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

The Remake of a Stateof 1990 decided to take arms. The resulting violence caused huge loss oflife, created trauma and general social upheaval – including the eventualoverthrow of the monarchy in 2008. Arguably, the greatest brunt of theconflict was borne by the disadvantaged themselves (reliable figures areunavailable), but the rebellion and demand for self-determination haschanged Nepali society irrevocably. Social discrimination, though stillentrenched, is increasingly questioned, and not simply accepted as away of life. With a new CA in place and a new national constitution beingprepared, the demand for change is fierce and the surge of separatismcould still ultimately lead the disintegration of the nation.In the aforementioned scenario, this paper focuses on the experiencesof community forestry in relation to addressing poverty in three districtsof Nepal, namely Dolakha, Ramechap and Okhaldhunga. The Nepal SwissCommunity Forestry Project has been operating in these districts since1990 (although not under the same name) and currently it covers four 4 outof the 75 districts of Nepal. The project is managed by Intercooperation onbehalf of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) andoperates on a multi-partnership basis through bilateral agreement with thegovernment of Nepal. Before examining community forestry experienceson poverty, a brief overview of poverty in Nepal is necessary.2. Developing programmes to respond to chronic povertyThere are clearly huge challenges in developing effective programmes toaddress chronic rural poverty. Such challenges rendered more complexityduring the civil war, when the most remote areas (including much of thearea in which NSCFP operates) were under Maoist control. During thosetimes, activities of Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) were carriedout in a manner that would focus more on poverty reduction. They wouldbe coherent with overall national and sector policy as well as SDC prioritiesin Nepal and were built on the lessons learnt from a dynamic process ofcommunity forestry.2.1 National levelIt is recognised that the civil conflict stems from poverty and socialexclusion. Thus, the country has an overall national strategy of poverty4In addition to Dolakha, Ramechhap and Okhaldunga districts, there is a recent addition of Khotang, inthe central part of Nepal.67