Project Summary
Ugyen Gatshel (Doh-Rangthang) Nunnery (hereafter referred as nunnery) under Barp Gewog, Punakha Dzongkhag is a Buddhist nunnery under the care and patronage of H.E Dungse Garab Rimpoche and the Rangjung Foundation. Currently there are 50 nuns enrolled from classes I to IX . It is managed by a management team headed by a principal. The nunnery has plans to expand to a larger capacity to accommodate additional 50 nuns in the next two years.

Since the nunnery is located in a remote place it is dependent on firewood for cooking, bathing and heating purposes. On an average, annually the nunnery uses eight truckloads of firewood for cooking and heating water for bathing purpose. Oftentimes, the nuns have to go to fetch firewood which poses threat to their safety. Due to shortage or inaccessibility of firewood in winter, the nuns have to endure 3-4 long months of cold winter without bathing for weeks which leads to health issues of contracting skin diseases such as scabies, ringworm and chronic acne, and Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). The reproductive health of the nuns is in question as it becomes difficult to maintain personal hygiene which becomes worst during menstrual periods causing fungal infection in the private areas. All of the aforementioned health risks triggered by the shortage of good bathing facility links to weaker learning outcomes. Moreover, making fire for heating purpose in winter also pose a risk of forest fire as the place gets windy and the risk of windblown forest fire is imminent. As the peripheral forest is a coniferous type, it is more susceptible to forest fire.

With the funding support from SGP, the nunnery plans to implement an environment friendly and low emission heating and cooking facility project in the nunnery. It plans to install solar energy powered geysers with proper bathroom facility. Furthermore, it also plans to replace the current firewood fed cooking facilities with electric and energy efficient cooking stoves.

The project also has components to impart awareness on the importance of preservation of environment to the nuns as part of their everyday learning activities. Environmental education will mostly be concentrated on, planting trees, water source protection and sustainable waste management starting with connecting to the nature individually and collectively

The project contributes to the GEF strategy of reduction in the CO2 emission thorough the complete reduction in the use of firewood; environmental conservation through reduction in the pressure on the forest for fuel wood; water source protection; sustainable waste management; and gender empowerment through education as the targeted beneficiaries are the nuns.

1.2 Project Objectives and Expected Results
The main issue confronting the nunnery is the unavailability of eco-friendly energy source for heating and cooking; the nunnery uses fuelwood for heating and cooking purpose. On an average, annually the nunnery uses eight-ten truckloads of firewood for cooking and heating water for bathing purpose. On the one hand, the use of firewood has an environmental impact, on the other hand, it is not easily available; oftentimes the nuns have to go to the forest to fetch firewood . Due to the shortage of firewood leading to unavailability of hot water for bathing in winter, the nuns contract skin diseases such as scabies and ringworm, and Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) which affects their learning and educational pursuits.

The goal of the proposed project is ?Conservation of environment through the adoption of renewable energy technology and gender empowerment through enhancing personal hygiene and learning outcomes? The main objective of the project is to support the nunnery in terms of equipping it with solar powered geysers and cooking facilities. Also, the project will take extra efforts in sensitizing the young minds of the nuns regarding environmental education such as water source protection, sustainable waste management, tree plantation and capacity development to maintain and operate the solar powered geysers and cooking appliances.

The specific objectives of the project are:

1. Reduction in CO2 emission through reduced use of fuelwood
Through this project, the bathing facilities will be upgraded to energy efficient structures by retrofitting the existing bath rooms to minimize loss of energy and installing solar powered geyser system. The intervention by this project will ensure that the use of fuelwood will be completely done away with thereby resulting in the reduction of CO2 emission. Therefore, the efforts to combat climate change will be a priority of this project.

2. Use of renewable energy sources and technologies
Currently, the nunnery uses the firewood as the main source of energy for cooking and heating water for bathing purpose. With the project intervention, the water heating system will be completely converted to solar powered geyser system while the cooking system will be a mixture of both solar and electricity as the cooking demands higher energy for the shorter amount of time. This will demonstrate the use of renewable and clean alternate energy sources.

3. Improvement in the health of nuns
With the current context of limited usage of firewood for the purpose of bathing in winter season have worsen the health of the nuns over the period of time. By introducing the modern technology of solar powered geysers and cooking facilities in the nunnery, the health of the young nuns will be drastically improved without having to worry about the water for bathing in the times of winter.

4. Gender equality and girl empowerment
By and large, girls and women do face certain degree of gender discrimination even in the quest of a religious/spiritual path from softer aspects to the harder components of it. When simple but critical and basic needs such as cooking, drinking and bathing are met in chilly winters, many issues that a person, especially a girl or a woman face are resolved. This in turn helps young nuns escape the fate of miserable health and provides them with time and opportunity to learn better at the nunnery and perform better in their lives. Thus, it is a sign of narrowing of gender inequality gap and girl empowerment.

5. Increase in the learning outcomes
As a result of the main intervention with SGP support, one of the objectives is to increase the learning ability and outcomes of the young nuns. It is an indirect but a significant object which could be achieved as a result of availability of good bathing facilities thereby leading to improvement in health and ultimately contributing to good learning outcomes of the nuns.


6. Capacity building and environmental/gender education
The project will implement activities related to environment conservation such as watershed protection, tree plantations and sustainable waste management. Furthermore, the project will also build the capacity of some and if possible to all the nuns to operate and carry out regular maintenance of solar powered energy appliances such as geysers and cooking appliances. The project will also extend the advocacy of the significance of conserving the environment and gender equality to the community for which the young nuns could also be the advocates.

As a result of the project intervention, it is expected to demonstrate use of clean alternate source of energy especially use of solar powered geysers. In addition, as a result of use of clean alternate source of energy, the pressure on the forest will be reduced due to reduction in the demand for firewood and ultimately leading to reduction in the CO2 emission. At the current rate, eight truckloads translate to felling 16 trees which is capable of offsetting carbon emission by 3.2 tons . Tree plantation will also help offset carbon emission and help stabilize land degradation.
1.3 Description of Project Activities
The main activities to be undertaken from the project are as follows:

1. Installation of solar powered geysers
In order to provide good bathing facilities to the nuns, the bathrooms will be equipped with hot running water and shower facilities. For the provision of hot water, solar powered geysers will be installed. The procurement and installation of geysers will be outsourced to a private firm with technical expertise in this area. The installation of the geysers will begin in June 2019 after the completion of retrofitting and construction of bathrooms and will be completed in August 2019.

2. Installation of electric cooking appliances

The installation of electric cooking and water boilers (drinking) appliances will begin in March 2019 and complete in May 2019. Based on market research, 80 ltr. Capacity Bulk Cooker/ Rice boiler and Bratt Pan will be installed for cooking purpose. For boiling drinking water and tea, 40 ltr. Capacity water boilers will be installed. Procurement and installation will be outsourced to a private firm. It will be installed in the nunnery kitchen and dormitory.


3. Training on water source protection
This activity will be carried out in January 2019 for a duration of two weeks. The training will be conducted with the technical assistance from the Watershed Management Division (WMD) under the Department of Forest and Park Services. It will be done in the form of classroom lecture and hands on training in the field. It will be imparted to the nuns of and the community in the locality. As a result of this activity, the nuns and the community will be involved in the management and protection of water source that feeds their nunnery.

4. Training on waste management
This activity will be carried out in December 2018 for a duration of one week. The training will be conducted with the involvement of a civil society organization such as Clean Bhutan. Training will be focused on the three ?Rs? of reduce, reuse and recycle. It will be imparted to the nuns and the people in the community.

5. Hands-on training on operation and maintenance of solar powered geysers and electrical appliances
Geysers and electrical appliances are basic utensils for many of us, especially operating them, however, their maintenance could be bit of a hassle for many of us. Also, considering the difficulty in getting a person who repairs electrical equipment in rural place where nunnery is situated, it is convenient that along with the operation, the maintenance of solar powered geysers and other electrical appliances are trained to the nuns. Thus, after the installation of the equipment, hands-on training will be imparted the five nuns who are above the age of 20. It will be imparted by the private firm responsible for installing the equipment.

6. Tree plantation
Tree planation will be undertaken in the month of April 2018 in consultation with the divisional forest office of Wangdue Phodrang. The nuns will be involved in the plantation of trees in the vicinity of the nunnery. A stock registry of survival rate will also be maintained by the nunnery.




7. Construction/ retrofitting bathrooms
This activity will be done on a cost sharing basis . The nunnery will build or retrofit at least seven bathrooms and the project funding will be used to construct three bathrooms. It will be outsourced to a private contractor or community contract. The construction/ retrofitting will start from December 2018 and completed within six months.

8. Evaluation studies
In order to document lessons learnt and assess the outcome and perhaps impact of the project in the long run, an evaluation study will be commissioned by the Foundation.