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

Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?
check that all the necessary information is given clearly, and is consistent in
content. Even though these processes are national norms, they are followed to a
very varied extent around the country.
Accountability
Accountability may be seen as a two-way mechanism. Having formed a CFUG and
decided the rules for forest management and benefi t distribution, the individual
members of the group are expected to abide by what they have agreed. They are
accountable to each other, to their committee, to the DFO who has authorised their
Operational Plan, and ultimately to the State that formulated community forestry
policy and law. This upward accountability is often stressed by offi cials, but like
any decentralised system, community forestry also contains an important element
of downward accountability – requiring the State and its representatives as well
as service providers to be accountable to the CFUGs. Here the role of FECOFUN
as a grassroots federation of CFUGs demanding government accountability and
reacting if any regressive rules or regulations are proposed is particularly important.
The project has been careful to encourage FECOFUN in its legitimate efforts
in this regard, without supporting any divisive activities (such as violence and
preventing staff Forest Department from undertaking their normal duties). Overall,
project self-monitoring records show an increasing accountability of Forest
Department offi cials over time; for example, frequent staff transfers were common
in the early 1990s but are no longer an issue because the government made a
provision for civil servants to serve a mandatory minimum two years in post. More
importantly, accusations of corruption are at least taken seriously and investigated
through parliamentary committees, legal commissions and the offi ce for monitoring
abuse of authority bureau. Many forestry offi cials are suspended and cases are
fi led; the recent removal of the Minister of Forests on grounds of corruption is
a case in point. While this latter
illustration goes beyond project
infl uence, it is an example of
changing attitudes to which NSCFP
has contributed.
Women take account keeping and fi nancial transparency particularly seriously
Accountability at CFUG level may
be assessed in numerous ways,
although one of the most obvious is
with regard to fi nancial management.
Drawing on service providers, the
project routinely trained all CFUGs
in book-keeping skills. The yearly
accounts must be presented and
discussed at the annual general
15 Chhetry analysed the sample of 116 cluster CFUGs, and quoted the total sums involved. His fi gures have been
corrected to average per CFUG.
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