TRIPARTITE REVIEW MEETING
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A Tripartite Review Meeting (TPRM) was held in Nepalgunj on 4th, February 2000 during which the Programme's progress was discussed, the year 2000 work plan was endorsed and all the stakeholders provided feedback to the Programme Management Team. Mr. Hari Shankar Tripathi, Executive Committee Chairperson of SCDP and the Member of the National Planning Commission chaired the meeting. Dr. Henning Karcher, Resident Representative (RR) of UNDP, Mrs. Laxmi Maskey, National Programme Director (NPD) of SCDP and Joint Secretary to the National Planning Commission, Mr. Hari Prasad Regmi, Under Secretary of Ministry of Finance, Mr. Bharat K.C., DDC Chairperson of Dang and Ms. Lalita Upadhyaya, Treasurer of Sustainable Development Network (SDN) actively participated the meeting.
Dr. Bhesh Raj Dhamala, Assistant Resident Representative, Mr. Tek Gurung, Programme Officer and Ms. Kristiina Mikkola, Programme Officer, all from UNDP, were also among the participants of the meeting. Mrs. Laxmi Maskey, NPD, shared the major achievements of the Programme and thanked to the UNDP, Support Organisations (SOs) and DDCs for their cooperation in making the programme a success. Mr. Tripathi welcomed to all the participants and listed some of the results achieved during the first phase of the Programme.
Dr. Henning Karcher said he was impressed with SCDP achievements and continued to say that he thought the Programme was exceptionally successful. He added that he thought the Programme touches upon all key elements of the sustainable development process by focussing on sustainable natural resource management based on community resources.
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Mr. Bharat K.C., DDC Chairperson of Dang, underlined the major achievements of SCDP in Dang and informed about the initiatives taken to formulate Local Agenda 21 as the long-term sustainable development strategies. He also shared various examples of the direct impact on the communities as the result of active participation of local government bodies (DDC and VDCs) and the communities themselves.
Mrs. Laxmi Maskey , NPD, presented the achievements of the programme in 1999. She stated that the overall performance as perceived by the stakeholders had been highly satisfactory.
Mr. Hum Bahadur Gurung, National Programme Manager, highlighted the SCDP' progress, achievements and impacts through a video documentary entitled " From Agenda to Actions- Nepal's Experiences with Agenda 21". Mr. Hari P. Regmi suggested to share the video with other projects and donors in order to initiate further cooperation. Mr. Gurung also presented the proposed Annual work plan 2000. After a discussion and minor clarifications, the meeting approved the work plan.
The participants also discussed on major issues raised during both of the presentations and implementation of last TPR meeting. It was realised that a balance should be struck between implementation of project activities and monitoring the results. It was also agreed that the SCDP should select the most important indicators which should be systematically monitored on annual basis. The meeting also suggested to strengthen linkages between UNDP projects by organising meeting of professionals on regular basis. Cost effectiveness and financial sustainability were also among the major points for discussion.
At the concluding part of the meeting, Mr. H. S. Tripathi thanked all for their contribution to make the Programme successful and hoped for further UNDP support to government initiated programmes in alleviating poverty. Dr. Karcher emphasised the need to develop and bring out an effective monitoring mechanism and clear documentation on poverty status. He also suggested the programme management team pay more attention to the issue of sustainability.
The meeting was followed by a brief field visit on 5th February. The participants observed some of the SCDP activities in Kailali, including the Multipurpose Forest Nursery of Gidhiniya, the Ghoda Ghodi Taal, a NTFP Farm in Seukaliya and the Prithivipur "Eco-Village", and interacted with CBO members, DDC authorities and NGO leaders.
TOWARDS FORMULATING LOCAL AGENDA 21
District Development Committees of all three districts have initiated to formulate District Agenda 21 as their district level long-term sustainable development strategies. DDC Dang has formed a committee to prepare the draft strategies focussed on environment management with the slogan "Green Dang in 21st Century." Likewise, DDC meeting of Surkhet accepted the concept paper to formulate the district Agenda 21 jointly presented by DDC Chairperson and the SCDP while DDC Kailali is engaged in the consultative process.
PROGRAMME REVIEW MEETINGS
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Programme Review Meetings at different levels such as the Executive committee and DMC/SDC meeting were regularly held in 1999 helped to improve the quality of the performance. Monthly progress review meetings with SOs were instrumental for monitoring. Practical problems and new ideas were discussed in such meetings. At district level, a programme review meeting is organised once a year at DDC where the SOs present details of activities and receive feedback from DMC and the line agencies.
Field visits of DMC members led by respective Chairpersons of each district to monitor the programme activities and discussed with CBO members prior to the Review meetings. The Review meetings were held to provide support to the Programme and coordinate the programme activities with various line agencies.
MACRO-MICRO LINKAGE
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Field observation tours organised for higher level government officials and the policy makers has helped to realise the policies and provided an opportunity to see the impact of the programme. It has also helped to understand the realities of the field and provided proper guidance to the programme.
National Programme Director Mrs. Laxmi Maskey observed many field level activities and involved in the CBO meetings and CBO conferences in Kailali and Surkhet. She also interacted with the Support Organisations and CBO members. DDC Chairpersons of all three districts visited programme area and encouraged communities in plantation and other socioeconomic development activities.
DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION
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Disseminating information is a high priority of the SCDP technical team. SCDP has created different forums and produced various materials to share the experiences in order to multiply and maximise the benefits of the Programme.
The 1998 SCDP Annual Report was published and shared with concerned governmental and non-governmental agencies and other UNDP programmes. This report was also distributed to international development agencies working in the regions to keep them informed of the Programme's progress and achievements. To disseminate information at the international level, particularly to other Capacity 21 country programmes, the 1998 Annual Report was posted on the SCDP internet site.
Two video documentaries were produced by SCDP in order to disseminating information on its approaches and achievements during the Phase I. These videos capture the activities of CBOs and include success stories of the efforts made by SCDP towards achieving the sustainable development in Nepal. Opinions of different major stakeholders are also included so that the audiences would have an idea on how Nepal Capacity 21 attempts to address the socioeconomic and environmental issues related to the rural poor.
The SCDP has published a quarterly news bulletin in English that is circulated among different stakeholders. It has helped to understand the Programme philosophy, approaches to sustainable development and activities undertaken for. It includes articles, news, interviews and success stories. Such an initiative is taken by the Programme districts by publishing quarterly news bulletins in Nepali named SADIKA from Surkhet and Kailali and DIVIKA from Dang. Programme information brochures in Nepali and English have also been published and distributed to keep the people informed about the programme processes and activities. Two types of the posters, one on social mobilisation and another one on operational strategies, were also published and used widely.
An article on Nepal Capacity 21 published in Local Environment, an international journal published from United Kingdom, was another attempt to disseminate the information at international level.
Different fora like meetings and workshops organised by other government and non-government agencies, especially DDC and VDC meetings, were found effective to disseminate the information on the programme. SCDP is invited to attend and deliver speeches on local governance, environment and community development issues. Programme professionals attend such meetings and inform about the programme principles, objectives, practices and the role of different stakeholders in achieving the sustainable development. In 1999, SCDP participated and made presentations in all three first phase programme districts that helped to realise policies at district and VDC level. Such meetings were found proper forum to create awareness among the representatives of non- programme VDCs about the commitment of local governments and strategies set up to achieve the programme goals.
LESSONS LEARNED
Start Small and Grow Gradually
SCDP seeks cooperation and cost sharing among all stakeholders in order to sustain the Programme benefits and facilitate institutionalisation of CBOs so that the programme implementation process would be sustainable in the long run. As SCDP has just completed phase I and recently started Phase II, the Programme concepts, processes and methods are still relatively new. The Local Governance Act 2055, which promotes decentralised planning process, Programmes such as SCDP need to help strengthen local governments deliver their development programmes as they are the owners and major contributors to the sustainable development projects.
The size of the Programme area should be small in the beginning. It would have better results if SCDP started with fewer VDCs rather than covering many VDCs at a time. The Programme should initiate activities in only 3 to 5 VDCs in the Phase II Programme districts, and then gradually expand the Programme area to cover the adjoining VDCs.
Programme Models
In Phase I, while introducing SCDP in the districts, entry points were selected according to the major problems and opportunities available in the district. Three different initial entry points were used to implement the Programme. In Surkhet, the programme was implemented using environmental management as the initial entry point because the district' micro-watersheds were severely degraded. This entry point enveloped various social and economic development activities and led to immediate integration of environmental management, social development and economic development activities. As such, initiating the Programme using environmental management as the initial entry point was found to be more efficient than using social development or economic development as the initial entry point, and so all the new Programme districts will implement the Programme starting with environmental management as the initial entry point.
Similarly, the Programme management model of Dang has been proved more effective. It has involved the DDC in the programme management in a large amount. Institutionalising the Programme is most focussed in order to generate feeling of ownership. As the DDC coordinates different line agencies and non-government sector and DDC is the governing body at district level, Local Governance Act has made it responsible to lead planning and implementation of development projects. It will be helpful to make the programme more effective in the new districts if this model of Programme management could be adapted.
Social development, as an entry point, has proven the fact that other components could be gradually introduced if immediate community needs are addressed. This drives the communities towards more integrated and holistic approach to sustainable development.
Partnership Building for Sustainable Development
Building partnerships with local NGOs is essential for effectively carrying out sustainable development activities at the local level. NGOs are potential to work with and partnership with local NGOs should be developed and strengthened. SCDP experiences prove that when provided with assistance to build their project management capacity, NGOs can play a lead role in implementing development activities at the community level in a cost- effective way. NGOs have a strong base at the grassroots level and have a better understanding of and relation with the local communities. They have also started to establish links with different line agencies and local government agencies to help coordinate and collaborate activities to maximise efficiency and effectiveness.
Help CBOs set their Own Rules
CBOs have proved that the rules they set in their meeting work efficiently. They do not follow the rules imposed. They come to an agreement with 80 to 100 per cent households and they have only fear of the results of abusing the socially accepted norms and rules. All the community members strictly follow the rules if set by the community itself. The Community managed forests are the best example of this. Shankar CBO of Seukaliya, Kailali, has been successful in protecting the Fulbari forest and started to cultivate medicinal plants which has totally discouraged the practice of encroachment.
Maintaining Indigenous Management
Locally-originated management practices are quickly adopted by the local communities. These practices are often easily adopted by communities and can be very useful for managing common property resources such as community forests. Such management practices are therefore useful tools that Programme CBOs can use to manage their natural resources. For example, the Pashupati Women's CBO of Kalimati Dang has been successful in greening the nearby hills after formulating a rule to watch their community forest on a rotational basis.
Whole forest can be protected if the open land around the forest is planted and protected by the community. Bansghari is an example of this strategy. The Kedar CBO of Malbhanga, Chuha VDC of Kailali, has planted bamboo, mango, guava, Dalbergia sissoo Acacia catechue, Terminelia tomentosa etc in 2.7 ha forest that has contributed to protect the 340 hectare forest.
Increase Support for Women’s CBOs
Women should be encouraged to be organised in CBOs and special attention should be paid towards empowering them. They have proved potential for taking charge of community level development programmes. It will be more helpful to sustain the programme activities if they are properly motivated and mobilised to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the community development projects. Women led or all women CBOs are comparatively more sensitive to generate and raise community fund and its mobilisation. Hence the number of women CBOs is lower than the mixed and men CBOs, they are found encouraging and have higher level of performance. Most of the senior male members of the communities go outside seeking earnings for more than six months in a year, females are forced to take charge of households and community works.
All community development activities are a matter of women's direct concern. Women are anxious to plant and protect the forest and construct drinking water schemes and irrigation canals. They are also enthusiastic about educating their children and they support the use of alternative energies so that they can spend their time completing productive tasks rather than spending hours collecting fuel-wood. Women are particularly interested in environmental management, health education and sanitation. It would be effective if these CBOs are provided opportunities for training on group dynamics, leadership, gender issues and micro-enterprise development and marketing and management.