reflections on nepal capacity 21 initiative - Department of Applied ...

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.