Hoftun's vision to transform rural Nepal

by Jagannath Adhikari

Svalheim, Peter. 2015. Power for Nepal. Odd Hoftun and the History of Hydropower Development. Kathmandu: Martin Chautari.

Odd Hoftun is a commonly referred name in hydropower profession in Nepal. He was an innovator and a committed person who laid foundation for hydropower and water resources development. The book “power for people” beautifully describes the life and works of Odd Hoftun and the contribution he made in Nepal at a time when local people did not believe about the possible use of river water for generating electricity and for irrigation. After reading the book, I felt that there are many lessons for all of us who are involved in the development sector of Nepal especially for making the country self-dependent in terms of human resources, lower cost of development projects, local innovations and benefits to pass to grassroots, and sustainability of the projects. This means that the Odd’s ideas are still relevant for Nepal.

I learnt about the works of Odd Hoftun when I worked as a member of a study team to evaluate the impact of Norwegian Government’s support for hydropower development in Nepal. As part of the study, I had also visited Andhi-Khola area where a unique hydropower-led rural development project was implemented. An experienced hydropower engineer with whom I worked in the team had told me that Andhi-Khola hydropower project is an engineering as well as development feat. It initiated integrated development combining rural electrification, irrigation, hygiene and sanitation, literacy education, land reform, and social justice in terms of access to the benefits of common water and cheap electricity even to poorer households with huts-like houses. This project had helped to transform the economy and society in its command area. After learning through my direct observation of the project’s impacts, I thought that Nepal should have more of these types of hydropower projects that combine at least electricity production, industrial development and irrigation. What interested me in this project was that they had devised a system in which landless households who would not use irrigation water would also benefit as they could sell their water (which is common resources) right. Similarly, there was also a system through which people with more land would transfer to a pool of common land, which was then distributed to landless household. I then felt that this was amazing concept, which was not experimented in other projects. Later, I also went to Jhimruk hydropower station, which was built with the help of Butwal Power Company – a brainchild of Odd Hoftun.

I also happened to meet Odd a couple of times. By that time, I had heard a few stories about him and his works for which he had made personal sacrifices. Sometimes I wondered why Odd had decided to face so many struggles and problems in Nepal when he could easily have a high status life in a developed and rich country like Norway. With this background, I was eager to learn more about his life and works in Nepal. So, when I heard that Martin Chautari had published a book about him, I went to the office to get a copy of the book. I was particularly interested to learn about what motivated him to stay in Nepal from mid 1950s to mid 1990s, and carry out his projects when many of educated Nepalis choose to leave Nepal for a comfortable life in developed countries.

The book gives an account of many of the Odd’s development activities that I was not aware of. In every activity, Odd had emphasized vocational training and human resource development, or what he called ‘human capacity development’. In fact, after working as construction engineer for a hospital in Tansen in late 1950s and early 1960s, he had focused on vocational training through BTI (Butwal Technical Institute), which he set up. It was interesting and illuminating to know from this book that Odd had taken every activity as education of young minds. Even though he was a technical person giving mostly the apprentice training for trade skills (because he wanted to create a base for industrial society and business development), he seemed to emphasize independent thinking and creativity in students.

After reading the book and knowing about Odd's life and his works, I felt that he was taking his work in Nepal as a calling from the God; the book contains excerpts of his writings in which reference to the God comes very often. Sometimes, it felt like Odd was fatalistic in accepting all the problems and taking them for granted. But, after reading the book, one clearly understands that he was not deterred by the problems - whether physical or emotional - and always strived to overcome them and improve the situation using all his skills and friendship network whether within Nepal or in Norway. Therefore, it is likely that he might have a sense of fatalism, but this helped him to tolerate the accidental or other problems, and then carry on with the life and mission. From his own writings as illustrated in the book and the way he struggled to face various practical problems in his job or in the family, Odd derived solace and perseverance from the faith in God. I feel that this ‘faith’ was crucial for him in his adventure to introduce industrial skills and industrial development in Nepal through Butwal Training Institute and Butwal Power Company and many other commercial ventures that he helped establish. So, at the beginning, he started with a goal of creating a generation of Nepali tradesmen and entrepreneurs.

People derive commitment in the work from different sources. In case of Odd, the book implies that it was his moral values he inculcated from Christian teachings he received in his family and community, and learning from history of Norway where Norwegians had, like in Nepal now, hard life in the past. This learning and his own hard life made him reflect on the meaning of his life and created in him an inner urge to work for what is good and right in a needy society. The book clearly illustrates that family’s modest, sober and frugal farm living had shaped Odd’s character and behavior, which later on were invaluable for him to work in a society like Nepal which lacked basic facilities. The practices of generating hydro-electricity and its distribution in Norway villages that Odd learned from his father seemed to have influenced the system developed in Andhi-Khola area to distribute and regulate electricity supply.

The family life and tradition in his community coupled with his own search for meaning of life when he was studying in the university seemed to have made Odd a moralist. This is clearly reflected in his commitment and works in Nepal. This moralistic attitude could have been one of the reasons for Odd’s living an authentic, simple, purpose-driven life guided by a feeling of responsible freedom, i.e., a feeling that one’s work should have individual existential value while providing genuine service to the greater community. He derived that attitude of commitment for doing some purposeful work after reflecting on his experience and education in Norway. Otherwise, it looked quite clear from the book that Odd would have easily got higher academic or other positions in Norway as his colleagues in universities became professors as well as big sorts in government or commercial enterprises. Without commitment, he would not have surely endured his life and work in Nepal, which helped him overcome inferior feelings (comparing his friends’ professional progress in Norway) that crept in his mind in few instances.

In a way, I also felt that Odd had defined his own goal in life, and was committed to fulfill this goal, which was to prepare Nepal towards a path to industrialization, and all his initiatives were focused to achieve this. This path was inevitable in Nepal as subsistence agriculture alone was not sufficient for the country. Moreover, urbanization and modern facilities were also making inroads in Nepal. He saw this inevitability when he was working in Tansen.

There are many critical lessons and ideas that development practitioners can learn from Odd’s experience, which are concisely described in this book. For example, Odd’s norms of working together rather than working alone, achieving more with less resources, claiming oneself as learner with open eyes rather than as expert (the way present-day development practitioner claim), using local resources so far as possible, creating local pool of skilled persons with training and mentoring, and emphasis on hard work, frugalness and creativity are still relevant in Nepal’s development.

Odd preferred to work with limited resources rather than with a flood of money as he felt that former condition triggered creativeness to be frugal and efficient and thus led to local innovations whether in technology or in organizational management. There is a good description in the book of how lack of funding and other struggles led to creative solutions in Tansen’s hospital regarding water conservation, rainwater collection, laundry use and the like (p. 54). There are many such examples from other projects too. Odd believed that too much money may kill an otherwise good project, and it may even spoil real progress and create dependency. At one point Odd wrote, as illustrated in the book, in a letter in 1959: “I’ve become a sworn believer in cow dung, rice straw and earth. It’s astonishingly good building material, especially when you take the cost into account” (p. 57).

The book provides interesting instances in which Odd faced cultural conflicts among other foreigners who came to Nepal for help or as development experts. In Nepali development parlance, we often assume that this conflict occurs between Nepali colleague and foreign colleague with an assumption that ‘foreign group’ is a homogenous group with the same ideas. But, Odd felt difficulty in managing people coming from within Europe and America. It is also revealing to learn that, later on, Odd had difficulty in dealing with post-war (World War II) people who did not recognize the importance of austerity and hard work. These new development practitioners wanted to bring huge fund and the latest technology and thought in a mass scale. This could have been a problem for Odd who totally believed in the theory of ‘small is beautiful’ and in intermediate technology that this theory prescribed. This book also shows that Odd was appalled by the exercise of ‘power’ by the external development experts in Nepal through the resources they had and control of money, which would always give them the upper hand in decision-making and in putting the local staff in subservient position (120 p).

The book gives an impression that Odd felt contended with his life-long work in Nepal. I think this might have come to him from his self-evaluation of his work in Nepal against the life ‘goal’ he had set for himself. This satisfaction came early in his work in Nepal, which might have helped him to stay on. This is illustrated in the book when Odd considered his five years’ experience in Tansen Hospital as ‘last and highest level of education’ (p. 34).

Source: http://setopati.net/opinion/9855/Hoftun's-vision-to-transform-rural-Nepal/#sthash.px3hyrxR.dpuf
Published on: Sunday, October 18, 2015