Exciting Experience as an Engineer: Data Collection for National Housing Reconstruction Survey

Monika Karki, a Master Training of Trainer (MTOT) participant is currently in Kavrepalanchowk district for the national housing reconstruction survey. She shares her exciting experience of being a part of this survey:

To be a part of the Household Registration for Housing Reconstruction Survey-2072 has been a matter of pride to me. Being selected in Master Training of Trainers and participation in the training was a great opportunity. The training facilitation of Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC) helped to learn and understand the objectives of the reconstruction survey, socio-economic and technical issues which are the major constituents of the survey. As an engineer, I found the field visit to Bungamati on the last day of the training more effective and practical. I received great support from Dr Sushil Baral and Mr Hom Nath Subedi for their encouragement to learn as effectively as possible during the training. The participation in the training as a trainer of the surveyors helped me to develop the skills in the management and facilitation. To supervise the surveyors during their field visit was an effective way of learning, which was later very useful in the real field mobilization.

I am assigned in Kavrepalanchowk district from HERD for this survey to coordinate for the data collection. Field Communications and Outreach Manager Mr. Rajesh Ghimire guided me how to communicate with the District Coordinator (Kamal Banjara) and Media Coordinator (Madhu Sudan Guragain) once I reached the district. We introduced with one another and participated in social mobilisers’ training in Kavrepalachowk.  Forty five social mobilisers participated in training who were selected by District Development Committee. The officials from MoFALD and CBS gave training to the social mobilisers and informed them about the objectives of survey along with their roles and responsibilities. Forty five field investigators arrived in the district the next day. After their arrival, I talked to them about our planning about data collection. The field investigators were introduced with their respective social mobilisers and their working areas were also identified as per the list prepared by Mr. Dinanath Lamsal from District Statistics Office. An initiation meeting was held with various officials that included Chief District Officer, Local Development Officer, Superintendent of Police and Interlocutor at District Statistics Office to start the work formally.

Before their departure to the specific locations, I shared my number with them and asked to consult me in case of any problem regarding their health and technical issues during the survey. I contacted them the next day to be updated about the data collection process. The field investigators now inform me about the number of houses and number of families interviewed each day which I report back to HERD central office. They frequently contact me in case of the technical problem they face in the field and I am trying my best to troubleshoot their problem effectively. For this, I repeatedly review the survey manual and consult the seniors as well as my MTOT friends of Dolakha and Kathmandu. 

We, the district team of HERD and the government officials including LDO together visited the two wards of Panchkhal and tried to solve the problems faced by both surveyor and social mobiliser. We also visited two wards in Mahadevsthan VDC. During field visit, I found that the local people are taking this survey work positively and they are satisfied with the content of the form because all of the houses and all of the families are included. They were very happy to see LDO and monitoring team in their houses and they express their sorrows being the earthquake affected families. The people, especially old, are still staying in the damaged building to be protected from cold and they are requesting our media person to address their problem and to show their damaged building to the public. They have high hopes and expectation from government this time as this data collection survey has laid the foundation for further data collection efforts.

Initially, I thought it would be challenging for me to coordinate data collection for the reconstruction survey. However, with the great support from HERD team, this has been a great learning experience for me in terms of placing my theoretical knowledge into practical use.