How Nepal became the developing world’s bridge builder

Padam Gurung's childhood struggle to cross a river to reach school in Sindhupalchok, Nepal, highlights the isolation many rural communities faced. After a flood destroyed their wooden bridge, his community relied on a risky steel cable crossing, with Gurung eventually pulling himself across by hand. This personal experience of overcoming such barriers has come full circle, as Gurung now dedicates his career to helping other countries build their own bridges.

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You had to pay to cross each time. It was very risky, and parents would worry every day that their children would not return home.

Since joining Helvetas's trail bridge program in 1996, Gurung has contributed to hundreds of suspension bridges across Nepal. His expertise has also extended internationally, supporting projects in countries like Burundi, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. He trains engineers, advises governments, and helps communities surmount the same isolation challenges he experienced as a child. This reflects a remarkable shift in Nepal's international development role, moving from being a recipient of foreign engineering expertise to becoming a provider of it.

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The boy who once struggled to cross a river now spends his time helping other countries build bridges of their own.

This transformation has been institutionalized through initiatives like Helvetas's South-South Cooperation Unit, now known as TRAC4Change. Established in 2008, this program focuses on transferring the knowledge, engineering standards, and training systems that Nepal has developed over decades of building its own trail bridges. Instead of constructing bridges for other nations, TRAC4Change empowers governments to build their own bridge programs using Nepali engineering principles, manuals, and practical experience.

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Rather than building bridges for other countries, the initiative set out to help governments build their own by transferring the knowledge, engineering standards and training systems Nepal had developed over decades.

Through TRAC4Change, Nepali engineers have assisted governments in 11 countries, including Bhutan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Guatemala, and Afghanistan, in developing their own trail bridge programs. Ansu Tumbahangfe, director of TRAC4Change, emphasizes their goal: "We don’t want to build a bridge and leave. We want to capacitate the people." This expertise export is rooted in a history dating back to the 1960s when Swiss and Nepali engineers collaborated to address Nepal's rural isolation, finding practical solutions suited to the country's challenging terrain.

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We don’t want to build a bridge and leave. We want to capacitate the people.