CHAPTER - I INTRODUCTION |
1.1 Background
1.2 Participatory District Development Programme (PDDP)
1.3 Village Development Programme (VDP)
1.4 Objectives of this Report
1.5 Methodology Adopted for the Assessment
1.6 Focus of this Assessment
Nepal, belonging to the group of least developed countries, faces various problems due to complex economic, social, environmental, geographical and administrative situations. The UNDP Human Development Index for 1999 has placed Nepal as 31st from the bottom of 174 countries, based on basic human capabilities-- leading a long life, being knowledgeable and enjoying a decent standard of living.
As of 1998, a total of 21.8 million people are living in Nepal with a per capita GNP of $220 per annum. Among them, nearly 90 percent are living in rural areas, about 80 percent are surviving on subsistent agriculture and 42 percent (9 million) of them are living below the absolute poverty line. Nepal’s population is increasing by 2.37 percent annually and is estimated to be doubled by the year 2028. The rapid growth of rural population is creating an increasing demand for additional resources for development.
After the restoration of democracy in 1990 and the subsequent promulgation of a new Constitution, the nature of the relationship between the state and people has undergone a qualitative shift. Now, the Nepalese enjoy much more political freedom than ever before. It is a beginning stage of the country where democracy is gradually taking shape. The Constitution presently allows freedom for people to participate in all aspects of public life. These significant expansions of individual freedom have to be materialised in order to enhance economic opportunities and social advancements. However, the process of transforming power to the people is still inadequate.
Despite numerous efforts towards increasing people’s participation through decentralisation, access to public institutions and political power is still being monopolised within a narrow circle. Caste system, so entrenched in Nepalese society, continues to discharge a strong influence on all aspects of social, political and economic realities of the country. Caste and gender often determine occupation, food and social interactions. These influences are more prevalent in the rural areas. Presently, there are about 75 ethnic groups and about 50 distinct linguistic groups in Nepal. The poor, women and lower caste groups are still excluded from the mainstream of development, their participation being primarily limited as voters and recipients of development projects.
Poverty alleviation is not possible without the participation of the poor in decision making. The economically disadvantaged people have to be organised and mobilised to determine their own destiny. Creating the opportunities at the grassroots is a crucial task for the government. The National Planning Commission (NPC) has clearly and repeatedly mentioned in its Ninth Development Plan (1997-2002) that decentralization is the only means of creating such opportunities at the grassroots.
1.2 PARTICIPATORY DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (PDDP)
In view of the country’s present situation, it is clear that development is sustainable only when people take charge of their own destiny. So, the essence of development then, is to place development at the service of people’s well-being, and not keeping people at the service of development.
In light of the existing situation of the country, Participatory District Development Programme (PDDP) is currently under implementation in 20 districts of Nepal. (see map of PDDP districts)
His Majesty’s the Government of Nepal (HMG/N), with the technical assistance from UNDP, has been implementing this Programme since November 1995 to enhance people-centered development model in Nepal. The Programme is executed by the National Planning Commission Secretariat (NPCS) with cooperation of the Ministry of Local Development (MLD) and United Nations Office of Programme Services (UNOPS).
PDDP provides support at three different levels:
(1) central level for support to the development of macro policies supportive of decentralized, participatory and sustainable development;
(2) district level for better programming and management of local development efforts; and
(3) at the village level for the formation of community institutions to initiate self-reliant development and for the communities to participate in the decision-making processes that affect their lives and villages.
The PDDP support at the district level is focused on management support and capacity building of the DDCs to promote sustainable district development. The capacity of the DDCs is being enhanced through the creation of district development databases and information systems, analytical assessment, and participatory planning and monitoring for local development, and community based implementation of development initiatives. The efforts of the DDCs are being linked to line agencies, VDCs, NGOs and private sector as well. Similarly, efforts are also being made to link local development initiatives implemented through government and non-government organizations, to the DDCs’ development programmes. The basic assumption is that the DDCs will, in due course, be able to better coordinate and mobilize government and non-government agencies to implement different central government policies/programmes and make them more supportive of local development.
Aiming to improve the existing situation of the country, PDDP has initiated Village Development Programme (VDP). VDP was initiated in 1996 as one of the key programmes directly associated with building a sustainable foundation towards poverty alleviation. The Programme has taken VDP as a primary channel of implementation for participatory and sustainable local governance and development programmes.
As a people-centered programme, VDP’s main thrust is improving livelihoods at the household level for alleviating poverty. It uses social mobilization as a tool for inspiring local people to form their own organizations, to promote their development through their own and other resources, and to actively participate in decision-making process for improving their lives and their surroundings. VDP’s approach is to encourage participationof men and women in decision-making processes and enhance their voices through their own organization at the grassroots.
| Social mobilization works on the basic assumption that poverty is a form of social, political and psychological disempowerment and occurs when people lack access to social base of power and productive wealth. Thus, enhancing people’s access to social power reinforces their productive wealth, which in turn leads to improved livelihoods. |
Social mobilization works on the basic assumption that poverty is a form of social, political and psychological disempowerment and occurs when people lack access to social base of power and productive wealth. Thus, enhancing people’s access to social power reinforces their productive wealth, which in turn leads to improved livelihoods. When people are socially empowered the atmosphere is favorable for them to cluster together into organizations. These organizations, through capital generating and skill enhancement activities, work for the collective benefit of the community. The ultimate vision of VDP is the metamorphosis of community organizations as the ideal inlet for implementing and managing participatory and community-based projects.
His Majesty’s Government of Nepal (HMG/N) has accepted this concept as an effective measure for poverty alleviation campaigns in the country. The recently enacted Local Self-Governance Act, 1999 has opened up additional opportunities for the concept to flourish even more effectively in the coming days. The Act has assigned increased authority and responsibility to the local authorities to manage local development efforts.
The government has also mentioned this concept clearly in Ninth Development Plan (1997-2002) and even in the budget speech of current fiscal year 2056/57 B.S. HMG has also realised that in the long run, this is the concept, that will ultimately strengthen decentralization and local governance practices in Nepal.
Experience shows that Local Trust Fund established forVDP can emerge as the best institutional option at the district level to promote gender-sensitive, locally managed, self-reliant poverty alleviation and participatory local development in Nepal. NPC has taken PDDP as an example to implement its Special Area Development Programme, and SNV has adopted the approach to support local development in Karnali Zone. Similarly, UNICEF is utilizing the COs formed in the VDCs with VDP support as the foundation of its Decentralized Planning for the Child Programme (DPCP). At the same time, there is an increasing interest from both the bilateral and multilateral agencies to utilize the COs, and, hopefully the LTF framework for sustainable local development activities.
| VDP is a process impact-oriented programme and is always sensitive about the Programme's impacts among the target groups |
Through VDP, the rural population has found a means to be at the centre of the development process. VDP is a process-oriented programme, that can be said to have evolved into maturity now. The earlier stages can be termed as action research and learning stages.
As of now, VDP’s outputs are quite remarkable, even though the time is not ripe enough to see the overall effects and impacts of the programme. However, VDP is an impact-oriented programmeand is always sensitive about the Programme’s impacts among the target groups.
Since VDP is popular at the national level, the counterparts of the Programme as well as other stakeholders of development in Nepal would be interested to see the immediate impacts of VDP. Therefore, this is an appropriate time to appraise the effects as well as some of the immediate impacts made by VDP in the communities.
A more systematic and in-depth research is needed to study the overall impacts of VDP in various communities. PDDP will carry out such studies in the future. For the present purpose, however, the Programme will concentrate on assessing the initial effects and impacts made by VDP.
This Report has been prepared to assess the
progress, effects and initial impacts of VDP by tracking the progress made so far. The
baseline surveys of 1996 have been used to compare the progress and the resulting changes
in the communities.
1.5 METHODOLOGY ADOPTED FOR THE
ASSESSMENT
PDDP has a strong and timely reporting and programme monitoring system. The Programme already has numerous effects and impacts related case studies and information in various forms-- e.g. in the form of regular reporting, particular publications, or case studies about VDP’s impacts. What needs to be done is to arrange all these information systematically and sequentially. This Report is a compilation of the various forms of information available in the Programme. It includes some of the recent successes and relevant case studies in order to summarize the impacts of VDP as of June 1999.
Under VDP, there are many components and areas of appraisal, but this Report will only concentrate on some primary areas. The assessment has tried to summarize the progress, effects of the VDP in the community and the programme’s impacts as of June1999 in the following areas:
1. Status of Local Trust Fund
2. Households and Population
3. Coverage in the Participating VDCs
4. Formation of Community Organization
5. Internal Saving Generation and its mobilization
6. Human Resource Development at the Village Level
7. Mobilization of External Credit
8. Utilization of Seed Grant (small productive infrastructure projects)
In the introductory years,VDP was initiated in two VDCs in each six district. In view of the success, learning and popularity in the communities, VDP was expanded to five VDCs each in 20 districts. Additionally, considering its success and popularity in Nepal, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) supported the expansion of VDP in 20 VDCs of six PDDP district, and has provided an additional US$ 1.1m to expand the programme in four more districts. At present, VDP is being implemented in 175 VDCs of 19 districts, but the assessment covers only 117 VDCs of 17 districts.