Environmental research

Okhaldhunga is recently made accessible district as it is connected by the rough road from Katari to Okhaldunga. But the road is not accessible during monsoon as landslide and flood is frequent phenomena. The district lies in Sagarmatha zone and is 114 Km away from the World s highest peak-the Mount Everest. The project VDC Betini is three hours walk from district headquarters. Streams such as Molung, Nigale and Andheri flowing through Betini VDC provide ample opportunity in generating electricity. These streams are the tributaries of the Sunkoshi River.Regarding the service facility, there is one sub health post and one post office. Along with the SGP other UNDP assisted programmes such as Community-owned Primary Education (COPE), Rural Energy Development Programme (REDP) and Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP) have been working in the VDC. REDP and SCDP have already formed the Community-based Organisations (CBOs) and joint workplan has already been prepared which has helped in sharing the responsibilities and resources. Preliminary feasibility study has already been carried out and the report showed that the VDC has capacity of generating 30 KW electricity through microhydro power. A 9.05 kilowatt micro-hydro plant from the Andherikhola (stream) has been successfully established with the support from various agencies benefiting 94 households. The success has been achieved from supports from DDC, VDC, REDP and of course the communities. With the success of the Andherikhola, people from Dhamala village were also inspired and with their active participation 9.5 KW Devishthan Micro-hydro plant has been constructed benefitting 141 households. The project has also constructed 20 cipaulin plastic water harvesting tank with gravity sprinkle system. This has helped in promoting off-seasonal vegetables in the VDCs. Likewise, with the project initiation, 4 biogas and 67 ICS have been constructed in the project sites.

Nepal