Chapter 6
FUTURE OUTLOOK
PROGRAMME CONSOLIDATION AND EXPANSION |
The first phase of the Sustainable Community Development Progra-mme was recognised in Nepal's Ninth Five-year Development Plan as a good example of community-based sustainable development. SCDP successfully completed its first 3-year phase in December 1999 and in January 2000 Phase II of the Programme began. The first phase of the Programme established a strong base for linking environmental management, social development and economic development activities for sustainable human development, and the positive experiences from the first phase will be carried over into the second phase.
Phase II of the SCDP Programme will involve consolidating the activities in the Phase I Programme areas and institutionalising the Support Organisations, and expanding the Programme to cover 3 additional districts. SCDP will continue to support Surkhet, Kailali and Dang districts while these districts consolidate their activities, however the amount of financial support from SCDP is substantially less than during Phase I. In these districts SCDP's goal will be to institutionalise the SOs so that they will be able to sustain the Programme independently and enhance the relationship between the SOs and the DDCs and VDCs. This will allow further collaboration between SCDP and the government agencies. Each SO will be called the Sustainable Development Facility, and will be guided by a Sustainable Development Committee (SDC) which will be created under the DDC Act. SCDP will support the DDCs in formulation of their district level sustainable development plans. Furthermore, SCDP will help the local governments and communities take charge of the ongoing projects to ensure the activities continue. This will also encourage other development agencies to launch new programmes as a built-in sustainable development mechanism for a reliable partnership at the grassroots and district level will already be established.
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In Phase I SCDP selected districts that were in the Mid and Far Western Development Regions of Nepal. In Phase II SCDP selected districts in the Western and Eastern Development Regions as well. During the Local Project Appraisal Committee (LPAC) meeting in September 1999, SCDP agreed to endorse three new districts - Humla, Myagdi and Okhaldhungha. These districts represent three different ecological zones- the High Himalaya (Humla), the High Mountain (Myagdi) and the Middle Mountain (Okhal-dhungha). SCDP's technical team visited these districts to conduct an initial assessment of the socio-economic and environmental conditions and to meet with local stakeholders such as the DDCs and line agencies to discuss building partnerships for mutual cooperation and collaboration in implementing the Programme. The SCDP team was well received and the DDCs provided written confirmation of their support for and commitment to the Programme, thereby initiating the development of SCDP-DDC partnerships. In all three districts, environmental management and integrated micro-watershed management will be used as the initial entry point for implementing the Programme, as this entry point was found most successful during Phase I of the Programme.
PROMOTING SYNERGY
SCDP and the Sustainable Development Network (SDN)
The partnerships established with local NGOs during Phase I have shown that NGOs have great potential for contributing to sustainable development. By supporting the NGOs and helping them develop their skills and abilities through training courses, exposure tours and workshops, the NGO members have adapted and implemented SCDP's model of sustainable development in their own projects (See Figure 17. Nepal’s map). As the local communities take the lead role in community development and natural resource management projects, local NGOs provide the necessary technical support that has been a successful and sustainable way to develop local communities. Furthermore, the NGOs have shown that they are capable in implementing the sustainable development activities in a cost effective manner.
The Sustainable Development Network (SDN) created under the aegis of SCDP can play an important role in sustainable development by promoting indigenous knowledge and skills, sharing information and exchanging ideas. SCDP will work closely with the SDN to harness the potential of NGOs to help rural poor communities.
The Sustainable Development Network's activities will be consolidated as SCDP sponsors and supports additional training opportunities. SCDP will provide support to the SDN members to strengthen their management capacity and improve their ability to effectively and efficiently implement sustainable community development activities. In addition, through SCDP, the SDN will be linked with central level governments and policy-makers, and involved in the formulation of Nepal's National Agenda 21.
SDN provides support to promote sustainable development practices of its members replicating the SCDP process and methodology in their respective programme area. It disseminates the principles and practices among the NGOs to help gearing all the activities towards the sustainable development. Apparently, in the long run, SDN will be a resource center to the sustainable development and therefore it should be equipped for.
Continued Collaboration with Local Government Agencies
The Local Governance Act, 2055 endorsed by His Majesty's Government is already effective and SCDP will coordinate the Programme activities in accordance with that Act. The plans and programmes developed by the CBOs will also be incorporated into the district development plans so that the bottom-up approach of sustainable community development can take place. SCDP will provide minimal support to the existing Programme districts to help them carry on their community designed sustainable development activities. The enterprise plans of CBO members for economic development will be supported from the Sustainable Development Facility Fund (SDFF) recognised by the local government authorities.
Future Coordination
SCDP will work in collaboration with a number of UNDP assisted projects in Nepal such as the Participatory District Development Programme (PDDP), the Local Governance Programme (LGP), the Parks People Programme (PPP)/ Rural Urban Partnership (RUPP), Micro-enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP), and the Rural Energy Development Programme (REDP). By collaborating with these projects it is possible to produce significant outputs and achieve greater impacts as there is a transfer of knowledge, skills and experiences between programmes. In addition, it is possible for programmes to share costs and collaborate on training workshops and other capacity building activities.
During Phase II SCDP will also work in collaboration with international agencies including the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP), the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the Earth Council, and the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD).
Formulation of Nepal's Agenda 21
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Agenda 21 was a blueprint plan for sustainable development in the 21st century that was endorsed at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). It calls for all countries to develop national strategies for sustainable development. The major thrust of Phase II of the SCDP will be to help the government formulate a national agenda 21 for Nepal. SCDP's experiences from the pilot phase will be incorporated into Nepal's national policy for sustainable development. SCDP will also examine the experiences of other countries that have already prepared their national agenda 21 for sustainable development.
The SCDP, under the guidance of the National Planning Commission, will establish functional linkages with all stakeholders such as Ministries, private sectors, NGOs, local authorities and local communities. A task force of experts will be constituted to review the existing sectoral policies, initiate policy dialogue with stakeholders and draft the policies and strategies for sustainable development.
The SCDP will assist each of the DDCs in the Programme areas prepare a local Agenda 21. The local Agenda 21 will reflect the district's long term sustainable development strategies and will be a visionary document that will serve as a guide to the DDCs' overall development plans and programmes. The local Agenda 21 will help the DDCs prepare sectoral plans for district development.
The NPC will provide SCDP with a small office space at Singha Durbar in order to coordinate the programme more efficiently and to support the NPC during the formulation of the Nepal’s Agenda 21 for the 21st century.