Lumanti holds 23rd Annual General Meeting and Anniversary
23rd Anniversary and Annual General Meeting of LumantiSupport Group for Shelter commended on 31st July 2016. In an event organized in Kathmandu, General Secretary of the Executive Board and Executive Director of Lumanti, Lajana Manandhar presented the Annual Progress Report of Lumanti covering the program activities that Lumanti has conducted last year.
On the occasion, sharing the learning she said, partnership with local government for the implementation of the project activities has added value. She added, due to the support and cooperation from the local government, municipalities and VDCs, the effective implementation of project the activities has become successful. She further said, the community led activities to implement the project activities including Relief, Recovery and Reconstruction activities are the bigger success and it has become possible because of the active participation of the people in the community. Talking about the changing context, she said, now it has become necessary to expand and work in the different issues like global warming. She also talked about the challenges in implementing reconstruction projects and also talked about less interest of the donors for reconstruction program in urban centers. On the same event, treasurer of Lumanti Sajana Amatya shared the financial Report.
Following the presentation from General Secretary and the Treasurer of the Executive Committee, during the open floor session, the participants of the Annual General Meeting expressed their remarks on Lumanti's initiatives. Speaking on the occasion, representatives from Nagarjun Municipality, Kirtipur Municipality and Dalchowki VDC appreciated Lumanti's interventions in their respective area and expected for further partnership for the community upgrading activities. Officer of Legal Department of Social Welfare Council Prabhakar Shrestha talking about the monitoring visit at Lumanti's Housing Project in Pokhara said, Lumanti has been working in the right direction as per its objective which is recommendable. Representative from Tokha Water and Sanitation Users Committee, Nepal Basobas Basti Samrakshyan Samaaj and Homenet Nepal also appreciated the efforts made by Lumanti for the development of urban poor communities. Human Rights
Activist Kapil Shrestha also appreciated Lumanti's work and defined its effort as the silent revolution in the sector of urban development. Talking about the reconstruction after the earthquake he said, in the scenario that the funding agencies are more concentrated in rural area and the government itself seems not very serious for the reconstruction work in urban area, the support to the earthquake survivors in the urban area might take aged long time. It has become essential to rethink the reconstruction process, he added.
On the occasion, Lumanti facilitated its former staff Ganga Dongol for her continuous support and cooperation for the Nepalese people living in Japan through her organization there. Ganga Dongal has worked with Lumanti for more than seven years and now she is staying in Japan.
The Anniversary Program was initiated with the welcomeremarks from the Vice-President Sushma Bajracharya and the Executive Member Padam Lal Shrestha has delivered the vote of thanks. Delivering the closing remarks President of Lumanti Prafulla Man Singh Pradhan said there is very few organizations in Nepal that works in urban area and Lumanti is one of them. There is the essentiality to create more organizations like Lumanti that works in the urban issues he added. He also stressed the need to find the possible ways to attract the funding agencies to work for the urban issues.
Prior to the Anniversary Program, the Annual General Meeting elected 9 member new executive committee in the leadership of Sushma Bajrachrya as the new President of Lumanti Support Group for Shelter. The Annual General Meeting elected Gujeshwori Shrestha as the new Vice President and Lajana Manandhar as the General Secretary. Anil Sthapit is elected as the Treasure in the new Executive Committee. Other elected as the Executive Members are Sabitri Devi Shrestha, Padam Lal Shrestha and Narayan Prasad Bhattarai. The Annual General Meeting also decided to approve nine applicants as the new general member of the organization. The newly elected Executive Committee governed for two consecutive years.