Cologne, Germany 23rd December: The role of the NGOs (non governmental organizations), has become increasingly important in making various activities of the of local development people oriented and also in extending services and facilities to the grassroots level in Nepal.
We are greatly satisfied with the performance the German NGOs working in Nepal, who are extending their support to social and development projects of Nepal, said the Royal Nepalese Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Balram Singh Malla, in his key note speech while opening the sixth annual meeting at the “Regenwaldhaus” of Zoological Garden of Cologne, jointly organized by the German-Nepal Friendship Association (GNFA), Cologne and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), Bonn.
The German NGO’s contribution to uplift the standard of the needy people through various socio-economic activities is certainly a matter of sincere appreciation. They also establish a linkage, relationship between Nepal and Germany and the activities provided by them contributing further strengthen the goodwill and understanding between our countries, he said.
Ambassador Malla requested to extend their services in remote and western parts of Nepal, where the government’s service alone might not be optimal.
Ruediger Lemp, the newly accredited German ambassador to Nepal, said in a message to the meeting that the number of German associations involved in Nepal shows the diversity and liveliness of our bilateral relationship with the Kingdom Nepal. “The NGOs can work far beyond what an embassy or a governmental institution can ever do. The engagement of the Germans in their NGOs for Nepal with a very specific actions and goal is most admirable”’, added Ambassador Lemp.
The total number of German associations working exclusively for Nepal has reached around to 30. According to Ram Pratap Thapa, co-ordinator of the meeting and President of the GNFA, although the associations vary extremely in their size and capacity, they all have one common goal of helping the people of Nepal to the grassroots level. It is interesting to note that the newly set up organizations want to look for specific places or for specific projects.
Whereas in the past most of the NGOs were engaged in Kathmandu, now the new ones would like to look for the projects in other regions of Nepal. Most of the NGOs are involved in the education and health sector. Few help organizations for Nepal were also set up recently in Eastern Germany. This is a proof for the close German friendship to the people of Nepal, said Thapa. There are only few organizations who look especially for the environment conservation: one of the pioneer organization is the German Chapter of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature conservation (KMTNC), which is a registered NGO in Germany. This is presided by Prof. Dr. Gunther Nogge, who is the director of the Zoo of Cologne. The German Chapter of the KMTNC patronizes the projects of the Nepal Zoo in Jawalakhel. Another action Group is run by a group of Journalists in Cologne, who support the greenery program in
Kathmandu in co-operation with the Municipality of Kathmandu.
The meeting discussed about the necessity of specific visa status for the NGO-workers in Nepal as well as the need to identify the problems of charity goods with Nepali customs and recent developments in Nepal. A delegate of the Germany NGOs will try to put forward the matter to the Government of Nepal in April 2001 in Kathmandu. The seventh meeting will take place in September 2001 in Cologne.
(News through e-mail sent by German Nepal Friendship Association, Postfach 190327, 50500 Cologne, Germany).