Objectives
and Focus:
As a continuum of
development and implementation of sustainable development (SD) strategies
for Nepal, which began in the early 1980’s, the National Planning
Commission (NPC) launched Sustainable Community Development Programme
(SCDP) in 1996. Several initiatives relating to Forestry Master plan,
Agricultural perspective plan and Five-year plan are underway with financial
assistance from OECD-DAC countries. The nssd process in Nepal is expected
to lead to the incorporation of the overarching principles of integrated
and participatory development on sustainable basis.
The main objectives
of the nssd dialogues in Nepal are:
-
To identify strategic
processes for sustainable development that have been successfully
used in Nepal
-
To asses elements
that work well and not so well in Nepal, in order to:
-
Inform the development
of the SD agenda in Nepal, and
-
Inform donors;
eg.
-
OECD/DAC and
other
-
Donors in Nepal
For achieving these
objectives major documents on all national and local level strategies
and plans will be reviewed. A series of workshops are planned at sub-national
and national levels with major stakeholders, primarily the target beneficiaries
at the community level.
Key
Actors
National Planning
Commission has constituted a nssd Steering Committee to provide overall
policy guidance to the nssd process in Nepal. The committee is chaired
by an NPC member with membership drawn from key ministries, UNDP, DFID,
private sector and NGO’s.
NPC has chosen IUCN
Nepal as the independent orgnisation to work with IIED. IUCN will be responsible
for overall technical and programmatic management of the project. A team
leader has been identified to work full time with the nssd process. He
will be assisted by a team of experts and support staff.
Overview
of Approach and Activities
The Nepal nssd process
will analyse the current 9th Five Year Plan, multi- stakeholder thematic
strategies such as the National Conservation Strategy, Biodiversity Action
Pan, Nepal Environmental Policy and Action Plan and Forestry Master Plan.
A close examination of local level sustainable development programmes
such as SCDP and community forestry will also be undertaken. In each case
outcome, processes and links will be identified. This will be followed
by sub-national and national workshops aimed at learning about processes
required to ensure optimum participation by all stakeholders for meeting
the development needs and priorities of the poor and disadvantaged at
community levels.
Completed
and Ongoing Activities
A two-day regional
workshop was organised in July to share experience of Bangladesh, Nepal,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Thailand. Steve Bass of IIED and Pete
Shelley of DFID also attended the workshop. This workshop set the stage
for subsequent activities in Nepal. Since then the nssd steering committee
has met several times to discuss appropriate strategies and approaches
for Nepal. Following the signing of contract with IIED, a team leader
has joined the work group. Some of the relevant documents have been collected
and are being reviewed.
Results
and Key Lessons
The July workshop
came out with the following Principles of Effective nssds:
-
Agreed terminology/definition
-
Provides process
for agreeing SD vision and goals
-
Focuses on agreed
national priorities
-
Links local realities
to these national priorities
- Introduces mechanisms
to ensure sustainability
- HRD/Training
- Experiments/Pilot
projects
- Participation/Social
mobilisation
- Intersectoral
relations
- Transparency
- Governance/legislation
- Avoidance
of duplication
- Finance and
investment
- Mechanisms
for implementation (remove bottlenecks)
-
Understands changing
context and forces for/against sustainability
-
Simple readable
document is included in continuing communication programme
-
Encourages production/review
of compatible sector strategies (nssd + sector strategies to learn
from each other)
-
Steered by influential,
high level, multisectoral body
-
Capitalises on
existing systems, process and structures
-
Active and continuous
processes of engaging stakeholders to build commitment and exercise
responsibility
-
Based on principles
of social justices, equity and gender sensitivity, special attention
to involving marginalised groups
-
Mechanisms for
defining criteria and indicators, bench marks monitoring and review
are inbuilt
-
Continuous improvement
approach
-
Donors should
have long term commitment to local nssds
The Kathmandu Dialogue
agreed that:
-
These principles
apply to all countries. Specific criteria and indicators could be
developed for individual countries
-
Any process that
applies to these principles e.g. NCS, CDF etc could be recognised
as an nssd
-
Further thoughts
are needed on possibility of devolution
Next Steps
Between the months
of October and February 2001 an attempt will be made to complete all of
the reviews, defining of SD success indicators, workshops, synthesis of
the findings and preparation of a final report for the workshop scheduled
to be held in Bolivia in February 2001.
