Anil believes that children are the most powerful drivers of social
change. Through a ground-breaking initiative called Kathmandu2020,
Anil mobilized Kathmandu’s youth to ask two questions of
the entire Kathmandu Valley population:
- In what kind of city do you want to live
in 2020?
- What will you do within the next two weeks
to enable it?
Answering these questions has engaged literally thousands of people
in Kathmandu to implement hundreds of community projects that affect
infrastructure, education, career development, and the preservation
of Nepal’s historical and natural heritage. Progress is documented
in the yearly Kathmandu2020 report, which is developed and distributed
by Kathmandu’s youth and has become “official” documentation
for social and environmental progress in the city. After its initial
funding in 1999, Kathmandu2020 has also been economically self-sustaining.
The residents of Kathmandu have started more
than 50 projects designed to bring Kathmandu2020’s vision
to life. Here are just a few:
Training teachers to teach students about Kathmandu Valley
Kathmandu’s rich cultural and natural history—and
issues facing Kathmandu Valley—are not taught well, if at
all, in Kathmandu’s schools, mainly because teacher training
does not emphasize these areas. Kathmandu2020 is launching a program
to remedy this and build students’ knowledge. In addition,
Kathmandu2020’s program engages the local school system to
get youth involved in creating and implementing projects in their
own communities.
Pairing schoolchildren with local heritage sites
Kathmandu2020 has created an adopt-a-heritage-site program where
local schools care for nearby heritage sites. In Nepalese terms,
the schoolchildren become the “watch lions” for the
site, responsible for knowing its history and keeping it clean
and free of vandals. Through this program, Kathmandu Valley children
will grow up with a real sense of ownership and pride in their
heritage. Over 30 schools have already adopted sites.
Teaching volunteers to take others on the heritage walk
The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) has spent the past
10 years restoring monuments around the city. Kathmandu2020 is
harnessing the knowledge that KVPT has gained over its years of
work by creating a heritage walk that educates people on Kath-mandu’s
cultural history though walking lectures. The program has fostered
an appreciation for Kathmandu’s heritage within both local
and visiting communities.
Solving issues along the Bagmati River
In conjunction with the South Asia Regional Media and Governance
Project, Kathmandu2020 is working to identify and solve issues
in communities along the Bagmati River, including areas such as
water access, waste management, and river governance.
Worldwide Market Square
and Crafted in Kathmandu
With the modernization and rising populations
of developing-world cities, the ability to earn a living doing
traditional artisan work has become increasingly difficult. Many
ancient cities—even those deemed World Heritage Sites—are
losing artisans to more mainstream jobs in government and services.
Generations-old arts and crafts are disappearing quickly, along
with the knowledge behind them. As a result, cultural heritage
and the ability to repair damaged sites with authentic, traditional
craft is lost. Anil’s and SPN’s latest ventures, “Crafted
in Kathmandu” and “Worldwide Market Square” preserve
the arts, crafts, and living heritage of World Heritage Cities.
The Worldwide Market Square has gone online to create an international
marketplace for World Heritage Cities’ goods, allowing artisans
to get paid a living wage for practicing traditions that go back
thousands of years. Local artisans make it possible for World Heritage
Cities to maintain vibrant arts scenes, thereby attracting visitors
and enabling artisans to pass on their skills and knowledge to
the next generation. Worldwide Market Square has also created a
microloan fund to help local artisans continue their trades through
initiatives such as opening a real-world store in Kathmandu to
display and sell the local artists’ wares.
Crafted in Kathmandu is the first of the Worldwide Market Square
websites. Its online marketplace sells handcrafted goods from the
Kathmandu Valley to buyers around the world. Proceeds support the
artisans themselves, who not only create the beautiful jewelry,
paper, pottery, baskets, and other artwork sold on the site, but
also contribute their skills and time to renovating temples and
other historic monuments, thereby preserving the daily rituals
of Kathmandu’s ancient way of life.
World Market Square and SPN intend to replicate this model in
World Heritage Cities everywhere. Our goal is to spread these types
of economically self-sustaining marketplaces to World Heritage
Cities all over the globe.
Artists online at the Worldwide Market Square
Ashok Chitrakar
Ashok Chitrakar’s family has created ceramic wall reliefs
and traditional statues for generations. His father, who is the
repository of all knowledge of the family craft, is 81 years old
and failing. Orders from Crafted in Kathmandu have made possible
the cataloging of all his old molds, so that the full suite of family
designs will pass to the next generation of artisans.
Kanak Shakya
Kanak Shakya made hand-carved sterling silver dragons and lions
as part of his family’s traditional work. He is the last of
his family who knew how to make the dragons, but had no money to
buy silver and tools to learn the craft from his 80-year-old father.
The Worldwide Market Square Fund provided a microloan that enabled
him to purchase the tools and silver he needed to teach his sons
to make the dragons. Two of his lions are displayed on the website.
Uday Shrestha
Uday Shrestha’s family makes handwoven fabric in Bhaktapur,
Nepal. Local demand for these fabrics has declined and a trade that
was once an important part of Kathmandu’s economy is in danger
of being lost forever. Working with Worldwide Market Square, Uday
has developed a line of fabrics for table linens and home accessories
that is being sold on the website and at the New York Gift Fair.
Gopal Shrestha and Ujjwal Shrestha
Gopal Shrestha is a ceramic artist and art teacher who carries
on his family’s tradition of making black-fired pottery using
rice stalks as fuel. Ujjwal Shrestha runs a family lokta-paper business
in Kathmandu. Working with Worldwide Market Square, Gopal and Ujjwal
produced a collection of ceramic lamps with lotka-paper shades that
were shown at the New York Gift Fair in January 2003. U.S businesses
are starting to notice the collection. For example, Garnet Hill
Catalog ordered 400 lamps for their summer 2004 catalog. With the
proceeds, Ujjwal will improve the infrastructure of the paper factory
to the benefit of all the local paper artisans, and Gopal will start
construction on a new workshop.
Shyam Badan
Shyam Badan is a primary school teacher turned artist. She researched
natural fibers of plants indigenous to Kathmandu Valley, and now
uses them to create baskets and fiber-grass mats, using traditional
Kathmandu Valley designs.
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Kathmandu2020’s purpose:
- Facilitate the development of a common
vision for the Kathmandu Valley in 2020 among its institutions
and residents
- Communicate and “seed” this
vision as widely and deeply as possible
- Design and produce break-through solutions
for key issues facing the Valley
- Train and develop a network of coaches,
facilitators, youth leaders, committed NGOs and local citizens’ groups
to run and manage actual projects that deliver
on the vision
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These are the components of Kathmandu2020’s
vision. In 2020:
- Kathmandu will be known all over the
world as a major center for learning and culture.
- 90 percent of the energy consumed in
the Kathmandu Valley will be from non-fossil
fuel sources.
- No one will come to Kathmandu from
different parts of Nepal for the sole purposes of getting
a job in the government, educational opportunities and
medical services.
- The following will be maintained at
their
1995 levels:
• Residential population
• Open spaces
• Watershed and catchment area
• Agricultural land
• Forest cover
- Only 10% of Kathmandu’s solid
waste will become landfill. The rest will be composted
and recycled. People will separate biodegradable and non-biodegradable
garbage at the household level.
- All utilities and services for the
Kathmandu Valley will be housed in one complex under unified
management. The complex will distribute water, electricity
and telephone services, and will house those responsible
for managing the Valley’s housing, roads, transit,
tourism industry, and preservation of the Valley’s
cultural heritage and natural resources.
- The residents of the Kathmandu Valley
will pay for all services, enabling the community to be
self-sufficient in every way. Donor projects will be non-existent
in the Valley.
- The Valley will continue to be a net
producer of vegetables and food.
- The Valley will be accessible via
multiple routes
including the Hetauda and Sindhuli roads. The point of
entry to Nepal will no longer be Kathmandu, but Lumbini.
Cargo flights to Europe will arrive and depart from Biratnagar.
- The Valley settlements will be organized
in self-reliant neighborhoods with all basic services available.
There will be no need to travel across the Valley for anything,
be it a good school or fish for dinner.
- The core city of Kathmandu will be
clearly demarked into two sections: the World Heritage
City west of the Tundikhel up to the Bishnumati river and
from Teku to Thamel; and the Commercial Business District
east of Tundikhel up to the Dhobi Khola.
- Both Patan and Bhaktapur will establish
themselves in the global community as cities known for
fine arts, history and culture.
- While the tourism sector will continue
to be a major source of income to the residents of the
Valley, sports facilities catering to global tournaments
will surpass tourism’s contribution to the local
economy. Cricket tournaments for the south Asian region
will be held in Kathmandu.
- The residents of the Valley will be
happy, healthy, prosperous, and proud to belong to Kathmandu
and to care for all its unique attributes.
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| Crafted in Kathmandu’s mission
is to preserve the living heritage of
Kathmandu. We need to protect thousands of years of a way
of life from becoming an archeological site where people pay
tickets to see the buildings but not the life that permeated
their walls. By working with artisans to construct a global
network of markets for their beautiful products, we demonstrate
that thriving communities can be maintained while perpetuating
ancient traditions. The Crafted in Kathmandu model recognizes
that providing access for local wares to marketplaces both
local and worldwide can create enough resources to enable
local residents to maintain their cities’ historical
character and livability. |
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