English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...

The Remake of a Stateis a widespread mistrust between the average person and the businesscircles. Even in Nepal, the Maoists have always defined their movementas a class-based struggle, and have shown the tendency of viewing thebusiness community as its class enemy. Now this business communitymust come forward and work towards removing this ‘negative identity’attached with them and show that they are there not just for profit, butfor the betterment of the society at large. They must take part proactivelyin national debates and campaigns, and come up with more inclusivestrategies to incorporate the multi-ethnic peoples of the society. Businessleaders must learn the way to responding positively to the peace processand show a sectoral display of support for policies and programmes thatmove the process forward. At this juncture of history, the dawn of a ‘NewNepal’, business community must take up the challenge of addressingissues previously thought risky, and strive towards creating trust betweenvarious segments of the society. As the experience from South Africahas shown, the importance of taking care, forgiving – not forgetting, andmoving forward is immensely great. The Nepalese business communityhas to take lead on all this, thereby supporting the ongoing fragile peaceprocess.It is worth mentioning here that in 2004, the business community in Nepal,with the support from GTZ, formed a NBI comprising fourteen nationalbusiness organisations, including the Federation of Nepalese Chambersof Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), the Nepal Chamber of Commerceand Industry and the Hotel Association of Nepal. The stated goal of thepolitically non-partisan NBI has been to contribute to ‘sustainable peacein Nepal through improvement of the quality of life of all Nepalesethrough development of entrepreneurship, creation of opportunities andgeneration of wealth through just socio-economic growth’ (NBI 2005). Ithas committed itself to investing resources in areas such as infrastructure,social capital and the creation of safe spaces for meaningful peace-buildingefforts.This indeed was a positive signal, but its effect has largely been not feltby the society. With genuine efforts and sincere business ethics that hasbeen lacking until now, there is no reason why NBI cannot do what SLF hasbeen able to accomplish so far. But NBI has to be sincere in its efforts. It isno easy task, and it must realise that the business community cannot acton its own. It needs to follow a participatory approach with coordinatedpartnership with other stakeholders in the peace-building process andmaintain transparency throughout.59