I am a Social Mobiliser

I am a social mobiliser
working in my village, in my society
my heart in touch with their rural realities
being one with their ups and downs
and with an aching heart and a smile on my face

I serve the village
despite the incessant the monsoon rains or the scorching summer heat
surviving on ten rupees worth of corn
although far away from family and friends
I have travelled from village to village
my mind, heart and soul geared to village development
with a heavy heart and a smile on my face
because
I am a social mobiliser

I can’t give much
yet I have roamed the village with my load of development
I have talked a lot
and listened to even more
to the nagging leaders and my family
I lead a life of hardships
yet I am committed to my job
with a wounded heart but a smile on my face
because
I am a social mobiliser.

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Jajarkot Looks Towards the Future

Bhairab Sundar Shrestha
Chairman
DDC Jajarkot
 

Jajarkot, with its abundance of natural beauty and cultural heritage, stands a class by itself among the districts of mid-western Nepal. But the very topography that adds to the beauty of the district also poses the biggest challenge for the district’s efforts towards development and poverty alleviation. Security is another major challenge looming ahead of us. Traditional centralisation of development has also been a deterrent in our district’s path towards decentralised development.

After the enactment of the Local Self Governance Act (LSGA), and its Regulations, and with the implementation of PDDP in our district, as well as the resultant partnership amongst the public and private sectors in the district, we are now beginning to see a glimmer of hope. Through the participation of the people at all levels we recently concluded our bottom up planning exercise and developed our annual district development plan for 2058/59 which we have already published and disseminated.

But on the other hand, we face the bitter truth of direct and indirect intervention by the centre in this process, which makes a mockery of our bottom-up planning exercise. Whereas district plans have to remain within the framework of LSGA, within the budget ceiling set by NPC and honour the spirit of the Ninth Five Year Plan, the Central Ministries and Departments continue to guide their regional offices to disburse development funds in an ad-hoc manner. As a result plans that address the felt needs of the ordinary farmers, create employment opportunities for them and lay special focus on the disadvantaged groups as per the spirit of the Ninth Plan are circumvented.

If we are really aware about and committed to people-centred development and look forward to projects that have immediate impact and are sustainable as well, we should highlight programmes that stress on the participation of the benefiting populace. There is a need for the public and private stakeholders to maximise the scarce resources and move forward in a coordinated manner for the participatory development of the district. We also need to foster the sustainable development initiatives through the principles of social mobilisation in order to give more rein to the community on matters involving their own development. This will ensure the maximisation of local resources and skills and make the projects thus undertaken more sustainable and reliable.

Finally, I believe that if all of us (governmental and non governmental agencies) put our hearts and souls together to envision our long term vision and goals; if all the elected officials and other staff in the DDC display people-oriented commitment and transparency, districts like Jajarkot will not have to wait too long to stride towards all-round development.

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