Enroll in an eight-day training and get a certificate at the end of the course. There, you are now qualified to get a Rs 300,000 interest-free bank loan to start your own business. Sounds too good to be true, but it is. 

This is what Changunarayan Municipality in Bhaktapur district has been offering to its unemployed youths. 

Mayor Som Prasad Mishra says the entrepreneurial scheme has so far transformed the lives of 150 local youths. 

The local government here has introduced several social programs that have become boons for its residents. 

A student admission scheme for girl students is another popular and successful endeavor. It was introduced to encourage girl’s education.

Under the program, the municipality sets up bank accounts in the names of all girl students going to local community schools, and contributes Rs 4,000 to each account annually. The money saved in their accounts can be withdrawn once they reach the age of 20. 

“The money can be used to fund their higher education,” Mishra says. “This scheme was launched also because they do not want the girl students to marry early, at least not until they have received a decent level of education.” 

Changunarayan Municipality was formed by merging the erstwhile village development committees of Changunarayan and Nagarkot. It is a home to several historic and tourist sites. The township has nine wards.    

In the last five years, says Mishra, most of these local units have built their own office buildings from where they have been offering efficient services to the locals. 

“The municipal building is also in the final phase of construction. The building could have been completed much earlier, but we had to shift our focus after the Covid-19 pandemic,” he says. 

A municipal hospital, with over 25-bed capacity, was brought into operation during the pandemic. 

Much of the works carried out by the municipality and its ward offices in the last five years were focused on building their own and public infrastructure, such as upgrading the existing roads, opening new tracks, setting up health posts, and installing water supply lines. 

Mishra says a total of 36km road was asphalted, another 36km was graveled or reinforced, and nearly 70km-long new tracks were opened in five years.

The municipality also expanded the water supply lines to thousands of homes. 

“Only 4,000 homes had a water supply facility when we got elected five years ago. We have managed to raise this number to 12,000,” says Mishra. He adds the remaining 2,ooo homes will also soon have the water supply facility.

Deputy Mayor Bina Bastola says in the initial days, they had faced several challenges in the absence of proper infrastructure and local laws and regulations. 

“There was a state of confusion. We started our work by raising taxes from local brick factories and sand mine operators,” she says. 

Soon enough the newly elected representatives found their bearings. From there on, they have been working with confidence and conviction. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, Bastola says, Changunarayan Municipality worked exceptionally well to help out its distraught residents. 

She is particularly proud of the programs that were implemented for women employment and empowerment. 

“Many women not only got employment as a result, there was also a marked decrease in the incidents of domestic violence,” she says. “Contrary to the judicial committees in other parts of the country, which mostly receive cases of domestic violence, we get cases concerning property and inheritance.” 

Besides women, Bastola adds, the municipality has also introduced various schemes targeting its senior citizens. 

Changunarayan Municipality also took major steps to conserve its forests and vegetation, which make up 20.5 percent of its total area. In forests around Nagarkot and Muhanpokhari areas, the concerned local units planted various species of herbs. Tree saplings were also planted in and around the Changunarayan temple area. 

Chief Administrative Officer Hari Prasad Chapagain says in the last five years, they prioritized the development of infrastructure and streamlining of public services by incorporating information technology. 

“Changunarayan introduced various successful programs in the last five years. Our works were rewarded when our municipality was ranked the 10th best municipality in the world in the Open City Incubator Program of the New York University School of Engineering,” he says. “This changed the way other municipalities around the country perceive us.” 

‘Pandemic shifted our focus. we still achieved a lot’ 

Som Prasad Mishra, mayor of Changunarayan Municipality 

How do you assess your term? 

It was challenging and rewarding at the same time. We were the first elected local representatives after the country adopted the federal model. So there was a dearth of local laws, human resources, and infrastructure. It took us a year just to set up a system. We had just found our rhythm and were fine-tuning our services when Covid-19 struck. The pandemic forced us to shift our focus. Suddenly, health, education and employment became our pressing priorities. We got to work as per our plan for only two years. But, I must say, we achieved a lot in those two years. We accomplished many tasks related to infrastructure, such as roads, schools and health posts. 

What are the things that Changunarayan have done differently compared to other local bodies? 

Our program targeting youth employment was very successful. It helped many unemployed young people, including those who lost their jobs to the pandemic and those who were planning to go abroad for employment. We created job and business opportunities for our youths at home. We also introduced a special scheme for girl students to encourage them to stay in school and get higher education. Besides, Deputy Mayor Bina Bastola also played an active role in bringing various programs for women empowerment and employment, which have become quite successful. We also did a lot to improve our services to the people through the use of technology. Changunarayan was rated as the best performer in the Open City Incubator Program run by the New York University School of Engineering and named the world’s 10th best municipality. Most recently, we have been working to set up an open data portal. Changunarayan has done a lot in terms of incorporating technology in its services compared to other municipalities.  

Are there any particular public grievances that you would like to share? 

Well, there are people who come to us seeking personal favors, mainly concerning jobs. But we cannot fulfill the wish of one particular person. We may have also failed to work in favor of those individuals who had helped us a lot during the elections. But that aside, we have tried to do the best to our ability to build a better system. There are also complaints concerning water supply lines, or road connectivity not reaching some homes.