Embassy of Switzerland in Nepal

Newsletter
of the Embassy of Switzerland in Nepal
July 2011
Dear Readers Welcome to this years second issue of the Embassys newsletter and let me extend warm wishes to you on the occasion of the forthcoming Swiss National Day. Nepal is ravaged by multiple natural hazards annually resulting in significant number of loss of lives and properties. Earthquake is one of them. To prepare against the disaster, the Embassy organised an internal crisis management exercise for its staff. The last few months have been quite eventful. Switzerland continues to be engaged in development and peace building activities in Nepal. There have also been important changes in staff. In this issue, we have highlighted the award won by one of the Swiss led project, our support to Nepals Population and Housing Census 2011, and information relevant for the Swiss Community living abroad as well as in Nepal. We have also listed one of the restaurants owned by the Swiss Community living in Nepal and will feature few more in our upcoming issues. I hope you will enjoy learning more about these events. Happy reading! Mandakini KC Bhatta Information and Knowledge Management Officer On a road for the people Swiss supported District Roads Support Programme (DRSP) has bagged the second prize at the International Road Federation (IRF) for the Innovation Award for Road Transport in Developing Countries (Inaroad) 2011. According to the organisers, the award was given to the ideal projects having brought positive impact on the road infrastructure and transport conditions, resulting in improved quality of life of the communities and contributing to poverty reduction. The IRF rewarded DRSPs innovations, sustainable and good DRSP team walking along a road under construction in practices in this field. The first place went to Khotang Rajasthan Mega Highway Project of India, and the (Image source: DRSP) third prize went to Miros Road Accident Analysis and Database System of Malaysia. The Embassy congratulates the DRSP team for this recognition and once again thanks them for providing safer access to many Nepalese living in remote areas.

Early Preparedness at the Embassy The Embassy conducted a 3 days long crisis management exercise for emergency preparedness for its staff in April. This followed an orientation on Earthquake Prevention that was organised for the Swiss Community living in Nepal in June last year. As Swiss citizens were at the time advised to prepare Crisis Kits for their homes, the Embassy has now prepared its own Crisis Kit in the form of a large container on the Embassy premises.

Safer Migration - right information at the right time.. Nepal has become one of the major labor exporting countries in recent years. Unemployment is the main reason behind this urge to venture out to distant lands in search of fortune. But not all dreams come true. Most Nepalese migrants face numerous obstacles all along the migration cycle, such as misinformation about the migration process, cheating by manpower agents, high interest rates paid for loans from moneylenders, low levels of skills, and vulnerability to gender based violence, which is primarily a problem for female migrants. SDC in Nepal, along with its partners, Helvetas and the Government, have a long experience in training and preparing semi-skilled labours for foreign employment. Dealing and addressing the issues related to human rights abuse and gender related violence is also an area where SDC has much expertise. A step further, Swiss Government through SDC will provide a grant of CHF 1.2 million for safer labour migration. The project will provide interested women and men with accurate and relevant information about Source: www.skyoverseas.com migration so that they can make better informed decision and protect themselves against fraud and exploitation. The project will also provide predeparture skill training and legal services to those in need. It is expected that around 5000 interested persons, migrants and their families will benefit from this initiative.

Development results in conflict affected countries - insights from Nepal Reduction of poverty has been slowest in fragile and conflict-affected states. These countries generally lag 40 to 60 % behind other low and middle-income countries in their achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. In the February/2011 edition of Asia Brief from SDCs South Asia Division, lessons are drawn from the Swiss Cooperation Programme in Nepal regarding successful approaches to engage in such contexts. The Asia Brief illustrates how it was possible, despite the conflict, to construct 160 km of rural roads between 1999 and 2010, tripling the income of the families living in the road corridor. It also shows how the management of forests was improved in 320000 ha of forests from 1991 to 2010. Securing such and many more development results in fragile situations is possible because of an integrate approach oriented at the social and economic root causes of the conflict, and using a so called Conflict Sensitive Programme Management approach. At the same time, Switzerland engaged directly with the different parties of the conflict, supporting dialogue and mediation, as well as the promotion of human rights. Even 5 years after the comprehensive peace agreement conflict sensitivity and an integrated strategy including peace building support, the promotion of human rights and more classic elements of development cooperation remain relevant. Other Asia Briefs from SDC South Asia Division are available in SDC Nepal Homepage at: http://www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/nepal/en/Home/Document_Archive#a1 .

Red or Green When we hear Brick we first think: house, wall, shelter, construction, profitable business. But do we ever think about the conditions under which bricks are made. The brick sector in Nepal is definitely profit making but not necessarily socially responsible. Many infants of workers are malnourished and grow up in unhygienic surroundings, children work in the kilns instead of going to school, the workers coming from rural areas are exploited, not to mention the harassment of young female labourers. These bricks are in reality Blood bricks or Red bricks. Profit making is necessary but it must come with responsibility. Responsibility towards the employees who help create the value, towards the client and towards the society and the planet in which we all live in and its future. 1 Recently the BrickClean Network was created by a group of individuals and organisations (social workers, teachers, health workers, child right activities, animal rights activities, and environmentalists) to transform all the red bricks into green and clean ones, and to promote socially responsible business practices among the brick kiln owners. Change has already started to happen: Some of the kiln owners have started doing good for their workers and their children, for animals, for the environment and for themselves. The message here is: everything is connected. A person who consciously or not makes a decision to buy red bricks can create a negative effect for himself but also for thousands of others. It first affects the workers in that particular brick kiln. It will encourage owners to recruit more bonded labourers and children, and release more black carbon into the air. This is consumer power. We have this power in our hands. The Swiss Embassy is committed to use its consumer power for social change. ARE YOU?

1 Kindly visit www.brickclean.net for more information on BrickClean Network. Both images used in the article have been taken from BrickClean Network

Population and Housing Census 2011 Nepal recently concluded its 11th series of population and listing. This census also marked one hundred years of census counting in the country. Moreover this is the first post-conflict census in Nepal. To support the process, Switzerland through SDC, contributed financially to National Census Citizen Observation initiative, which were responsible to observe the pre and post census activities at different levels to ensure the overall quality and credibility of the census results. This census has also registered foreign nationals who are currently living in Nepal for over six months. Preliminary results are expected by September, this year.
Source: www.cbs.gov.np/

Change in the Swiss staff of the Embassy of Switzerland in Nepal Ms. Elisabeth von Capeller, Head of Cooperation SDC Nepal, will be leaving us for her new assignment as a Head of South Asia Division within SDC Berne. Her responsibility will be taken over by Mr. Jean-Franois Cunod from September 2011 onwards. Similarly, Mr. Tobias Rsli, left us and has taken up his assignment in SDC Honduras. Ms. Kathrin Knubel has taken over Mr. Rslis assignment as new Regional Finance and Administration Advisor.

Ms. Capeller

Mr. Rsli

We wish Ms. Capeller and Mr. Rsli well in their future endeavors and welcome Mr. Cunod and Ms. Knubel to Nepal. Strengthening the Friendship ties The Nepali Swiss Friendship Society (NSFS), which was established almost 20 years ago was relaunched amidst a small programme in July in Kathmandu. The objective of the Society is to promote friendship and cultural relationship between the two countries and carry out various activities to strengthen the ties. It has also arranged for an open membership for the interested friends of the two countries and the annual membership fee is set at NPR. 1000.- whereas entrance fee for individual events is NPR. 500, each. st This years Swiss National Day celebration on 1 of August will be hosted by the Society with the patronage of the Embassy of Switzerland at GATE College of Tourism and Hotel Management, Mandikhatar, Kathmandu. For more information, please contact: Bishnu Bhusal, President, NSFS 42, Naya Basti Marg, Baluwatar GPO Box 2712, Kathmandu Phone: 4410263 Email: bhusal@enet.com.np or, Khem Lakai, Vice President, NSFS Phone: 4650176 Email: khem.lakai@gmail.com
Image source: Nepali Swiss Friendship Society

Captured in the Swiss Revue (March 2011)...

Source: http://www.revue.ch/files/EUR_0211_001_004.pdf

Restaurant managed by the members of the Swiss Community in Nepal

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Charikot Panorama Resort Pvt. Ltd. is owned by Top and Judith Thapa-Maag, and is located four hours away from Kathmandu, up a beautiful scenic drive, on the Swiss built Lamosangu-Jiri road. This resort is a perfect peaceful getaway from the hectic city life that offers spectacular magnificence of the Himalayan mountain range right at your doorstep. One can enjoy traditional Swiss meals, the favorites being Rosti or Sptzli with Zri Gschntzlets and the hospitality of lovely staff, who will cater to all your needs. Explore rural Nepal with family and friends on varied hikes and end it all with a soothing hot bath. For inquiries and booking, contact: Kathmandu: 0977-1-5528154 Charikot: 049 421 245 Mobile: 9841224680; 9803189822 Email: thapamaag@gmail.com www.raonline.ch/charikot.html

Article and the image have been contributed by the owners.

Achtung! Attention! Phishing Fraudsters try on various occasions to obtain information concerning accounts and credit cards, as well as copies of taxpayers' passports by sending e-mails. These e-mails use false sender addresses. Consequently the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has been improperly listed as the sender in several of these e-mails. The FTA is now issuing a warning not to respond to these emails or ones of a similar nature. Any FTA claims are sent to taxpayers solely by letter and indicate the dossier number. The FTA never makes enquiries about taxpayers' confidential information via e-mail. Should you receive fraudulent e-mails, please report this to the FTA and forward the emails to the following address: kommunikation@estv.admin.ch Informationen fr Auslandschweizer 89. Auslandschweizer-Kongress in Lugano, 26. 28. August 2011, Thema: Direkte Demokratie im internationalen Kontext Anmeldung unter www.aso.ch, E-Mail: communication@aso.ch Information for Swiss Abroad 89th Swiss Abroad Conference in Lugano, 26 - 28 August 2011 Topic: "Direct democracy in the international context" Registration at www.aso.ch, E-mail: communication@aso.ch

Weblinks
Embassy Kathmandu Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC Nepl http://www.swissworld.org

Contact
Embassy of Switzerland Jawalakhel, Ekanta Kuna P.O. Box 113 Kathmandu Nepal Tel: +977 1 554 92 25 Fax: +977 1 554 92 24 E-Mail: kat.vertretung@eda.admin.ch