A Workshop on “Institutionalisation of Community-based Organisations (CBOs)” was held from March 29-31, 2003 in Kathmandu. There were 40 participants from seven remote districts of the country.

While opening the Workshop, Gyan Prasad Sharma, National Programme Director of SCDP highlighted about the need to associate CBOs in the cooperative movement. He said that since CBOs are informal there is a need to institutionalise them so as to ensure their sustainability. Experts in Saving and Credit Schemes, and Co-operatives acted as resource persons at the Workshop.

Implementation of Exit plan

SCDP and DDCs/SDFs have prepared an exit plan in institutionalising the CBOs and have started implementation of the plan. The staff numbers at the district level, in consultation with DDC and programme implementing NGOs, have been reduced as CBOs have become more capable of managing their sustainable development plans. Each programme district has prepared their plans for institutional linkages with Local Development Fund under DDC.

Joint Monitoring Visit

Various UNDP supported programmes in Okhaldhunga organised a joint field visit. After the declaration of cease-fire in the country SCDP, LGP and COPE project personnel visited Taluwa and Thulachhap VDCs to assess the ongoing activities.

Completion of Annual Audit

Financial audit of SCDP for 2002 was carried out between January and February 2003. Field visits to Dang and Okhaldhunga were organised as part of programme monitoring besides financial auditing. The audit was performed by PP Pradhan & Company and the Office of Auditor General. An exit conference was held at the National Planning Commission on 28 March 2003 to discuss on the audit findings. Stakeholders from the programme districts were also present in the meeting.

Cultural Programme

On the occasion of “Mane”, the traditional festival of Lama community, Samaj Sudhar CBO of Muchu VDC, Humla voluntarily organised different cultural programmes related to environmental conservation, sanitation and health. These programmes helped the villagers to understand the importance of environment as well as personal and community health.

CBOs Grading

In order to identify the status of CBOs in each VDC, all six Programme districts, in January and February, carried out an extensive analysis of the CBOs’ status based on their performance. Based on various relevant criteria, the grading is given below:

CBO's grading in Programme Districts

Celebration of Women’s Day

The 93rd Women’s Day was celebrated on March 8. As SCDP has been working towards empowering rural women, various activities regarding gender and women development were conducted at programme VDCs. At Waksa and Moli VDCs in Okhaldhunga, SCDP, Mahila Jagriti and United Mission to Nepal jointly organised quiz contests, poem and essay competitions for women CBOs.

Workshops/Seminars

A two-day workshop on gender audit of DDC/LDF Humla was held from 26 to 27 March 2003 in co-ordination with SNV Nepal. In this workshop, program staffs of SCDP also participated actively and were reinforced their concept about gender and the importance of gender mainstreaming in development activities.

Mr. Ashok Baniya, SD Co-ordinator of Myagdi participated in a seven-day long participatory poverty monitoring workshop organised by SAPAP and IAAS Rampur, which was held in Pokhara from February 21, 2003. This workshop was crucial in two ways. Firstly, it was for the first time in Nepal where participatory poverty monitoring initiatives was taken. Secondly, grassroots organisation adopting and implementing poverty alleviation programme are now searching participatory poverty monitoring mechanism. Mr. Hum Gurung, Nation Programme Manager (NPM) of SCDP, also made a presentation on the SCDP’s modality for participatory monitoring at the community level.

Mr. Hum Bahadur Gurung, NPM of SCDP, participated, by invitation, in the South Asia Sustainable Livelihoods Policy Forum Meeting which was held in New Delhi, India from 28 February to 1 March 2003. Similarly, Mr. Gurung also participated, by invitation, in the UNESCO Japan seminar on Environmental Education and Sustainable Development held in Tokyo, Japan from 18 to 20 March 2003.

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