From several years of experience we have now developed some methods to make sure that we can control the Project from Kathmandu and aven from Denmark.
First of all we have to make sure that the people at Project Location know exactly what it expected from them, and also that the Donor can feel assured that the Budget will not be exceeding the agreement. therefore we are initially producing a Project Proposal / Construction Proposal which we send for Project Site and for Donor. By this proposal the local people have to read the proposal very carefully and understand all the Budget details. If they find something in the Budget wrong or insufficient they shall give comments and ammendments back to Himalayan Project. If HP accept the comments the proposal will be changed accordingly and again be sent for Project Site. Here they shall hold a Village Meeting for all villagers, open a Bank Account and elect a Construction Committee and a Monitoring Committee and their names shall be given together with their signature on the proposal, which signifies that they have read and understood and approved all details in the proposal.
When all details are approved at Project Site the Project Description / Construction Description is produced and send for Donor for approval. When Donor approve they will transfer the first installment for the project, and Project Description together with Project Account Book, Receipt Book and Receipt File Ordener is sent for Construction Committee.
The Monitoring Committee shall every now and then check the Account Book. If they find something which they can't approve, the Construction Committee has to hold a meeting and write their decission in the Minute Report Book.
Every 3 months or sometimes more regular our HIPRON Runner Service will visit the site and a Monitoring Report will be produced for Donor and uploaded on this site.
When the project is completed a Final Project Report will be produced and send to Donor and to Project Location, as well as it will be uploaded on this Site.
In autumn 2008 we faced a lot of problems when we were completing our major projects with reconstructing 5 schools. The Construction Committees claimed that they had no experience in keeping account. We felt that they rather didn't want to keep the account in a proper way. Therefore we produced a "Himalayan Project Account Book" which you can see and even download by using this link. This book will be prepared for each project, printed at our office and bound in Kathmandu and delivered at Project Site with the Final Project Description, with a Receipt Book and a Receipt File Ordener. This Account Book contains 5 Chapters:
1) Frontpage: With all relevant names and addresses of Construction Committee and Monitoring Committee Members, and all Contractors.
2) Rules of Accounting: The Rules which tell the responsible constructors how to keep account - in English and Nepali language.
3) Account Book: Several pages with fileds for all project economic details - divided into Sub-projects.
4) Budget Book: The Budget of the Project which has been approved by Construction Committee and Donor - divided into Sub-projects
5) Account Check List: A list where Monitoring Committee and others can approve or NON-approve the Account with Date and Signature
6) Minute Report: Several lined pages for the Construction Committee to write Minute Report - especially when Monitoring Committee NON-approve
For the calculations and controls on the Budget we are using some conversion tables, which are only for support but doesn't do for real on location. Most prices on materials are varying very much depending on the transportation, and the price on transportation has grown considerably over the last years.