Durga Sharma of Janakinagar, Tilottama-3, feels prouder than the residents of Tilottama. Because on the one hand, it is a certificate of international quality assurance in service delivery, and on the other, it is the best municipality in the country.

Both the efforts of the municipality and Sharma's contribution are linked to these two identities. Like Sharma, more than 35,000 households in the municipality have been involved in the environmental protection campaign that the municipality has been running for 7 years.

Appreciating the partnership and contribution of citizens towards the local government, the municipality has prioritized quality in the service delivery of every citizen. As a result, it has received an 'International Quality Certificate'. After the identity of a good local government has been established internationally, foreign donors have started coming to Tilottama Municipality. This has helped in the education, health and social development of the people of Tilottama. In the last three years, 5 international donor agencies have provided financial support to Tilottama Municipality, from infrastructure development to education, health and social development. 'Our partnership and the contribution of the people's representatives and employees of the municipality are equally important in establishing Tilottama as a local government,' says Durga. 

After moving towards Bhairahawa from Yogikuti in Butwal, Tilottama Municipality begins. Tilottama is a model municipality in Nepal in sanitation, waste management and environmental protection. Tilottama has been ranked excellent twice in the evaluation of local levels conducted by the federal government. The Butwal-Bhairahawa 6-lane road within the municipality is also known as a model road in Nepal. The municipality's greenery promotion program has made the 6-lane road attractive. The greenery of medium-sized stonia trees at a distance of 6 meters on the right and left of the road, the beauty of begonias blooming in full bloom on the divider. The beauty of more than 500 species of various flowering plants in the 13-kilometer section of the Tilottama road under the Siddhartha Highway and the light provided in the dark by the twinkling lights placed on the poles are enhancing the glow of Tilottama. 

Tilottama Municipality has set an example that if the local government works effectively, it can make a tangible change not only in small and micro-level physical infrastructure, but also in education, health and social development that are directly connected to the citizens. ‘Development is not just about infrastructure,’ says Mayor Ramkrishna Khand, ‘social, economic, health and educational development of citizens is another important aspect.’ Tilottama has become a city worth observing for such good practices. 

The municipality has received an international quality certificate by fulfilling 55 indicators of service delivery and quality. After testing the level of services provided by the municipality at various stages and confirming that they were quality and citizen-friendly, the United Applications Foundation of America awarded the certificate in Chaitra 2078. At that time, Basudev Ghimire was the mayor. The continuity of the quality service certificate received by Ghimire is still valid after testing every three years. 

Tilottama is the first municipality in the country to receive international quality certification. It has helped to connect the city residents with the campaign of education, health and economic prosperity along with development. Tilottama in Rupandehi is known internationally for its innovative practices in sanitation. The municipality has been running the 'Green Tilottama: Clean Tilottama' campaign since 2076 BS. Under this campaign, the community has an important contribution in everything from making the municipality plastic-free to complete cleanliness. For cleanliness, the municipality runs a cyclical cleanliness campaign at the ward level on the 1st and 15th of every month. Its 153rd series has been completed. 

Various toll development organizations and toll networks are formed at the ward level and cleanliness is carried out in the tolls on the last Saturday of every month. More than 35,000 citizens are mobilized together through 202 toll development organizations for toll cleanliness. In addition, separate toll networks and ward networks are also active. This campaign has been established as a 'good practice' for Tilottama's environmental protection and cleanliness among all 753 municipalities in the country. Gorakhnath Khanal, Greenery Promotion Officer of the Environment Department of the municipality, said that an annual expenditure of Rs 20,000 to Rs 75,000 is spent per toll development organization. ‘Rs 2 million to 8 million are spent every year for this,’ he said, ‘Rs 8 million have been allocated for the current fiscal year.’ 

132 sanitation workers are regularly deployed in the sanitation campaign. Of these, 53 are from the municipality, 35 from the Environment Beautiful Nepal Pvt. Ltd., 38 from the Housing Cooperative Society and 6 from consumers, said Yubaraj Panthi, Chief Engineer of the Forest Environment and Disaster Management Branch. He said that more than 50 million have been spent so far in the program that started in 2076 BS. ‘We have collected 82,000 bags of plastic waste so far under the sanitation campaign,’ Panthi said, ‘32 public toilets have been built on the main roads and squares of the city for sanitation.’ He said that 15 tractors and 2 tippers have been mobilized for regular garbage collection. 

Due to the greenery promotion campaign conducted by centralizing public participation and environmental awareness, the municipality was also selected in the Ecological Transition and Environment group for the Best Practices in Citizen Participation Award called by the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy. Out of 137 local and provincial governments from 37 countries around the world, Tilottama was among the top 40 in the final competition and won the award for the best vote collector.

Dhruv Pandey, President of Sagarmatha Tole Bikas Sanstha, said that the role of tole development organizations is key in every successful campaign of the municipality. ‘The municipality directs, we join as collaborators,’ he said, ‘Cleanliness awareness has increased in every tole, and the habit of ordinary citizens picking up plastic and waste materials and keeping them in safe places has developed.’ He said that citizens have started to feel proud when they are given the identity of being a resident of Tilottama. Malati Tharu of Tilottama Municipality-14 says that she is directly participating in making the slogan of Hariyali Tilottama a success. ‘I am also a direct witness to this transformative campaign,’ she said, ‘I thought that cleaning was the municipality’s job earlier, but now that I realize that it is our responsibility, I am also participating.’ 

About 20 tons of waste are collected daily within the municipality. Khumlal Bhusal, the municipality’s chief administrative officer, said that Tilottama is known worldwide for its cleanliness due to citizen participation. He said that the Bas Cooperative is working in Ward 8 through a waste collection and processing center. He said that the cooperative has been collecting, processing and selling waste from 11 wards under the ‘Green Regeneration Promotion Project’. ‘The municipality is earning Rs 4 lakh per month from the recycling of waste by installing seven different machines,’ he said, ‘52 people have got employment in the waste processing center alone.’ The waste processing center was established with the support of UNDP.