Fiscal year 2010/11 - Poverty Alleviation Fund, Nepal

Chapter 1:
Introduction
1.1. PAF introduction
A quarter of the Nepali population still lives below poverty line. The
majorities of the poor live predominantly in rural areas and engage in
traditional and subsistence farming on small plots of low quality land,
have limited access to credit, infrastructure, markets and basic social
services, often because of remoteness, and rely heavily on seasonal
migration and remittance.
Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) was established in 2004 as a special
and targeted programme to bring the excluded communities in the
mainstream of development, by involving the poor and disadvantaged
groups themselves in the driving seat of development efforts. PAF is
contributing on bringing the level of poverty down to 10 per cent in
20 years in pursuant with the long term goal of Government of Nepal;
and reduce poverty by half by the year 2015 as per the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
1.2. The Strategy
PAF has taken strategy to enable poor people through social mobilization
and capacity building to organize and obtain quality basic services in
cost-effective and sustainable manner with their direct involvement.
PAF uses Partner Organizations (POs) to help facilitate poor vulnerable
people and their community Groups or Organizations to implement the
programme components, and they include local bodies, NGOs/ CBOs
and private sector organizations. PAF also seeks to forge partnership
with various organizations working in its areas of operation at the
village, district and national level in order to ensure holistic development
intervention to bring discernible impact on poverty reduction and scaling
up the programmes in considerably less time
1.3. The Approach
PAF has followed six guiding principles: namely (a) Targeted to the poor
(Antodaya) (b) Social Inclusion (Samabesi) (c) Demand Driven approach
(Maag Anusar) (d) Transparency (Pardarsita), (e) Direct funding to
community organizations of the poor (Prataksha Bhuktani), and (f)
Community Institutional Development (Samudaya Ko Sansthagat Bikash).
Social Mobilization, Income Generation, Small Community
Infrastructure Development and Capacity Building are the four major
programme components of PAF. The target beneficiaries of PAF are the
poor women, Dalit, Janajatis, and the vulnerable communities living
below the poverty line.
1.4. Institutional Arrangements
Initially established by an ordinance in 2004, PAF is governed by an act
since 2006, thus PAF is an autonomous, independent and professional
organization governed by separate law. The 12- member governing
board, chaired by the Prime Minister, is responsible for policy guidance
and programme approval.
Vice-chairperson and 5 members- are appointed by the government from
among the development professionals while other 5 ex-officio members
include National Planning Commission (NPC) Secretary, Chairman of
the Association of District Development Committees of Nepal (ADDCN),
Chairman of Association of Village Development Committees of Nepal
(AVDCN), Chairman of National Women Commission (NWC), and
Chairman of National Dalit Commission (NDC).
Currently, the PAF secretariat consists of 62 staffs, mostly professional,
recruited on a competitive basis. A total of 370 partner organizations
work on behalf of the poor in 40 programme districts.
1.5. Programme Components
(a) Small-Scale Village and Community Infrastructure: Given the
remoteness of many communities and the virtual non-existence of public
infrastructure services, small investments in infrastructure and services
can make a significant difference to poor communities. The communities
are often very clear on what they need, and are willing to contribute to
sub-projects within their means. Consideration is given to sub-projects
already included in VDC plans and/or where the District Development
Committee (DDC) and/or VDC are prepared to provide matching grants.
Key selection criteria include the number of target households that would
benefit and the expected employment impact. In addition, infrastructure
sub-projects would require communities to prepare and commit to a
realistic Operations and Maintenance (O&M) plan. Partner organizations
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT (2010/2011) 1