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HMG/NNepalSUSTAINABLECOMMUNITYDEVELOPMENTPROGRAMMEREFLECTIONS ONNEPAL CAPACITY 21INITIATIVEACHIEVEMENTS AND LESSONS LEARNED(1996-2003)

HMG/NNepalSUSTAINABLECOMMUNITYDEVELOPMENTPROGRAMMEREFLECTIONS ONNEPAL CAPACITY 21INITIATIVEACHIEVEMENTS AND LESSONS LEARNED(1996-2003)

Hum Gurung/SCDPCover Photo: Durpa Village(2900 m), HumlaTechnical Advisor & ReviewGyan Prasad SharmaLisa Simrique SinghResearch, Write-up and EditingHum Bahadur GurungKristiina MikkolaUttam SharmaContributorsAnil Kumar Sharma, Narayan Prasad Sapkota, Prem Bahadur Chaudhari,Mim Bahadur Hamal, Ashok Baniya, Ramji Bhandari, Niraj Shrestha,Yeshoda Basnet andVikram BasyalPhotographsSCDP and SDFsDesign and Processed byWordScape, KathmanduThis Report is primarily based on the action research findings, progress reports and bulletinsreceived from Programme districts (DDC/SO/NGO offices), Quarterly SCDP Bulletins, andother documents including information gathered on the spot by the Programme staff duringmonitoring visits.ISBN: 99933-701-5-0

ContentAbbreviations and Acronyms .................................................................................................... v iForeword.......................................................................................................................................v i iPreface ........................................................................................................................................... ixAcknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... xChapter OneIntroduction .................................................................................................................................. 11.1 Background ............................................................................................................................. 21.2 Peace and Development ........................................................................................................ 31.3 Structure of the Report .......................................................................................................... 4Chapter TwoLaunching SCDP .......................................................................................................................... 52.1 Design of SCDP ........................................................................................................................ 62.2 Selection of Programme Districts ........................................................................................ 72.3 Selection of VDCs.................................................................................................................. 1 02.4 Selection of Support Organisations ................................................................................... 1 12.5 Institutional Arrangements ............................................................................................... 1 32.6 Programme Entry Points.................................................................................................... 1 7Chapter ThreeSocial Development .................................................................................................................. 193.1 Building Social Capital ........................................................................................................ 2 13.2 Gender Empowerment ........................................................................................................2 43.3 Water for Drinking and Irrigation ....................................................................................2 63.4 Adult Literacy Programmes .............................................................................................. 2 73.5 Improved Trails ....................................................................................................................32 83.6 Community-based Childcare Centres ...............................................................................2 93.7 Schools and Scholarships .................................................................................................... 2 93.8 Health and Sanitation Awareness..................................................................................... 3 03.9 Training and Capacity Building for Social Development ..............................................3 03.10 Resource Mobilisation ........................................................................................................ 3 1Chapter FourEnvironment and Natural Resources Management ................................................................ 334.1 Restoring Degraded Land .................................................................................................... 3 54.2 Community Forest Management ......................................................................................3 64.3 Multipurpose Forest Nurseries........................................................................................... 43 74.4 Eco-Clubs at Schools............................................................................................................. 3 94.5 Wetland Conservation ......................................................................................................... 4 04.6 Promoting Alternative Energy and Appropriate Technology ...................................... 4 14.7 Training and Capacity Building for Environmental Management............................. 4 3

Chapter FiveEconomic Development ............................................................................................................455.1 Community Fund .................................................................................................................4 75.2 Access to Micro-Finance ......................................................................................................4 85.3 Training on Economic Development................................................................................. 5 15.4 Loan Repayment Status ...................................................................................................... 5 25.5 Benefits to the Poorest of the Poor....................................................................................... 5 5Chapter SixPolicies and Strategies ............................................................................................................. 576.1 Information Sharing............................................................................................................ 5 96.2 Collaboration with DDCs and VDCs................................................................................... 6 06.3 Partnerships for Policy Outcomes......................................................................................6 36.4 National Policy Outcomes .................................................................................................. 6 6Chapter SevenLessons Learned and Conclusions ......................................................................................... 697.1 Institutionalisation of CBOs ................................................................................................ 7 17.2 Coordination with other UNDP-Supported Projects ........................................................ 7 37.3 Sustainable Development Network as an Approach ...................................................... 7 37.4 Adaptation and Replication of the Programme ............................................................... 7 47.5 Executing Agency ................................................................................................................ 7 57.6 Some Crosscutting Lessons.................................................................................................. 7 57.7 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 7 7Annexes ..................................................................................................................................... 81Annex I: Training and Capacity Building on Social Development...................................... 8 2Annex II: Training on Environment and Natural Resources Management ......................8 3Annex III: CCF Release to Districts in Rs ..................................................................................8 4Annex IV: Investment, Repayment, Interest Income and % of Recovery asof September 2003..................................................................................................... 8 4Annex V: Training and Capacity Buildng on Economic Development .............................. 85Annex VI: HMG/UNDP/SCDP Publications and Documents ................................................8 6Annex VII: Programme Implementation: Activities and Outputs ...................................... 8 756List of BoxesBox 1: Approach of Capacity 21 .................................................................................................. 3Box 2: Integrated Activities Meet Rural Needs in Nepal ....................................................... 1 6Box 3: Insights about Social Mobilisation Process during Emergency ................................ 2 2Box 4: Voice of a CBO Member about SCDP .............................................................................2 4Box 5: Water - Essential for Survival, Sanitation and Farming ..........................................2 7Box 6: Dalit Women Turn the Settlement into ICS Village ..................................................4 2Box 7: Celebration after Electricity was Generated ..............................................................4 3Box 8: Encouraging Self-help .................................................................................................... 4 7Box 9: Nation-wide Problems Hurt Local Businesses ............................................................. 5 2Box 10: Case Study of External Support ..................................................................................6 2Box 11: Approaches to Sustainability: Regional Study .........................................................7 8List of FiguresFigure 1: Sustainable Community Development Programme Area ..................................... 7Figure 2. SCDP Operational Strategy ........................................................................................ 9Figure 3: Institutional Structure of SOs .................................................................................. 1 2Figure 4. Entry Points and SCDP Implementation Process .................................................. 1 8Figure 5: Year-wise Status of Net CBO Formation ................................................................. 2 3Figure 6: Credit Capital Fund (CCF) & Community Fund (CF) as ofSeptember 2003 in Rs .................................................................................................4 7

Figure 7: CCF Release in Rs ........................................................................................................ 50Figure 8: CCF Status as of 30 September 2003 in NRs ......................................................... 5 1List of TablesTable 1: Profile of SCDP Districts .............................................................................................. 11Table 2: Year-wise Status of CBO Formation .......................................................................... 2 3Table 3: Percentage of Women Members, Women Chairpersons and Managers ofCBOs in Different Districts ........................................................................................... 2 5Table 4: Budget Release to District in Rs ................................................................................. 3 2Table 5: Plantation Areas .......................................................................................................... 3 5Table 6: Number and Area of Community Forests ................................................................3 6Table 7: Eco-clubs and Members .............................................................................................. 4 0Table 8: Number of ICS, Biogas, Solar Lighting Systems and Micro-hydro Beneficiaries 4 1Table 9: Cumulative Figures for Community Fund in NRs. ................................................4 8Table 10: Reinvestment Ratio of CCF as of September 2003................................................ 5 1Table 11: Sectoral Investment of Credit Capital Fund (in %)............................................... 5 1

Abbreviations and AcronymsviACAP Annapurna Conservation Area ProjectAEPCAlternative Energy Promotion CentreARIAcute Respiratory InfectionBASE Backward Society EducationCA Community ActivistCBCC Community-based Childcare CentreCBOCommunity-based OrganisationCCFCredit Capital FundCDRC Community Development Resource CentreCFCommunity FundDDCDistrict Development CommitteeDFODistrict Forest OfficerDPPDistrict Partnership ProgrammeECExecutive CommitteeFAOFood and Agriculture OrganisationGEF/SGP Global Environment Facility/Small Grants ProgrammeHMGN His Majesty's Government of NepalHRD Human Resource DevelopmentICSImproved Cooking StoveICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain DevelopmentIUCN The World Conservation UnionLDOLocal Development OfficerLGPLocal Governance ProgrammeMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMLDMinistry of Local DevelopmentMoFSCMinistry of Forest and Soil ConservationMoPE Ministry of Population and EnvironmentNCSNational Conservation StrategyNEPAP National Environmental Policy and Action PlanNGO Non-Governmental OrganisationNPCNational Planning CommissionNSCNational Steering CommitteeNTFP Non Timber Forest ProductsNRCNatural Resource ConservationnssdNational Strategy for Sustainable DevelopmentOECD/DAC Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development /Development Assistance CommitteePDDP Participatory District Development ProgrammeREDP Rural Energy Development ProgrammeSCDP Sustainable Community Development ProgrammeSDAN Sustainable Development Agenda for NepalSDCSustainable Development Committee (previously DistrictManagement Committee)SDVS Sustainble Development Village SpecialistSDFSustainable Development FacilitySDFF Sustainable Development Facility FundSDNSustainable Development NetworkSNVThe Netherlands Development OrganisationSOSupport OrganisationTBATraditional Birth AttendantsTCTechnical CommitteeToPTerms of PartnershipToTTraining of TrainersUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeVDCVillage Development CommitteeWSSD World Summit on Sustainable DevelopmentWWF World Wide Fund for Nature

ForewordThe Sustainable Community DevelopmentProgramme (SCDP), a joint programme ofthe National Planning Commission (NPC)and the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP), is pleased to bring outthis publication - "Reflections on Nepal Capacity21 Initiative: Achievements and LessonsLearned". SCDP has been in operationfor the last seven years. Geographically, itcovers six districts of Nepal.The concept of sustainable development isnot new to Nepal. It was integrated into ourdevelopment planning in the Sixth Plan(1982-87) and was further translated intoactions since 1992, the beginning of theEighth Plan, and the landmark year whenthe 'United Nations Conference on Environmentand Development' was held.Sustainable development is meeting people'sneeds and aspirations over time and spacewithout depleting natural resources reservesand environment. It is about enabling peopleto plan, implement and manage their developmentin such a way that any unsustainableactions are identified and corrected locallythrough people's own initiatives. SCDPhas truly embraced this concept.This report highlights the roles and achievementsof community-based organisations inplanning and managing local developmentin partnerships withlocal bodies andother related stakeholders.It describesboth the processesand approaches ofsustainable developmentas embracedby SCDP and illustrates how social mobilizationcan prove to be an effective tool toachieve the goal of sustainable development.The conservation and developmentinitiatives tested at the local level have beeninstrumental in the formulation of nationallevel sustainable development agenda, mostnotably, the recently launched SustainableDevelopment Agenda for Nepal (SDAN)which is an umbrella policy document toguide national level development plans andpolicies up to 2017.The lessons learned from past seven years'experience in implementation of SCDP provideinsights into community-based processof sustainable development. I believe thatthese lessons will be equally useful to otherdevelopment agencies in making developmentmore fruitful and sustainable at thelocal level. A common challenge facing allof us is to adapt and scale up such grassrootsinitiatives in other parts of the country tosecure sustainable livelihood of Nepalipeople.viiHari Krishna Upadhyaya, Ph.D.Member, National Planning Commission, andChairperson, SCDP Executive Committee

;fd'bflos lbuf] ljsf; sfo{qmdSustainable Community Development Programme(NEP / 99 / G81 & NEP / 99 / 019)PrefaceH.B. GurungG.P. SharmaThe Sustainable Community DevelopmentProgramme (SCDP) has completed its seven-year journey working with the people ofsix districts- Surkhet, Kailali, Dang, Humla,Myagdi and Okhaldhunga. It is the finalyear of its operation and this publicationserves as a reflection of SCDP's achievementsand lessons learned over a period of sevenyears. This document goes beyond theProgramme terminal report that often highlightswhat have been achieved or whathave not been achieved. It is an impact-orientedevaluative report that also examineswhat activities have been undertaken andhow they were implemented. The reportaims to provide insights on the achievementsof the SCDP to inform our stakeholdersat local, national and internationallevel. It analyses how we have made impactson the lives of people through our commonefforts and where we need to improve.This document addresses the three pillars ofsustainable development- social development,economic development, and environment andnatural resources management. Capacitybuilding for all three pillars of sustainabledevelopment has been discussed to promoteand ensure sustainability in terms of socialequity, economic growth, and environmentand natural resources management at thecommunity level. Local development initiativeslike SCDP have been a platform in policyformulation especially the formulation of SustainableDevelopment Agenda for Nepal(SDAN). The institutionalisation of the Community-basedOrganisations are in progressand the District Development Committeesand Support Organisations will take the leadrole to ensure their institutional sustainabilityin the long run.SCDP has learned a great deal and a numberof lessons. They are discussed in an analyticalmanner in this report. The lessonslearned from project design to planning,implementation, monitoring and evaluationwill provide insights to the local initiativesand an opportunity for others workingor contemplating on working in similarproject elsewhere to reflect on its performance.SCDP has been successful to integratethe community-based sustainable developmentapproaches and processes in locallevel development planning by the localbodies and civil society engaged in sustainabledevelopment. Seven years' time is certainlynot a long period to sow, grow andnurture community-based sustainable developmentbut SCDP as a pilot programmehas demonstrated a clear path to achievesustainable development.ixHum Bahadur GurungNational Programme ManagerGyan Prasad SharmaUnder Secretary, NPC and NPD/SCDP

AcknowledgementsxThe successful implementation of SustainableCommunity Development Programme(SCDP) became possible with the support andcommitment of many organisations and individuals.The partnership between the NationalPlanning Commission of His Majesty'sGovernment and the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) has been a milestonein launching SCDP as a demonstration/pilot programme. Several local, national andinternational institutions and individualsprovided their visions and guidance duringits seven-year journey in implementingcommunity-based sustainable development.We are particularly grateful to Raghav DhojPant, Hari Shankar Tripathi, PrakashSharan Mahat, the then members of NPC andChairpersons of SCDP's Executive Committeeand members of the SCDP's ExecutiveCommittee who served in different times.The leadership of Laxmi Maskey, the thenNational Programme Director was tremendousboost to start up the Programme initiativesat the community level. ManojBasnyat, Bhesh Raj Dhamala, the then AssistantResident Representative had alwayssupported the SCDP in various ways. We aregrateful to Michiyo Kakegawa, HowardStewart, Anita Niroday for supporting SCDPfrom long distance. We are also grateful toYuba Raj Khatiwada, Hari KrishnaUpadhyaya, Members and Bhoj Raj Ghimire,Member Secretary of NPC for their guidanceand support. The support provided by LisaSingh, Assistant Resident Representative,Kristiina Mikkola, Environmental GovernanceAdvisor, Vijaya Singh, Bio-diversityAdvisor, Tek Gurung, Programme Officerand Biswas Gauchan, Comptroller all fromUNDP is also greatly acknowledged.At the district and community level, the leadershipof Bal Krishna BC (Surkhet), NarayanDutta Mishra (Kailali), Bharat K.C. (Dang),Jiwan Bahadur Shahi (Humla), Prem NathPremi (Okhaldhunga) and Nava Raj Sharma(Myagdi), the then Chairpersons of the respectiveDDCs as well as Chairpersons of SustainableDevelopment Committee (SDC), andmembers from each district for their guidanceand support is also greatly acknowledged.We are thankful to the Local DevelopmentOfficers at Programme implementeddistricts and Sustainable Development Coordinators-Narayan Sapkota, Ram BahadurChaudhary (till 2002), Churna BahadurChaudhary, Anil Sharma, Bishnu Pokharel(till May 2003), Mim Bahadur Hamal,Ashok Baniya, Ramji Bhandary and theirteam members in translating the dream ofsustainable development in reality. We alsothank the Community-based Organisations'chairpersons, managers and members fromsix programme districts for their leadership,dedication and commitment to shape the pathfor sustainable future.We are grateful to National Planning Commission,Ministry of Finance, Ministry ofPopulation and Environment, World WildlifeFund, the World Conservation Union,Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists,Sustainable Development Network andBackward Society Education for their support,partnership and collaboration in promotingsustainable development in Nepal.

1INTRODUCTION

1.1 BackgroundThe Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP), alsoknown as Nepal’s Capacity 21 Programme was designed in linewith the principles of Agenda 21. This Programme, launched in1996, was executed by National Planning Commission (NPC) withsupport from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).The Global Capacity 21 Initiative was created after the EarthSummit in 1992 with a mandate to help build national capacitiesfor sustainable development in developing countries. In the mid-1990s, His Majesty’s Government of Nepal (HMGN) and UNDP-Nepal jointly assessed various options and decided that the bestoption for pursuing the Capacity 21 mandate in Nepal was at thecommunity level. In addition, the government realised that thiswould also provide an opportunity to apply the principles andrecommendations contained in the National Conservation Strategy(NCS) and National Environmental Policy and Action Plan (NEPAP)towards solving development problems in poor Nepali communities.Capacity 21 resources were also to be allocated to build communities’own capacities for sustainable community development.

SCDP adopted the approaches of Capacity 21 to ensure integrationof environmentally sustainable development with participation ofall stakeholders by sharing of information for enhancement ofexperience and expertise for sustainable development (see Box 1).In order to promote sustainable development, SCDP engaged indevelopment activities that addressed all the three pillars ofsustainable development: economic development, social developmentand environmental conservation. All three components were givenequal prominence at the design stage. During programmeimplementation it became obvious that at community level all threewere greatly interdependent and linkages existed among them.Ignoring any of these areas would jeopardise the delicate balanceand would not lead to lasting development.Box 1: Approaches of Capacity 21The Global Capacity 21 Initiative providessupport to developing countries to develop theirsustainable development policies andprogrammes. Capacity 21 has three broadapproaches:Integration: The integration of the principles ofenvironmentally sustainable socio-economicdevelopment into development plans andactivities; sustainable development can bedefined as development which meets the needsof today’s generations without reducing theopportunities of future generations to meettheir needs;Participation: the participation of allstakeholders, including community groups,non-government and private sectororganisations, local and central governmentagencies, in planning and implementingsustainable development;Information: the creation and enhancement ofexperience and expertise for sustainabledevelopment that will be of continued materialvalue for all participants.Source: Project Document Phase I, 1996SCDP truly believed in this and acted accordingly. In order to realise its goal of sustainabledevelopment, SCDP worked at the grassroot level and aimed to develop the capacities ofNon-Government Organisations (NGOs) and Community-based Organisations (CBOs). TheProgramme provided technical, financial and institutional support to NGOs and CBOs insix districts: Dang, Humla, Kailali, Myagdi, Okhaldhunga and Surkhet.1.2 Peace and DevelopmentThe Maoist insurgency will reverberate throughout this report. When the Programmewas envisioned, the country was relatively peaceful. The Maoists had declared the socalled‘People’s War’ in 1996, but it was mainly concentrated in some hilly districts likeUnbu village, OkhaldhungaConflict resolutiontraining for staff andpartners fromProgramme districtsReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)3

1. IntroductionRukum and Rolpa. The first phase Programme districts remained largely unaffected until2000. After the first round of official talks between the government and Maoists failed in2001, the security situation in the field changed drastically.The government imposed a state of emergency in November 2001 as the violent conflictescalated. The field level staff had difficulty entering many project areas and this affectedthe activities of the Programme. In quite a few locations, the CBO members were not ableto hold meetings for more than a year. In some places, the Maoists threatened the district/field level staff to quit the Programme or face the consequences of disobeying them. TheDDCs’ efforts were also diverted from developmental priorities. This insurgency alsotriggered migration in some parts of the Programme implemented areas.41.3 Structure of the ReportThis report will be looking at SCDP’s seven-year experience in a concise form. Innovativestrategies were adopted. SCDP succeeded in many areas while it could not do as much as itwould have liked in some other fields. Even in areas where it could not perform to itspotential, many lessons were learnt from those endeavours. They are documented in thisreport in the hope that this report may be beneficial to others who are contemplating onadopting similar types of activities to promote sustainable community development.environmentally sustainabledevelopment with participation of allAlthough an effort has been made to clearly categorise many of the activities pursued bystakeholders by sharing of informationSCDP in different headings, this has not been an easy task. It should be remembered that afor particular enhancement activity could of experience serve many purposes. and For example, if one is able to manage theexpertise community for forests sustainable efficiently, developmentit will definitely have economic rewards later. Spending on(see social Box development 1). like girls’ education also has an economic dimension. Attention is givento show that a particular activity addresses many dimensions. It should also be mentionedthat there are many issues which could have been included in the chapter Lessons Learnedor elsewhere.In Chapter 2, launching of SCDP is discussed. The criteria adopted in the selection of districtsand Village Development Committees (VDCs) are also described. Then in the next threechapters, thematic issues of SCDP are considered. Social Development issues are discussedin Chapter 3. The process of CBO formation, gender related issues, and development ofsocial infrastructure are some areas which are highlighted there. Environment and NaturalResources Management is discussed in Chapter 4. Many activities related to environmentand natural resources management have been accomplished and they are highlighted. InChapter 5, Economic Development issues are dealt with. The details about how the fundswere generated and distributed are discussed there. The areas where most of the fundswere invested are also detailed. In Chapter 6, the Policies and Strategies adopted by SCDPin both local and nation level policies and their impacts are considered. Chapter 7 focuseson Lessons Learned and concludes the report.

2LAUNCHING SCDP

2.1 Design of SCDPThe Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP) wasformulated to assist the government in its efforts to promotecommunity-based sustainable development in Nepal. During thedesign of Phase I extensive discussions with concerned governmentagencies, non-government organisations, donors and localauthorities as well as with communities of rural Nepal were held.Based on these initial consultations, a concept note was developed.After deliberations with the Capacity 21 unit in UNDP headquartersand other relevant bodies, a two-member team of consultants wasfielded to develop the programme document. During the documentdrafting further rounds of consultations and interaction took place.Finally, UNDP Country Office, together with the concernedgovernment agencies, local authorities, NGOs and otherstakeholders, completed the project document.The SCDP project document was signed in May 1996 betweenHMGN and UNDP. Three districts from the Mid and Far-WesternDevelopment regions were initially selected for demonstrationprogrammes in Phase I, the pilot phase. The Programme activitiesstarted in Surkhet and Kailali districts in 1997 and in Dang from1998 onwards.

Figure 1: Sustainable Community Development Programme AreaDeveloping adaptable/replicable models of sustainable community development was akey objective of Phase I. During those initial years it was realised that for the programmeto have impact at the national level, it needed to expand beyond being a regional programmeconcentrated in the west of Nepal. The Programme districts needed to be more broadlydistributed throughout the country, extending north into the mountain zone and east intocentral and eastern Nepal. These facts were also considered while including three moredistricts, Humla, Myagdi and Okhaldhunga in the second phase (see Figure 1). Stakeholderconsultations and other project design activities were similar to Phase I, with the exceptionof the fact that SCDP's team of professionals took the lead in formulating the new projectdocument. The project document for the second phase of the Programme was signed inJanuary 2000 and the activities in the districts commenced by the first half of that year.The second phase also focused on consolidating activities of the first phase districts.2.2 Selection of Programme DistrictsAs soon as the project document was signed in 1996 and a National Programme Manager(NPM) was recruited, extensive literature review and consultations were held to evaluatethe watershed conditions in Nepal. The socio-economic and environmental conditions ofwatersheds in the Mid and Far-Western Development Regions were found to be poor comparedto the other development regions. Moreover, in the Mid and Far-Western DevelopmentRegions the local governance system was weak, and development assistance efforts had notbeen effective in improving the overall livelihood of the local people. So, it was agreed thatSCDP would implement its activities in these two regions. After that, the following criteriawere developed to select districts for Phase I:1. The geographical area is defined by watershed boundaries and the watershed is degraded.2 . The area is remote or semi-remote, and has limited utilities in terms of accessibility(roads), electricity and drinking water supply.3 . Development assistance has not been accessible to the communities.Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)7

2. Launching SCDP4 . The overall levels of formal education and literacy are low.5. Government agencies have not been effective in overall development of the VillageDevelopment Committees (VDCs).6 . The commitment of DDCs and VDCs in collaboration and building partnership with theProgramme is high.7 . The system of local governance is weak.Based on these criteria, the HMG/NPC in consultation with UNDP selected Surkhet, Kailaliand Dang. SCDP formed partnerships with the DDC in each district, and to ensure itscommitment to and support for the Programme, the DDC signed a Terms of Partnership(ToP) with SCDP.8In 1999 it was decided that the Programme needed a more national outlook. So theprogramme had to include more districts during Phase II to implement that decision. Itwas agreed to extend the programme in three more districts in the hill and mountain zonescovering a range of ecoregions and the eastern parts of Nepal. UNDP also wished to promotecoherence and co-ordination with other UNDP assisted projects which was reflected in thecriteria. Eventually the criteria for selecting the new Programme districts were:1. Presence of UNDP-assisted PDDP, LGP, SGP or REDP programmes and SNV-assisted DPPin the district;2 . Degraded watershed districts as identified by HMG/UNDP/FAO in a report on WatershedConditions of the Districts of Nepal;3 . Overall composite index of development (using the ICIMOD & SNV, 1997. Districts ofNepal - Indicators of Development 1997;4 . 1996 District Human Development Index (UNDP. 1998. Nepal Human DevelopmentReport);5. The commitment of DDCs and VDCs in collaboration and building partnership with theProgramme is high; and6 . The system of local governance is weak.Interaction amongdevelopment partners inSimikot, Humla.It was accepted that there would be many more districts qualified for SCDP support thanthe Programme could support. So, other factors were also taken into account after thedistricts were short-listed. The natural resource potentials in those districts had to be high.The districts needed to have regular access to transportation (there should be airports ifthere were no roads) so that monitoringwould be easier. In some cases, the strengthof the DDC leadership, tourism potential, etc.were also considered. Preference was alsogiven to have at least one districtrepresented from all the DevelopmentRegions in the Programme. Districts fromthe Central Development Region that isrelatively prosperous were excluded.Considering all these factors, theProgramme was extended to threeadditional districts Humla, Myagdi, andOkhaldhunga in 2000. Implementation ofthe activities in these districts were basedon the experiences of Phase I.

The main features of SCDP's operational strategy are depicted in Figure 2 below. Each of them will be discussed indetail later in this report.Figure 2. SCDP Operational Strategy9Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

2. Launching SCDP2.3 Selection of VDCsThe Programme budget made it possible to provide both financial and technical support toabout 15 VDCs in each district. In the first phase districts, DDC's Sustainable DevelopmentCommittee (SDC) was responsible for identifying up to 15 VDCs that would benefit mostfrom the SCDP's assistance. The pre-condition for selecting VDCs was that the watershedcondition there had to be degraded. SCDP staff approached the VDCs and discussed theProgramme with VDC officials and community members. The DDC/SDC then made finalVDC selection.In Humla, Myagdi and Okhaldhunga (second phase districts) the Programme wasimplemented in less than 10 VDCs. This was based on the experiences of the first phasedistricts where programme coverage and resources allocation did not match. Humla had10VDC is a localdevelopment partner atthe community levelthe smallest number of VDCs because the operation cost is relatively high there and thesettlement pattern is spread out.VDC selection was done on a cluster basis especially in districts which had no road access.This was done keeping in mind the need to conduct efficient micro watershed managementand regular monitoring activities. Monitoring cost needed to be minimised withoutThehe village, Humla

compromising the quality. In addition, as this was a pilot programme, monitoring wasimportant to assist in the adaptation of the programme elsewhere. Some VDCs with arelatively easy access needed to be selected to facilitate information sharing anddissemination of information to interested visitors. In Myagdi's case, the environmentalimpacts created by trekking tourism in the Kali Gandaki Valley (part of the AnnapurnaCircuit) and Dhaulagiri route were considered while selecting VDCs.Table 1 highlights the Programme coverage of VDCs, households and percentage of populationwho directly benefited from SCDP. The percentage of direct beneficiaries ranges from 8.9per cent in Kailali to 14.9 per cent in Surkhet. In addition, a large number of men andwomen have indirectly benefited since many social and environmental projects benefit thesociety as a whole.Table 1: Profile of SCDP DistrictsDistricts Total Total Number No. of SCDP Total Households Total HH % ofpopulation of VDCs implemented participating members population(2001 census)* VDCs participating in SCDPDang 462,380 39 15 10,185 57,036 12.3Humla 40,595 27 4 1,020 5,712 14.1Kailali 616,697 42 15 9,849 55,154 8.9Myagdi 114,447 40 7 2,511 14,062 12.3Okhaldhunga 156,702 56 8 3,430 19,208 12.2Surkhet 288,527 50 15 7,701 43,126 14.9Total 1,679,348 254 64 34,696 194,298 11.6*Source: District Demographic Profile of Nepal: Informal Sector Research and Study Centre 2002.2.4 Selection of Support OrganisationsA variety of different approaches were used to implement the Programme activities inorder to be able to compare the relative effectiveness of those approaches. The approach toProgramme implementation differed among the three first phase Programme districts,with regard to technical support arrangements and selection of entry points. First, twotypes of agencies (local government and non-governmental) were used as SupportOrganisations (SOs) for the Programme (see Figure 3 for institutional structure of SOs).Second, each of the districts (during Phase I) initiated Programme activities from a differententry point (environmental management, economic development or social development),and then gradually started activities related to other two components.For each district a Support Organisation was selected, either a local NGO (in Kailali andSurkhet) or a unit attached to DDC (in Dang). The main function of the SOs was to set upand support the CBOs to carry out sustainable development activities at the district levelby running the Sustainable Development Facility (SDF 1 ). SDF provided the CBOs withtechnical assistance and connections to other resources. SO had several staff members. Alocal staff member called a community activist (CA), also known as Social Mobiliser (SM),was assigned to every VDC. The Community Activists were permanent residents of theVDC. Each district was also assigned two Community Officers (COs) or EnterpriseDevelopment Officers. They were responsible for supervising the project activities in theVDCs. The SDF also had technical staff, who provided technical advice on ruralinfrastructure development, and Natural Resource Conservation (NRC) Assistant whoadvised the SO on environment and conservation issues.Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)111 Both SO and SDF have been used interchangeably in the report

2. Launching SCDPFigure 3: Institutional Structure of SOsSCDP in consultation with the localstakeholders had a policy to recruit the stafffrom the concerned districts and VDCs asfar as possible. The SO staff contractsapplied government pay scale or the NGO/SO's rules and regulations. This provisionwas adopted to ensure the sustainability ofthe Programme. It was thought that thisbenefit policy would allow DDCs to retainthe SO staff and continue implementing theprogramme even after UNDP and Capacity21 assistance is completed. The interest fromCredit Capital Fund would also partly be usedfor paying staff salaries. This strategy hadits pros and cons. Recruitment of local staffensured a high degree of ownership andcommitment from the SO staff. It is also clearthat with the relatively low pay scales, bestpossible expertise could not be attracted towork in the SOs.12Agenda 21 recognised NGOs and local authorities as partners for promoting sustainabledevelopment. Strengthening their role in the implementation of Agenda 21 was imperative.Thus, in Kailali and Surkhet, local NGOs (BASE and CDRC respectively) were selected toact as SOs. In Dang, an SO was created under the aegis of the DDC Dang. Another UNDPProgramme Participatory District Development Programme (PDDP), was already operatingan SO through the DDC. The PDDP model was used to develop the SCDP SO to harmonisethe programme implementation modality and avoid confusion. In the second phase, allthree districts created SOs under the DDC.2.4.1 NGO vs. DDC as SOBoth approaches in setting up an SO, whether using a local NGO or the DDC, have theirown merits and demerits. NGO's strength lies in its flexibility. Generally speaking, NGOshave less bureaucratic hurdles. As a result, their decision making process is swift. TheyNGO staffs from Surkhetand Kailali participating in theProgramme review meeting

can penetrate well in the communities especially when they have developed good rapportwith the local people. NGO's access to social capital is also strong. In each district, the localNGOs worked with DDC's general supervision and guidance anyway (because DDC had alead role in the Sustainable Development Committee). This allowed for regular monitoringand keeping track of NGO's activities. So far the experience also points to the direction thatNGOs in general are more agile and are better adapted to resource mobilisation.DDC comprises of elected representatives who are aware of the local needs and priorities. Ifthey are genuinely committed to the district’s development, they can act swiftly andcomplete activities effectively. It was also obvious that collaboration with VDCs was betterin those districts where SO was run by the DDC itself. In addition, if DDC acts as SDF, moreownership is felt by the DDC. There are chances that the DDC would continue supportingthe CBOs even after the Programme phases out. This way the sustainability of the CBOs isassured to a great extent.Both types of support arrangements have some problems. Many argue that the NGOsthemselves have not yet developed as self-sustaining institutions. There is doubt whetherthey would be in a position to continue assisting the CBOs formed under the Programmeonce it is phased out. If DDC acts as SDF, there is a risk of intense politicisation. In addition,some district coordinators also felt that they needed to get involved in almost all theactivities of DDC beyond the initial support mandate, which affected their work for SCDP.In any case, an NGO aspiring to work with DDC needs to have a good working relation.Considering all these factors, having NGO or DDC as SO will depend on local circumstances.It will depend on the strength of the NGOs or DDC in the respective areas.2.5 Institutional Arrangements132.5.1 Management at the Central LevelThe National Planning Commission (NPC) implemented SCDP. NPC's framework ismultisectoral which is conducive to sustainable development initiatives. Realising thatboth vertical and horizontal institutional partnerships are necessary to support executionand implementation of a programme such as SCDP, an Executive Committee (EC) wasestablished to bring together all the major central and local level stakeholders. The NPCMember responsible for the Agriculture, Forest and Land Reform portfolio chaired theEC members in TripartiteReview meeting in 1998Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

2. Launching SCDPcommittee. Members included the National Programme Director from NPC andrepresentatives from the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Ministry of LocalDevelopment, Ministry of Population and Environment, DDCs implementing theprogramme, NGO Federation of Nepal and UNDP. The roles of the EC were:n To strengthen partnerships among the major stakeholder institutionsn To mobilise and encourage central level support for successful implementation of theSCDP at the local leveln To guide the Programme management for overall implementation of the SCDP andsupport for formulation of macro level sustainable development policiesDuring the first four years, the Programme Management Unit (PMU) was based in Surkhetand later in Nepalgunj (Banke district), after which it was transferred into NPC premisesin Kathmandu. PMU staff consisted of the National Programme Manager, Communicationand Monitoring Officer, Research and Training Officer and support staff. Until 2002 theNational Coordinator of the GEF Small Grants Programme was also based in the PMU. Inreturn, for the logistical support from SCDP, he provided professional inputs, particularlyin environmental conservation and programme monitoring.142.5.2 Management at the District and VDC LevelsInitially an ad hoc District Management Committee (DMC) was formed to manage theSCDP activities in each district. After the promulgation of the Local Self-Governance Act in1999, the ad hoc committee was re-established as the district Sustainable DevelopmentCommittee (SDC). SDCs became permanent sub-committees of the DDCs for which by-lawswere promulgated in each district. Membership consisted of DDC Chairperson, LocalDevelopment Officer (LDO), District Forest Officer (DFO) and National Programme Managerof SCDP. The responsibility of the SDC was to guide the overall planning and managementof SCDP activities in each district. It also included commissioning of staff to facilitate theproject activities.Prem N. Premi, DDCChairperson, Okhaldhungadelivering remarks during thesynergy workshop forUNDP- assisted programmesAs the local government body, the role of the DDC is to enhance sustainable developmentat the local level. By working with and supporting the DDC, SCDP was an instigator for thedevelopment of several institutional conditions for sustainability. Indeed the participatingDDCs considered SCDP to be an important development programme of which the DDCstook full ownership. Sustainable development thus became a function of the localgovernment. This fact has been acknowledged by the DDCs time and again. The Local Self-Governance Act allowed DDCs to establishpermanent committees and subcommitteesto plan and oversee implementation ofpriority activities in the district. SCDPcatalysed the establishment of SustainableDevelopment Committees. SDCs haveevolved into district level committeesresponsible for policy-making, as well ascoordinating and monitoring activities forsustainable development. By doing this, theDDCs have formally established theinstitutional framework for allocation oftheir own resources and mobilisation ofother resources for sustainable

development. Furthermore, the SDCs were strongly linked to the Support Organisation,which linked district level policy support to local level implementation. Finally, theparticipating DDCs also established Natural Resources Management Unit at DDC. This hasbeen a landmark for internalising the sustainable development activities.The VDC Mul Samiti (Main Committee) was a committee which consisted of the chairpersonand manager of each of the CBOs in a VDC. The role of the Mul Samiti was to monitor CBOactivities, help facilitate CBO formation and help obtain matching funds from the VDC. Itwas primarily concerned with financial monitoring, provision of funds and other financialmatters.Each SO drafted an annual activity plan and discussed it first with each VDC to ensurethat the project plan was in line with the other planned development activities. Once theVDCs had concurred, SO submitted the plan to the respective DDC Council for finalendorsement. All VDC representatives were closely involved with the projectimplementation to the extent that their endorsement was mandatory for the release ofcredit funds for economic development. This practice made the local bodies fully informed,increased their ownership and provided them with a sense of responsibility andcommitment, which increased the programme's local flavour. Transparency was themaintained through this process. In addition, VDC members were also taken for field visitsacross Programme districts and villages to allow them to share experiences and to learnfrom other districts which were grappling with the same development challenges.2.5.3 Management at the Community LevelTo implement the programme at community level, SCDP adopted modality that is commonto many UNDP-funded projects which began during the latter half of 1990s. At leasteighty per cent of the community members in a particular settlement had to expressinterest to join the programme. Three types of community groups were established: womenonly, men only and mixed groups where both men and women were members. Thesegroups were called Community-based Organizations (CBOs). After a set of activities by theCBOs, social mobilisation process would begin. They elected chairpersons and managersCBO members united forself-help programme,OkhaldhungaReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)15

162. Launching SCDPBox 2: Integrated activities meet rural needs in NepalWhen Nepal's Capacity 21 programme began in 1997, three watermelon and vegetables, which have helped reduce vitaminpressing issues needed to be addressed. Acute deforestation deficiency in their village. Medicinal plants, plentiful in the past,and soil erosion were threatening biodiversity and causing are expected to return as the new forest matures. Villagersfloods downstream. Rural poverty was severe, and disease pay a small fee to harvest grass from the forest, which paysand malnutrition were widespread. Access to schools, the salary of a community forest guard.sanitation and health care was grossly inadequate. Deeprooteddivisions of gender and caste made collective action To support the creation of income-generation initiatives, SCDPdifficult. Which problem should take priority? The answer, of established the Sustainable Development Facility Fund (SDFF),course was, "all of them". With its Sustainable Community which offers credit to local communities. In addition to takingDevelopment Programme (SCDP), Capacity 21 made an loans from the SDFF, the Ghaatgaun CBO has mobilised itsambitious commitment: to address the economic, social and own capital through a community fund. Members borrow toenvironmental aspects of rural poverty in Nepal in an integrated, finance entrepreneurial activities, such as retail shops,cohesive manner, so that different types of initiatives could commercial poultry and pig farms, and cash crop cultivation. Asupport and enhance one another. "SCDP is probably the first scholarship fund has also been set up, and local children areproject in Nepal that has attempted, from day one, to come up attending school for the first time. "The integration ofwith a support package for the communities that would address environmental management and social and economicall their vital needs", says Kristiina Mikkola, Environmental development builds synergetic impacts, while addressingGovernance Advisor at UNDP in Kathmandu.communities' common problems", says Hum Bahadur Gurung,national programme manager ofSCDP chose three districts to workSCDP for Capacity 21.in, later expanding to six. It identifiedlocal NGOs to help launchIn the six districts, SCDP encouragesenvironmental, economic or social"green enterprises", including treeprojects in each district, and itnurseries, sustainable harvesting oforganised village developmentforest products such as herbalcommittees, each of which wouldmedicines, and apiculture, whichsupervise the activities of 30produces nutritious honey-a saleablecommunity-based organisations, oritem while promotion biodiversity. InCBOs. At least 80 percent ofone community, children planted fruithouseholds in a community join thetrees around their school, includinglocal CBO. Women participatebananas, which bore fruit the firstequally with men, and all castesyear, as part of an environmentalare represented. Today, someproject. Before long, the trees had37,800 households are membersbecome an income-generating assetof CBOs, with more than 185,000for the school.people benefiting from theiractivities.In another village, the social initiative of installing latrines hasbecome part of a biogas programme that provides an"People from all walks of life - poor and rich, men and womenareinvolved in community-based sustainable development improving nutrition and increasing family incomes, whilealternative source of fuel. Elsewhere, high-yield bananas areactivities," says Hari Shankar Tripathi, member of Nepal's promoting soil stability and helping to reduce run-off in theNational Planning Commission. "SCDP has harnessed the local watershed. "We are promoting a win-win situation",potential of local people to develop local leadership and says Ms. Mikkola of UNDP, "because community membersstrengthened their capacities to manage integrated social, select and prioritise their own activities."economic and environmental development programmes."Initially, each CBO chose one activity - environmental, social oreconomic -as the entry point that would address a pressinglocal concern. But after a short time, the distinctions betweenthe three types of activities began to blur. "We found that aftertwo or three months of implementation, if we were doing socialdevelopment, the people spontaneously began linking it toenvironmental activities that had an economic component",says Manoj Basnyat, former sustainable development advisorat UNDP, Nepal.In the village of Ghaatgaun in Surkhet District, CBO membersdecided their first priority was to restore a severely depletedforest on the banks of the Karnali River. They planted sixspecies of trees to reduce soil erosion, as well as fruit trees,The impact of SCDP has reached beyond the six target districts.Its approach will be incorporated into Nepal's next Five-YearPlan, in recognition of the contribution the programme hasmade towards poverty alleviation. A network of NGOs inwestern Nepal is implementing mini-projects that emulate theSCDP model, and the Canadian International DevelopmentAgency is currently formulating a Community EnvironmentalAwareness Programme similar to SCDP. "There is greatpotential for the SCDP approach to be expanded beyond thesix project district", says Mr. Tripathi of the PlanningCommission. "We are organising observation tours, so thatother communities can learn about the SCDP approach todevelopment".Source: UNDP/Global Capacity 21, 2001

whose tasks were to manage the groups. CBOs were supposed to hold meetings on a regularbasis, preferably every week, so as to ensure full community participation. The groupsprovided a community-based self-governing modality for programme. At the end of theproject, 1354 CBOs in 64 VDCs had been established. Both the social mobilisation conceptand the activities CBOs undertook are discussed in Chapters 3, 4 and 5.2.6 Programme Entry PointsThe concept of different entry points in different districts was a unique approach. The ideawas to begin with one component of sustainable development and then progressively coverall three thematic areas: economic development, environmental management and socialdevelopment. For the Phase I districts, an entry point was selected based on the prevailingneeds of the communities. In Surkhet, the watershed areas were extremely degraded.According to the Soil Conservation Report (1986), Surkhet had the worst watershed conditionof the three. Therefore, environmental management was selected as Surkhet's entry point.Social development was the initial entry point for Kailali district because a lot needed to beaccomplished in the social front there. Kailali has a large indigenous community of Tharus,and eventually a large population of freed families of bonded labourers (ex-kamaiyas) settledthere. In Dang, economic development was selected as the initial entry point. Potential foreconomic development was estimated to be high in Dang since improvements in the roadconditions had increased farmers' accessibilityto the local markets.Stakeholder’s discussion onsustainable developmententry pointsOnce the communities in the Programmeareas were satisfied with their progress on theinitial entry point, they moved to one of theother entry points (see Figure 4). By the endof the first three-year phase, all three districtshad completed activities under each of thethree entry points in an integrated manner.SCDP's integrated approach to developmentwas recognised by the Global Capacity 21 asan example of integration of environmentallysustainable development (see Box 2).After seven years of programme activities,people in Dang and Surkhet can relate morewith their initial entry points. While talking with various CBO members in these districts,they mostly emphasise the progress made in their entry points. In Surkhet, SCDPcontributed towards environmental conservation. In Dang, they associate SCDP morewith its micro-finance works (hence economic development) than with other activities.The general sentiment of the district coordinators is that integrated development shouldbe emphasised from the beginning of the Programme. Though entry point concept soundsappealing to many people, there is a risk that people might just view their entry as themajor area to focus on and ignore other components which are equally important.Based upon the experience gained during Phase I implementation, changes were made forPhase II. Programme was launched in Humla, Myagdi and Okhaldhunga using an integratedapproach where the three entry points were addressed simultaneously gearing the programmeReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)17

2. Launching SCDPFigure 4. Entry Points and SCDP Implementation Process18towards a holistic sustainable community development. Though all the components werestarted at the same time, environmental management had to be initiated first because of thelong incubation period for such activities (e.g. preparing nurseries, producing seedlings,etc).The following three chapters discuss the programme activities implemented as part ofeach of the three entry points in detail.

3SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Social development is one of the pillars of sustainable development.Without addressing this component, one cannot expect theenhancement of the overall quality of life of the people. It is essentialto consider a diverse set of issues in this front. On the one hand, theskills of the community members and social organisations need tobe improved so as to increase their ability to analyse their problemsand develop solutions by themselves. On the other, more resourcesshould be allocated in sectors such as health and education, whichbenefit the whole society.The social development component, therefore, addresses thefollowing aspects:n To analyse problems, initiate plans, make collaborativedecisions, and implement and modify activities.n To evaluate the process and repeat the cycle in subsequentdecisions with greater efficiency.n To invest to improve basic education, maintain basic healthcare, informal classes, revive indigenous culture, etc.

3.1 Building Social CapitalSCDP intended to make sure that the fruits of its activities reached to the communitymembers in the Programme implemented areas. It encouraged the settlements to formCommunity-based Organisations (CBO), a self-governing local institution to helpthemselves. At least 80% of the households of the settlement, regardless of political ideology,caste, religion or sex, so as to unify people to serve their socio-economic and environmentalneeds had to be interested in becoming a CBO member for the programme to go ahead.After forming, the CBOs started holding regular meetings at a time and location determinedby the members. At each weekly meeting each CBO member had to make a monetarycontribution to the CBO's Community Fund (CF). The CBO members decided the amount ofSocial mobilisationtraining for SO staff21the contribution themselves, and each member of the CBO contributed the same amount.That money was non-refundable to the members. The resources of this Community Fundwere used for various purposes which are discussed in detail in Chapter 5.SCDP adopted an 80% community involvement rule instead of insisting that 100% of thehouseholds of the settlement should be members in order to be registered as a CBO. Thiswas done because the latter rule might not be practical. Insisting on 100% membershipcould create situations where relatively wealthy people could obstruct the formation ofCBO by refusing to be a member. Also, being a member per se does not automatically entailmaximum benefit to the poor. Specific and targeted programmes need to be designed.Therefore, SCDP decided to encourage 100% membership but have at least 80% of thesettlement as members.In each settlement, a maximum of one all-male CBO and one all-female CBO, or one mixed(male and female) CBO could be formed. This provision was introduced by considering theprevailing norms and cultural factors in the community. In some communities people,especially women, were uneasy about expressing themselves in front of people from oppositesex. In other cases, men preferred to send their wife/daughter-in-law to meetings wherewomen only attended.The whole process of CBO formation and its activities helped the members develop capacities.They needed to learn how to plan, how to decide on what they wanted to do in theirReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

3. Social DevelopmentWeekly CBO meeting inprogress, Okhaldhungacommunity. As they had limited resources, they had to first identify the most pressingneeds. Naturally, different people would have different priorities so they needed to learnnegotiation skills to reach a consensus. While asking for loans, they needed to convinceothers that their case was a genuine one and their business idea profitable. These practiceshelped both men and women make coherent plans and built their confidence. They learnedabout problem solving if and when unforeseen issues cropped up during the activityimplementation.22In the meetings, they also talked aboutdevelopment and learned to identify thetrade-offs. As mentioned earlier, all theirneeds could not be satisfied with the limitedfunds at community's disposal. They wouldthen realise that only a few projects couldbe undertaken; so they tried to make surethat the ones that would benefit morecommunity members were approved. Inthe groups, there were men and womenfrom different economic conditions, castes,religions, cultures, etc. Their continued andactive association contributed towards socialharmony and respect towards diversity. Inaddition, many under-privileged groups also formed CBOs. For example, former bondedlabourers established a CBO of their own in Kailali. One community forest was also handedover to this CBO.In general, female CBOs were the most active followed by mixed and male CBOs respectively.It was also observed that female CBO members were more honest and took theirresponsibilities very seriously. There was also a general impression that the loan repaymentrate among the female CBOs was higher.The declaration of the state of emergency and escalation of the conflict from 2001 onwardshas adversely affected the social mobilisation activities. The CBOs needed to work outBox 3: Insights about social mobilisation process during emergencyAccording to Khumakanta Pandey and KedarPrasad Adhikari, Chairperson and Managerrespectively of Gyan Jyoti CBO of Dang, their CBOheld regular meetings and always collectedsavings, even during the state of emergency. Butthe format changed after the state of emergencywas imposed. The CBO decided to have twomeetings in a month instead of weekly ones.Savings amount for two weeks were collected inthose meetings. Earlier, they conducted meetingsin public places but during the emergency it wasdone inside a member's house. The best part wasthat neither the army nor the insurgents perceivedthe CBO as a threat. This was because the CBOwas able to convince both sides that it wasinvolved in welfare activities which benefited thewhole society and not just a few people. The CBOmembers even talked with the Maoists on a regularbasis and updated them about their activities.Because of these factors, they were able to raiseRs. 57,500 for the Community Fund and alsomobilised Rs. 140,000 of the Credit Capital Fund.Teja Basnyat, Devithan Women CBO of Dang feelsthat the state of emergency affected her CBOadversely as most of its members left the district,many seeking employment outside Nepal. Thoughthey were also not able to conduct meetingsregularly, savings were collected every month tomaintain the CBO and keep it active. For thosemembers who were away, their family memberspaid the due amount.

location specific strategies to continue their activities (see Box 3). These examples showthat some CBOs could cope with the challenging situation better than others.Table 2 shows the trend of CBOs formed from 1997 to 2003. Some CBOs had to be disbandedmainly because of the security situation. Considering the imminent Programme completionin 2003, a decision was made in 2002 to cease the formation of new CBOs. This was doneprimarily to ensure that there was enough of time and resources available for the existingCBOs to attain full maturity and self-sustainability.Table 2 : Year-wise status of CBO formationDistrict 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 June 2003 TotalDang 177 160 115 -7 25 0 470Kailali 35 150 79 23 11 6 1 305Surkhet 32 84 117 17 2 4 1 257Humla 43 19 0 0 62Myagdi 67 32 0 0 99Okhaldhunga 161 4 -4 0 162Total 67 411 356 426 61 31 2 1,3543.1.1 Experiences from CBO FormationThe ease or difficulty in forming CBOs in any area ultimately depended on the communitymembers. In some areas, CBO formation was quick and efficient, while in other areas theprocess was more lengthy and time consuming. The most commonly encountered challengesare summarised below:n People from different ethnic groups,castes and geographical locations were Figure 5: Year-wise status of net CBO formationnot easily motivated to group togetherand form a single CBO.n Some people found it difficult to attendweekly meetings.n In some areas it was not possible to selecta CBO Manager because none of the CBOmembers (and in some cases thesettlement) was literate.n In some communities well-respectedand/or influential members of thecommunity did not support the conceptof forming CBOs. Obviously they hadtheir own reasons which varied.n In some VDCs people had residences intwo different settlements (one in the hillsand the other in the low land). It was noteasy for them to determine whether tojoin the CBO in the hill settlement or in the low land.n In scattered settlements it was difficult to coordinate activities and bring people fromthe households together for the meetings.Furthermore, it was not uncommon for villagers to be suspicious of the overall intentionsof the Programme. In one case, some villagers had participated in a similar government-Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)23

3. Social DevelopmentSDC members onmonitoring visit, Surkhet.initiated savings programme that had proved eventually unsuccessful. In other areascommunity members suspected that the new people (the SO staff) may collect their savingsand leave. Some people even speculated as to the political affiliations of the SCDP Programme.24The SO staff had to play a fundamental role in helping theBox 4: Voice of a CBO Membercommunities overcome the difficulties and alleviate their fears. Theyabout SCDPworked with individual community members and communityKaringa Chaudhary is one of the most active leaders to convince them of the benefits of social mobilisation andmembers of Samajkalyan Samuhik Sangathan, self-help and to motivate them to form CBOs. Before approaching aa CBO in Kailali. Mr. Chaudhary has survivedparticular community, intensive study about the places and peoplethe deprivation of different regimes - the Ranaoligarchy, the Panchayat System and now, in that locality was necessary. The SO staff also realised that it wasdemocracy. His one and only grudge is that particularly important and productive to identify the individualsnone of the systems have made efforts toempower the poor. More worrying, he says, within the community - often influential and resourceful people whothe politics of the last decade has divided the were discouraging others in CBO formation-- and convince thesepoor into parties. Now "digo bikas" (sustainableindividuals first about the benefits of CBO formation. In most cases,development) is bringing them back together,he adds. Social mobilisation being undertaken talking with these men and women in private and addressing theirby SCDP is facilitating the process. "This SCDP concerns worked well. If anyone (mostly men) was still unconvinced,I feel is real democracy, we think the projectcan be called a digo party," he adds.the SO staff would then ask someone from the village whom thatperson respected and was enthusiastic about forming CBO to convinceSource: SCDP Annual Progress Report 1998: 26him/her. In some cases, inviting them as resource persons for SCDPworked because these people would then feel recognised. If thecommunity members were still unenthusiastic about forming CBOsafter two to three meetings, the social mobilisers mostly abandoned their plan of formingCBO in that locality. After the Programme implementation started, people could observetangible benefits. In Box 4 some interesting opinions on SCDP are discussed.3.2 Gender EmpowermentGender empowerment was one of the main activities of SCDP. As the condition of women ingeneral is poor in Nepal, women were given priority so that they would be able to act as acatalyst for broader social development.Though improvement has not been achieved at the pace initially planned, some markedchanges can definitely be seen in the Programme areas. The female members have become

more vocal and their general awareness level has also increased.Women have attended meetings on a regular basis and have madesure that their opinions were heard and listened to. On numerousinteractions with female CBO members in different places, one couldsense their unhappiness and disappointment because their malecounterparts were not as active or as enthusiastic as they were.The fact that they have started expressing these opinions freelyshould be taken positively. Women are now demandingdevelopment; this is definitely a good social empowerment indicator.Many women members have also assumed leadership roles in theCBOs. There is a sizeable proportion of female chairpersons andmanagers of CBOs, as shown in Table 3. This definitely helped genderempowerment. As chairpersons and managers, they shoulder greatresponsibilities. SCDP also conducted many training eventstargeting those in leadership positions to further improve theircapabilities. This also had other positive externalities - they hadforums to share experiences with other female members as well.SCDP was active in creating awareness about women and genderissues, for instance by regularly observing International Women'sDay by organising various programmes. In most places prior toSCDP's intervention, women were not included in groups formed atthe village level, such as Community Forest Management Committee or Drinking WaterUsers' Committee. SCDP has changed that. Many women CBO members were activeinitiating and implementing environmental management and socio-economic developmentactivities in SCDP's seven years of work with the rural communities.Rural women empowermentfor sustainable livelihood,Okhaldhunga25Quite a few women were hired to work as social mobilisers too. In fact, all (seven) CommunityActivists in Myagdi were women and in Okhaldhunga only one social mobiliser out of eightwas a man. Social mobilisers have one of the most important roles; so more female CAswould provide a positive signal to the community at large. Especially, when they are ableto complete their assignment satisfactorily, it helps convince others to provide greateropportunities to women in general.In some female CBOs, the CAs had to attend a few CBO meetings, initially to brief the membersabout saving and other activities SCDP was supporting. SCDP's involvement also helped indecreasing intra-family feuds. For example, there was a case in Surkhet where a woman wasTable 3: Percentage of Women Members, WomenChairpersons and Managers of CBOs in different districtsDistrict Total % of female Total CBOs Female Femalemembers members formed Chairpersons ManagersNumber (%) Number (%)Dang 9,800 35 470 141 29 111 23Humla 1,169 31 62 11 18 14 23Kailali 10,804 29 305 108 36 98 33Myagdi 2,513 52 99 38 38 37 37Okhaldhunga 4,753 48 161 86 53 84 52Surkhet 8,782 48 257 68 27 38 15Total 37,901 39 1,354 452 31 377 28Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

3. Social Developmentregularly beaten by her husband in the initial stage of SCDP operation. Later the husbandchanged his behaviour completely because the wife had become a CBO member and she was ina position to assist her family financially as well.With SCDP support, the communities implemented different kinds of projects thatcontributed to social development. Many of these also bear direct relevance to, e.g., economicactivities underlining the interlinked and intricate nature of sustainable development atcommunity level. Some of the important activities are discussed below.3.3 Water for Drinking and IrrigationAccess to safe drinking water has always been a problem in Nepal. It is even more acute inthe remote villages. This is one of the reasons why SCDP was eager to support drinking26Drinking water schemebenifits dalit men andwomen in Thehe, Humlawater schemes in the settlements where theCBOs prioritised them. The drinking waterschemes have been benefiting nearly 1100households in Surkhet, Okhaldhunga andHumla by providing access to safe drinkingwater. The frequency of water-borne diseaseshas also come down to some extent. To ensuresustainability of the schemes, CBOs prepareda plan, contributed their own resources andimplemented and eventually managed smalldrinking water schemes. SCDP linked upwith the local line agencies and local bodiesunits to support them. Communities now usethe water for multiple purposes such asdrinking, irrigation for vegetables andsanitation. Water harvesting techniqueswere also applied to store water in some areas(see Box 5).CBO members and SCDP staffdiscussing an irrigation canalimprovement scheme, DangIn many parts of the hill regions, rain-fedcrops alone do not guarantee food

sufficiency. Large-scale irrigation projects and canals are not feasible. However, smallscale irrigation projects have proved feasible and beneficial to the hill communities. Microirrigation,canal construction, and repair works have increased agricultural productivity.Micro-irrigation projects have made on and off-season vegetable cultivation possible which,in turn, has improved the nutrition status and provided a source of extra income forhouseholds. Such systems have also minimised the loss of water due to irregular andAdult literacy classes alsohelp rural women to learnabout environmentalconservation, Surkhetinadequate irrigation water supply during the vital growth stage of paddy. The support,although nominal, has helped some of the most disadvantaged farming communities tobuild up confidence and capacity to plan and carry out small construction activities ontheir own with very little external support.273.4 Adult Literacy ProgrammesAdult literacy remains one of the majorBox 5: Water - Essential for survival,sanitation and farmingconcerns of communities in rural areas. MostIn Humla district, seven CBOs collaborated to of the adults, especially women, are illiterateprovide more than 200 households with drinking in these areas. Before SCDP, the members ofwater. In an area where irrigation is essential forvegetable production, water is also used forinfluential families of the community werevegetable gardens. In many rural villages, a lack the only ones to have access to adult literacyof toilets pollutes the entire village. But in theclasses. The poor were either ignored or notvillage of Thehe in Humla district, people havebuilt community toilets and are keeping them clean. motivated enough to join such classes. But,with the classes CBOs had started, thingsWater harvesting is another example where changed because the poor were especiallyCBOs have worked to benefit the communities.In remote, high and hilly villages where there are targeted. Lessons about environment andno water springs or streams, drinking water is a natural resources managment were alsoprecious commodity. In Surkhet district, the CBOsincluded in most of these non-formal literacyhave built 2,000 litre cement containers for thecollection of rainwater during the monsoon. The classes for adults. This contributed to bothwater is then used during the dry season. social development and environmentconservation.Source: Capacity 21, New York, 2003The literacy classes were first started inKailali, where social development was the entry point. Altogether 68 such literacy classesReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

3. Social Developmentwere conducted in Kailali, 62 in Surkhet, 11 in Dang, 17 in Humla, 12 in Myagdi and 15 inOkhaldhunga. SCDP initially supported the literacy classes as per the CBO's plans. Alsothe District Education Offices recognised these efforts and later took leadership in organisingthese classes to the CBO members. This is an example of successful partnership buildingwith district line agencies to mobilise resources.3.5 Improved TrailsWalking trails provide the only physical access to many of the programme settlements. Onday by day basis community members, including children, walk long distances to28Documenting SCDPimpacts: improving trails inAnnapurna trekking routenear Tatopani, Myagdisurrounding forests to collect herbs, graze cattle, fetch water, fuelwood or fodder. These areall essential products for their survival. Repair and maintenance of trails in rural areas isa life preserving activity which also helps to keep in regular contact with surroundingsettlements.Suspension bridge: Apartnership projectin Narchyang, Magdi

A total of 110 kilometres (Surkhet 28 km, Humla 6 km, Myagdi 45 km and Okhaldhunga 31km) of trails have been either constructed or improved in the Programme districts. Culvert,road, and village trail construction activities have increased people's safe access to markets,schools, and service centres. Such improvements are especially important to children, women,elders, and animals. For example, the trekking route that traverses through the programmeVDCs in Myagdi was dangerous. Thanks to the CBO's trail improvement activities, the trailhas become safe again, both for trekkers and local community.3.6 Community-based Childcare CentresSCDP provided technical support for the establishment of six Community-Based ChildcareCentres (CBCC) in Kailali and two in Dang. The support included providing basic trainingon childcare to local teachers. The centres were managed by Functional Groups formed forthis purpose (consisting of CBO members). Childcare Centres prepared children for primaryschool. More importantly, parents were able to spend their time on other income generatingactivities as their children were well looked after. Parents contributed either cash orproducts in kind to the Centres.293.7 Schools and ScholarshipsSCDP supported local schools in many ways. The school management committees werefacing difficulties even in running some of the schools throughout the year because adequategovernment funds for schools were not forthcoming. SCDP helped the school managementboards in building new buildings, renovating existing ones (e.g. roofing) and furnishingempty classrooms. Also toilets, playgrounds and drinking water taps were constructed.Improving and equipping school buildings was meant for creating a conducive schoolenvironment for pupils and teachers. For instance, the Surkhet SDF supported the CBOs toimprove facilities in two schools at Gumi VDC. New classrooms were constructed so thatthe pupils studying at different grades would have separate classrooms. SDF shared thecost of construction with the CBOs.Also scholarship schemes were started in some programme districts. Scholarships weremainly given to girls from deprived communities. 65 pupils (20 in Surkhet, 25 in Kailali,10 each in Humla and Dang) benefited from the scheme which was funded by a seed grant.Child Day Care Centre:A plate form to developconservation ethicsReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

3. Social DevelopmentSchool infrastructuresupport in MyagdiThe scheme was on a one-time basis only. In Surkhet a scholarship scheme for childrenfrom the Raji community was started. The Rajis are poor and their children who managedto enrol in school are generally forced to drop out early because of poverty.303.8 Health and Sanitation AwarenessMany activities were done in this front as well. Construction of toilets is one example. Insettlements which wanted toilets, a training course was first conducted where selectedindividuals learned the techniques for building pit latrines, preparing concrete slabs anddesigning cost-effective toilets using locally available materials. The CBOs built a total of3915 toilets (Surkhet 991, Kailali 38, Humla 253, Myagdi 1131 and Okhaldhunga 1500)that has significantly improved sanitation in the villages. All biogas units that wereconstructed in Dang had a toilet attached to it too (see Chapter 4.5).Toilet construction is apriority for better health andsanitation in rural areas3.9 Training and Capacity Building for Social DevelopmentCapacity building is a must to ensure the sustainability of any project. Skills should beenhanced on a regular basis. SCDP conducted many such activities on social development

front. Almost all the above activities included a training component and topics includedliteracy facilitation, pan and slab construction, solar installation and maintenance,traditional birth attendance, women's health and sanitation. After completing some ofthese programmes, some trainees were able to get involved in providing services in theircommunity as Sustainable Development Village Specialists (SDVS). A wide range of trainingand capacity building activities on social develpoment were supported during the projectperiod (See Annex I).Women participating inTBA training, Kailali3.10 Resource MobilisationOne of the main aims of SCDP was to promote synergy for socio-economic development andenvironmental efforts. For this purpose, SCDP extended support as seed grants towardsactivities that would not generate revenue to the participants. These grants were supposedto be used for implementation of community based-development projects. The rationalewas that it enhanced a genuine feeling of local ownership. The CBOs, VDC, DDC, otherorganisations and line agencies also contributed generously. Some of the more costly projectsdemanded cost sharing from other sectors as well. In almost all these activities, the shareJiwan B. Shahi, DDCChairperson, Humladiscussing withdevelopment partners forresource moblisationReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)31

3. Social Developmentof SCDP was never more than 50%. Table 4 illustrates the total provision of seed grants,human resource and capacity building, SDF credit capital fund, and opration cost providedto DDCs/SDFs to carry out CBO's development activities from 1997 to 2003.Table 4: Budget Release to Districts in Rs.District Seed Grant HRD & SDF Operation TotalCapacity Building Credit Capital CostSurkhet 3,232,254 959,247 10,350,342 4,125,080 14,541,842Kailali 3,205,438 1,060,824 10,217,344 4,647,743 14,483,606Dang 3,222,248 908,606 11,024,475 3,883,372 15,155,330Humla 3,010,808 1,886,601 3,789,331 4,443,026 8,686,740Myagdi 2,996,605 1,819,466 3,668,316 4,462,876 8,484,387Okhaldhuga 2,991,605 1,819,466 3,670,753 4,468,035 8,481,824Total 18,658,958 8,454,210 42,720,561 26,030,132 69,833,729Programmes like SCDP should not be perceived as credit agents alone. When a programmeis engaged in micro-finance activities, it is very important to implement activities thatare socially beneficial too. This will also act as a positive public relations campaign.32

4ENVIRONMENT ANDNATURAL RESOURCESMANAGEMENT

As mentioned in Chapter 1, improving the quality of the watershedsin the Programme areas was one of the primary objectives of SCDP.Most of the watersheds were degraded because of human activitiesand fragile geology of the hills. Watershed and wetlandencroachment had increased because of the needs of growingpopulation. These problems needed to be addressed responsibly. Thereasons for conservation and the benefits of conservation activitiesthat could accrue had to be explained adequately. Only then couldone expect communities to become interested in the programme.Social mobilisation was the major element facilitating holisticnatural resource management.The objectives of the Programme towards environmentalmanagement were as follows:n To create environmental awareness among the poor for betteruse and management of natural resources.n To establish multi-purpose forest nurseries and plantations andto introduce alternative energy sources such as micro hydroelectricity,biogas, and solar energy.n To support community-based biodiversity conservationinitiatives.

4.1 Restoring Degraded LandDeforestation was a major threat to the integrity of the watersheds in the Programmeareas. Some actions to address the threat were urgently needed. Therefore, manyenvironmental activities focused on reforestation of degraded areas and on reducing thecommunities' dependence on forest products. CBOs used seed grant support to purchaseseedlings and seeds which were used to replant degraded areas such as riverbanks andsteep slopes.Greening the Terai:Phulbari communityplantation site in KailaliSCDP, District Forest Office and Soil and Water Conservation Office in the Programmedistricts collaborated in preparing forest inventories, training for nursery caretakers,implementing plantation plans, supporting the process of handing over forest managementresponsibilities to communities and soil and watershed conservation throughout the year.35CBOs in all six districts planted seedlings of different species (fruit, fodder, and timber) inmore than 600 hectares of land consisting of community forests, private holdings andbarren communal lands (riverbanks and roadsides). Most of the planted areas have beenprotected by the CBOs. For example, some CBOs in Kailali are providing salaries of watchmenwhom they have hired to protect the seedlings. Table 5 shows the plantation area in hectares,in different districts where the Programme was implemented. Though scientific study hasnot been conducted to determine the survival rate of seedlings planted, it is estimated to bearound 60-70%.Initially community members would havevery little motivation to initiateTable 5: Plantation areasconservation efforts. Community Activists District PlantationareaTotal forestarea in districts% by SCDPSupportneed to be able to convince the CBO members(hectares)(hectares)*that planting degraded areas and Dang 147 197,273 0.07conserving forests is worth the effort andthat in the long run benefits will outrun thecosts. The CA should also be able to convinceHumlaKailaliMyagdi0.52763874,78323,10919,9970.001.190.19Okhaldhunga 32 47,347 0.07the community that some short-termSurkhet 109 177,855 0.06benefits, particularly those derived fromTotal 602.5 540,364 1.58unsustainable use of natural resources, will *Source: Nepal District 2002. National Development InstituteProfileReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

4. Environment and Natural Resources Managementcreate disastrous consequences later. For programmes like SCDP, it will be useful if activitiesthat produce tangible benefits fairly quickly can be initiated while waiting for the benefitsto emerge from longer term conservation activities. One possibility is to practiceagroforestry in the plantation areas. For example, Fulbari Community Forest Users’ Group,the apex body of seven CBOs in Kailali, did precisely this. The CFUG was able to raise itsmembers’ living standards by selling forest products. Portion of the income was againinvested for other micro-enterprise activities.4.2 Community Forest ManagementCommunity forest management has helped to conserve valuable natural resources suchas medicinal plants in many parts of Nepal. Communities have realised the value of suchgifts of nature and many of the CBOs havetaken over the management responsibilitiesfrom the government. SCDP became alsoinvolved with community forestryactivities in Kailali, Surkhet, Humla andMyagdi.36Community plantation inMalbhanga, KailaliTable 6 highlights the total number ofcommunity forests and Community ForestUser Groups that have been supported bySCDP. Already 19 CFUGs are implementingtheir forest management plansindependently. Most of the CommunityForest User Groups supported by SCDP arewaiting for the formal registration with theDistrict Forest Office. The forests, however,are already managed by the communities.The additional programme outreach wasachieved because supporting the 87 existingor emerging CFUGs has produced asignificant increase in the programmecoverage (approximately 6,000 ha of forest land sustainably managed and conserved).Supporting existing Community Forest User Groups in improving the forest managementpractices and establishment of new ones was a welcome diversion from the initial strategyof CBO formation. By doing this, SCDP supported an ongoing, important, nation-wideprogramme of Ministry of Forests and SoilTable 6: Number and Area of Community ForestsConservation, and adopted a functionalDistrict Number of Community Number of institutional mechanism for which aCommunity Forest Area, ha CommunityForestsForests under backstopping mechanism is in placesupported registration with (District Forest Office). Hence institutionalby SCDP SCDP supportsustainability was provided for.Surkhet 4 400 32Kailali 8 820 23Some programme districts paid lessDang 0 0 0Humla 1 n/a 0 emphasis on community forestry becauseMyagdi 6 220 0 there were other organisations alreadyOkhaldhungaTotal01901440055involved. For example, Swiss CommunityForest Development Programme (SCFDP) is

implemented in all VDCs in Okhaldhunga. In Dang a number of development organisations,Care Nepal, Rapti Integrated Development Programme and New Era etc. were alreadyworking on community forestry.4.3 Multipurpose Forest NurseriesSince its early days, SCDP assisted thecommunities to establish multipurpose forestnurseries that served the needs of thecommunity and individual households byproviding seedlings and saplings for bothplantation activities (for degraded watershedsand community forests) and vegetablefarming (for private households). Eachnursery was run by the respective CBO. Asmaller functional group to undertake theresponsibility of nursery planning andmanagement was formed from among theCBO members. CBO then identified themembers that would become nurserymanagers and SCDP provided training forthem. Initially, the SDF assisted the CBOs forpaying the nursery caretaker until thefunctional committee was able to generate adequate income from selling the seedlings andsaplings. Eventually, the CBOs managed altogether 27 multipurpose nurseries - 7 each inSurkhet and Myagdi, 5 in Dang, 4 in Okhaldhunga, 3 in Kailali and 1 in Humla.Dalit women CBOmanaged forestnursery in Humla37Some nurseries formed under the programme have been very successful while some havenot been able to sustain themselves. According to Mr. Krishna Dhungana, LocalDevelopment Officer of Myagdi, one nursery in his district has been so successful that thePrivate multipurposeforest nursery benifitslocal communities,OkhaldhungaReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

4. Environment and Natural Resources ManagementGidhiniya multipurpose nursery, KailaliThen (1997)38Gidhiniya multipurpose nursery, KailaliNow (2003)CBOs are even running a school from the income generated from the nursery management.Sadly, this is not the case with all the 27 nurseries. According to a recent assessment,perhaps only 14 nurseries can continue independently - 3 each in Kailali, Myagdi andOkhaldhunga, 2 each in Dang and Surkhet and 1 in Humla. A sign of sustainability hasbeen that these nurseries stopped applying for SCDP seed grants after the initial years.Some of them have started expanding their market to adjoining VDCs as well.For the remaining nurseries, many reasons can be attributed for not being able to sustainthe activities. The purchasing power remains low in many of the communities. Even if themen and women had the desire to plant, e.g., multipurpose species on their land, they werenot able to buy the seedlings. Some nursery functional groups were rife with conflictsamong the group members on management and profit-sharing issues. In some othercommunities, the demand for nursery products was low after the SCDP-supported plantationactivities had been completed. For instance, the nurseries were able to produce only timbersaplings instead of multipurpose species seedlings although the latter would have a widermarket. The failure to diversify products had its toll.

Dang and Okhaldhunga district co-ordinators were of the opinion that the nurseries shouldbe run as business centres, on commercial basis. They felt that privatisation is a prerequisiteto sustain nurseries. Community nurseries, producing seedlings and saplings atsubsidised rates, can only be successful to a point. After that, either closing down orcommercialising of the nurseries becomes the real option. Private entities or individualsare better positioned to search for markets when the demand in their community subsides.4.4 Eco-Clubs at SchoolsEco-clubs were established at primary schools with the objective of increasing schoolchildren's environmental awareness. Pupils were taught about issues related to theenvironment from the primary level. Emphasis was given on how to involve club membersin environmental activities. These children were amongst the most enthusiastic39Eco-club students -learning by doing, Kailalibeneficiaries of SCDP. They were eager to establish and run the clubs and they only neededan appropriate environment and a bit of assistance in planning, what activities to include.The ecoclubs together with local men and women organised various activities on the WorldEnvironment Day (5 th of June) and other events in different times of the year to createenvironmental awareness. Quiz and essay competitions on environment related issueswere also conducted.Celebrating WorldEnvironment Day toheighten environmentalawareness, HumlaReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

4. Environment and Natural Resources ManagementSome eco-clubs became engaged even in building toilets, drinking water schemes, cleaningcampaigns, vegetable farming (kitchen garden) or running a multipurpose nursery, etc.In Okhaldhunga, the Maheswor Secondary School Eco-club in Bhaduary VDC plantedcinnamomum cardamomum, locally known as alaichi, in the school compound to generateincome. The eco-club activities have beenTable 7: Eco-clubs and Membersan efficient awareness creating tool onsustainable development with a wideDistrict Eco-club Eco-clubsMembersoutreach in the communities. Eco-clubs463 Dang 4 were a successful part of the programme andHumla 44 4the best aspect was that SCDP did not needKailali 2,080 5to provide huge support. The role it playedMyagdi 192 13was mainly of a facilitator. Table 7 showsOkhaldhunga 450 3Surkhet 5,095 9 the number of eco-clubs established in theTOTAL 8324 38 Programme implementing districts and thenumber of their members.In addition, the capacities of both senior students and teachers who taught environmentsciences in the schools were developed. For example, in Myagdi and Bardia, environmentalmanagement training was organised for the teachers. The resource person in Bardia wasthe Chief Warden of the Royal Bardia National Park. School-to-school visits were organisedfor students. SCDP brought resource persons from Annapurna Conservation Area Project(ACAP) to conduct a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop on conservation education. ACAPand SCDP jointly organised exchange visits to learn from each other.404.5 Wetland ConservationSCDP provided some support towards conserving important lakes and wetland areas in theProgramme districts. The Ghodaghodi lake in Kailali, the Jakhera lake in Dang and theJajura Daha in Surkhet are important wetland areas that provide habitat for many birdspecies, both resident and migratory, and other aquatic flora and fauna. The areassurrounding these lakes and wetlands are densely populated, and the pressure that theresidents are putting on the lakes is leading to rapid siltation and eutrophication of thelakes. SCDP encouraged the communities not to encroach the land, as it would bedetrimental for their very survival in the long run.Ghodaghodi lake has highpotential for sustainabletourism, Kailali

Initiatives on the ground included introducing improved fishery management for incomegeneration activities in Ghodaghodi lake. Biogas was also promoted to reduce pressure onthe watershed. Eventually a CFUG was established. Now the community forest there hasbeen registered so the members are able to sell forest products, including timber. This givesthem an initiative to manage the forest sustainably. For Jakhera lake in Dang also, SCDPfacilitated access to a GEF/SGP grant and additional resources to focus on wetlandconservation.4.6 Promoting Alternative Energy and Appropriate TechnologyThe vast majority of rural communities relyon fuelwood for cooking purposes. If attemptsare not made to check this dependence, thewatershed degradation cannot be halted.SDFs were encouraged to introduce andpromote alternative energy technologieswhich would be suitable to the localconditions. These included improvedcooking stoves (ICS), biogas plants, solarpanels and micro-hydro schemes. Table 8shows the number of ICS, biogas, solarlighting systems and micro-hydrobeneficiaries. In general, it was not alwayseasy to motivate rural people to replace thetraditional high fuelwood consumingstoves. Mostly this was because the womenand men did not have any previous experience about energy efficient technologies andtherefore a lot of awareness creation and information sharing was required at the onset.A local woman cookingon improved cookingstove, Kailali41Benefits of improved cooking stoves are wellunderstood now. ICS uses less firewood, emitsless smoke and cooks faster than a traditionalstove (see Box 6). ICS can save up to 40percent of the total fuelwood used forcooking. An ICS is very cheap tomanufacture, hence affordable. Moreover,it is very easy to adopt. Except the ironmould and rod, other materials areavailable locally.Table 8: Number of ICS, Biogas, Solar lighting systems and MicrohydrobeneficiariesDistrict ICS Biogas Solar Lighting Micro-hydroSystems beneficiariesDang 619 88 0 0Humla 246 0 142 36 householdsKailali 1,141 86 2 0Myagdi 30 0 0 81 householdsOkhaldhunga 273 32 158 0Surkhet 1,275 16 11 0Total 3,584 222 313 117A total of 3584 ICS have now been installed in the six Programme implemented districts.Because of ICS, the firewood requirements of the households and the pressure on forestshave reduced in the Programme areas. The decline in smoke inhalation has also resulted inreduced Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) cases. The kitchen environment is now cleaner.Benefits of biogas are similar to those of ICS. The installation of biogas reduces demand onfuelwood and thus supports forest conservation. Also the time women spend on collectingfuelwood from the forests has been reduced. Kitchens are free of smoke and more pleasantplaces to work in. This has also reduced incidences of ARI. The hard labour for washingReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

4. Environment and Natural Resources ManagementBox 6: Dalit Women Turn the Settlement into ICS VillageThe Sarkideu Women CBO of Thehe VDC of Humla has turned its settlementinto a model village with improved cooking stoves in each house. The settlement,also called as "Kumwada", has 13 houses of dalits or deprived caste classes.The Sarkideu CBO also manages a multipurpose nursery and was able tooffset ICS manufacturing cost through an increased labour input to the nursery."The total cost of 13 steel made improved stoves was Rs. 26,000", says Ms.Dhana Damai, chairperson of the CBO, "We saved over Rs. 13,000 by ourown labour contribution." Rest of the money to recover the cost was coveredcollecting cash from each household. "It is comfortable now," she adds, "wehave also saved time due to the reduced fuel wood consumption."The ordinary improved cooking stoves that are popular in other SCDPimplemented districts do not work in the climate of Humla where temperatureat winter time fall well below 0º C. The ICS for Humla is especially designedfrom iron plates to suit the cold climate.smoke-pasted clothes and cooking pots hasbeen reduced. In addition, the biogas digesterserves as a multipurpose apparatus: itproduces methane, digests safely the humanand animal excreta to yield fuel, andproduces rich compost. The compostimproves soil fertility and increases cropsizes. These multiple benefits haveencouraged the communities to constructtoilets at their homes. Biogas thus helpsimprove individual and communitysanitation too. Biogas also has positive healthimpacts, because human and animal wastesare treated safely. Community membersborrowed money from the SDF Credit Fundto pay for the installation of biogas plants.The interest rate was a modest one - around11% in all the districts.42Solar energy is popularin HumlaAn Eco-Village was established inPrithvipur, Kailali during Phase I. It becamean attraction to the neighbours and visitors,because the activities there integratedincome generation, sanitation, educationand agriculture. Every household has abiogas unit in Prithvipur. The technologyhas made it possible for the CBO members tolight their houses with biogas lampscreating an opportunity to study and producing handicrafts, producing slurry for kitchengarden, and reducing family conflicts raised by fuelwood collection.A CBO member sharing,the benefits of microhydroelectricity in Dichamvillage, MyagdiEspecially in Humla, Okhaldhunga and a bit in Surkhet, SCDP promoted solar panels forlighting. The vast majority of rural households in Nepal do not have access to nationalgrid, so they have to look elsewhere for electricity, either for solar energy or for microhydroelectricity.The Chala settlement of Muchu, Humla, hasbecome a model for solar lighting. Everyhousehold now has its own solar homesystem installed with the support of SCDPand Alternative Energy Promotion Center(AEPC). The total cost for installation inChala was Rs. 826,000 which was sharedamong HMG/AEPC, SCDP and CBOs. It hasbenefited all the members of thecommunity, not least the students who cannow study using solar lights. InOkhaldhunga, Unbu village has beendeveloped to a similar model solar villagewhere 115 solar systems have been

installed. In case of solar energy, programmefocus was more on demonstrating the benefitsthat solar systems would bring. Little emphasisand thought was given on devising incomegeneration activities which would ensure thatthe community members can pay back theloans taken to install solar systems. For example,with the GEF Small Grants Programme severalinteresting pilot programmes have been testedwhere income-generating activities have beeninitiated side by side. Such an approach makesit easier even for the poorest of the poor to investin solar systems.Micro-hydro plants (peltric sets) have been constructed in Myagdi (three schemes) andHumla (one scheme). These schemes have been greatly appreciated by the communitymembers who had earlier been forced to live in darkness (see Box 7). The national grid willtake years to reach some of the most remote locations, even in relatively accessible districtslike Dang and Surkhet. Community members and VDC/DDC have also assisted in theseinitiatives. For example, in all the three peltric sets installed in Myagdi, the contributionof SCDP was less than 50%.Biogas is popular in theeco village, KailaliBox 7: Celebration after electricity was generatedGore Bahadur Adi, a 80-year -old man from Humla,for the first time in his life saw how a bulb could belit by just clicking on a switch. He stared at the bulbpuzzled for a long time.43He was happy and said, " I used small pine wood(salla ko jhharo) for my entire life for light. I hadnever imagined that we could generate electricityfrom water. I must be lucky. I was able to see theelectricity generated in my life". A housewife fromthe same village said "Now we are really glad. Itwill be bright even in the night. The environmentwill be cleaner and we will all be healthy".The electricity scheme with 3 kW capacity usingpeltric set was supported by Sustainable CommunityDevelopment Programme (SCDP), a joint undertakingof UNDP and NPC. It is in Kharpunath VDC's remoteDurpa Village, a one-day trek from the districtheadquarters. After the lights were lit, the villagesnot only gathered around and expressed theirfeelings, but also had festivities going on. Thoughthey wanted to party till dawn and sing, it was notpossible due to the fear of the Maoists.NPM intracting with local people after inaugurating themicro hydro electricity project in Durpa, HumlaSCDP's National Programme Manager Hum Gurunginaugurated the scheme. SCDP and CommunityForest Group provided Rs. 178,480 and Rs.120,000 respectively. The community memberscontributed Rs. 126,000 as labour charge. 220members from 36 households have benefited fromthis project.Source: Kantipur Daily, 4 June 2003.4.7 Training and Capacity Building for Environmental ManagementBuilding the capacity of local people and organisations was one of the most focussed aspectsof Nepal Capacity 21 Programme. SCDP offered various training and other capacity buildingprogrammes to support the communities and local institutions for the management ofdevelopment projects with the aim of sound natural resource management leading towardsReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

4. Environment and Natural Resources ManagementSO staff engaged inNTFP conservationresearchsustainable livelihood. SCDP focused onactivities that contributed towardsenhancing abilities of individuals, thecommunities and their organisations.SCDP organised a lot of activities thatcontributed towards environmentalmanagement. Training programmes wereconducted on a diverse range of topics,including biodiversity conservation,asparagus promotion, community forestmanagement, eco-school and eco-clubmanagement, environmental education,Training of Trainers, ICS installation,natural resources management and Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) management. The participants found these training eventsvery valuable in enhancing their skills and some brought them economic rewards later.In short, the programme was instrumental in building a high level of awareness andenthusiasm for conservation and sustainable utilisation of forest products. Earlierprogrammes, as mentioned by Jiwan Shahi, former DDC Chairperson of Humla, wouldpreach people not to cut down trees, but they would not provide real alternatives. That wasnot the case with SCDP. The community members adopted and improved local technologiesto conserve forests.44Training on Improvedcook stovesOver the years, people have been able todirectly benefit from the conservationactivities. For instance, they have seen thatas a result of controlled grazing and stoppingforest encroachment, forest condition hasimproved and collection of firewood andfodder has become much easier and less timeconsuming. The environment is greener andthey hope that the forest resources can bringthem more prosperity in future. They havealso understood that environmentalmanagement and developmental activitiescan go side by side. These two are notalternatives, rather they complement andaugment each other. A wide range oftraining and capacity building activities onenvironment and natural resources management were supported during the project period(See Annex II).

5ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT

For any programme to be sustainable, economic conditions of thelocal communities cannot be overlooked. The ground realities ofthe particular location should also be considered. As mentioned inChapter 1, the programme VDCs are mired in poverty, suffer fromenvironment degradation and their social development is also verypoor. Achieving sustainable development there requires strongsupport to the people for them to create a strong economic base sothat dependency over natural resources would be reduced.The economic development component, therefore, addressed thefollowing aspects:n To develop strategies in such a way that they enable localcommunities to plan, select and implement environmentallyfriendly, agro-based income generating activities.n To encourage local communities to begin self-help microenterprise activities.n To build the capacities of the local communities for sustainableeconomic development.

Community-based Organisations (CBOs) Figure 6: Credit Capital Fund (CCF) & Community Fundplayed a crucial role to realise these(CF) as of September 2003 in Rsobjectives. They deposited money on aregular basis in the Community Fund (CF).This amount was determined considering theability of poor sections of the area. The CFmoney was used to provide small loans tothe poorest and most needy CBO members.For loans on a slightly larger scale, CBOmembers had another alternative. TheSustainable Development Facility Fund(SDFF) provided credit and was managed bythe Sustainable Development Facility (SDF)under the aegis of the DDC. The major chunkof SDFF was put into Credit Capital Fund(CCF) and was lent to individual CBOmembers for small enterprise and economicdevelopment activities. It was a revolvingfund, and according to the initial plan was supposed to ensure the financial sustainabilityof the Programme. The details where the fund was used are discussed later in the chapter.The status of CCF and CF are illustrated in Figure 6.5.1 Community FundAs mentioned above, CBO members deposited money in theirCommunity Fund (CF) on a regular basis. In all CBOs, the amountraised per member was no more than Rs. 5 a week, i.e. Rs. 20 amonth. In some cases, it was significantly lower so that even thepoorest people did not have much difficulty raising this amount.The weekly saving amount was decided by the CBO members. Theresources generated in this manner were meant for providing needymembers with much needed credit. The CF is one of the sustainablemechanics to mobilise resources at the local level. Savings activitiesare also an important element of social mobilisation and served tocreate awareness among the communities that there is much theycan do to help themselves (see Box 8).CF loans have been used for small-scale income generating activitiessuch as poultry farming, goat rearing, vegetable farming, andestablishing small businesses. In some cases CF money had also beenloaned for emergency use, to cover medical expenses or otherimmediate needs. Table 9 shows the amount in the communityfunds in the Programme implemented districts.As can be seen from Table 9, the accumulated per capita saving is uneven in the districts. Itdepended on two factors: the weekly saving amount and the security situation. CBOs settheir savings rates independently, and depending on the locality, even CBOs in the sameVDC could have a different rate. Moreover, the amount to be saved was kept low so thatBox 8: Encouraging self-helpThe entire process of forming CBOs andcollecting community fund savings helps CBOmembers gain a degree of financial freedom andindependence which allows them to undertakenew income generating activities. When CBOmembers have access to micro-credit they areable to ask themselves "what can I do to helpincrease my families income and welfare?"whereas previously such thinking would behindered by the impracticability of or arrangementof collateral borrowing money (either frommoneylenders or a bank) to initiate an incomegeneratingactivity. Developing micro-creditschemes at the CBO level also shows thecommunity how coming together and savingtogether can lead to fruitful results. In this manner,the CBOs learn how to help themselves and seethat they are not only capable of contributing totheir own development, but that they themselvesare an integral part of the sustainabledevelopment process.Source: Annual Progress Report 1999: 38Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)47

5. Economic DevelopmentTable 9: Cumulative figures for Community Fund in NRs.District 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Sept-03 Savings pergroup memberDang 183,896 968,451 3,022,418 5,226,082 7,921,202 8,305,618 840.6Kailali 138,233 1,148,605 1,944,144 4,823,172 6,519,937 7,912,023 8,562,254 792.5Surkhet 20,675 216,261 515,981 1,756,310 2,455,000 2,778,416 2,847,843 324.3Humla 85,135 241,895 493,125 493,125 421.8Myagdi 124,812 622,279 1,059,404 1,426,808 567.8Okhaldhunga 350,554 765,863 1,212,991 1,412,435 297.2Total 158,908 1,548,762 3,428,576 10,162,401 15,831,056 21,377,161 23,048,083 3,244.2everyone in the community could actively participate in the CBO. In some cases, the CBOswere not able to hold meetings on a regular basis and hence could not collect the money.485.2 Access to Micro-FinanceGetting access to loans has always been an immense problem for the poor people. The caseof the community members in the areas where SCDP was implemented was no exception.It was clear that most of the community members did not have collateral for loans andhence could not approach the formal banks. Moreover, in almost all the places where SCDPwas implemented during Phase II, there were no formal banks. Even in the areas of PhaseI districts where there were banks earlier, the banks had closed their branches in most ofthe VDCs and moved to the district headquarters. Obviously the community membershad difficulty in borrowing money as and when required. The need for some sort of financialintermediary was acutely felt in those areas. The demand for loans was very high, butthere was no adequate supply. The prospective borrowers had to plead to the moneylenders(sahu mahajan) and were forced to pay exorbitant interest rates. Their interestrates hovered around 60% per annum in most cases. For lack of options, the communitymembers had to accept those harsh conditions, albeit reluctantly.After SCDP started its micro-finance activities in the areas, the problem of loan availabilityfor genuine causes was largely solved. It became easier to obtain loans at a reasonableinterest rate (all districts adopted the rate of 12% for the loans). Besides, SCDP's supportalso put pressure on money lenders to reduce their rates from around 60% to 36%. The CBOVegetable farminggenerates income forfarmers, Dang

Guchi mushrooms(Morchella conica): Asource of income forrural people, Humlamembers were freed from exploitation in the sense that all the details of SDFF loan weretransparent. In general, the villagers also did not mind paying the interest because theyknew that the interest they paid would be used towards sustaining the activities thatbenefited their community. Of course 12% is higher to what commercial banks andAgriculture Development Bank of Nepal charge, but it is collateral free (social mobilisationserves as group collateral) and interest rate is significantly below the rates of loan sharks.The availability of the loans from SCDP had other benefits as well. The communitymembers, especially the most vulnerable ones, did not need to beg from the village landlordsand merchants to provide them with urgently needed loans. The dependence on thetraditional loan system that kept the poor in debt or forced them to flee from their villageswas also reduced. The collateral free loan also, to a large extent, helped them to concentratein the activities they were doing. They did not have to worry about losing the little propertythey owned.49SCDP was correct to a great extent in its belief that the poor would not misuse the loanedamount simply because it was collateral free. These people had painfully learnt over theyears that it was an excellent opportunity provided to them and they needed to capitaliseon this and use the loan productively. The CBO members, who received the loans, mainlyFish farming is popular inTerai, KailaliReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

5. Economic DevelopmentFigure 7: CCF Release in Rs.used the money to start new or supplementtheir existing farm enterprises. Somepopular areas were animal husbandry, cropor vegetable production, fish farming,poultry or bee keeping and small retailshops. Many people in the high lands ofHumla, Myagdi, and Surkhet preferreddeveloping Non-Timber Forest Productsbasedsmall businesses to form enterprisesso as to get high returns in a short spell oftime.Some community members startedcompletely new enterprises that served theentire community. For example, a CBO inHumla started growing cashmere saffron including other high value medicinal plants forcommercial purpose. The nursery produced bulbs for sale to community members whowished to take it on as a new business. Saffron cultivation was a completely new item forthe district. In Dang, ginger cultivation was taken up as a cash crop farm enterprise(agroforestry).50Figure 7 illustrates the amount that was released by SCDP to the respective districts forCredit Capital Fund (CCF) purposes. The amount was more than 50% of the total fundSCDP provided to the districts for the first phase districts. Because of security situation inthe districts, the CCF was not released in the last two years (2002 and 2003). As a result,the amount was less than 50% in the case of second phase districts. The amount releasedeach year is provided in Annex III.As mentioned above, CCF was a revolving fund. As the name suggests, this amount shouldnever decrease. The interest paid could either be invested again (mobilised) or part of it couldbe used to meet the operation cost. In the case of SCDP, the amount reinvested is much morethan the initial amount provided to the districts. In fact, the average mobilisation /reinvestment ratio is 2.3.8. Table 10 and Figure 8 highlight the situation and trend of creditcapital investment and repayment status in each district. Districts with relatively highrepayment rate also have higher reinvestment ratio. This is intuitive in a way because onlywhen loans are repaid will the districts be able to loan that amount to others. The investment,repayment, annual interest income and recovery rate are provided in Annex IV.The sustainability of the Support Organisations depended on the loan repayment andinterest rates. When the programme began, it was thought that after a few years theinterest earned would be enough to meet at least the operation cost. If there were someextra amount left, it could have been provided as grants for Human Resource Development(HRD) and seed money to the CBOs. In reality, the repayment rates were not high enough(about 95% repayment would have been required). The SDFs have not been able to becomeself-sustaining even in Phase I districts (see Chapter 5.4). They were able to meet theiroperation cost to some extent. SDF Dang allocated 75% of the interest earned for operationcost, 15% for seed grants and 10% for HRD.After looking at the financial conditions of respective districts, it is also necessary to seewhere these funds were used. Trade, services and cottage industry have absorbed by far

the largest chunk of the investment capital. Table 10: Reinvestment ratio of CCF as of Sept’ 03Agriculture and livestock based activities District Total amount Initial Credit Reinvestmentaccount for nearly half of the initialInvestment, NRs Capital Fund, NRs ratioDang 34,436,060 11,024,475 3.12investment. These are traditional sourcesKailali 20,145,208 10,217,344 1.97of livelihood in the districts. HighSurkhet 26,104,429 10,350,342 2.52percentage of cottage industries would imply Humla 5,757,000 3,789,331 1.52migration towards activities that are lessdependent on the natural resourcesavailable in the villages, hence implyingMyagdiOkhaldhungaTotal5,467,9629,882,538101,793,1973,668,3163,670,75342,720,5621.492.692.38that "green enterprise" concept was adheredtoo. Table 11 shows the areas where the funds were invested for income generating activities.Figure 8: CCF status as of 30 September 2003 in NRs51Table 11: Sectoral Investment of Credit Capital Fund (in %)Activities Surkhet Kailali Dang Humla Myagdi OkhaldhungaAgriculture basedactivities 0.94 50.41 23 0 10 10Livestock 72.35 16.15 55 41 42 30Trade, services,cottage industry 24.61 12.82 7 53 43 54Alternative energy 0.45 5.94 10 6 0 6Irrigation/waterresources 1.27 0.61 5 0 0 0Others 0.38 14.07 0 0 5 05.3 Training on Economic DevelopmentTraining was often necessary to help CBO members develop new skills which would improvetheir capacity to engage in income generating activities. Some examples in this front include:n Training CBO women in vegetable farming: both the produce and seeds could be sold atlocal markets.Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

5. Economic DevelopmentBox 9: Nation-wide problemshurt local businessesMrs. Meena Chaudhary, who was formerly abonded labourer, is a member of the CBO MilanSamudayik Samuha, Kailali. She was able toimprove her economic status after joining theCBO. She initially drew Rs 10,000 as a shorttermloan to start a bicycle repair workshop inLamki (a busy town along the East-Westhighway). She later borrowed twice, Rs. 30,000each time, to expand her business.Her business was prospering. In fact, her familywas also able to build a decent house in Baliyafrom the profit they earned from the bicycle shop.But after the state of emergency was imposedin 2001, the business slowed down. It becameunprofitable to run a bicycle shop in Lamki. Soshe moved her shop to a small room in a moreremote village of Baliya. She is not satisfied withthe business prospect there. But, she mainlyblames the prevailing security situation for hertroubles.n Training CBO members to be agro-vets,improved cooking stove (ICS) specialists orpit-latrine construction specialists. Othervillagers could then pay for their services.It served two purposes: contributed towardsincome generation as well as towardsenvironment conservation.n A traditional woollen blanket (RadiPakhi) promotion training was held inOkhaldhunga where participants weretaught to weave the blankets in new shape,size and design according to the marketdemand. The SCDP provided raw materialsand the Rumjatar VDC the resource person.Because of that training, the villagers wereable to raise Rs. 15000 after selling theblankets in the first year only. The traineeswere also members of a functional group thatwas running a multipurpose nursery. They52An agro-vet providingservices to villagers,Okhaldhungandecided to deposit the income they made in the account of the nursery functional groupto contribute towards sustaining the nursery.In Kailali, training was conducted on how to make cement tiles because it had goodbusiness opportunity there. Training on fishery management was also conducted. Awide range of training and capacity building activities on economic development weresupported during the project period (See Annex V).5.4 Loan Repayment StatusThe loan repayment rate has not been very impressive for the SCDP due to several reasons. Onan average, it has been lower than 70 percent. However, there are big differences among thedistricts. Many factors have contributed to this performance, which are discussed below. It is

A local woman engaged inweaving woollen blanketsafter obtaining loans,Okhaldhungaimportant to notice that these rates would not ensure financial sustainability of the Programme.In 2001 SCDP commissioned a report on the financial sustainability which provided variousrecommendations and SCDP tried to improve the situation over the past two years.It is not yet clear what will happen after 2003. By that time CBOs in Kailali, Surkhet andDang would have been registered as cooperatives with financial functions. The newlyestablished cooperatives would begin their operations with these assets, i.e. most of themwould have negative opening balances. It is believed that when the external donor elementis withdrawn from the equation, the community members would finally undertake theresponsibility and engage into a vigorous collection activity. At the same time it is doubtfulif the debt balances from years 1998-2000 can be collected any longer. Many of the debtorshave either left the districts or spent the credit in non-productive uses, like householdemergency needs.The reasons for low repayment rates can be broadly clustered into two: business planningand credit management, and security situation.First, it should be remembered that the money was often borrowed by the poorest of the poor.It is likely that their capacity to use the money profitably was limited. Many reasons couldbe attributed for this. Some loans were granted without first providing adequate training onskill enhancement. Concepts of business planning and profitability assessment were notadhered to. It must also be rememberedthat social objective of mobilising fundsamong the poorest of the poor will notalways result in timely recovery. Theeconomic condition of the participatingcommunities was generally very poor.Also community members expectedspeedy access to credit capital. This,combined with the SO teams, low capacityin making proper credit appraisals, beforereleasing the loans was not conducive inthe long run.Local DevelopmentOfficer discusses witha CBO member duringmonitoring visit, MyagdiReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)53

5. Economic DevelopmentUNDP Evaluation teammember discussing withlocal woman entrepreneur54It is likely that not all the CBO Managers were persuasive enough. The Group Manager hasan important role to play and must be committed to the cause. If that person insists his/hermembers to pay the loan, members feel there is indeed an obligation to repay the loan intime. Irregular meetings also had its effect. Where ever the practice of conducting regularmeetings has continued, the repayment rates are better. In the absence of group meetings,the pressure from other group members (fear of social punishment) is much lower.Flexibility of the SDFs in managing the overdue cases might have also attributed to suchperformance. Lack of assured repeat loans to borrowers in some cases affected the loanrepayment rate negatively. Lastly, the community members might not have felt fullownership to this money.From time to time other external pressures (including the donor side) existed to disburseresources. Emphasis was then given to loan the entire amount. Activities that were boundto fail, e.g. because of lack of market access, also managed to get funding. Some CBOs mighthave obtained the loan even when they were not institutionally developed. Loan mobilisationrate per se does not mean much if the loan repayment rate is not up to par.Naturally, the security situation over the last few years has had its toll. In many areas,the business environment has not been supportive to invest the money to the fullest. Thosewho had borrowed money for small business were also affected by the slackness in theeconomic environment. The SO staff, not to speak of the SCDP staff, were not able to visitthe villages on a regular basis. Therefore, irregular monitoring is a contributing factorwhich has made some people to mistakenly believe that if they did not pay the moneythen, they would never have to pay it. Also there were instances where the money collectedwas looted on the way to district office by the Maoists. This proved to be a deterrent to SOstaff to aggressively pursue the repayment drive. Also, in some areas, the Maoists threatenedto punish those who repaid their loans to SCDP.It was realised only much later that one way to discourage defaults could have been aprovision of blacklisting the defaulters in the VDC office. VDC could require CBO membersto bring a loan clearance chit from SDF office before providing them with any certification

or official documents. If systematically implemented this could have reduced the numberof defaults.It was also realised that community members can play a major role to discourage defaultof loans. For example, when Purna Namajali of Tamaghara CBO of Bibiyachaur VDC inSurkhet ignored paying Rs. 10,000 that she had taken as loan, the CBO members forcedher to provide them six of her goats. As she had moved to a neighbouring village, shethought that she was exempted from repaying the loan. Initially she did not care evenwhen the SDF had repeatedly asked her to repay the amount. Finally, the CBO membersgot angry because her pending repayment stopped other members’ access to a new loan.They went to her house and forced her to provide them the goats. This type of commitmentfrom the CBO members is forthcoming only when the villagers feel full ownership for theresource. When this happens, they are willing to take any step to make others pay theloaned amount.A weakness in the programme design is apparent. Neither at the centre (SCDP) nor at thedistrict (SO) level did the Programme provide the requisite expertise on managing microcredits,on business planning or on setting up and running a micro-enterprise. The centrallevel project staff consisted of environment and natural resource management,communication, monitoring and training experts, but credit management skills were inshort supply. Same set-up was emulated for staffing the district SOs. Also no thought wasgiven to, e.g., outsourcing the inputs to the existing district based micro-credit institutions.55In other words, economic development, though acknowledged as the third pillar of sustainabledevelopment, received less attention than the other two pillars. Because of this, the SOs,even while acting on their best possible capacity, might have given out loans to CBOs thatwere based at times on wholly unrealistic or upon absent business plans, or on ideas andproducts that had no accessible markets.5.5 Benefits to the Poorest of the PoorThe fact that SCDP loan was against social collateral made it accessible even to the poorestof the poor. If one were to borrow from the banks, s/he would have to follow lengthy procedureTraining on fish farmingfor local people, KailaliReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

5. Economic Developmentand deposit something valuable as collateral. This provision of banks acted as deterrence tothe poorest section of the society for obvious reasons.The Programme tried to provide benefits to the poorest of the poor. One of the reasons whyat least eighty percent of the households in the settlement had to be member in order toregister with CBO was to provide the poor with an opportunity to participate in theProgramme. This provision seemed to have worked well. According to Shankar Pathak, asocial mobiliser from Surkhet, it was mostly the rich who did not want to join the SCDP.Even then, practical difficulties arose. Just providing the poor with a loan would not solvethe inherent problem. They should be provided with the necessary skills so that they areequipped to use the money efficiently. SCDP did provide training on income-generatingactivities so as to assist them in developing the needed skills. But, there was a limit to whatit could do.56A local woman engaged ingoat raising, MyagdiOne option to target the poorest of the poorcould have been to apply various forms ofaffirmative action and provide them withadditional "benefits". The interest rate couldbe lowered for them. But, practical problemswould arise. It is very difficult to distinguishbetween very poor and non-poor in most ofthe areas SCDP was implemented. One couldargue that almost everyone could beconsidered poor, at least on mere economicterms. Besides, this provision could have theeffect of alienating other members of thecommunity if it is not done convincingly.So, SCDP implemented its programmewithout discriminating anyone, but thesocial mobilisers worked especially hard toencourage the poor to participate in SCDPactivities.In terms of economic development, it is important to create enabling environment first sothat the communities themselves will initiate different activities. This is what SCDP triedto do. One can definitely see many positive cases at the micro-level. Plenty remains to bedone still. SCDP concentrated in the poverty-prone areas where subsistence level enterpriseswere emphasised. Now it is time to move beyond that in those areas. In addition, it was alsofelt that it is necessary to develop people's entrepreneurial skills to increase their businessmindedness.

6POLICIES ANDSTRATEGIES

The immediate objective of the Programme in Phase I was to enhancethe capacity of a wide range of organisations at the community,regional and national levels to support and promote sustainablecommunity development programmes in Nepal. In Phase II, thedevelopment objective was to assist in building the capacities oflocal communities and governments, and in adopting the local andnational policies necessary to ensure sustainable communitydevelopment which integrates effective poverty alleviationstrategies with sound watershed management. In Phase II of theProgramme, it supported the government for formulation of theSustainable Development Agenda for Nepal .At the community level, the objectives of the Programme includedto enable the communities:n To mobilise human and financial capital, from sources withintheir own community and from external sources.n To identify problems in their communities, formulate andimplement plans to solve those problems, and manage theirresources.

At the district and national levels, the objectives included:n To assist the communities to develop linkages and partnerships with governmentagencies, NGOs and private sector agencies for formulation of sustainable developmentpolicies and strategies.6.1 Information SharingInformation sharing has been one of the backbones of the Programme, in line with Agenda21. Creation and enhancement of experiences and lessons learned is one of the cornerstonesof meaningful participation too. Timely dissemination of information is essential forstakeholder participation in planning and implementing sustainable development. Toachieve this, SCDP created various information dissemination tools and used differentchannels (both in print and electronic media) at district and national levels.Information sharing withstakeholders andgeneral public topromote sustainabledevelopment59At national level, Quarterly Bulletins and Annual Reports were regularly published. NepalTelevision and other media broadcast news and feature stories regarding the Programmeimpact on communities and individuals. Three video documentaries were produced onSCDP and all of them have been aired in the national television. SCDP further built up apartnership with the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) and RadioSagarmatha (the pioneer in environmental journalism and also the first FM radio in NepalDocumentary films andpublications are powerfultools to replicate/adaptsustainable communitydevelopmentReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

6. Policies and Strategiesthat covered Kathmandu valley) to advocate the sustainable development of Nepal. SCDPalso regularly took part in exhibitions that were related to economic, environmental andsocial developments. The International Journal of Local Environment has published SCDPcase study to demonstrate how national initiatives are making environmental impacts atthe local level.Experiences learned through SCDP have been published in two publications produced byUNDP/Capacity 21. "Made in Nepal: Nepal's Sustainable Community DevelopmentProgramme" was published by the UNDP/Capacity 21 in 2000 as a main tool for the analysisand dissemination of the innovative approaches and lessons emerging from Capacity 21programmes in their country study series. In 2002, UNDP/Capacity 21, New York assignedMr. Kunda Dixit, Senior Editor of Nepali Times, to prepare a case study as a part of theApproaches to Sustainability regional study where four countries, Bangladesh, China,Philippines and Nepal, were selected as best practices among the Capacity 21 initiatives inthe Asia-Pacific region. UNDP has also made a story on integrated water management forpoverty reduction and sustainable development.The details of the reports and bulletins published by SCDP are given in Annex VI.6.2 Collaboration with DDCs and VDCs606.2.1 Support to local bodiesThe main role of SCDP team and SDFs was to act as a focal point for environment andnatural resources management of the DDCs and VDCs. SDFs facilitated the line agenciesand partner stakeholders to bring the mainstream environmental dimensions into theirDistrict Programme Officestaff in Simikot, Humlasectoral plans and programmes. They were not limited only to the environment aspectsbut provided support and advice to the extent possible in the effective implementation ofLocal Self-Governance (LSGA) Act 1999.LSGA was promulgated during Phase I of SCDP and it asked the local authorities for a widevariety of activities focusing on environment and natural resources. Yet, the DDCs and

VDCs did not possess the conceptual ortechnical skills for fully implementing theAct. Therefore, for instance in Surkhet, theSO Team Leader was also a Member of DDC’sHuman Resource Development Committee.The committee facilitated in developingBaseline Information Questionnaire for theentire DDC. In addition, in most districts theProgramme has generously supported, partlyin cash and partly through the SO staff time,different training events organised by DDC. SO Team Leader in Dang, for example, was aresource person in a planning and management training programme for DDC members.Narayan D. Mishra, Ex.DDC Chairperson, sharingviews on DDC and NGOpartnerships, Kailali61Supporting the DDCs in the preparation of Periodic Plan was a major task for SCDP in all sixdistricts. This was done in collaboration with other UNDP-supported projects, particularlythe Local Governance Programme (LGP) and Participatory District Development Programme(PDDP). The purpose of the six-year periodic plan is to direct the development activities in atime-framed and planned way. SCDP's assistance in the periodic plan preparation rangedfrom organising seminars on how to prepare periodic plans, providing technical assistanceand helping to build district level partnerships for future programme support.For example, SCDP Humla had contributed Rs. 100,000 for this purpose. Likewise, the DDCsof Surkhet, Kailali and Dang were assisted in facilitating the district development planningprocess. In Surkhet, SO prepared a concept paper on sustainable development for the periodicplan. In Myagdi, technical and financial support was provided to the DDC in preparing theseplans. The support was instrumental in ensuring incorporation of all natural resourcesmanagement aspects and sustainable development approach into the plans.Initially the Programme had planned to support the districts in formulating Local Agenda21 documents, but later decided to focus on supporting the periodic planning process instead.The main reason was that these were the first periodic plans that were formulated accordingBal Krishna B.C., Ex.DDC Chairpersoninteracting with CBOmembers during themonitoring visit, SurkhetReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

6. Policies and Strategiesto the newly enacted Local Self-Governance Act. With hindsight, the Programme hasrealised that the local Agenda formulation exercise would be useful after all. The processwould allow for taking a more visionary approach, thinking outside the box and focusingon long-term prospects and potentials instead of the short-to-medium-term pressingdevelopment needs only.626.2.2 Programme contributions from local bodiesDDCs and VDCs contributed some of their financial resources towards the Programmeactivities and provided, for instance, office facilities free of charge to field offices. OkhaldhungaDDC went so far that they constructed a joint building for all UNDP-supported projects in thedistrict and coined it mini "UNDP House". Similarly in Humla, whereBox 10: Case study ofthe Local Trust Fund Board assumed the role of Support Organisationexternal supportin 2003, project offices are within the DDC premises. DDC in Dangand Myagdi have also taken a lead role in internalising the SCDPIn Gumi VDC of Surkhet, there is close efforts from the inception of the Programme as all institutionalcoordination between VDCs and other NGOsarrangements are created under the aegis of DDC. These measuresworking there on development activities. SCDPfinanced a sum of Rs. 15,000 (US $ 193) to have increased the project's overall outreach and awareness creationcarry out the detailed survey on the facility significantly, because it has been easy for communityinfrastructure needs of the village. That provedto be of immense help when the villagers applied members visiting the DDC premises for official business to learn aboutfor some funding by the District Soldier Board to sustainable community development as a by-product.build a drinking water scheme there. Althoughthe proposal was extensive, the Board acceptedit and supported all the construction materials It is important to remember that in the critical phase of SCDP, i.e.and technical support worth Rs. 700,000 (US $ while it was in the process of phasing out, the local bodies had no9003) to complete the drinking water scheme.elected representatives. According to the directives issued byThis demonstrates that community members areMinistry of Local Development in 2002, the Local Developmentcapable of obtaining the necessary resources Officer (LDO), a central government employee, became in-chargefrom other agencies. The Sustainableof development activities in the district. LDOs are senior,Development Facility (SDF) as local NGO hasalso been effective in establishing linkages. experienced officials who would have much to offer to the districtsMoreover, it has taught others that if one they are posted if not for the pattern of frequent transfers. It is adocuments even small programmes, it will beeasier for others to support it.common phenomenon that an LDO may get one to two transferswithin a year. This makes it difficult for them, as in each newdistrict they need to update themselves to the situation in thedistrict and the ongoing activities. It also took them time to understand about SCDP and bythe time they became fully familiar with SCDP, some got transferred to other districts.Similarly, without elected representatives in the VDCs, the emerging pattern of VDCcontributions towards Programme activities was largely discontinued. The elected DDCand VDC representatives (whose term was 5 years) in most cases had been very motivatedto the development of their communities and had offered all possible support to theProgramme. This had made the Sustainable Development Coordinators’ job comparativelyeasy, also because allegiances were clear.6.2.3 Environmental Governance Source Book/Manual for LocalAuthoritiesThe participation in the periodic planning process pointed to the direction that districtswould benefit from a wider support in fulfilling the mandate and expectations that LocalSelf-Governance Act had provided them within the terms of managing the districtenvironment and ensuring good environmental governance. Given the limited Programmeresources and the fact that the programme was nearing its end, SCDP decided to support aformulation of a Source Book/manual on Environmental Governance for Local Authorities.

The intention was also to pilot implementation of the manual in some of the SCDP districts,but eventually this was not possible.The objective of the manual is primarily to assist local bodies (DDCs and VDCs) in applyingthe principles of environmental governance in their context. The document has two parts.The first part serves as a reference guide. It provides concepts and definitions and discussesinternational and national efforts and issues related to environmental governance. Thesecond part suggests elements for institutionalising environmental governance at the locallevel. It presents information that will assist local authorities in the formulation of a vision,goals, strategies and programmes for environmental governance in their jurisdiction.The manual draws upon the ten-year experience of Agenda 21, SCDP and upon the longexperiences of planned development efforts of the country. As part of the manual preparation,extensive consultations with various concerned people and institutions were conductedincluding line agencies such as MLD, MOPE, and MoFSC, I/NGOs such as IUCN and Associationof District Development Committees of Nepal (ADDCN), private sector (FNCCI) and DDCsand VDCs. The Source Book/manual is available both in English and Nepali.6.3 Partnerships for Policy Outcomes6.3.1 Converging Processes - SDAN and nssd dialoguesThe formulation process for Nepal's national strategy for sustainable development(Sustainable Development Agenda for Nepal, SDAN) has been uniquely successful inbringing together a multiple sets of stakeholders and streams of interventions thattraditionally would have assumed a separate course of their own. The process has alsoprovided ample opportunities to showcase best practices of SCDP in the national and globalforums. During this period, NPC was also working on the Poverty Reduction StrategyPaper (PRSP) and on the 10 th Plan (2002-2007).63The Sustainable Development Agenda for Nepal (SDAN) formulation commenced in 2000with support from UNDP and WWF Nepal Programme. First, a team from NPC conducteda study tour to China and Mongolia to learn from their already completed Agenda 21formulation processes. Subsequently a Steering Committee under the leadership of NPCMember was set up to provide the strategic leadership.Development partners comingtogether for SDAN and WSSDpreparation processReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

6. Policies and StrategiesWSSD/SDANconsultation processin progress64Coincidentally, OECD-DAC selected Nepal in 2000 as one of the countries to participate ina strategy learning and sharing exercise coined as nssd dialogues. The objectives of nssddialogues were to identify strategic processes for sustainable development that have beensuccessfully used in Nepal and to assess elements that have worked well and even thosethat have worked not so well. The nssd dialogues process included a strong component ofsharing lessons across the regions and globally. When it became apparent that SDANformulation and nssd dialogues were mutually supportive, the objective was amended.Eventually the nssd dialogues process was also to inform the development of SDAN andinform the donors, particularly OECD-DAC and donor partners in Nepal. NPC implementedthis initiative in collaboration with IUCN Nepal and International Institute for Environmentand Development (IIED), UK and with support from British Embassy and Department forInternational Development (DFID).Initially a separate Steering Committee was set up to advise the dialogues process, but inmid-2000 these two committees were merged together. Under the leadership of jointNational Steering Committee (NSC) for both nssd dialogues and formulation of SDAN, thepolicy sharing and formulation activities commenced. NSC had a wide multi-stakeholdermembership. Government officials from various ministries, representatives of donoragencies, private sector, and civil society were members of the NSC. In addition, a TechnicalCommittee (TC) was also formed under the chairmanship of the Joint Secretary from theMinistry of Population and Environment (MoPE). TC eventually had two tasks: initially toguide the SDAN formulation process, and later to oversee the country preparations for theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).6.3.2 Blending Grassroot Lessons with Policy AnalysisFor both nssd dialogues and SDAN formulation, task forces were established. They consistedof multidisciplinary teams of experts who initiated policy dialogue with policy makers,senior government officials, non-governmental organisations, private sector and donorcommunity. The task forces completed policy analysis on the following themes: land andagriculture, forestry, rangeland and biodiversity, health, population and drinking waterand sanitation, education, tourism, macro-economic issues, social and gender issues andgood governance. Poverty reduction was addressed through the Interim Poverty ReductionStrategy Paper, also formulated by NPC.

Ex. DDC member fromMugu district sharingher experiences innssd/SDAN regionalworkshop in NepalgunjNepal's selection as one of the few countries participating in the nssd dialogues processprovided the country with an excellent opportunity to gain from experiences and lessonslearned in other countries and from the state of the art thinking with regard to policyformulation. Nepal was able to contribute with fresh insights into international policydiscussions. Those contributions were well appreciated in the international arena. As aresult, parallel consultative and sharing processes took place, each influencing andenriching the other.Several district, regional and national level workshops were organised to learn fromcommunity and district experiences on sustainable development. Learning fromcommunity-based pilot projects that had been initiated in many parts of the country wasessential for SDAN to be practical and acceptable to all stakeholders.65Nepal's experiences were shared in several international events. In July 2000, NPC andIUCN/N with the support from OECD-DAC/DFID organised a South Asian regional workshopon Sustainable Development Strategy in Kathmandu. Similarly, a team from Nepalparticipated in the follow-up regional workshops in Thailand in October 2000 and inBolivia in February 2001. A team consisting of HMGN and IUCN representativespresented a report on the findings of Nepal's nssd dialogues process in theBolivia workshop.During 2002 the focus shifted on finalising the SDAN text.Another round of regional and national consultative workshopswas held to share the draft SDAN with the widest possible range ofstakeholders and obtain feedback and comments.6.3.3 Linking up with the WSSD preparationsAt the same time, a new component, country preparations for the WorldSummit on Sustainable Development, was added into the joint SDANmandate. Ministry of Population and Environment was the HMGN focal pointfor WSSD. The policy and institutional analyses produced for SDAN directlybenefited MoPE in the preparation of the country profile on review ofimplementation of Agenda 21 (Rio+10 Report). To produce the WSSD NationalNationalAssessmentReport preparedfor the WSSD,JohannesburgReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

6. Policies and StrategiesGuests at SDAN launching programmeDr. Shankar Sharma,NPC Vice-Chairmanlaunching SDANAssessment Report, the partnership was expanded to include New Era, WinrockInternational and Danida-supported Environment Sector Programme Support (ESPS). Inaddition, several high-ranking government officials' participation in the WSSD preparatorycommittee meetings was also supported. The then SDAN Task Force leader was also calledby UNDP Headquarters to contribute to the drafting of a new global Capacity 2015 initiative.6.4 National Policy Outcomes666.4.1 National Strategy for Sustainable DevelopmentSustainable Development Agenda for Nepal (SDAN) was endorsed by His Majesty'sGovernment of Nepal on 14 July 2003. SDAN is a significant achievement to HMGN as itfulfils government's commitment to have a national strategy on sustainable developmentin place and be implemented by 2005.Nepal's Sustainable Development Agenda aims to guide and influence national-level planningand policies up to 2017. The agenda presented draws upon and is in conformity with thelonger term goals envisaged in Tenth Plan (2002- 2007), Poverty Reduction Startegy Paper,Millennium Development Goals and commitments made by the country in variousinternational fora. Accepting and building upon Nepal's status as a largely mountainouscountry beset by poverty but holding tremendous future potentials, SDAN goes beyondsetting the goals that appear within reach by simply projecting forward the trends of therecent past. It states broad goals that describe where HMG plans to be by 2017. To supportthe implementation of SDAN, National Commission on Sustainable Development (NCSD)was formed in April 2002 under the chair of Prime Minister. This high level commission is toendorse and issue broad vision and guidelines. However, given the all-encompassing natureof sustainable development goals, it is necessary for all actors - the state, civil society and theprivate sector - to play their respective roles in implementing the policies and strive to meetthe goals and objectives outlined as part of the country's sustainable development agenda.SDAN was launched on 6 November 2003. In the past, many important policies and longtermstrategies have been published only in English, making the contents inaccessible to amajority of Nepalese citizens. NPC wanted to make sure SDAN can be studied by everybody

who is literate. It was published in a novel format: as one publication that includes SDANboth in English and in Nepali.6.4.2 Ninth and Tenth PlansSCDP's impact is visible both in the Ninth and Tenth Plans. The Ninth Plan (1997-2002)included SCDP process and methodologies as an example of successful communityGyan P. Sharma, NPDwelcoming the guests inSDAN launchingprogramme67development programme helping village development, resource protection and upliftingliving standards of villagers. The Plan also advocated for programme extension to moredistricts. Frequent visits of high-ranking government officials and policy makers to SCDPcommunities proved influential. Such visits and interactions have been vital in bringingthe concerns of rural poor and the potentials of sustainable community development to theattention of nation's decision-makers. They have also provided impetus to thedecentralisation initiatives of the central government.The 10th Plan (2002-2007) incorporates various themes and activities pursued by SCDP.The 10th Plan's overriding goal is poverty reduction. The Plan also prioritises theimportance of SDAN. The need for an early and effective implementation of SDAN interms of bringing sector strategies and policies in line is a priority. Environmentalgovernance is also reflected in the plan as an important approach, building on bothsustainable development and good governance.Matthew Kahane, ResidentRepresentative, UNDPdelivering remarks onSDAN launching programmeReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

6. Policies and Strategies6.4.3 Global InfluenceThe stream of continuous international events, first as part of nssd dialogues process andlater through WSSD preparatory events and the main summit itself, has provided HMGNa unique opportunity to showcase SCDP and share lessons learned both at the grassrootsand at the policy formulation level. Nepal's experiences were reflected in the IIEDpublications that were launched in WSSD (Sustainable Development Strategies: a ResourceBook and Stakeholder Dialogues on Sustainable Development Strategies - Lessons,Opportunities and Developing Country Case Studies) and also in WSSD Virtual Exhibitionduring the Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.68Dr. Hari K. Upadhyaya,NPC member deliveringremarks from the chairin SDAN launchingprogrammeThe impact of HMGN representatives' participation in almost all WSSD preparatory events(partly funded by SCDP) is visible, for instance, in the strong focus the WSSD Plan ofImplementation has on capacity building and in the WEHAB framework of action (Water,Energy, Health, Agriculture and Biodiversity) which was endorsed in Johannesburg inSeptember 2002.Capacity 21 GlobalEvulation team memberdiscussing on the impactsof SCDP with theheadmaster of Janta LowerSecondary School, Kailali

7LESSONS LEARNEDAND CONCLUSIONS

SCDP embarked on the journey towards sustainable developmentmore than seven years ago. Since then it has witnessed many upsand also some downs. Earlier chapters have mainly focused on theactivities SCDP undertook. The primary focus will now be given tothe thematic component of SCDP. As a pilot programme, SCDPexperimented on certain themes. These lessons have beendocumented and analysed in the hope that they will makeadaptation of the Programme elsewhere easier. The challenges SCDPfaced while implementing the programmes are also highlightedhere.

7.1 Institutionalisation of CBOsAt community level SCDP worked with Community-based Organisations. These CBOs,even at the time of completing this report, are not a legally recognised entity in Nepal. Forobvious reasons, SCDP became concerned about the sustainability of these CBOs when itDeveloping the action plan forinstitutionalisation of CBOsstarted implementing exit plan activities in late 2002. SCDP wanted to secure their futureso that they are able to continue their innovative work.CBOs could be legally established as a non-governmental organisation (NGO), a financialintermediary (FI-NGO), a cooperative society, a public or private limited company or adevelopment bank. Options available for the institutionalisation of CBOs were consideredseriously as the final choice determines the future course of the CBOs. After extensivereview study and consultations with the stakeholders, SCDP decided that the formation ofa cooperative would be the best alternative to institutionalise CBOs. The other viableoption was establishment as an NGO; the other three options were found to be not suitableat all. CBO activities might need to explain why NGO is not good. Is it because memberswon’t be allowed to make profit and have continued focus on social, environmental andeconomic components as would be possible in a cooperative? Besides, the formation of cooperativeswould create new external linkages (particularly with district cooperative officeand other district line agencies) which would help ensure sustainability.Institutionalising CBOs as co-operatives is a relatively new concept for the UNDP assistedprojects in Nepal. Therefore SCDP's decision was very important. If successfullyimplemented, it would hold a wider significance and the model could also be adapted inother projects. SCDP understood the situation and has acted accordingly.In quite a few places, the community members were found to be initially sceptical ofcooperatives because of two factors. The earlier version of cooperative Sajha (before 1990)had failed miserably and people were asking whether the present cooperative would alsofollow suit. Some savings and credit cooperatives had exploited one clause of the earlierversion of the present cooperative Sahakari, which has allowed savings from even non-Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)71

7. Lessons Learned and Conclusionsmembers. Cooperative experts and social mobilisers (who were trained by the experts) ofSCDP had to go to great details to show how the present cooperative with modified by-lawswas suited to the present CBO goals. Eventually the members in almost all communitiescame around and requested their CBO's inclusion in the cooperatives too.Cooperative formation, particularly when the process involves conversion of one operationalmodality (CBO) into another one (cooperative) is not without its own problems. All theseneeded to be addressed cautiously. There is a risk that some members would be alienatedfrom cooperatives, as each cooperative consists of 5-10 CBOs and hence tends to cover morearea. SCDP conducted both sensitisation and motivation workshops after which merging ofCBOs into cooperatives and consolidation of CBOs' accounts was initiated. Training onaccounts and book keeping and account supervisory committee workshop are necessary.Also training some cooperative members on business planning, among other things, is alsonecessary for the sustainability and effective operation of the cooperatives. All thesemeasures of course contribute towards capacity building of the cooperative members. Forthe sustainability of a cooperative, continuous capacity building is necessary. SDFs shouldbe in a position to support the cooperatives for at least some time.72Cooperative promotionand management trainingin Simikot, HumlaIt has perhaps something to do with the tradition of donor assistance in Nepal that theinstitutionalisation process was not initiated early enough. Donors, UNDP included,sometimes have the habit of agreeing to extend projects on various grounds even after theexpiry of planned closing date. SCDP certainly embarked on the design of the exit strategyand plan only after the final evaluation was completed in late 2002. Because the projectdocument did not have a clear provision for an exit plan, there was some confusion whetherthe programme would phase out and if so, how to prepare for that.It is essential that a programmes has an exit plan developed early on so that there is ampletime to work and make the transition smooth. The exit plan should be included in theproject document. Wherever possible, activities should be designed in such a manner thatthere is no need for an exit plan, e.g. by adopting legal, already existing institutionalmodalities (not always possible though) and by asking the district and line agencyauthorities with the programme implementation.

7.2 Coordination with other UNDP-supported ProjectsWhile talking about the coordination of SCDP with other UNDP projects like PDDP, LGP,RUPP, MEDEP and COPE, it was obvious that some coordination efforts were in place. Theseprogrammes had decided not to duplicate the activities in the same VDCs. They regularlyheld meetings jointly. Since they were all supporting DDCs, they had also taken some stepsto make district level policies coherent. Under the leadership of the respective DDC, theLocal Initiative Forum and Sustainable Human Development Forum had organised districtlevel activities together. At the same time, it needs to be remembered that all these projectshad their own mandate and their success depended on the criteria set in the projectdocument. Those criteria were often not specific though.Despite this, SCDP conducted many activities in partnership. For example, in Okhaldhunga,a combined training on veterinary skills and study tour for Sustainable DevelopmentCommittee members were conducted. In Kailali, PDDP coordinated with SCDP to launchtheir programme activities as SCDP was already working there. They also sharedexperiences on how to implement programmes. In Dang, MEDEP and RUPP used CBOswhich had been established with SCDP support in enterprise development training andmarketing. In Surkhet, SCDP and RUPP collaborated for rural urban partnership activitiessuch as marketing of rural products in urban areas. In Humla, the DDC adapted SCDP inMuchu Village Development Committee. Muchu VDC is an area where other UN-assistedprojects such as World Food Programme supporting the construction of Hilsa - Simikot roadand UNICEF undertaking the decentralised children programme. SCDP also worked togetherwith SNV-funded DPP programme to implement social mobilisation activities in Muchu.SCDP and the Global Environment Facility's Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP) had aparticularly close relationship and worked together for environmental protection andbiodiversity conservation. For both the programmes, a joint mechanism to monitor theprogress was in place during 1998-2001, when the programmes also shared an office inNepalgunj. SGP was also implemented in three SCDP implemented districts and had two ofSCDP's SDF as their beneficiary. It used the baseline of SCDP to promote biodiversityconservation and energy efficiency promotion activities in Kailali where NTFP promotionand wetland conservation are the major programme components. Another majorcollaboration with SGP was to support capacity building of SOs.The government and UNDP may want toconsider a "one-door system" in districtswhere there are many projects supportedby UNDP and other agencies. This provisionshould reduce transaction cost to a largeextent. Coordination of activities could alsobe enhanced as a result.7.3 Sustainable DevelopmentNetwork as an ApproachAfter a series of meetings and NGOnetworking workshops, SCDP supported toform the Sustainable Development Network(SDN) in 1999, as an independent entityoperating in the mid and far western regionsKakrebihar biodiversityand cultrual conservationin Surkhet with GEF/SGPand SDF/SCDP supportReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)73

7. Lessons Learned and Conclusionsof Nepal. The SDN comprised of 16 NGOs that implement community developmentactivities and programmes using locally adapted versions of the SCDP model. The SDNNGOs initially received technical and financial support from SCDP to build their capacitiesto facilitate sustainable community development and help them implement similarprogrammes in areas beyond the SCDP districts. The SDN supported different trainingworkshops, seminars and study tours to build the capacities of the member NGOs. The SDNmembers also helped disseminate information on approaches to sustainable developmentand sustainable development activities in remote parts of Nepal. The SOs from Surkhet,Kailali and Dang are also members of the SDN.SCDP provided significant support to SDN during Phase I when the focus of the programmewas solely in the Mid and Far Western Development Regions. In the second phase, theplanned budgetary support was ultimately discontinued for various reasons. One reason,a very important one, was that despite generous support, by early 2001, the SDN had nottaken off on its own. The network was lacking a vision, which could not be brought in byoutsiders. Perhaps it was lacking a committed leader who could have taken on board newinnovations and initiatives. SDN was supposed to become a national entity, yet it remained(and remains) a regional initiative. Even on regional terms it has hardly been able to fulfilthe early promises although a lot of scope for it exists. Definitely there is demand and nichefor services a well managed SDN could provide. Perhaps this indicates that the participatingNGOs themselves were not fully committed to the SDN. While this type of partnership hada lot to offer, from time to time these NGOs would also be each other's competitors trying toaccess external funding. In view of all this, the funding initially allocated to SDN wasreprogrammed to other community activities from 2001 onwards.74It must also be understood that, barring a few, almost all NGOs in Nepal are not in aposition to sustain themselves if they are not provided external financial support. WhenSCDP ceased providing funding to SDN, it had its toll.7.4 Adaptation and Replication of the ProgrammeOne of the goals of the Programme was to adopt this model of sustainable development inother parts of the country. A few steps were also taken in this direction. DDCs ofOkhaldhunga, Humla, Surkhet and Myagdi all passed a resolution urging NPC toimplement SCDP in all VDCs. However, the DDCs could not mobilise any resource forprogramme expansion. Also the SCDP Phase II funds did not allow this expansion.In collaboration with the SDN, the SCDP activities were replicated in three new districts.The SDN provided grants amounting to Rs. 344,057 (approx.USD 4,500) each to GeruwaRural Awareness Association (GRAA) of Rajapur Bardia, the Alpine BiodiversityConservation Programme (ABCAP-21) of Jumla and the Malika Development Organisation(MDO) of Achham. These NGOs were selected on the basis of remoteness and watershedconditions of the area, socio-economic condition of the people and existence of biodiversityhot spots.A strong demand exists for this model, also outside the Programme districts. Yet, thosewishing to adapt SCDP model into their local conditions do not seem to have the resourcesto do so. This is interesting because SCDP's operating modality was cost-efficient, particularlyin terms of staff (who were hired on district salary scales). Therefore, any interested DDC

would have been in a position to initiate SCDP-type of activities in parts of the district byusing the annual development grant from MLD. To date, that has not happened.Admittedly, access to micro-credit would have been more difficult to organise, but allother elements of SCDP (social mobilisation, savings activities and environmental andsocial activities) could have been initiated.7.5 Executing AgencyNational Planning Commission (NPC) is chaired by the Prime Minister. NPC secretariat isthe executing agency for this pilot programme because of its unique institutional mandateamong the HMGN ministries and agencies. NPC is responsible for formulating policies foroverall national and sectoral development. These include 5-year development plans andsectoral and cross-sectoral strategies, such as PRSP and SDAN. NPC also endorses annualprogrammes of all ministries and regularly monitors their progress. All public sectordevelopment plans and projects are subject to endorsement by NPC before implementation.As such, NPC is an advisory and professional body of the government.However, NPC does not have any physical presence at the district level. This was perhapsan in-built limitation the Programme had. NPC did its best to advocate for sustainablecommunity development across districts and line agencies through local bodies.Through SCDP experiences, it is very clear that the DDCs, VDCs, government line agencies,NGOs, and other national and international organisations and groups need improvedcoordination of all activities. It would be more productive and efficient if all the developmentpartners coordinate their activities in the respective villages/areas. This would also reduceduplication of activities. In all this, effective and open information sharing is a must -every actor and project should be able tolearn from other organisation's experiences.In this respect, DDC Okhaldhunga hasbecome a model; they did pass a resolutionwhereby they required all developmentpartners to do so. This is an exciting smallexample about stakeholders’ coordination atlocal level. It also clearly indicates increasedgovernance capacity at district level.7.6 Some Crosscutting LessonsIn relation to the programme coverage,SCDP's budget was quite low. Programmehad to remain focused, both geographically and thematically, in its activities. As discussionsin the earlier chapters indicate, more emphasis should have been placed in providingbackstopping, requisite skills and knowledge in setting up and running micro enterprisesand ensuring that the green enterprise ideas also had some likely markets. It is equallyimportant that no single project can address all the development needs of a community.Partnerships, linkages with other projects and outsourcing activities to existing districtbasedorganisations is a cost-efficient way of getting more value for the money.It is easy to mobilise local people effectively if development partners can relate their supportto the communities' immediate needs and priority programmes. For example, on anNPD sharing experienceswith SO/NGO staff duringProgramme LearingWorkshopReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)75

7. Lessons Learned and Conclusionsaverage, 50% costs of community projects were supported by SCDP as partnership activities.The partnership approach demonstrated that there is a possibility to generate resources atlocal level and that the local people can mobilise resources to accomplish their priorityprogrammes. This has created a strong ownership among the local communities. Theyhave taken charge of these projects after completion, ensuring their sustenance.SO staff have one of the most important roles to play. They should be provided with ampletraining opportunities to improve their capabilities and to be sure they can keep up withthe changing needs. Programmes wishing to adopt SCDP approach should seriously considerthis factor.Communication at the outset, when the project enters a community, is very important.Sometimes community members have already heard about the programme, butmisunderstood the message. Subsequently they have spread wrong messages about, forinstance the credit facility. Constant dialogue and communication is needed to improvethe situation. Every member from the community has to be briefed on the intentions of theproject on a regular basis in a repetitive manner.76Loans, seed grants and human resource development grants should be provided togetheras a joint package. Complete mechanisms and guidelines for resource sharing, e.g. for seedgrants and human resource development funds, should be developed at the outset of theprogramme. If excessive emphasis is placed on providing merely loans, there is a risk thatthe people might view programme staff as merchants and bankers, not developmentworkers. A measured and patient approach at the onset allows for the social mobilisationprogrammes to be well under way before loans from the credit funds will become available.Of course, community expectations are often very high at the very beginning and findinga right balance of context and culture-specific actions in community is a challenging task.SCDP began its activities in each DDC by selecting the VDCs jointly with the DDC and lineagency staff (particularly District Forest Office and District Soil Conservation Office).Following VDC selection, local recruitment of social mobilisers commenced. Once a suitableperson from each VDC had been hired, the CBO formation and social mobilisation activitiesstarted. During Phase I, SCDP conducted a baseline survey in parallel to programmeimplementation and took more time to produce the report. During Phase II, a PovertyMonitoring report was produced, but again only after activities were already under way.Based on the experiences of Phase I, a PRA exercise was conducted in each settlement tocollect baseline data in a participatory manner before actual activities commenced. Sucha PRA exercise had several benefits: it supported the social mobilisation process and forcommunities it is already a capacity building exercise. The discussions, walks andinteractions with the community also offered suitable opportunities to inform about theprogramme, its objectives and the type of activities that can be considered. However, PRAmethods rarely produce data that lends itself to statistical analysis. Thus the baselinereport should be augmented with collection of additional data (particularly in relation toprogramme indicators) that would lend itself to statistical analysis and allow for reliablemeasurement of progress and impact during implementation. The first 6-8 months shouldbe set aside as an inception phase during which only baseline data collection and PRAactivities would take place. The activities could begin in earnest as soon as the team has afair and reliable understanding of the people, the locality and its specific problems.

Development projects need adaptive management. Project management needs to be alertto the smallest signals emanating from the field and be prepared to revise course accordingly.Rigorous progress monitoring function is needed to provide the project management withthe necessary information on progress, emerging impact, changing context and emergingrisks. Monitoring team should pay attention to the progress of activities and how efficientlyoutputs have been achieved. In programmes like SCDP, ways to involve local elected bodiesin monitoring is important. This will help in instilling ownership among the localauthorities and the communities. In addition, joint monitoring will help ensuretransparency and accountability.SCDP was divided into two three-year phases, which was not really helpful. Although theredesign half-way through (late 1999) provided for an opportunity to incorporate thelessons learned during the first three years of implementation into the programme, it alsodisrupted implementation at community level, created uncertainty and slowed downmomentum. As lessons from SCDP and other UNDP-supported projects in Nepal show, atimeframe of six years has been barely adequate for full sustainability and forinstitutionalising the mechanisms and systems in Kailali, Surkhet and Dang. Even thisperiod has not been fully adequate for self-sustainability and replication at district level.Complex and challenging projects like SCDP, particularly when they include communitymobilisation and capacity building, should be designed for the duration of 5-6 years initially.Further, rigorous monitoring mechanism accompanied with independent, externalevaluations should be planned to provide an early opportunity to assess the directionprogramme has taken and to take corrective actions if need be.7.7 ConclusionsDevelopment planning of Nepal still is largely dominated by processes at the central leveldespite the efforts in improving decentralised management and planning. Resources arelargely concentrated there because of the mistaken belief that the centre has the mostimportant role to play for the betterment of the nation. SCDP believed that empoweringcommunity level is equally, if not more, important. It was well aware of the fact thatwithout adequate development on the community level, the community members willhave difficulty even to fulfil their basic needs - they will always be struggling for two mealsa day and other necessities. Until and unless real development activities take place at thelocal level, the realisation of the development envisioned in many programmes anddevelopment plans will be a far cry. The trickle-down approach is largely ineffective. Onlybottom-up participatory approach works for development at the community level.SCDP also understood that for the programme to be truly sustainable, the holistic approachtowards development needed to be adopted. Concentrating only on one area would not leadto lasting development. That is why it focused on three components: economic development,environment and natural resources management and social development. Communitymembers were the real actors in all its activities. The Programme only assisted them incharting out their own destiny. SCDP focused on ways to develop the capabilities of thecommunities. It also emphasised that there is no blueprint for sustainable development - itdepends on the local needs.SCDP also tried hard to share with the community members the concept of sustainabledevelopment. This task was not an easy one. Inculcating the view that one had to takeReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)77

7. Lessons Learned and ConclusionsBox 11: Approaches to Sustainability:Regional StudyPilot projects in three selected districts in theecologically most sensitive and poverty-strickenareas of western Nepal were chosen, and theidea was to show that community involvement atthe local level to raise living standards wouldhave a direct impact on environmentalconservation and long-term development. Thiswas a radical approach to conservation: it didn'tinvolve setting up morenational parks , ordrawing up a new masterplan. It tried to involve localcommunities in social andeconomic development,which would addressproblems likedeforestation, biodiversityprotection, conservationof ecologically sensitiveareas and protection ofwater sources."Source: Kunda Dixit, 2002initiatives and work hard to improve one’s conditions took along-time. The fact that many issues had to be addressedsimultaneously was, for most people, difficult to grasp. In mostother development projects the communities were aware of orhad focused on only one component. Community members inthe SCDP implemented areas now understand whatsustainability means. They have realised that a host of factorsneeds to be considered to make development truly sustainable.They have also understood that imposed development cannotlead to a sustainable development, the need should be felt within.They have also become empowered and understood that theycan continue implementing sustainable development activitieson their own (see Box 11).SCDP had always acted on the belief that the communitymembers themselves are in a better position to identify theirdevelopment needs. In addition, it emphasised that for anycommunity-level programme to be sustainable, it should havethe support of the community members. Only then would theyactively participate in the programme. This support would beforthcoming only when they believe in the spirit of theprogramme.78SCDP has acted as a facilitator in many instances. SCDP believed that the true ownershipof any programme should lie with the stakeholders, as ownership is vital for thesustainability of the programme. Project design, implementation and monitoring shouldbe done by the stakeholders with supportfrom external agencies. The communitymembers met on a regular basis andidentified and prioritised theirdevelopmental needs using participatoryapproaches. SCDP closely studied those needsand looked at ways it could supportconsidering its limited resources.Nava R. Sharma, Ex.DDC Chairperson,sharing his views onsustainable development,MyagdiSCDP was able to mix up with the localcommunities and as a result gained theirconfidence. The view of Bal Krishna BC,former DDC Chairperson of Surkhet, isparticularly relevant here. According tohim, "Even in the most difficult situation,SCDP never moved its office from Surkhet. Others left the place and most moved toNepalgunj. This demonstrates SCDP's commitment towards Surkhet and its developmentneeds - we are really proud of this. In addition, social mobilisers have done a good job. Whenwe go to the villages, we only see SCDP's mobilisers in the villages. Others bring staff fromKathmandu, but it employed the locals. Local resource mobilisation was its trademark."While formulating SCDP, it was hoped that after a certain time, the communities in theProgramme areas would be self-sustaining. It was assumed that their development works

would provide positive externalities and the areas nearby would also work towardssustainable development. Subsequently, the whole district would march towardssustainable development. While developing this plan, the Maoists problem was not a majorthreat. But, during the Programme implementation, especially during Phase II, it unfoldedin such a way that all the activities, including those by SCDP, were affected. This broughtdevelopment works to a virtual standstill in many areas of the country. SCDP was noexception. Because of the security situation, it was very difficult to hold meetings on aregular basis and the Programme staff also had problems entering many VDCs.Sustainability of a programme takes time. It takes time to plan and implement all theactivities. To make people aware of the concept is also time-consuming. So, when thisprogramme is adapted in other areas, the time factor should be given a serious thought.Activities should be devised in such a way that sustainable target really looks achievable.Duplication of various development activities by different agencies has been observed insome programme areas. Similar problem exists in other areas of the country as well. If thispractice is not checked in time, it could develop as an acute problem and drain scarceresources. HMGN has already taken measures as reflected in the Foreign Aid CoordinationPolicy (2002). As consensus is emerging on the principle that only integrated developmentleads to sustainable development, DDCs could be supported to set up SCDP-like institutionsin the district, which would then coordinate activities organised by different agencies.This sentiment was also echoed by Bharat K.C., former DDC chairperson of Dang. If suchinstitution were developed, information sharing would be easier. Duplication of activitiescould be reduced and the programme would then be more effective in achieving the goal,i.e. to improve the living condition of the community members.79SCDP has emphasised on actions and the results are visible (see Annex VII for ProgrammeImplementation activities and outputs based on the project document). Many people havedirectly benefited from its activities: more than 200,000 people in nearly 39,000households were directly affected. The average expense per person was US $ 55.78, whichLocal people sell theirproducts at weekly HaatBazar, OkhaldhungaReflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)

7. Lessons Learned and Conclusionsdemonstrates that the Programme was a cost-efficient one. This was achieved, becauseSCDP was able to mobilise local human resource effectively. It was also learnt that theactivities should always be guided by a long-term vision. If excessive emphasis is given onshort-term goals, the rewards may not be long lasting.As the five-year plans prove, SCDP's experiences have formed the national policies, settingtheir objective in a positive way. The main policy outcome, the Sustainable DevelopmentAgenda for Nepal (SDAN) was endorsed in July 2003; so it is too early to discuss SDAN'simpact. Positive changes can be seen in the micro level. The watersheds have becomeprotected and community members have first hand experience on protecting theirenvironment. The benefits have been manifold: purer drinking water, easier access tofodder, fuel and construction materials, even additional income from collection andprocessing of NTFPs. The micro-finance activities have also contributed towards fulfillingdaily necessities of many people. Capacities of many CBO members have been enhanced.In addition, changes are taking place in the awareness level.Since SCDP was a pilot programme, its objective was to experiment on many differentissues. It wanted to see what works and what does not work and why. As it was exploringuncharted territories, it is natural that many difficulties were encountered. Many lessonswere learnt. Several attempts were made to document those experiences; this report beingone of those. It is hoped that others will benefit from the lessons it learned.80

ANNEXES

82AnnexesAnnex I: Training and Capacity building on Social DevelopmentNUMBER OF PARTICIPANTSS.N TYPE OF ACTIVITIES TARGET SURKHET KAILALI DANG HUMLA MYAGDI OKHALDHUNGA TOTALGROUP MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTALMALE MALE MALE MALE MALE MALE MALE1 Baseline survey SO - - - 11 1 12 - - - - - - - 1 1 - - - 11 2 132 Gender equity CBO 4 12 16 10 11 21 - - - - - - 4 7 11 2 6 8 20 36 563 Legal literacy CBO - - - - 3 3 - - - - - - - - - - 5 5 - 8 84 Literacy facilitator training SO - - - 7 60 67 - 25 25 4 15 19 - - - - - - 11 100 1115 Pan slab construction CBO 5 - 5 - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 - 56 Participatory planning andmonitoring system TL - - - - 1 1 1 - 1 - - - - - - - - - 1 1 27 Partiicpatory planning CBO/SO - - - 54 1 55 - - - - - - - - - - - - 54 1 558 People centereddevelopment SO 1 - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 - 19 PRA SDC/SO 12 - 12 - 10 10 17 3 20 16 3 19 16 4 20 6 8 14 67 28 9510 PRA refresher TL - - - - - - 1 - 1 - - - - 2 2 - - - 1 2 311 Social mobilization SO/CBO 30 - 30 43 1 44 21 4 25 11 1 12 10 12 22 6 8 14 121 26 14712 Solar Installation &maintenance CBO - - - - - - - - - 4 - 4 - - - - - - 4 - 413 SDC 60 30 90 40 30 70 100 60 16014 Traditional Birth Attendence CBO - - - - 31 31 - 13 13 - - - - - - - - 44 4415 Village expert training CBO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 18 6 24 18 - 1816 Women health and sanitation CBO 32 63 95 - 44 44 - - - - - - - - - 32 107 139Total 84 75 159 125 163 288 100 75 175 35 19 54 30 26 56 72 63 135 446 415 861Source: Compilation of SO’s Progress Report from Project Districts, Noember 2003.

Annex II: Training on Environment and Natural Resources ManagementNUMBER OF PARTICIPANTSS.N TYPE OF ACTIVITIES TARGET SURKHET KAILALI DANG HUMLA MYAGDI OKHALDHUNGA TOTALGROUP MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTALMALE MALE MALE MALE MALE MALE MALE1 Bio-diversity and Asparaguspromotion CBO 18 - 18 - - - - - - - - - - - - 18 - 182 Community forestmanagement CBO - - - 18 3 21 - - - 1 - 1 - - - 6 2 8 25 5 303 Eco school and eco club ECO clubmanagement and school - - - 4 4 8 - - - - - - - - - 4 4 84 Environmental conservationTOT SO - - - - - - 3 1 4 - - - - - - 3 1 45 Environmental education CBO/TOT Teacher 16 5 21 - - - - - - 10 8 18 - - - 26 13 396 ICS instalation CBO 38 18 56 44 40 84 - - - 6 7 13 18 10 28 106 75 1817 Journalism for eco-clubmembers School - - - - - - - - - 8 2 10 - - - - - - 8 2 108 Natural resourcemanagement CBO - - - 22 1 23 - - - - - - - - - 22 1 239 NTFP management training CBO 18 - 18 22 3 25 - - - 16 2 18 3 4 7 1 - 1 60 9 6910 Nursery Naike CBO 24 - 24 14 5 19 - - - 1 - 1 7 - 7 4 1 5 50 6 56Total 114 23 137 124 56 180 3 1 4 26 4 30 26 19 45 29 13 42 322 116 438Source: Compilation of SO’s Progress Report from Project Districts, November 2003.Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)83

AnnexesAnnex III: CCF release to Districts in Rs.S.N. District 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Total1 Surkhet 1,698,945 2,362,831 4,292,566 1,258,450 737,550 - - 10,350,3422 Kailali - 3,830,160 4,391,184 1,258,450 737,550 - - 10,217,3443 Dang - 3,675,096 5,353,379 1,258,450 737,550 - - 11,024,4754 Humla - - - 1,218,004 2,571,327 - - 3,789,3315 Myagdi - - - 1,204,466 2,463,850 - - 3,668,3166 Okhaldhunga - - - 1,204,466 2,466,287 - - 3,670,753Total 1,698,945 9,868,087 14,037,129 7,402,286 9,714,114 - - 42,720,561Annex IV :Investment, Repayment, Interest Income and % of Recovery as of September 200384Districts Particulars Currency Upto 2000 2001 2002 2003 Total1999 Upto SeptInvestment NRs. 9,735,060 8,929,500 7,547,500 4,007,000 4,217,000 34,436,060US$ 1 125,210 114,849 97,074 51,537 54,238 442,908Dang Repayment NRs. 7,996,011 6,891,966 5,353,184 2,681,316 10,000 22,932,477US$ 102,843 88,643 68,851 34,486 129 294,951Interest NRs. 401,347 1,097,806 1,011,886 750,811 442,267 3,704,116US$ 5,162 14,120 13,015 9,657 5,688 47,641% Recovery 82.14 77.18 70.93 66.92 0.24 66.59Investment NRs. 10,358,730 4,278,843 3,810,400 1,597,205 100,030 20,145,208US$ 133,231 55,033 49,008 20,543 1,287 259,102Kailali Repayment NRs. 7,490,246 2,919,066 1,139,775 1,053,255 - 12,602,342US$ 96,338 37,544 14,659 13,547 - 162,088Interest NRs. 148,897 828,193 666,915 458,459 218,871 2,321,335US$ 1,915 10,652 8,578 5,897 2,815 29,856% Recovery 72.31 68.22 29.91 65.94 - 62.56Investment NRs. 9,928,072 7,994,380 7,080,477 825,000 276,500 26,104,429US$ 127,692 102,822 91,067 10,611 3,556 335,748Surkhet Repayment NRs. 7,309,016 5,206,564 2,849,658 505,314 - 15,870,552US$ 94,007 66,965 36,652 6,499 - 204,123Interest NRs. 39,744 1,024,186 671,245 973,990 105,816 2,814,981US$ 511 13,173 8,633 12,527 1,361 36,206% Recovery 73.62 65.13 40.25 61.25 - 60.80Investment NRs. 1,315,000 2,648,000 737,000 1,057,000 5,757,000US$ - 16,913 34,058 9,479 13,595 74,045Humla Repayment NRs. - 1,261,000 1,456,090 344,043 - 3,061,133US$ - 16,219 18,728 4,425 - 39,371Interest NRs. - 45,839 79,848 52,361 4,936 182,984US$ - 590 1,027 673 63 2,353% Recovery 95.89 54.99 46.68 - 53.17Investment NRs. - 1,393,500 2,000,462 1,356,000 718,000 5,467,962US$ - 17,923 25,729 17,441 9,235 70,327Myagdi Repayment NRs. - 1,160,508 1,567,296 914,727 34,000 3,676,531US$ - 14,926 20,158 11,765 437 47,287Interest NRs. - - 169,934 212,632 131,112 513,678US$ - - 2,186 2,735 1,686 6,607% Recovery 83.28 78.35 67.46 4.74 67.24Investment NRs. - 1,199,000 3,448,565 3,194,973 2,040,000 9,882,538US$ - 15,421 44,355 41,093 26,238 127,107Okhaldhunga Repayment NRs. - 861,542 2,526,590 1,647,252 5,035,384US$ - 11,081 32,496 21,187 - 64,764Interest NRs. - - 134,828 274,467 152,407 561,702US$ - - 1,734 3,530 1,960 7,224% Recovery 71.86 73.26 51.56 - 50.951 The exchange rate is US $1= Rs. 77.75. It should be mentioned that the amount in US dollars is for reference only as the dollar value had fluctuatedwidely during Programme implementation period. However, care has been taken to make the amount in Nepali currency as accurate as possible.

Annex V: Training and Capacity building on Economic DevelopmentNUMBER OF PARTICIPANTSS.N TYPE OF ACTIVITIES TARGET SURKHET KAILALI DANG HUMLA MYAGDI OKHALDHUNGA TOTALGROUP MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTAL MALE FE- TOTALMALE MALE MALE MALE MALE MALE MALE1 Accounting and book keeping CBO 200 13 213 294 66 360 211 110 321 - - - 71 99 170 78 95 173 854 383 1,2372 Accounting and book keeping SO - - - 25 7 32 3 - 3 1 1 2 1 - 1 - - - 30 8 383 Accounting software andbook keeping TOT SO - - - - - - 10 3 13 3 2 5 1 2 3 - - - 14 7 214 Agricultural leader CBO - - - 4 - 4 - - - - - - - - - - - - 4 - 45 Animal health worker CBO 15 - 15 10 - 10 14 - 14 - - - - - - - - - 39 - 396 Apiculture CBO 2 - 2 - - - 19 10 29 - - - 8 - 8 - - - 29 10 397 Bamboo handicraft training CBO 1 - 1 - - - 3 - 3 - - - 10 10 20 1 - 1 15 10 258 Bee hive box making CBO 22 - 22 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 22 - 229 CBCD facilitation CBO - - - 29 10 39 - - - - - - - - - - - - 29 10 3910 Cement tile CBO - - - 2 - 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - 2 - 211 CF account training CBO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6 2 8 6 2 812 Finnacial management andreporting SO - - - - - - 1 - 1 - - - 2 - 2 - - - 3 - 313 Fish famring CBO - - - 5 3 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 3 814 Fruit/vegetable farming CBO 12 15 27 - - - 7 3 10 - - - - - - - - - 19 18 37Gender audit 40 23 63 40 23 6315 Ginger processing andcultivation SO - - - - - - 164 33 197 - - - - - - - - - 164 33 19716 Goat raising CBO - - - 7 7 14 - - - 20 12 32 - - - - - - 27 19 4617 Horticulture managementtraining CBO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 15 5 20 15 5 2018 Mentha cultivation CBO - - - - - - 15 - 15 - - - - - - - - - 15 _ 1519 Microcredit training SO 12 - 12 - - - - - - 25 1 - - - - - - - 37 2 3920 Microenterprise creation SO/CBO 2 - 2 14 2 16 19 10 29 1 - 1 23 21 44 52 32 98 111 65 17621 Off season vegetable farming CBO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9 13 22 9 13 2222 Pig farming CBO 10 6 16 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10 6 1623 Poverty Mapping and Analysis SO - - - - - - - - - - - - 2 6 8 - - - 2 6 824 Shoe making CBO 5 - 5 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 - 525 Start and improve yourbusiness TL - - - - - - 1 - 1 - - - - - - - - - 1 - 126 Sustainable agriculturefarm design CBO 38 - 38 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 38 - 3827 Tailoring CBO 2 - 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2 - 228 Weaving training CBO 40 30 70 - - - - - - 4 4 - - - - 60 60 40 94 134cooperative society 3 1 4 3 1 429 Wire weaving CBO - - - 8 - 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - 8 - 8Total 364 65 429 398 95 493 467 169 636 90 43 107 118 138 256 161 207 382 1,598 718 2,316Source: Compilation of SO’s Progress Report from Project Districts, November 2003.Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)85

AnnexesAnnex VI: HMG/UNDP/SCDP Publications and DocumentsAnnual Report 1997. Sustainable Community Development Programme, Kathmandu,Nepal, 1998.Annual Report 1998. Building Capacity for Sustainable Development. SustainableCommunity Development Programme, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1999.Annual Report 1999. National Impacts Through Local Initiatives. SustainableCommunity Development Programme, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2000.Annual Report 2000. Sustainable Community Development Programme, Kathmandu,Nepal, 2001.Sustainable Community Development Programme (Nepal Capacity 21):Guidelines for Programme Implementation, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1999.Legal and Institutional Framework for the Sustainable Development Facility:Operation Management of the SDF Fund, Sustainable Community DevelopmentProgramme, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1999.From Agenda to Actions: Nepal’s Experience with Agenda 21(a documentary in English and Nepali), Sustainable Community Development Programme,Kathmandu, Nepal, 1999.86Bholi ko Ash Digo Bikash (a documentary in Nepali), Sustainable CommunityDevelopment Programme, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1999.Made in Nepal: Nepal’s Sustainable Community Development Programme.Approaches to Sustainability: A Country Study on Building Capacity for aSustainable Future, New York, USA, 2000.Civil Society and Sustainable Development: Perspectives on Participation inthe Asia & Pacific Region. Approaches to Sustainability, A Regional Study onBuilding Capacity for a Sustainable Future, New York, USA, 2002.National Assessment Report for World Summit on Sustainable Development.Kathmandu, Nepal, 2002.Sustainable Development Agenda for Nepal/ Nepal ko Lagi Digo Bikash ko Agenda.Kathmandu, Nepal, 2003.1999-2003. Quarterly Bulletins (1999-2003) of SCDP, Kathmandu, Nepal.Sahabhagitatmak Anugaman Nirdesika ra Talika (A Guide Book and Poster for CBO’sSelf-Monitoring and Evaluation), Kathmandu, Nepal, 2000.Samudayik Digo Bikash Karyakram Sanchalanko Dhancha (A Poster on ImplementationFramework for SCDP), Kathmandu, Nepal, 1998.

Digo Bikashko Lagi Sthaniya kshamata Abhibridhi (A Poster on Building Capacity forSustainable Development), Kathmandu, Nepal, 1998.Digo Bikashko Lagi Jadibuti Samrakshan- Humla Jillaka Kehi MahatwapurnaJadibutihar (A Poster on Non-Timber Forest Products for Sustainable Development- SomeImportant Non-Timber Forest Products of Humla), Kathmandu, Nepal, 2002.From Practice to Policy: Building a Bridge for Sustainable Development (adocumentary in English and Nepali), Sustainable Community Development Programme,Kathmandu, Nepal, 2003.Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned(1996-2003). Sustainable Community Development Programme, Kathmandu, Nepal,2003.ANNEX VII: Programme Implementation: Activities and OutputsOutput/Activities Status RemarksOutput 1.1: 300 CBOs formed and institutionalized Achieved Of the eight activities, six achieved and twowithin sub-watershed in three new districtspartially achieved.1.1.1 Identify 3-10 VDCs in each of the new districts. Achieved A total of 19 VDCs (Myagdi - 7, Humla -4 andOkhaldhunga -8) are covered.1.1.2. Select an NGO or form an SO to work in each Achieved SOs are formed and are working in collaborationnew district.with DDC.1.1.3. Conduct training for selected NGO's /SO's in Achieved Training on social mobilization, gender PRA have beeneach new districtconducted to the SO in new district.1.1.4. Conduct participatory baseline survey in each Achieved Baseline has been undertaken in new district.new district with cooperation of participating VDCs,DDCs and communities.1.1.5. Support the CBOs of the new district to generate, Achieved A total of Rs. 2,30,48,082 has been generated by themobilize and manage their own community funds both CBOs in six districts till September 2003.from their own resources and linking these available fundswith other sources.1.1.6. Support communities in the selected new VDCs to Achieved A total of 326 CBOs (men -87, women - 97 and mixed -form men's, women's and mixed gender CBOs.142) have been formed in three new districts. Thetotal CBOs are 1352 in six districts.1.1.7. Facilitate CBO members in the three new districts - Partially 961 CBO members have received variousidentified by their CBO and screened by the SCDP - to achieved training to enhance their skill as sustainablebecome local sustainable development specialists.development specialists.1.1.8. Develop and support the application of mechanisms Achieved A participatory monitoring guideline and chart werefor participatory monitoring and assessment of thedeveloped and used in the field for assessment of theperformance and management of the SDF's, CBOs andCBOs' performance.their FGs in new district.Output 1.2: Small-scale sustainable development Partially Of the seven activities, four achieved and threeinitiatives implemented by members of the CBOs achieved partially achieved.in three new districts.1.2.1. Establish a district level endowment fund (SDF Achieved A total of Rs. 4,27,20,561 (Rs. 1,11,28,400 for threefund) in each new district.new districts) has been provided to establish the SDFfund. A turn over of Rs. 10,15,98,197 till September2003 has been invested in six districts.1.2.2. Assist the CBOs to develop their plans for Partially CBOs are regularly assisted in developingsustainable community development activities. achieved their plans for sustainable community developmentactivities. The members prior to the approval of loanmust prepare business plans.Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)87

88AnnexesANNEX VII: Programme Implementation: Activities and Outputs Cont...Output/Activities Status Remarks1.2.3. Assist the CBOs in all programme districts to develop Partially Strategies on empowerment of women andstrategies for empowering women and disadvantaged achieved disadvantage are updated annually,groups; ensuring these strategies are well integrated intotheir priority plans.achievements.1.2.4. Analyze the strategies of each CBO in all programme Achieved Strategies of the CBOs are reviewed by SDF prior todistricts, determining their social, economic - financial,the implementation of activities.technical, managerial and environmental feasibility throughconsultative process.1.2.5. Finalize activities within each CBO's strategy for joint Achieved Activities of the CBOs are finalized after reviewing thesupport from CBO's community funds and their partnersfeasibility and sustainability of the project. A number ofincluding the SDF fund, seed grant, private sector, INGOsprojects have been implemented by CBOs through coandbi-lateral co-operation agencies.financing of VDC, DDC and other partners active in thedistrict.1.2.6. Facilitate the provision of technical support to CBOs, Partially CBOs have developed their own technical skills withthrough contractual arrangements between CBOs and achieved support from SCDP/SOs combined with indigenousappropriate supporting institutions or professionals forknowledge and skills.technology, expertise and technical training1.2.7. Participate and provide technical support to CBO's Achieved Mul samits/ functional groups, DDC, SOs and SCDPparticipatory monitoring of their own community developmentmonitor the projects undertaken by the CBOs.projects.Output 2.1: Enhanced collaboration among community Achieved Of the eight activities, five achieved and threeorganizations and their local GOs and NGOs partnerspartially achieved.2.1.1. Train CBOs in leadership skills, gender awareness, Achieved 295 CBO members (Surkhet -289 & Kailali -6) haveaccount keeping, institutional development, and managing FG.been provided with leadership development training.566 were provided training to promote self-management and with account training from Dang, Kailali and Surkhet.self-reliance.127 members were provided with gender training fromthe three districts. 20 members were provided withLFA training from Kailali.2.1.2. Organize & support exchanges of study tours and Partially 462 CBO members from Surkhet, Kailali and Dang hadobservation visits between communities/ CBO's both achieved participated in study tours and 108 had participated inwithin and outside the programme districts.CBO to CBO visit from Surkhet and Kailali.2.1.3. Organize and support exchange of advisors, trainers Achieved This activity is undertaken from time to time.and local consultants between the communities, both withinand outside the programme districts.2.1.4. Organize and support transfer of skills and knowledge, Partially SDS has provided the services to others thoughthrough CBO's own SDS to other VDC in the district. achieved Service charges are determined by the respectiveCBOs.2.1.5. Organize and support visits to the SCDP districts by Achieved 6 national and international organizations visitrepresentatives from interested national and internationalSCDP districts yearly.organizations.2.1.6. Organize and support /strengthen networking among Achieved Monthly networking between CBOs and VDCs areCBOs and VDCs in each district, through monthly (CBOorganized regularly. Quarterly VDC conferences areonly) and quarterly (with VDCs) conferences providingalso held regularly. But due to the present politicalstructured opportunities to review each others activities,.situation these activities have not been undertakensuccess, problems and lessons learnedregularly.2.1.7. Organize and support district workshops bringing Achieved This is undertaken regularly.together members of CBOs with representatives fromVDC/ DDC, GOs, NGOs and private sector groups.2.1.8. Organize workshop for participants to come together Partially This task has been partially achieved.with national stakeholders and international partners. achievedOutput 2.2: Quality information gathered by and Achieved Of the six activities, five were achieved and oneavailable to participants in the programs and othermade partially achieved.stakeholders in Nepal and internationally2.2.1. Generate gender disaggregated periodical information Achieved Quarterly and annual reports are producedat community level

ANNEX VII: Programme Implementation: Activities and Outputs Cont...Output/Activities Status Remarks2.2.2.Quarterly programme reports and sharing of the Achieved Quarterly reports and newsletters are circulated toinformation with national stakeholder.national stakeholders.2.2.3. Share information generated by the programme with Achieved Through workshops, seminars, newsletters, annualinternational stakeholders.reports, case studies and documentary films.2.2.4. Publication and distribution of information collected at Achieved Helped disseminate SCDP approach of sustainable atall levels, in support of the adaptation of the SCDP modeldevelopment.by NGOs and other national organizations.2.2.5.Provide support to district, regional and national GOs, Achieved This is done by organizing visits to SCDP sites.NGOs and private sector organizations to observe andlearn about/ from the programme.2.2.6. Provide support to SDN and collaborate with other Partially SDN has adopted SCDP approaches and processesprogrammes (PDDP/LGP) to adopt SCDP approaches to achieved adapted by members in their organizations todevelopment and implementation of their developmentimplement sustainable development activities.activities.Output 3.1: Strategy developed and implemented for Achieved Of the five activities, four achieved and oneensuring functional linkages among CBOs, NGOs/SOspartially achieved.and DDCs3.1.1. Institutionalize SDF's as service providers on Achieved SDF was institutionalised uder the Local Self -sustainable community development in each district.Governance Act under DDC and NGOs wereregistered at CDO office.3.1.2. Organize and support semi-annual meetings of district Achieved This activity is undertaken at the district headquarters -level sustainable human development forum (SHDF), bringin partnership with Local Initiative Forum.together representatives of district level CBOs and NGOs/SO (SDF) with DDC and line agencies for exchange ofexperiences.3.1.3. Submit the plans and programmes of participatory Achieved DDC organized the planning process prior to theCBOs and NGOs to DDC meeting for coordination andcompletion of the elected bodies, term in the DDC andresource mobilizationVDCs.3.1.4. Organize and support transfer of skills and knowledge Partially Implemented on the demand of the SDS fromthrough CBOs SDS to other VDCs in the DDC. achieved respective VDCs.3.1.5. Advocacy to promote sustainable community Achieved This has been done in collaboration with PDDP/LGP,development with other programme units of the DDC, districtDASU and DPP.level line agencies and NGOs.Output 3.2: CBO's Plans and Programmes linked Achieved Of the three activities, two achieved and onepartially with DDC's sub-committees on Forestry,partially achieved.Agriculture and Industry3.2.1. Ensure involvement of CBO's representatives in the Achieved CBO plans are incorporated in DDC planning.planning process of DDCs, including VDCs and Ilaka levelworkshops.3.2.2. Ensure that CBO 's sustainable development plans, Achieved CBO's plans are partially reflected in the annual plans.including watershed management plans, are reflected in theannual work plans of district level line agencies.3.2.3. Provide support and guidance in mobilizing resources Partially Resources have been mobilized particularly throughfrom district-level line agencies for capacity building and achieved DFO, DEO, DDC, VDC, UNDP-assisted projects (REDP,transfer of skills and technology to CBOs and their members.RUPP, MEDEP, PDDP, LGP, COPE etc.) and local NGOs.Output 4.1: Enhanced capacity of the SDN as a resource Partially All three activities were partially achieved.centre/HRD body under the leadership of NPC and inachievedcollaboration with NPC, MLD, MOFSC, MOPE and MOF ableto support and promote sustainable community developmentin Nepal4.1.1. Establish relations with and define needs and Partially This task has been a continuous effort throughout theproject interests of potential clients and agencies in Nepal achieved period.including VDCs, DDCs, national and regional NGOs, otherUNDP and UN agency projects and multi and bi-lateralagencies and INGOs.Reflections on Nepal Capacity 21 Initiative: Achievements and Lessons Learned (1996-2003)89

90AnnexesANNEX VII: Programme Implementation: Activities and OutputsOutput/Activities Status Remarks4.1.2. Design and deliver, on cost-recovery basis, specific Partially Training was not carried out on cost recovery basispractical training and HRD courses on SCD, based on achievedthe SCDP experience and client agencies’ expressedinterest and need.4.1.3. Develop and apply necessary management and quality Partially Quality of SCD training ensured through appropriatecontrol systems for SCD training and HRD programme. achieved feedback and applications.Output 4.2: Sustainable partially community Achieved Of the four activities, three achieved and onedevelopment policies and strategies developedpartially achieved.through the leadership and in collaborationwith SCDP/SDN.4.2.1. NPC-SCDP/SDN partnership establishes functional Partially Functional partnerships in place.partnerships with regional and global partner institutions achievedsuch as Center for Science and Environment, DevelopmentAlternatives, Foundation for Advance Studies onInternational Development, International Institute forEnvironment and Development, World Resources Institute,WWF, IUCN, ICIMOD, etc.4.2.2. NPC-SCDP/SDN partnership carries out inter-sectoral, Achieved Currently SDN is working on low profile.GO/NGO analysis of existing community developmentpolicies and policy options.4.2.3. Consensus building with key partners within HMG/N Achieved Twelve national and regional workshops were held forthrough workshops and seminars leading to the formation nssd/SDAN since 2000.of national level policies on sustainable communitydevelopment based on experiences gained at local andnational levels.4.2.4. NPC -SCDP/ SDN partnership with community Achieved District Agenda is interpreted as Periodic Plan.and VDC/DDC partners in the formulation of districtand national sustainable community developmentpolicies, National Agenda 21 and District Agenda 21 insix programme districts.

HMG/N NepalSUSTAINABLECOMMUNITYDEVELOPMENTPROGRAMMENational Planning CommissionP.O. Box: 1284Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, NepalPhone: 977-1- 4251771www.npc.gov.npUnited Nations Development ProgrammeP.O. Box: 107UN House, Pulchowk, Lalitpur, NepalPhone/Fax: 977-1- 4241188E-mail:capacity21@scdp.wlink.com.npWebsite: www.scdp.org.np