Data collection services in Nepal Impacts of solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) on the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers in Nepal

Project Description

Solar Irrigation for Agricultural Resilience in South Asia (SoLAR-SA) project, spanning from December 2019 till November 2023, is a new regional partnership program of Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and other national partners in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. The project aims to sustainably manage the invidious water-energy and climate interlinkages in South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan) through promotion of Solar Irrigation Pumps (SIPs). The main goal of the project is to contribute to climate resilient, gender and socially inclusive agrarian livelihoods in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan by supporting Government efforts to promote solar irrigation

The project in Nepal works in close partnership with Alternate Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). This project responds to the Government of Nepal’s (GoN) commitment towards transition to clean energy pathways in agriculture. The GoN has Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) commitments where reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions is a target and SIPs can help in reducing emissions in agriculture. In addition, the GoN has been supporting promotion and development of Renewable Energy Technologies since more than past two decades with support from Development Partners (DPs). The GoN and development partners have been providing financial and technical support to increase energy access in the rural areas both for household’s consumption and productive end uses such as irrigation. Till dates, Nepal has around 1,600 SIPs, of which majority (~1300 SIPs) are financed and installed by AEPC, and the rest by a number of NGOs and INGOs such as ICIMOD, Practical Action, Winrock, iDE-Nepal and of late, by some of the Provincial governments

The main objective of this project is to help promote policies and strategies for sustainable, gender inclusive and equitable renewable energy transition in irrigation sector in ways that does not exacerbate the environmental and social problems of groundwater over-exploitation

Assignment Description

Obtained the most updated list of households from each of the 15 Palikas with recording the GPS location of the households. • Conducted surveys of 676 households from 15 Palikas across 7 districts in Province 1 and Madhesh Province in CAPI using Survey Solutions • Conduct Training for Supervisors and Enumerators • Translated the survey instruments • Pretested the Palika questionnaire and the household questionnaire • Conducted Final Cleaning of Data and Fieldwork Report • Preparation and submission of Interview recordings, Interview Transcripts and Reports;