Among Nepal’s 753 local government units, Syangja’s Waling Municipality has been at the forefront of championing the digital agenda. The municipality has developed a ‘Smart Waling’ mobile application that connects residents directly with the local government, among other measures meant to take governance and bureaucracy online. Recently, Waling started various initiatives to provide employment opportunities to those who lost their jobs due to COVID-19. Development Advocate spoke to Dilip Khand, the Waling mayor, about the local government’s handling of COVID-19, his embrace of digital initiatives, and the way forward in a post-COVID-19 world.

What has Waling Municipality done in terms of health recovery and what type of initiatives are you conducting as part of COVID-19 recovery?

We have provided 210 ward committees with training on information collection and quarantine monitoring and management. These committees are monitoring the health status of the people who enter Waling, only allowing them entrance after negative PCR test results. This has helped reduce the risk of spread of the coronavirus. These committees also provide us with information about COVID-infected people and their visitors. We manage quarantine and isolation systems and send critical patients to the hospital, accordingly. We even provide daily health checkups and counselling to patients. We were adequately prepared for 1,500 migrant returnees from India and other countries. So far, we provided well-managed quarantine facilities to over 1,200 people. The situation is under control now, but we are also ready to conduct mass testing if the virus spreads at the community level.

As part of recovery measures, the municipality is providing health insurance up to Rs 100,000 to those infected with COVID-19. We are also providing treatment to anyone suffering from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, etc. Our goal is to get health insurance to 60 percent of the Waling population by this year, 80 percent in next year, and more than 95 percent after two years. Currently, we are identifying people who are not insured and getting them health insurance. We are also conducting public health awareness programmes, old age health care programmes and counseling through 17 health posts. One of our aims is to decrease the infant mortality rate so we are providing services focusing on maternal and infant health by creating awareness about vaccination and anti-natal checkups through SMS.

What kind of job opportunities has Waling provided to the local people?

Since poverty reduction is our priority, we focused on having at least one agriculture and business cooperative in each ward and our 310 villages to support the livelihoods of local communities. In partnership with UNDP, we have established 200 agriculture cooperatives and 20 enterprise cooperatives. Secondly, dealing with the consequences of not a getting market for the local produce was a problem so UNDP and Waling came up with the Waling Product Holding Cooperatives with municipality, cooperatives and private shares of more than Rs 100 million. The cooperatives must buy all the farmers’ produces, which will play a significant role in promoting local enterprises. With the subsequent improvement in the living standards of people, there will ultimately be positive impacts on health and education. We’ve also established an Entrepreneurship, Business Incubation, and Innovation Centre in various city wards focusing on migrant returnees and youth to promote startup culture.

Waling Municipality has put pledged to become a ‘Smart City’. What is the progress so far?

We are focusing on drafting a 20-year comprehensive plan as we already have a yearly strategic plan and a 5-year periodic plan. We aim to establish a ‘Basic City’ within 10 years, a ‘Sustainable City’ by 2030, and a ‘Smart City’ by 2040. Currently, we are working on infrastructure like road, drinking water supply, irrigation, and information and communication technology to connect our 310 villages, ward offices, municipality office and different organisations. This comes under the ‘Basic City’. People’s perceptions will not change until they get out of poverty. A ‘Smart City’ is only possible with smart citizens, smart governance, smart economy, and smart infrastructure.

We have succeeded in turning waste management into resource management. We have also made a profit from waste and are now working on recycling waste and making products. This will also provide employment to people living in poverty.

But all of this takes time. The municipality is digitalizing and slowly, there will be transformations in the villages as well. With the support and partnership of organisations like UNDP, the progress has been quick, we hope for UNDP’s help in the future as well.