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

Addressing poverty and promoting good governance4. Promoting good governance4.1 Well-governed CFUGsMonitoring changes in the governance of CFUGs is not a simple task,but a number of indicators are used to gained quantitative data, whichis then compared against qualitative information (observations duringfield visits, case histories, etc). Quantitative data collected includes thenumber of women and Dalits attending meetings, being elected to CFUGcommittees, and taking up leadership positions. A recent analysis of datafrom a sample 116 CFUGs in the project area (see Pokharel et al. 2009)showed that whilst in 2000, a total of 58 women were recorded occupyingkey leadership positions, in 2008 this had jumped to 110. Similarly, forDalits the figure went from five in 2000 to 19 in 2008. Of course the simplenumbers could merely indicate that women and Dalits have been electedas a show, without them gaining a real voice. But our more qualitativeinvestigations indicate a genuine empowerment of at least some womenand Dalits through their CFUG activities. This is illustrated by the exampleof Juna Maya, given in Box 4.5.Box 4.5 Junu Maya: Finding her voice heardJunu Maya is a young married woman from a Dalit family. The family is member of thelocal CFUG that has conducted a well-being ranking of its members. The group identifiedJunu Maya’s family as bipanna. As the group reserves seated during training activities forbipanna, she was invited to participate in a training programme on good governance. Thisevent inspired her to think about how she could change her mindset about the leadershipposition that she would pursue. Next month, she showed her interest to be in the CFUG’scommittee, and through gaining confidence from several meetings and discussions, shedecided to stand as a candidate for the district elections of the user group federation -FECOFUN. She remembers that during an assembly meeting, she felt empowered enoughto challenge the prejudiced remarks of powerful male candidates - with the result that shewas elected. She is now serving a three-year term as FECOFUN district representative.Our observations suggest that the changing dynamics at local level aredue to a number of interrelated processes. Some of these are linked togovernance coaching, but there are also wider factors involved. One trendis that as CFUG members become more aware of their rights - includingrepresentation in decision-making, of correct reporting processes andthe need for transparency in book-keeping, they demand such practicesas a matter of course. This means, those elites who became involved incommunity forestry with the intention of enriching themselves find itincreasingly difficult to do so; we know of a good number of cases of fraudbeing exposed, and compensation demanded, by CFUG members. Theconfidence of people to speak out, as encouraged through governance76