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

Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?
in most of the territory of Dolakha, Ramechhap and Okhaldunga districts, with little
more than the district headquarters being safe for government personnel. Offi cial
fi gures indicate that as a result of the confl ict, hundreds of people in these three
districts lost their lives, although this is probably an underestimate; hundreds more
were physically injured or deeply traumatised by events. That the Maoists had
considerable local support is demonstrated by the fact that in the subsequent
elections to constitutional assembly all the districts returned Maoist MPs.
Faced with the deteriorating security situation, SDC adopted a conflict sensitive
programme management (CSPM) approach, which essentially aims to contribute
to the prevention of violence and the peaceful resolution of confl ict whilst continuing
to channel development assistance to rural population, taking due security
measures. As part of CSPM, SDC worked with other donors to develop
comprehensive Basic Operational Guidelines (BOGs); these became the rules
by which most development agencies operated. NSCFP staff members were bound
by the BOGs (see box), and in addition adopted the following working practices
(see Pokharel and Paudel, 2005).
• Confl ict sensitisation exercises were conducted with project staff and partners
using various tools (e.g. relationship analysis; confl ict mapping; time line analysis;
trend analysis of confl ict incidence and effect on project activities etc).
• Flexibility to adapt to the context became the key for all planning and
implementation
• Staff engaged in joint confl ict analysis with the SDC country offi ce
• Staff and partners together developed a common understanding of what the
BOGs meant in practice (“should” and “should not” do), and internalised the “do
no harm” approach
• Regular communication was held with the SDC-Nepal Programme Coordination
Manager and Security Offi cer and Liaison Offi cer, and between project staff
to jointly and constantly assess and analyse the security situation, and decide
upon activities accordingly.
• Staff participated in security and confl ict related meetings to share information
and develop a common understanding between projects and SDC country
offi ce. These developed into “district cluster meetings”, attended by team
leaders of all SDC-funded projects – which continue to be held during the
peace-building period.
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