PPHP Pilot Summary Document (v13)

Pro-Poor Hydropower (PPHP) is a concept by which the rural poor of Nepal are facilitated into the profitable ownership of their water resources. This is achieved through development of commercially profitable and socio-ecologically acceptable hydropower projects with the local poor gaining significant ownership of the projects. Significant ownership is defined as ownership of shares that earn dividend that represents a sizable earning when compared to the household’s other earning streams. Achieving this ‘significant’ ownership can be realized either through the local poor owning a majority of a small project (‘pure’ approach) or through the local poor owning a small part of a big project (‘dilute’ approach) – or a sliding scale in between.