The village of Raja Muhalla is in the fourth ward of the Neelum valley region, which has eight wards in total. It consists of app. 50 households and can be reached on a small track from the central valley road in 10 minutes. For our activities, we have chosen the Union Councils of Kel and Gurez at the end of the Neelum valley in Pakistani Kashmir. These Union Councils lie within the Thesil of Sharda, which in turn is part of the district of Neelum within the State of AJK (Pakistani Kashmir).

2 groups consisting of various clans populated the valley about 150 years ago – the Mughols and other tribes from the neighboring Kaghan valley in Pakistan, and Kashmiri tribes from Indian Kashmir. Politically, the population is distinctly divided into two camps – the Peoples Party and the Muslim Conference. Despite those differences, people have been living in harmony maintaining their multicultural and multilingual and multi belief identities. There have never been any significant ethnical or sectarian clashes amongst the various ethnic and sectarian groups living in Kel.

The Neelum valley borders Indian Kashmir, and the population suffered greatly during the 15 years of border clashes between India and Pakistan (1985 to 2000). Today, there are 6.000 soldiers stationed in the area, 1.000 of them in the main post in the centre of Kel.

Kel was only mildly effected by the earthquake of October 2005. About 20% of the buildings suffered some minor damage but none collapsed.

The population of Kel and Gurez is predominantly Sunni Muslim – a minor Shia Muslim population is present also. Religious behavior generally is moderate.

The centre of Kel lies at 2.200 m, and the surrounding communities lie between 2.000 and 2.500 m. In the Gurez Union Council, which is further up the valley, villages reach up to 3.200 m.

The Kel Union Council, in which we have started our activities, consists of 8 Wards with 1.600 to 3.600 inhabitants each, which in turn consist of villages or hamlets ranging from 100 to 1.500 people.

Overall development strategy

Our development project in Kashmir is will go through a number of phases:

Phase 1 – This phase started in April 2007 and is about to conclude now. We had 2 main goals in this phase:

• To learn as much about the community– especially about its social, religious, political and geographical structure, and about the prevailing beliefs and attitudes about its problems and how they might be solved. We need to know what we are dealing with when attempting to mobilize and organize the local community in phase 2 of our project.
  
• To create hope – to spark the belief in the population that change is, in fact, possible, that self-initiative and drive if coupled with an openness towards new ideas can lead to positive results.
  
• In a society, where benefits generally tend to go towards those who are the most powerful and best connected, it is easy to become cynical and disheartened. Clear successes are necessary to break those thought patterns.

Phase 2 – Mobilizing, organizing and training 7 villages in 3 wards to help them get a consistent, convincing vision and action plan – all infrastructure projects and all new projects for the village will com from there – in this phase we have only training, organization and “quick win” projects. We plan to use the winter and spring for this because people have more time then!

Phase 3 – summer 2008

• Implementing of the priority projects of our 7 villages
  
• Implementing our new livelihood projects for which there was preparation during the winter
  
• Mobilizing, organizing and training other villages in most of the wards in our UC to help them get a consistent, convincing vision and action plan
  
• Implementing of the first priority projects of those other villages
  
• Starting to reach out to UC Gurez

Phase 4 – winter 2008/9

• Mobilizing, organizing and training the villages in Gurez to help them get a consistent, convincing vision and action plan
  
• Supporting villages in UC Kel to revise and update their plans, and deepen trainings
  
• Discussing creation of internal professionals to lead process in UC

Main Issues

Kel and Gurez are both areas of extreme poverty. In a recent WFP study, Gurez was ranked no.1 and Kel no.5 in terms of food insecurity amongst the 200 union councils in Kashmir. An estimated 90% of the population live below the poverty line.

75% of the population live from farming. The dominant crop is a local low-yielding breed of maize – also some potatoes, beans, peas, turnip and vegetables. As there is only a single crop season and plots average less than 1 acre, the harvest is generally insufficient to feed the family. In addition, the nutritional value of the food is poor. Most people have sizable loans with the local shopkeepers.

Only government and army employees as well as shopkeepers enjoy somewhat higher incomes.

Women have clearly subordinate roles. They carry almost all work – taking care of children and home, preparing food, working in the fields, collecting firewood and fetching water. And they have no part in decision making.

Health care for women is especially critical. The army operates a public hospital in Kel with 3 doctors but there is not one female doctor for the 20.000 women living in Kel and Gurez. Only a month ago a female nurse was employed – since then the 6 beds in the female hospital ward are overflowing.

Presently there is no maternity ward in both Union Councils – the local government has announced that one will be built but there is no budget yet. Births are administered at home by untrained midwives, and the mortality rate among infants and young mothers is high.

Despite the fact that a number of villages take more than an hour to reach on steep footpaths, there is only one basic health unit apart from the hospital in the whole area. In case of complications during the winter, there is no chance to provide any medical treatment in those villages, and patients often die.

There is no dental care, and the teeth of most children and grown-ups are poor.

Houses appear large at first sight but normally several families live under one roof – on average about 10-15 people. Isolation is poor, and many houses are only equipped with open fireplaces. As a result, great amounts of firewood are required during winter, and deforestation is becoming a serious problem. Open fires with little ventilation also result in breathing problems, and there is a high incidence of tuberculosis.

App. 70% of the houses have flat adobe roofs which will collapse in winter if the snow is not removed frequently. When it rains, women are out on their roofs in the pouring rain to prevent water from leaking into their homes.

Hygiene is a extreme problem. People generally house their animals on the lower floor of their homes, and the yard is covered with their manure. Only a tiny percentage of all homes have dry-pit toilets – people defecate in the open, and women have to wait until night to relieve themselves. There is no sewage system, and garbage litters the streets. Children play in all this dirt, and as a result suffer from severe diarrhea and worms.

Almost no house has direct access to water. In order to get water, women walk 100 to 500 m to springs, in the process covering an average of 2 km a day. In the winter, the small footpaths to the springs are covered in snow, and ice has to be cleared away to reach the water – often it is mixed with silt. Lack of sufficient water also makes it difficult to keep hygiene – even if the awareness is there.

Lack of water is also an issue for agriculture, especially if the monsoon rains come late. There are a number of irrigation channels which tap water from streams and rivers, but most of them have not been maintained for many years and they need to be reactivated.

Only about 55% of all houses in Kel have access to electricity which is generated locally from micro-hydroelectric plants. Voltage is low, and electricity is available for only about 12 hours per day. UNDP is funding the construction of hydro plants in the Neelum valley, and many communities have handed in proposal for local stations. Leading officials from UNDP have been charged with corruption in the administration of the project, and for the moment, all projects are stalled.

Presently, there is only an old low-capacity analog phone line available in Kel – waiting time is 2-3 hours to have a call placed, and dropped calls are frequent. There is no mobile coverage in almost all of Neelum valley. A new digital phone satellite is presently being installed and is scheduled to go online in November giving hope that phone and dial-up internet service will be available soon.

Literacy rates are low – especially for women. Most boys today go to primary school (classes 1-6) although in some communities they have to walk for several kilometers to get there – a challenging undertaking especially in winter. Less than half of all girls are in school, and those who are often skip classes during harvesting season to work in the fields.

There are a number of middle schools (classes 7-9) and both a boys and a girls college (classes 10 – 12). A substantial number of girls are also enrolled in distance classes in order to get their high school degree.

For girls, educational topics are limited to Islamic studies, home-making skills, Urdu and the situation in Pakistan. Because of missing lab equipment, there is almost no science education, and math is limited to primary school. English classes are offered but the teaching is poor – we found no girl able to speak more than a few words in English. Only a couple of schools have any computers at all. For girls, there is also no education in sports, music or art.

Other Projects in the Community

Apart from health and education, the government has a few line officers in agriculture, livestock, forestry and roads & public works in Kel but because of lack of training and resources, their services are highly ineffective. The officials in Kel report to district officials in Athmucam, the capital of Neelum district, who in turn report to officials in Muzaffarabad.

Overall, government has a very poor reputation amongst the population. There is frequent talk that a high percentage of all funds ends up in private pockets and that decisions favor those individuals and communities who are politically best connected.

Since this year, the large British health NGO Merlin has set up an office in Kel. Jointly with the government, they are in the process of hiring and training in each village one local female health worker who, in turn, will educate and support the women in their village on health and hygiene matters. Merlin see the need to establish a gynecologist in Kel, and they are trying to obtain funding for this.

UNICEF financed ADN installed hygienic water containers in all of the schools in Kel and Gurez, and they have given given hygiene training to teachers and students.

Read Foundation is operation a school in Kel.

The Army takes care of clearing the road between Kel and Muzaffarabad in case of snow or landslides. In case of severe need, the army also supplies the local population with food packages during the winter.