2015 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Impacts of Access to Infrastructure on Human and Community Development in Hilly-Mountainous Area: Evidence from Rural Nepal
| Project/Area Number |
15K03412
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| Research Institution | University of Tsukuba |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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| Keywords | 経済政策論 / 交通経済学 / 経済発展論 / 資源経済学 / 計量経済学 / 統計調査 |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
All the research activities are accomplished as scheduled for the fiscal year 2015. Moreover, the first round of household survey was conducted to examine the immediate impact of the massive earthquake. The major research achievements are summarized below.
1. An in-depth review of the relevant literature has been completed.
2. From the first field work, basic information of all the households of Ramche village was collected. Based on the information, the household survey questionnaire was designed. Consultations were taken from the household survey experts, local development experts, government officials and other stakeholders to design the household survey.
3. Second field work was conducted from 17 February to 18 March 2016. The first round of the household survey was completed in this field work. Consent from the local authorities was taken to conduct the household survey in the village. In addition, the village authority also involved in the survey because the research outcome will be very useful for the Village Development Committee to plan and implement the local development programs in the future.
4. The data entry process is underway and will be completed soon.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
In 2015, Nepal was struck by the massive earthquake and Sindhupalchok district is of the hardest hit district where the highest number of people (i.e. 3532) died. Despite such situation, all the plan activities were completed on time and first round of household survey was conducted to examine the impact of the massive earthquake. More specific reasons are outlined below.
1. Almost all houses (nearly 97%) were destroyed by the earthquake in the surveyed village. People are living in the temporary shelter with very tough condition with limited food and medicines. Therefore, assessing the impacts of such a huge natural disaster on household level was urgently important hence it is decided to conduct the household survey within the fiscal year 2015. However, it was very challenging as each of the households expects some form of supports in theirs daily life; however, there was no way to helping them out except showing sympathy and advising. Nevertheless, local enumerators, who were among the most active people in their community and leading the distribution of relief materials in the local area, played very effective role in conducting the questionnaire survey.
2. Well established networking was another reason for the success of this research work. Moreover, the networks with local village leaders, village development officials, district development officials and many some experts in the central ministries became stronger which is very supportive of the research activities.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The research agenda of this project is becoming more crucial due to the recent massive earthquake that hit hard the hills and mountainous region of Nepal causing loss of many private and public homes and other infrastructure. Disaster risk management, which is one of the issues of this research, is an urgent need yet so challenging, particularly in the earthquake-hit areas. Thus, it is planned to conduct research more intensively focusing on this crucial aspect. The research output of this project will be disseminated soon after completing the analysis not only at international conferences but also at the local community from where the data was collected. Research activities and the results will also be disseminated through the personal web page of the principal researcher.
The research activities for the fiscal year 2016 are planned as follows.
1. August - September 2016: Field work for the preparation of the household survey
2. July 2016 - March 2017: Participating in international conferences.
3. February - March 2017: Conducting the second round of comprehensive household survey.
4. Writing a paper using the data from the first round of household survey.
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