established in 2004 at Bhairahawa, Rupandehi which is relocated in Butwal. It is only one technical institute in Nepal which has been jointly promoted by non-government organization (Nirdhan) and microfinance institution i.e. Nirdhan Utthan Bank Ltd (NUBL). It is affiliated with CTEVT.

NTI assists individuals to become employable through training, skills development, internship and counseling etc. This assistance is crucial to improve and sustain their productivity and income-earning opportunities at work. It serves to enhance their mobility in the labor market and offer the potential for increased career choices. By investing in their human resources, enterprises are able to improve productivity and compete more successfully in increasingly competitive market. NTI has designed training policies and programs with special emphasis on training strategies that support the integration of groups that may be disadvantaged in the national and international labor market.

Realizing the fact that Skills and knowledge are the engines of economic growth and social development and if the NUBL clients are equipped with technical and vocational skills, they could immediately engage in employment after training which enhances their regular income. The vocational and technical skills being provided by the NTI are electrical TSLC, Jr. electrical technician (1 yr), electrical assistant (3 months), micro hydro technician (1 year), plumber (3 months), Bar bender-Shuttering Carpenter (3 months), electronics, computer long and short term trainings for the school dropped out as well as SLC graduates on affordable price and sponsorship programs through I/NGOs, GOs and private sectors. It also organizes mobile type trainings as per requirement. It has well equipped classrooms and learning facilities which facilitates effective learning environment. The NUBL clients of 11 working districts are benefiting through the program. After graduation from the trainings, the individual can easily access loan through NUBL for his/her enterprise creation and self employment in national and international job market.

Agriculture is the key sector for livelihood development for rural areas. Based on agriculture sub-sector analysis and putting micro finance as a key factor, Nirdhan has identified income generation activities such as poultry farming, goat keeping, pig cum fish farming, leasehold vegetable farming, high value herbs and NTFP farming etc for the resource poor farmers. During long years of experiential learning of Nirdhan, it has been learned that the pro-poor activities have significant impact on the income of poor women ultimately the livelihood. Nirdhan provides livelihood skill training, technical backstopping, advisory communication, linkage with input and output market at community level, develop technical cadres at local level, link the poor women with micro finance services of NUBL. These activities have been carried out in “one product one village” approach to create better marketing opportunities. With the technical and financial support, several communities have been developed as poultry village, goat village, piggery village etc. These types of activities have been carried out in communities of Banke & Dang from the financial and technical support of ILO and are being carried out in Bara and Rautahat from the technical and financial support of Plan Nepal.

Community Based Micro Health Insurance Project (CBMHIP), Banke

Community Based Micro Insurance Project (CBMHI), Sanjeevani, is being implemented by Nirdhan NGO since October 2010 in Banke district with the financial assistance from Save the Children Nepal with technical partnership with Micro Insurance Academy (MIA), India. Sanjeevani is an inclusive, community owned and managed micro health insurance program, working in impoverished areas of Banke, through which the scheme members pool their resources to reduce their collective financial risks when receiving health services. The bottom-up model aims to close the health gap and reduce vulnerability through the active participation of community members in all stages of management and decision-making processes. By providing discounted health services and offering linkages with service providers, the CBMHI has been building community trust in formal health systems and changing health-care seeking behavior to improve health states. Thus, Sanjeevani hopes to increase economic security by reducing the financial burden of accessing local health care and validate itself as a model to extend universal health coverage in rural Nepal.

The voluntary and contributory CBMHI has completed four years of successful implementation and is in the second phase of its implementation. Within this period, it has obtained significant triumphs that have been universally commended. Currently, the micro health insurance program has extended its coverage to 15 VDCs, a municipality (Kohalpur) and the Sub-Metropolitan city of Nepalgunj in Banke, creating a strong network of about 13,701 members clustered within the 300 self-reliant groups (SRGs) of Nirdhan Utthan Bank Limited (NUBL). The project’s technical partner Micro Insurance Academy (MIA) has been providing training, technical assistance, information dissemination, and management and evaluation services for the successful and collaborative implementation of the CBMHI. Similarly, financial support is provided by Save the Children Nepal through donations from MISEREOR.

Objectives: The project has been targeted to achieve the following project objectives through the 5 results:

Objective 1: Increased access to inclusive and affordable micro health insurance scheme :

Result 1: Micro heath insurance units are financially sustainable and cover 45,000 consumers of all ages and risk profiles.

Objective 2: Increased knowledge of financial risk management among poor households:

Result 2: Potential consumers have access to information on the potential benefits of micro health insurance.

Objective 3: Increased capacity of communities to self-administer a micro health :

Result 3: Community self-administer Micro Health Insurance Units, through standard detailed business processes and MIS systems.

Objective 4: Increased risk transfer from communities to commercial entities (re-insurers) :

Result 4: Commercial entities cover outlier and catastrophic exposure when Insured persons are likely to be exposed to catastrophic costs above the insurance cap.

Objective 5: Policy makers acknowledge micro insurance as an effective poverty alleviation and risk management :

Result 5: Local, District and National level policy makers are exposed to micro insurance and its benefits.

Achievements:

Nowadays Target groups have started to feel and hope CBMHI will let them have enormous possessions for their health treatment expenses. Not only the health insurance program has become very informative for community health education, it also has increased the level of knowledge on health risk management as well as changing behavior of communities for health consciousness. Members have got highly confident and feel safer health services accessible to them as the number of service providers has been increased according to their need and interest.

Organizational structure of the micro-insurance model:

There is one Main committee/Coordination committee which includes seven members representing five Self Help Groups (SHGs). At least a member from a Sub-committee comes to participate in the main committee.

There are five SHGs/Claim committees each of which includes seven member governing committee in each SHG comprising representatives from sub-committees.

The SRGs are formed by NUBL Branch offices: Kohalpur, Ranjha, Udaypur, Paraspur, and Khajura. All the SRGs are from different clusters and VDCs within Banke district. These structures are facilitated by Nirdhan NGO. The members of sub-committee, SHGs and Main Committee comprise 300 SRGs, and are working into the community based program.

All the SRGs are from different clusters and VDCs within the district. These structures are facilitated by Nirdhan NGO through its program staffs, coordinators and activists (even though, they are paid by project, they are controlled and supervised by SHGs and Main committee). The members of sub-committee, SHG and Main committee are the member of SRGs, making the working model as completely community based.