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

Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?
5. SOCIAL INCLUSION:
CASTE AND GENDER
“NSCFP has contributed remarkably in mainstreaming the agenda of gender and social
inclusion throughout the community forestry sub-sector.”
Bishnu Lal Ghimire, DFO, Okhaldhunga
“NSCFP scholarships have played crucial role in women literacy in the district and the way
it has targeted the disadvantaged people.”
Usha Dahal, NSCFP
“Although it is a pro-poor project, NSCFP still has to improve a lot in its perspective for
women.”
Gita Bohara, HIMAWANTI
Various forms and dimensions of
social exclusion exist in Nepal,
rooted in discrimination on the
basis of caste, economic status,
ethnicity, gender, age, disability
and vulnerability (for example the
traffi cking of girls, or infectious
diseases such as HIV/AIDS and
TB) as well as other aspects.
As NSCFP has been particularly
active in fi ghting discrimination on
the basis of caste and gender, this
section focuses on these aspects.
Although the project was always
active in promoting the role of
women as well as men in forest management, systematic attempts to address
gender began in 1995. It was at this point that the project formally recognised
that improving the rights and position of women did not mean focusing purely on
women, but on working with men and women together on gender relations – and
doing so from a caste perspective (Bhatia, 1995). Gender awareness and social
equity became a cross-cutting theme for all activities, at all levels – in working
with community forest users (see box), with partners (service providers and
government), and with regard to project staff; further details may be found in
Nightingale (2007).
Community forestry is devoted to reduce the work load of women in Nepal
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