5.1    Introduction
5.2    Basis of sustainablity

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5.1  INTRODUCTION

The vision of VDP is that development starts with the people and only occurs when people become in-charge of setting conditions for the development of their locality. Development in the real sense is the outcome of forms of collective actions of the people. The VDP model gives priority to the poor enlarging their choices and opportunities and provides room for their participation in decisions affecting their livelihood. Therefore, not only the VDP component, but PDDP as a whole, is in line with the government’s decentralization policy. The Programme’s primary aim is to strengthen the decentralization and local governance practices in Nepal from the center to the grassroots. The Programme has got even more encouragement through the promulgation of the recently enacted Local Self Governance Act, 1999. The Programme’s thrusts and the focus of the Act are on the same line.

 
5.2 BASIS OF SUSTAINABILITY

Self-Sustaining Institutions: The implementation of VDP is guided by an overall strategy of creating and developing self-governing community institutions whose development aspirations are directly linked with their own resources in terms of the local resources available around the settlement, or in terms of internal savings that they have established. Once they graduate, they can have access to LTF resources. The resources from DDC/VDC, sectoral line agencies and I/NGOs are also linked horizontally with their needs and aspirations.

Supporting the grassroots: VDP is following a people-centered development approach targeting to improve livelihood of the people from household perspective. The programme is even more supportive of implementing policies at the grassroots. VDP acts as a vehicle of establishing an explicit link between self-government and sustainable local development. Due to centralized culture of the Nepalese government structures, the central level policies, however farsighted and democratic they were, could not be implemented at the grassroots in their true spirit. The districts and VDCs are very enthusiastic towards VDP for they are getting the opportunity to implement the government policy for the benefit of the people. When a programme is based on the felt needs of the people, documented evidences indicate that the question about sustainability does not arise. People will sustain their demanded project at any cost because they need it and get benefits out of it. This is the same ground for the sustainability of VDP.

Grassroots-level Savings: The programme has demonstrated with substantive proof that the poor can also save. In every CO, there is a fund created by the CO members themselves. While this process has united all the CO members into a cohesive community, it has also enriched their confidence in saving and investment in economic activities.

Looking at the progress made by VDP up to June 1999, it can be observed that all the COs have been investing their saving in economic activities with a high rate of repayment. This shows that as the fund in internal saving grows, a lot of economic activities will be initiated in the communities. People have affection for their hard-saved funds and utilize them in productive activities. Ultimately, the fund will guide them to transform themselves into more self-governing and self-sustaining communities.

An autonomous and self-sustaining LTF: It has already been mentioned that VDP has already established the solid foundation of LTF at the district level. It is expected that the returns from investments, made largely through the interests earned on the credit capital for CO’s entrepreneurial activities, will be able to generate enough resources for meeting the operation costs of the LTFBs. The system of LTF management has been designed in such a way that the LTFB should not look for additional funding or other grants to give continuance to VDP. The LTF has left the door open for the fund to grow in volume. If the districts and the COs want to make the LTF even more attractive in the future, the other donors, or the DDC/VDC can add some funds in the LTF of the districts. Strategies and policies developed by LTFB in successful districts will also result in the mobilization of both internal and external resources to gradually expand and replicate VDP in other VDCs of the district.

Equal Participation of Women: Looking at the population structure of Nepal, there are slightly more women than men, but in terms of their health, education, and their participation in social and development efforts of the country they lag behind men by a large ratio. Nepal is one of the few countries in the world where men outlive women. Gender inequality across the entire social spectrum, affects a woman’s participation in decision-making processes that affect her life. Unless her basic needs are addressed a Nepali woman will always lag behind, with no awareness about her strategic needs. And unless a woman participates fully in the development process for her community, her village, or her country… the process remains lame. In order to make any development effort sustainable, women should be very much involved from the conceptualization process to the implementation and maintenance phases.

It was after the first year of social learning that the programme realized that women, if left to themselves, and to the dictates of society, will continue to be marginalized into the periphery of any discussion/meeting. Thus VDP mandated that every settlement should have separate COs for men and women; that women COs should only be headed by women Chairpersons and Managers; that 50 percent of the FG members should be women: that they should be provided with equal access to credit and training facilities, and that they should take part equally in VDP’s need-identification process as well as in decentralized planning process. This move has paid off and the women in the communities are now coming forward more than ever before, and making their voices heard. Albeit, it is a slow process, but they have taken their first bold steps towards self-empowerment.

As the figures have revealed, women are very much a part of VDP. Their involvement and participation is half the reason why VDP is successful and the reason also, why it will be sustainable.

Utilization of Social Capital: The VDP model stresses that the role played by social capital is crucial for local development. Generating social capital through COs at the settlement level, VDP envisions many constructive activities in the communities. The examples mentioned in various chapters of this report indicate that social capital is so powerful that it can drive other capitals available in the communities towards the right direction. If social capital is not present, then the physical or human capital cannot be utilized properly. Therefore, VDP is a very important programme for the creation and revitalization of the social capital - the basis of sustainable human development - at the settlement level.

Developing Local Experts: VDP has given great emphasis on developing local experts as per the need of the community. Such trained local experts are the assets of the communities. They support communities in the areas of their expertise. On the one hand, these trained experts can create their employment at local level, and at the same time other community people can get services easily and at a cheaper rate at the local level. The main thrust is to make the essential services available locally in each settlement at a cheaper cost. This system also reduces the burden of the government in allocating manpower and resources for small services for the rural communities.

Institutional linkages: VDP has made a consistent effort to make the optimal use of support from other agencies (government, non-government and donors) so that these agencies can be linked permanently with the COs at the settlement level. Similarly, interaction among various agencies of the districts in different forums have focused on the promotion of linkages. Various levels of planning workshops, planning exercises, CM conferences, interactions between VDC and COs, etc. are examples of these linkages. The linkages that are established now, will encourage both parties - service providers and service seekers - to take the maximum advantage in matching available services and needs of the communities. Ultimately, the COs will be able to seek the resources for implementing their prioritized development programmes and transform themselves into self-governing institutions at the grassroots.

VDP--The model for poverty alleviation in Nepal: Taking into account the policies of HMG, the country’s geo-political location, natural resources, other resources, resources generation index, inherent culture and traditions, as well as the history of development, it has been experienced that the bigger and expensive models of development are not necessarily successful and sustainable. In fact such mega projects make the country more dependent on the donors and do not enrich the local governance practices at the grassroots. The evidence of the Programme’s learning and findings as of now have indicated that the VDP model could be the ultimate model of poverty alleviation of Nepal. In future, it could be replicated in all the VDCs of the country. If VDP is taken as the model means of poverty alleviation at the national level, the government should not look for many donors for implementation. The key theme of the VDP model is based on social mobilization process. Since the society is mobilized towards self-sustaining communities, the development potentials are visualized at the local level without bigger inputs from outside donors.

 
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