Ashden International award

International Ashden Award prize to BSP-N
The Ashden International award 2005 based in the United Kingdom has been given to BSP-N for raising the living standards of the people living in the rural areas of the kingdom of Nepal with clean and reliable energy through the promotion and successful use of biogas. The prize was awarded by the Foreign Development Minister, Hillary Ben, to Sundar Bajgain, Executive Director of BSP-N, on the 29th June 2005, during the grand opening ceremony at the Royal Geographic Society building in London. The prizes were also distributed to institutions from India, Rwanda, and Honduras amid 300 distinguished guests. BSP-N is the first institution in Nepal to receive this prestigious award for the first prize money worth 30,000/- Sterling Pound. The next day (30th June, 2005), Prince Charles of the United Kingdom granted audience to the prize winners and distributed the certificates.

The committee on Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy selects from organizations globally who have contributed significantly on environment, health, poverty alleviation, and energy through different criteria for the prize. The UK based media highlighted the news and achievements of the prize winning institutions with big publicity.

The technology generating gas for cooking and lighting through cow dung and night soil has been in use since 1992 with the financial and technical assistance from the Netherlands Government/SNV-Nepal, German Government (KFW) and His Majesty's Government of Nepal. More than 140,000 plants have been constructed in 66 districts of Nepal with 97% of the plants functioning while 72% of the plants are attached with toilets.

The money from the award will be utilized by BSP-N to construct Rain Water Harvesting Tanks (RWHT) for houses in hilly areas that are facing scarcity of water. Even with the demand for biogas these households cannot construct the plants due to shortage of water. It is believed that 400 households will benefit through the construction of RWHT to install biogas plants with this prize money.

Under the guidance and coordination of Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), Ministry of Science and Technology, there are 61 companies employing almost 10,000 people working on the program while institutions like Agricultural Development Bank, Rastriya Banijay Bank, Nepal Bank Limited, other development banks and micro finance institutions are providing loans for biogas. Other NGOs are also involved in the promotion of biogas and construction of toilets attached to biogas.

The umbrella organization of the biogas companies, the Nepal Biogas Promotion Group (NBPG), the Regional Biogas Coordination Committee (RBCC) and organization like Winrock International are involved in strengthening the financial and institutional capacity of the companies and micro finance institutes.

The program completed its III phase in June 2003 and started its IV phase from July 2003. In the IV phase the program has aim to install an additional 200,000 plants by 2009. The focus of the IV phase will be to construct plants in the houses of the marginalized people in the rural areas and efforts are also being made to lower the cost of the plants so that the program can be extended to the mountain districts of Nepal.

Carbon will be traded through Clean Development Mechanism in the international market for the sustainability of the program beyond 2009 while biogas will be extended by strengthening the local institutions.

The success of the program goes to the farmers' hard work and willingness, the quality service provided by the biogas companies, the easy loan flow by the financial institutions, the determination and importance given by His Majesty's Government, the continuous financial assistance provided by the donors, the promotion by other GOs and NGOs and the able quality control and management by BSP-N. All are equally responsible for the success of the program as mentioned above. The credit of receiving any prize by BSP-N goes to all the stakeholders, institutions and well wishers involved in this sector. We would like to express our deep faith and gratitude to all the institutions and well wishers involved, including the media personnel, for the assistance provided to us and hope it will be continued very strongly in the future also.