Local partners key to building back better in Nepal

With more than half a million homes destroyed and 2.8 million people displaced, Nepal is faced with a mammoth task of rebuilding structures that were damaged and destroyed by late April’s powerful earthquake.

While aid agencies are still rushing tarpaulins to the most isolated Himalayan villages to get people under shelter before the monsoon hits in a few weeks, talk has turned to “building back better.”

“Certainly this response will be very ground-level,” with Nepalese nongovernmental organizations expected to lead long-term community building at the grass roots, shelter cluster coordinator Victoria Stodart from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told Devex. “If we just come in as the international crew and don’t engage with local and national NGOs then our response may not be contextually appropriate.”