Nepal
Bajura, Nepal
The poor in far-Western development regions such as Bajura in Nepal, the furthest away from the poverty line, are suffering from lack of basic public utilities such as electricity, clean water, gas and telephone.
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According to Nepal’s 2011 Census, the poverty rate in Bajura was 64.1%, a huge increase from the poverty rate of 47.3% showed by the Central Department of Statistics in 2001.
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The poverty rate in the Bajura district has increased even more in year 2017, hitting 71% of the households living below the poverty line (Source: Ekantipur).
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99% of the households in Bajura use wood for cooking, indicating that there is a lack of LPS gas or electricity for electric heaters and microwaves.
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According to Nepal 2011’s Census, only 22.8% of the households in Bajura have access to electricity for lighting. It also underlies the fact that there is not enough access to grid electricity in Bajura.
Despite the Nepali government’s effort, spending RS 400 million through the Poverty Alleviation Fund for mitigating poverty in Bajura, the poverty rate in Bajura has continuously increased over the decades. There are many poverty mitigation projects being launched in Bajura as the candidates’ common agenda to reach out to voters is minimization of poverty in the Bajura district; they have yet to be completed due to their financial problems and geographically vulnerable conditions
(Source: The Himalayan Times). It leaves locals from Bajura no choice but to migrate to other countries such as India to find a proper job and start new lives.
By helping families in Bajura with us, Starlight, in providing them lights without being unaffordable and consuming electricity, we will be able to help not only the less privileged people in Bajura, but also the Nepali government as what they are aiming for is to decrease the poverty rate by providing enough utilities to the poor while trying to be sustainable and environmentally conscious at the same time. We will be able to lighten up families in Bajura and further expand our operation to other districts that have restricted access to electricity in the future.