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

Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?
building section), training for women and Dalits in leadership skills and information
on legal aspects of community forestry (Khadka, 1999), and opportunities for
village level facilitation (young women and Dalits thus becoming role models). The
project has also used a quota system to ensure that equal numbers of women
and men are employed at the fi eld level as Community Forestry Facilitators, and
regular coaching is provided to them by project staff.
“NSCFP has done a very good job by declaring quota for women for its service providers,
fi eld facilitators and other benefi ciaries….The concept of Equal Pay for Equal Work has
come into practice.”
Nawaraj Neupane, CEEPAARD, Dolakha
“NSCFP has played a crucial role in training women facilitators locally, but it still needs to
invest in capacity building of Dalits, women and the discriminated poor. We still need to
change the mindset of elites to become pro-poor, pro-women and pro-Dalit.”
Usha Dahal, NSCFP
Probably the aspect in which the project was least successful in promoting gender
awareness was in decisions over sustainable forest management (Nightingale,
2007). Here the differing priorities of men and women (men being typically – but
not always - particularly interested in income generation from timber and other
NTFPs; women being interested in a nearby supply of fodder and fuelwood) have
not always been well recognised and incorporated into Operational Plans, although
the situation varies considerably across the project area.
The promotion of social inclusiveness amongst partners is generally considered
to have been more successful amongst NGO service providers than within the
rather male-dominated Department of Forests. Nevertheless, gender balance in
staffi ng has not yet been achieved amongst the service providers who have worked
for NSCFP. Amongst them, FECOFUN is the most successful in implementing
gender-balanced representation, including at leadership level.
“Those women who have been trained do not have many opportunities to use their skill.
There has been no self refl ection on the optimum use of trained human resources in whom
NSCFP invested… The focus on women human resources is still limited and inadequate,
as only 40% of the workforce in NGO managed work such as social mobilization are
women; why not 50% women?”
Kamala Basnet, FECOFUN, Dolakha
At the political level, national level civil society women leaders such as Rama Ale
Magar, Chairperson of HIMAWANTI Nepal and Apsara Chapagain, Chairperson
of FECOFUN strongly feel that once they gained experience and knowledge of
leadership at the grassroot level (CFUG committees), they were able to build
confi dence for district and then national level leadership. They have now been
approached by political parties to take responsibilities for women wings of political
parties. Community forestry in this sense has been a spring-board to wider political
careers for women.
As far as the government partner is concerned, NSCFP’s scholarship programme
has helped to improve social inclusiveness within the Department of Forests.
However, this is only to a limited extent; thus for example there has never been
a female DFO in the project area, and 90% of Rangers are still male. NSCFP
recognised that women and Dalits working professionally in the department serve
as important role models; thus out of the 69 I.Sc scholarship recipients whose
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