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

Addressing poverty and promoting good governanceand healthy working adults. Thus, for example, a household with a largenumber of children may be more readily classified as poor than an oldwidow living alone.6.4 Operating without functioning VDCsOperating in the absence of a functioning VDC is very challenging, aswithout elected representation in the village, CFUGs have to seek supportwith the central government and outside agencies which are not readilyavailable.7. ConclusionNepal is undergoing a major social struggle, and the progress made by theNSCFP and other development projects in raising awareness about socialdiscrimination and good governance must be placed in this context. Atthe policy level, key lessons that may be drawn from project experienceare as follows.Addressing chronic poverty• Using local, rather than external, definitions of ill-being is aneffective means of identifying the chronically poor – as well asother less severely disadvantaged households. Local definitionscan enhance understanding of what it is to be chronically poor; inthe Nepali context, social isolation is considered to be particularlydevastating.• Promoting social responsibility through a local level organisationin which all members know each other – in this case, the CFUG– has good potential for long-term sustainability, once projectfunding has ceased. This of course cannot yet be proved,but certainly many CFUGs are already demonstrating strongsocial awareness and have made provisions for disadvantagedhouseholds in their operational plans.• The opportunity to address poverty through community forestryhas arisen as a result of a sequential set of activities. The yearsof supporting sustainable forest management, enterprisedevelopment and institutional strengthening were necessary tobuild CFUG assets to the point that they are able and willing todistribute benefits to their most disadvantaged members. The80