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

The Remake of a Statewidened gap between the elites and the socially disadvantaged, with theformer (who have private tree resources) having no hesitation to enforceforest protection, depriving the poor of their basic needs for fuel, fodderetc (Hobley 1990; Graner 1997; Malla et al. 2003).Community forestry has evolved from tree planting and forest managementto ‘second generation’ issues of governance and poverty reduction.CFUGs have, in fact, occupied a unique position during the period ofarmed conflict – functioning as democratic entities, conducting meetingsand organising local services from their own funds at a time that the localgovernment units such as VDCs were non-functional. More than this,they have organised themselves, coming together to form the Federationof Forest Users, Nepal (FECOFUN) to lobby for user group rights (whichgovernment officials have, on a number of occasions, sought to curtailthrough orders and circulars that contradict legislation – notably theForest Act 1993). With local governance becoming a key issue in Nepal’spost-conflict development, an important issue will be building a strong,complementary working relationship between CFUGs and the VDCs, oncethey recommence full functioning.2.3 SDC priorities in Nepal – Supporting the disadvantagedThe SDC cooperation strategy in Nepal (2009-2012) is clearly orientedaround equity, social inclusion and the up-holding of rights. The twooverall pillars of the strategy are supporting the consolidation of the peaceprocess and state building, combined with contributing to inclusive andconnected local development. Poverty is seen as strongly linked to socialdiscrimination; as a result, SDC has, since 2004, placed particular stress inall its projects the need to work with disadvantaged groups (DAGs) andensure that their needs and views are considered. Disadvantaged in thissense incorporates both social exclusion (discrimination) and economicpoverty. A simple schema may be used to illustrate this definition.Non-poorPoorDiscriminatednon-poor(but discriminated)poorNon-discriminatednon-poor(also non discriminated)poor(also discriminated: commonly known as DAGs) (but non discriminated)The economically poor people are taken to be those households with lessthan six months’ food supply from their own land, or living on less thanUS$ 1 per day per capita. The socially discriminated are taken to be allDalits, Janajatis, and women.69