Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?

Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?
few received scholarships, in the latter phases scholarship funding has been
spread amongst a larger number of individuals for locally available courses. A total
of 24 scholarships for Masters Courses were awarded, of which 40% were NSCFP
staff members who partly or almost wholly funded themselves, using project case
material for their theses.
“NSCFP made a major contribution to my career which I will never forget…At a diffi cult
time for me in 2001, I was awarded a scholarship to study abroad for my Masters degree
in forestry in the UK. That was a real milestone in my life. Although I am now working for
an international coalition, I always refer to Nepal’s experience in my work, and I seek to
support development in Nepal in whatever way I can”.
Ganga Ram Dahal, current Regional Facilitator of the Rights and Resources Institute
A study conducted for NSCFP (Kanel, 2010) attempted to trace some of the
impacts of the various scholarship opportunities afforded by the project, taking a
sample of 188 individuals that was roughly representative of the total number of
persons who had received each type of training. This indicated that selection had
indeed focused on the poor and disadvantaged, with 48% coming from the wellbeing
category poor, and 21% from the very poor (together 69%); similarly, in total
72% were Janajati or Dalits (an equal proportion of each). As also noted in the
section on social inclusion, the SLC scholarships are widely perceived to have had
a positive impact on life opportunities for women and the disadvantaged – both
for the individuals concerned and as role models for others. In the study by Kanel,
38% of respondents specifi cally said that they felt they had become “inspirers” or
“role models” for the community. One individual example is Rukmaya Sarki (see
box 3).
Box 3: Changing lives: Scholarship recipient Rupamaya Sarki
Rupamaya remembers always wanting to go to school,
but she was only able to do so at the age of 13, when the
local teachers persuaded her parents to let her. As the
eldest of 11 children, of whom 8 are living, her parents
had previously kept her at home to look after her siblings.
She stuck out in class as she was far older than the other
children, and as she worked her way up the school, she
had a lot of diffi culty keeping up with her studies at the
same time as fulfi lling the wishes of her parents to help
out at home. When she reached 9th grade her mother
died, and this pressure increased further. At this point
she received a project scholarship, which allowed her to continue on to grade 10. After
passing her SLC, she gained a project scholarship to become a social mobiliser, studying
at the MSR Training Center, Kathmandu. For her practical experience she had the
opportunity to join the DfID funded Livelihood and Forestry Programme, LFP in Parbat.
As a Dalit with good social skills, she gained a ready rapport with other Dalits, and her
work was greatly appreciated – to the point that she was offered a job with LFP when she
completed her course. She worked for the project for four years in Bhojpur, and then
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