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Before & After
Better Bridge, Better Life in Rural Nepal
Photo: Fintrac, Inc.
BEFORE: This precarious pedestrian bridge was unusable during the rany season
Photo: Fintrac, Inc.
AFTER: The bridge after completion, holding nice and strong.
USAID improves community safety and boosts development through flood-resistant structure
Maiya Ram Neupane, a staff member from the Jansakti Lower Secondary School in Nepal's western district of Banke, doesn't tire from telling the story about her village bridge. She will tell you how a small wooden bridge was all that connected the villages of Udharapur and Ditapur. The bridge was old and rundown, and the river it crossed was notorious for flooding, often rising five meters or more and making it difficult and even dangerous for citizens to attend school, conduct business, or travel to receive medical care. For many years, community activists worked in vain to build a safer bridge.
USAID recognized that villages dependent on the bridge could only thrive with a solid structure, so it built a 12-meter-long, concrete bridge six meters above the river bed, making it strong enough to allow flood water to pass over it. The bridge cost approximately six million Nepali Rupees (or $90,000) including a community contribution of NRs 547,789 ($7,300), and generated employment for 30 local laborers for three months.
Since 2008, USAID's Flood Recovery Program has been working with flood-affected communities in eight districts of the Terai region. The program is rehabilitating and developing small-scale infrastructure; increasing farmer productivity and income; improving awareness of sanitation, nutrition, and gender and protection issues; and strengthening local groups by expanding participation among youth and vulnerable populations.
The new bridge in Udharapur benefits nearly 800 households in six villages, allowing goods and people to travel easily, thus boosting agricultural and economic development. People can now cross the river without fear, and children and teachers can attend school during the rainy season. Agricultural commerce between villages can continue year-round, and those who have to cross the bridge to see a doctor can now do so at any time of the year.
"The bridge has connected our two villages and is improving our lives in so many ways. Our dream has been fulfilled," said Maiya.
Because of the community's strong commitment to the project, USAID recently pledged additional funds to rehabilitate four kilometers of the road adjacent to the bridge.
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Click here for high-res photo of Guelleh Batal before
Click here for high-res photo of Guelleh Batal after
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