Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
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The Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP) is also known as the Nepal Capacity 21 Programme. It is a joint undertaking of the National Planning Commission (NPC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Launched at the end of 1996, SCDP was established to support His Majesty's Government's efforts to promote sustainable development.
The development objective of the SCDP is to enable a broad cross-section of Nepali society to engage in development activities that are sustainable economically, ecologically and socially. SCDP works at the grassroots level and aims to develop the capacities of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) to engage in sustainable development. The Programme provides technical, financial and institutional support to NGOs and CBOs.
The SCDP aims to promote sustainable development at the grassroots level through capacity building exercises and empowerment of the local population. SCDP integrates environmental management, social development, and economic development to facilitate sustainable community development.
SCDP recognises three fundamental components of sustainable development: (1) building and strengthening local institutions at the grassroots level for natural resources management, (2) mobilising human, technical and financial resources, both internal and external to implement Programme activities, and (3) increasing the capacities of local communities and other stakeholders to effectively, efficiently and equitably manage their conservation and development efforts.
THE PROGRAMME AREA
Since the inception of the Programme, SCDP has been successfully implemented in three districts of the Mid and Far-Western Development Regions of Nepal. The Programme was first introduced in Surkhet and Kailali in 1997. In 1998, the Programme was also implemented in Dang district. The prosperity of the Programme's first three -year pilot phase has secured further support for the Programme from both UNDP and HMG, and in 2000, the Programme will expand and cover three additional districts- Humla, Myagdi and Okhal-dhungha. (See figure 1).
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME
The immediate objective of the Programme is to enhance the capacity of a wide range of organisations, at the community, regional and national levels to support and promote sustainable community development programmes in Nepal.
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At the community level, objectives of the Programme include:
- To enable communities to mobilise human and financial capital, from sources within their own community and from external sources
- To enable communities to identify problems in their communities, formulate and implement plans to solve those problems, and manage their resources.
- At the district and national levels, objectives include:
- To assist communities to develop linkages and partnerships with government agencies, NGOs and private sector agencies for formulation of sustainable development policies.
APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT
The fundamental principles of the SCDP approach to development are:
- Participation of all stakeholders from national to local levels;
- Integration of environmentally sustainable socioeconomic development into development plans and activities; and,
- Information sharing to ease adaptation/ replication of the experiences of the Programme, both within the country and abroad.
SCDP incorporates these principles into its approach to sustainable community development, and they are reflected in the integrated and participatory nature of the village level activities.
Figure 2 schematically represents SCDP's integrated approach to sustainable community development. SCDP has identified environmental management, social development and economic development as three entry points for starting sustainable community development activities. To work towards sustainable community development, communities must participate in activities pertaining to each of the three entry points, while abiding by the fundamental principles (participation, integration and information sharing) described above.
In each district an entry point was selected based on the prevailing needs of the communities. In Surkhet, the watershed areas were extremely degraded so Environmental Management was selected as this district’s initial entry point. Social Development was the initial entry point in Kailali district because existing social systems were weak. In Dang economic development was selected as the initial entry point because the potential for economic development was high since improvements in road conditions increased the accessibility of local markets. Once the communities in the Programme areas were satisfied with their progress on the initial entry point, they changed their focus to one of the other entry points. By the end of the first three-year phase, all three districts had completed activities under each of the three entry points in an integrated manner.
| Initial Entry Point | Second Focal Point | Final Focal Point | ||
| SURKHET
1. Environmental Mgmt. |
|
2. Social Developmnet |
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3. Economic Development |
| KAILALI
1. Social Development |
|
2. Environmental Mgmt. |
|
3. Economic Development |
| DANG 1. Economic Development |
|
2. Social Development |
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3. Environmental Mgmt. |
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WHICH FOCAL POINT? INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES In an attempt to reduce their use of firewood (environmental conservation initiative), smokeless cooking stoves have been installed in many households by Programme-trained sustainable development specialists who earn money by installing the stoves (economic development). The new, more efficient stoves require less firewood than traditional stoves do. In addition to reducing pressure on forest resources, women and girls do not have to spend as much time collecting firewood. This has meant that they have had more time to spend participating in other activities. In some cases, this has meant that girls are able to spend more time on their studies (social development), and women have used their time to engage in small enterprise activities (such as basket weaving) which contribute to their household income. In addition, women have said that their health has improved as a result of installing the stoves, because they do not have to inhale as much smoke. Smokeless stoves are just one example of an SCDP activity that is considered as the integrated development approach. Although the focus of the activity is environmental conservation, installing the improved stoves also can lead to improvements in household social and economic conditions. |
PARTICIPATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Local Level Participation
In the Programme districts, SCDP has facilitated various different types of activities related to sustainable community development. All SCDP activities contribute to overall community development through at least one of environmental management, socioeconomic development and capacity building. A key component of the SCDP approach is the idea of self-help: the SCDP supports activities that develop the capacity of community members to draw upon their resources and help themselves.
The SCDP considers bringing community members together to work towards solutions to their problems an important step in this self-help process. As such, developing community-based organisations (CBOs) is a Programme priority. To help develop CBOs and assist these CBOs implement sustainable development activities at the local level, in each district there is a SCDP support organisation (SO). The support organisations are called the Sustainable Development Facilities, or SDFs. With support from the SO staff, CBO members learn to analyse their development problems, and work together to develop solutions. In addition, the CBOs learn how to set up micro credit systems to encourage economic development in their community.
The SCDP encourages and facilitates CBO and SO capacity building through courses, workshops, exposure tours and various training activities. SO capacity building includes training field staff in activities that will help them transfer knowledge to the CBOs and implement the programme successfully. Examples include social mobilisation training for SDF community organisers and community activists, and proposal and report writing courses for SDF office staff. Further courses and workshops are held to keep all SO staff up to date with the latest information on sustainable development. CBO capacity building has several components- the first is geared towards helping CBOs function effectively, and includes managerial training courses on topics such as book keeping and accounting. Second, SCDP trains individual members of the CBOs to be village sustainable development specialists, so that individuals gain new skills which they can use to promote sustainable development within their village. Third, SCDP has hosted a number of events that increase overall levels of awareness of sustainable development issues among the CBO members.
Although many SCDP activities have focussed on developing the capacities of the local level institutions to help themselves, the SCDP acknowledges that grass-roots initiatives require governmental support. For this purpose, the SCDP has worked closely with government agencies at all levels.
| "SCDP has lot of
activites effectively managed with a little money. This is because of facilitation methods
and process of SCDP that assembles the people to serve their practical needs. The DDC is
now thinking of co funding to building self-confidence in planning and implementing their
own development works. SCDP has recreated the sense that development starts from the
grassroots." Mr. Balkrishna
B.C., |
Participation of the Local Government
SCDP coordinates it's activities with the Village Development Committees (VDCs) and the District Development Committees (DDCs) to maximise local government participation in and support for the Programme. As the local government body, the role of the DDC is to enhance sustainable development at the local level. In each district SCDP has formed a District Management Committee (DMC)/Sustainable Development Committee (SDC) that is chaired by the DDC Chairperson. DMCs are the district level bodies responsible for policy-making, as well as coordinating and monitoring activities for sustainable development. Each DMC meets on a monthly basis to discuss the Programme activities and receive input and guidance from the government officials. These meetings help mobilise government resources and support for the Programme and help coordinate SCDPs activities with the line agency initiatives.
The VDCs in the Programme areas have also provided office space for the SCDP Programme, agreed to collaborate in completing the baseline surveys of the VDC, and in some cases allocated VDC budget to SCDP activities.
| "SCDP is implemented
in my VDC since 1998. We found it different than other development programmes. The groups
of SCDP assemble people for work and technical help is provided by SCDP staff that we
truly lack. Their projects are cost effective and reliable. Therefore we are thinking to
share VDC resources with these groups. Now onwards, we are ready to allocate our
development budget to these Digo groups." Atom Bum, Chairperson, |
Participation of the Central Government
At the central level, the SCDP is guided by the National Planning Commission Secretariat (NPCS) which has a multisectoral and neutral institutional framework conducive to sustainable development. As both vertical and horizontal institutional partnerships are necessary to support execution and implementation of a Programme such as SCDP, a provision was made to develop a consultative committee that brings together all of the major central and local level stakeholders. This committee is called the Executive Committee (EC). The EC is responsible for strengthening the partnerships among the major stakeholder institutions, and mobilising and encouraging central level support for successful implementation of the SCDP at the local level. The Executive Committee is led by the NPC, and consists largely of central level institutions.
A technical assistance team supports the NPC and the Executive Committee (see Annex i). This team is involved with SCDP at all levels. It has a facilitative or supportive role, and does not control implementation or management of activities.
INSTITUTIONAL AND FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
| "One of the beauty of
this programme (SCDP) is definitely cost effectiveness and I suggest to maintain it so
that others could replicate the process towards the efforts for poverty alleviation. I
found the programme helping the poor and backwards. The most interesting part of the
programme is the trust and saving mobilisation for productive works. As a pilot programme
it is successful in achieving its goal. It should be replicated in other districts
too". Mr. Hari Shankar Tripathi |
The Sustainable Development Facility Fund (SDFF) is the primary financial mechanism through which Programme activities are funded. The majority of the SDFF is put in a credit capital fund and is loaned to individual CBO members for small enterprise economic development activities. This credit capital fund is a revolving fund, which helps ensure the financial sustainability of the Programme.
The SDFF is also used to provide grant assistance to CBOs for social development and environmental management activities that benefit all members of a CBO. These grants are called "seed grants". Financial support for capacity building workshops and skills development activities for promoting human resources development also stems from the SDFF.
For the financial and organisational sustainability, SDF
is created and registered in all three districts. SDFs will help to continue the programme
benefits and to facilitate the self-help community-based organisations over the years so
that a sound sustainable community development system could be established. These
organisations can sustain by mobilising SDF Fund for micro-enterprises development and
earning interest from the investment. They can retain an essential number of staff for
providing the technical assistance and establish a good linkage between CBOs, line
agencies and the local governing bodies.