CARE Nepal introduced a dialogue tool to improve governance in federations and civil society organizations in Nepal. The tool focused on representation, legitimacy, transparency, and synergy. Two partner organizations made progress in these areas. They increased inclusion of women and marginalized groups in leadership. They also improved transparency through social audits and established feedback mechanisms. Both partners gained greater legitimacy through advocacy and collaboration with the government and other groups.
In the failure of the formal accountability channels, social accountability is slowly becoming an effective response to governance deficit. Understanding good governance is a prerequisite to understand social accountability. Social Accountability is an approach towards enforcing & building accountability that relies on civic engagement in which citizens participate directly or indirectly in demanding accountability from service providers and public officials.
Accountability is no longer between the state only and citizens. Non state, national and transnational actors are now, heavily involved in all stages of the production of public goods.
The influence of corporate interests in the provision of public goods and services, as well as the entry of several unregulated providers poses a big threat to accountability and inclusion.
The strategies below represent the practical ways in which CSOs have applied the notion of social accountability to the context and issues of concern to their members, constituents and beneficiaries.
Strategic Litigation
Participatory Budgeting
Mobilisation and Networking
Social Audit, Monitoring and Evaluation
Information Communication Technology
Participatory Planning and Decision-making
Consultations and Stakeholder Participation
Accountability Reporting/Investigative Journalism
Participatory Procurement and Financial Management
Social Accountability is a journey.
The work of social accountability is not a sprint but marathon.
COVID-19 has seriously tested the resiliency and sustainability of organisations, especially those in the nonprofit sector. The pandemic has further exacerbated their already precarious state and many Civil society organisations (CSOs) are under immense pressure to operate, survive, and thrive, while maintaining independence and continually generating funds to pursue planned operations and command strong recognition and influence.
They have been forced to adapt or to abandon the game, to face adversity through innovation or to fail while trying. Organisational and individual preparedness to manage change was tested also and many had to unlearn and relearn, to find new ways of working and developing resilience amidst the pandemic.
Since financing is a key pillar of organizational sustainability, I was invited to strengthen participants understanding, knowledge and practice in mobilizing resources more creatively. Aside the traditional channel of funding, there are 12 proven models of mobilizing resources for any civil society organisations in Africa, no matter its size, staff or strength.
Women's Campaign International's IACM PowerPoint presentation on "The Connection between the Inclusion of Women and Sustainable Peace through the Lens of Theory, Policy, and Practice"
In the failure of the formal accountability channels, social accountability is slowly becoming an effective response to governance deficit. Understanding good governance is a prerequisite to understand social accountability. Social Accountability is an approach towards enforcing & building accountability that relies on civic engagement in which citizens participate directly or indirectly in demanding accountability from service providers and public officials.
Accountability is no longer between the state only and citizens. Non state, national and transnational actors are now, heavily involved in all stages of the production of public goods.
The influence of corporate interests in the provision of public goods and services, as well as the entry of several unregulated providers poses a big threat to accountability and inclusion.
The strategies below represent the practical ways in which CSOs have applied the notion of social accountability to the context and issues of concern to their members, constituents and beneficiaries.
Strategic Litigation
Participatory Budgeting
Mobilisation and Networking
Social Audit, Monitoring and Evaluation
Information Communication Technology
Participatory Planning and Decision-making
Consultations and Stakeholder Participation
Accountability Reporting/Investigative Journalism
Participatory Procurement and Financial Management
Social Accountability is a journey.
The work of social accountability is not a sprint but marathon.
COVID-19 has seriously tested the resiliency and sustainability of organisations, especially those in the nonprofit sector. The pandemic has further exacerbated their already precarious state and many Civil society organisations (CSOs) are under immense pressure to operate, survive, and thrive, while maintaining independence and continually generating funds to pursue planned operations and command strong recognition and influence.
They have been forced to adapt or to abandon the game, to face adversity through innovation or to fail while trying. Organisational and individual preparedness to manage change was tested also and many had to unlearn and relearn, to find new ways of working and developing resilience amidst the pandemic.
Since financing is a key pillar of organizational sustainability, I was invited to strengthen participants understanding, knowledge and practice in mobilizing resources more creatively. Aside the traditional channel of funding, there are 12 proven models of mobilizing resources for any civil society organisations in Africa, no matter its size, staff or strength.
Women's Campaign International's IACM PowerPoint presentation on "The Connection between the Inclusion of Women and Sustainable Peace through the Lens of Theory, Policy, and Practice"
An Evaluation of Partnerships That Exist Between Statutory and Voluntary Orga...iosrjce
Despite the vast amount of work done by many organizations worldwide, particularly in Third World
countries like Zimbabwe, the effectiveness of their partnerships in programming is still marginal. The major
focus of this study was to evaluate the partnership that exists between International Non Governmental
Organizations {INGOs} and their local implementing Partner Non-Governmental Originations in order to
establish areas that need improvement and strengthening. This study revealed that some of the partnerships
that exist between these agencies are marred by challenges such as funding, implementing strategy, capacity
building/training, strategic networking, consultative and joint initiatives. An analysis of interviews established
that most partnerships existed in the area of implementation where local organizations are funded and this
accounted for 30%. This is an area where NGOs obtain financial assistance to implement programmes. The
other areas; capacity building/training shows 25% while strategic networking and consultative show 15%. The
area showing the least was joint initiatives which had only 10% of the existing partnerships. This reflects the
situation in most African countries where joint partnerships with NGOs are new phenomena and that the
founding members of such NGOs embark on the programmes/projects for philanthropic reasons with very little
knowledge of professional expertise needed to carry out these projects jointly. They outsource/consult or apply
for people to help them beef up their expertise or train their staff to do so. The paper concludes by determining
areas that need strengthening and proposes relevant policy recommendations which will contribute to future
research on the effectiveness of partnerships. The need for partnerships to strengthen projects and programmes
that are sustainable and which do not reinforce dependence was observed. The study further observed that
conflict and misunderstandings within the partnering groups as another barrier which led to local organizations
being reluctant to assume equal part in partnerships and to share information about the programme preferring
to maintain confidentiality or protect their sovereignty. The study adds knowledge to our understanding of
partnerships that exist between International Organizations and Local Organizations in Zimbabwe
This slide share outlines the basic social and economic problems facing the United Kingdom regions, the responsibility of successive governments for those problems and the tough challenges facing Government if it is to to redress the discrimination against places and people by implementing change. The presentation questions whether the Government has the capacity to realise the vision given the collective effort, timescale and political risk-taking required - indeed the vision may already be out of reach.
Important Political Accountability and Citizen Building effort of IDEG GHANAAmos Anyimadu
Operation of the Institute of Democratic Governance, Ghana. www.ideg.org https://www.facebook.com/IDEGGhana https://twitter.com/IDEGGhana
Led by Commonwelath Eminent Person Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey.
Good governance is the principle used in Management of government organizations as a means to improve the quality of development in the region. Good governance means a participatory form of governance that operates in a responsible, accountable and transparent manner, based on the principles of efficiency, legality and consensus to advance the rights of individual citizens and the public interest. Good governance means ensuring fairness, empowerment, employment and efficient service delivery. This research aims to Analysis of good governance and its pillars. Supriya Kumari "Good Governance and Its Pillars" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-6 , October 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd47535.pdf Paper URL : https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/political-science/47535/good-governance-and-its-pillars/supriya-kumari
Women's initiative of learning & leadership.Salman
The 2013 elections marked an increase in women’s participation in mainstream
politics in Pakistan. Not only did more women compete in the elections than ever
before, the 2013 election results saw a record 214 women elected to national and
provincial assemblies. However, although all the main parties have women’s wings,
men still dominate the leadership ranks, and many experienced women were denied
the chance to contest directly for seats in parliament. Of the new women entrants
in 2013, only 16 were elected in general seats; the rest entered parliament through
reserved slots. As a result, this new numerical strength has not translated into women
having decision-making influence or serving in key government positions.
PRIA is an international center for learning and promotion of citizen participation and democratic governance. Since 1982,
It has focused on the empowerment of the poor and excluded by consistently working on issues of citizens’ access to rights
and entitlements through knowledge, capacity building and advocacy. While it has field offices in five states, it works with
around 3,000 partner non-profits in 23 states to deliver its programs on the ground
Dissertation Abstract "MANAGEMENT OF MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVES IN REGIONI.BA...Jo Balucanag - Bitonio
MANAGEMENTOFMULTI-PURPOSECOOPERATIVESINREGIONI.BASISFORANIMPROVEDINTERNALCONTROLSYSTEMOFCOOPERATIVES
St. Louis College, Lingsat, San Fernando City, La Union
Participatory Poverty Alleviation And Economic Empowerment-Women’s Self Help ...inventionjournals
Another popular movement in financial inclusion is establishment of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in 1992. Through this programme financial inclusion had to be achieved to a considerable extent. Inclusive growth is possible through common people coming into the orbit for the development of economy. The term Self Help Group may be referred as a wide range of financial and non-financial associations in the form of Accumulating Saving and Credit Association (ASCA) promoted by government, NGOs or banks. SHGs are usually groups of women formed together, pool their savings and give loans to members. “There are 2.6 million of SHGs linked to public sector banks reaching nearly 40 million households through its members” (Rekha Rathore & Manika Garg, 2013). “Members of a society and their actions have been affected by one another and public authorities develop interest in the minds of members by pooling resources and sharing costs which is called as collective action” (Garber, 1995). “The development of network is made possible by SHGs through families, relatives, friends, neighbours and those who are associated with shared motivation and concerns come together with a specific intention” (Adams, 1996). The main objective of research paper is to examine the interest of SHGs to join into the group and to know progress of members after joining into group.
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest.
Better Builder Magazine brings together premium product manufactures and leading builders to create better differentiated homes and buildings that use less energy, save water and reduce our impact on the environment. The magazine is published four times a year.
An Evaluation of Partnerships That Exist Between Statutory and Voluntary Orga...iosrjce
Despite the vast amount of work done by many organizations worldwide, particularly in Third World
countries like Zimbabwe, the effectiveness of their partnerships in programming is still marginal. The major
focus of this study was to evaluate the partnership that exists between International Non Governmental
Organizations {INGOs} and their local implementing Partner Non-Governmental Originations in order to
establish areas that need improvement and strengthening. This study revealed that some of the partnerships
that exist between these agencies are marred by challenges such as funding, implementing strategy, capacity
building/training, strategic networking, consultative and joint initiatives. An analysis of interviews established
that most partnerships existed in the area of implementation where local organizations are funded and this
accounted for 30%. This is an area where NGOs obtain financial assistance to implement programmes. The
other areas; capacity building/training shows 25% while strategic networking and consultative show 15%. The
area showing the least was joint initiatives which had only 10% of the existing partnerships. This reflects the
situation in most African countries where joint partnerships with NGOs are new phenomena and that the
founding members of such NGOs embark on the programmes/projects for philanthropic reasons with very little
knowledge of professional expertise needed to carry out these projects jointly. They outsource/consult or apply
for people to help them beef up their expertise or train their staff to do so. The paper concludes by determining
areas that need strengthening and proposes relevant policy recommendations which will contribute to future
research on the effectiveness of partnerships. The need for partnerships to strengthen projects and programmes
that are sustainable and which do not reinforce dependence was observed. The study further observed that
conflict and misunderstandings within the partnering groups as another barrier which led to local organizations
being reluctant to assume equal part in partnerships and to share information about the programme preferring
to maintain confidentiality or protect their sovereignty. The study adds knowledge to our understanding of
partnerships that exist between International Organizations and Local Organizations in Zimbabwe
This slide share outlines the basic social and economic problems facing the United Kingdom regions, the responsibility of successive governments for those problems and the tough challenges facing Government if it is to to redress the discrimination against places and people by implementing change. The presentation questions whether the Government has the capacity to realise the vision given the collective effort, timescale and political risk-taking required - indeed the vision may already be out of reach.
Important Political Accountability and Citizen Building effort of IDEG GHANAAmos Anyimadu
Operation of the Institute of Democratic Governance, Ghana. www.ideg.org https://www.facebook.com/IDEGGhana https://twitter.com/IDEGGhana
Led by Commonwelath Eminent Person Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey.
Good governance is the principle used in Management of government organizations as a means to improve the quality of development in the region. Good governance means a participatory form of governance that operates in a responsible, accountable and transparent manner, based on the principles of efficiency, legality and consensus to advance the rights of individual citizens and the public interest. Good governance means ensuring fairness, empowerment, employment and efficient service delivery. This research aims to Analysis of good governance and its pillars. Supriya Kumari "Good Governance and Its Pillars" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-6 , October 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd47535.pdf Paper URL : https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/political-science/47535/good-governance-and-its-pillars/supriya-kumari
Women's initiative of learning & leadership.Salman
The 2013 elections marked an increase in women’s participation in mainstream
politics in Pakistan. Not only did more women compete in the elections than ever
before, the 2013 election results saw a record 214 women elected to national and
provincial assemblies. However, although all the main parties have women’s wings,
men still dominate the leadership ranks, and many experienced women were denied
the chance to contest directly for seats in parliament. Of the new women entrants
in 2013, only 16 were elected in general seats; the rest entered parliament through
reserved slots. As a result, this new numerical strength has not translated into women
having decision-making influence or serving in key government positions.
PRIA is an international center for learning and promotion of citizen participation and democratic governance. Since 1982,
It has focused on the empowerment of the poor and excluded by consistently working on issues of citizens’ access to rights
and entitlements through knowledge, capacity building and advocacy. While it has field offices in five states, it works with
around 3,000 partner non-profits in 23 states to deliver its programs on the ground
Dissertation Abstract "MANAGEMENT OF MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVES IN REGIONI.BA...Jo Balucanag - Bitonio
MANAGEMENTOFMULTI-PURPOSECOOPERATIVESINREGIONI.BASISFORANIMPROVEDINTERNALCONTROLSYSTEMOFCOOPERATIVES
St. Louis College, Lingsat, San Fernando City, La Union
Participatory Poverty Alleviation And Economic Empowerment-Women’s Self Help ...inventionjournals
Another popular movement in financial inclusion is establishment of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in 1992. Through this programme financial inclusion had to be achieved to a considerable extent. Inclusive growth is possible through common people coming into the orbit for the development of economy. The term Self Help Group may be referred as a wide range of financial and non-financial associations in the form of Accumulating Saving and Credit Association (ASCA) promoted by government, NGOs or banks. SHGs are usually groups of women formed together, pool their savings and give loans to members. “There are 2.6 million of SHGs linked to public sector banks reaching nearly 40 million households through its members” (Rekha Rathore & Manika Garg, 2013). “Members of a society and their actions have been affected by one another and public authorities develop interest in the minds of members by pooling resources and sharing costs which is called as collective action” (Garber, 1995). “The development of network is made possible by SHGs through families, relatives, friends, neighbours and those who are associated with shared motivation and concerns come together with a specific intention” (Adams, 1996). The main objective of research paper is to examine the interest of SHGs to join into the group and to know progress of members after joining into group.
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest.
Better Builder Magazine brings together premium product manufactures and leading builders to create better differentiated homes and buildings that use less energy, save water and reduce our impact on the environment. The magazine is published four times a year.
From 2008-2013, Oxfam’s Raising Her Voice (RHV) programme worked to create more effective governance systems by ensuring that women’s voices influence decisions about
services, investments, policies and legal frameworks, from community, through to national and regional levels. To date, over one million marginalised women in 17 countries, including Armenia,are estimated to have benefited from increased activism, leading to increased voice and influence, more effective engagement with targeted decision makers and greater institutional accountability.
In this paper we deal with the relationship between external donors and village organizations (VOs) in Western Sub-Saharan Africa. We utilize a large dataset of village organizations in rural areas of Senegal and Burkina Faso. We argue that the kind of relationship established with northern donors may have effects on the governance mechanisms of the village organization. We investigate to what extent differences in the foundation of the VO and of the partnership with the external donor can partially explain outcomes and membership structures of the VO itself. Our results go in the direction of possible diverging effects of a donor intervention in the village organization, according to the degree of proactivity and initiative that the VO
displays.
Authors: Cecilia Navarra, University of Namur, CRED, Rempart de la Vierge, 8, 5000 Namur, Belgium. Elena Vallino, University of Torino, Department of Economics and Statistics, Lungo Dora Siena 100/A, 10153 Torino, Italy.
With the help of this powerpoint presentation, at the Workshop on Governance Assessment Methods and Applications of Governance Data in Policy-Making (June 2009), Ken Mease argued that governance assessments can be 1) a reporting tool that can track and communicate progress towards goals and/or outcomes; 2) a policy tool that can guide evidence-based planning and action to address issues identified as important by citizens and in existing political commitments, and finally 3) a tool that can strengthen democracy by engaging stakeholders through informed discussions.
Important Political Accountability and Citizen Building effort of IDEG GHANAIDEGGhana
Operation of the Institute of Democratic Governance, Ghana. www.ideg.org https://www.facebook.com/IDEGGhana https://twitter.com/IDEGGhana
Led by Commonwelath Eminent Person Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey.
This paper presents an empirical justification of participation of common people in different factors of administration through the policy of decentralization. The background structure of the paper mainly based on the developing country oriented social structure. Through this paper, we can also understand the heterogeneity in the administrative structure. Under this differentiate structure this paper tries to understand the extent of participation of the common people in the administrative decision. In the conclusion part, here in this paper, we try to define the term “Citizen Participation” through the idea of redistribution of administrative power among the civic society for getting an affluent society.
PAC is a leading think tank that promotes good governance through the participation of citizens and civil society, by
designing and implementing social accountability tools such as Citizen Report Cards (CRC). PAC also analyzes public
policy frames and engages with civil society organisations. PAC’s approaches have been applied across the world and used
for focused analysis by several Indian states and administrative bodies
Leadership: Essence of Success in Social Sector of Bihar (India)iosrjce
Leaders have been found to play a pivotal role in running and developing NGOs. This study aims to
find out the leader’s perceptions about the impact of their leadership on employees performance and
development of their NGOs. The study explicitly shows the positive and significant nexus between leader’s style
and strategy with leadership effectiveness and its sweeping impact on employees’ motivation, commitment,
employee’s satisfaction and well being as well as on enhancement of employees’ work performance and
organizational productivity through leadership practices including information sharing, problem solving,
motivation, performance rewards and role-playing
Similar to The Many Faces of Non Profit Governance_Paper_Hansh Raj Joshi_Nepal (20)
Leadership: Essence of Success in Social Sector of Bihar (India)
The Many Faces of Non Profit Governance_Paper_Hansh Raj Joshi_Nepal
1. 1
Governance in the Federations and Civil Society Organizations; Improving Representation,
Legitimacy, Transparency and Synergy: Lessons from Nepal
Hansh Raj Joshi, E-mail: hansh.joshi@care.org, joshihanshu@gmail.com
Abstract:
The ability of Federations and other Nepali civil society organizations (CSOs) to constructively engage
with government and stakeholders are limited both by technical and organizational capacities. Civil
society support project of CARE International in Nepal has introduced a dialogue tool to improve
organizational capacities of federations and other CSOs in the areas of representation and inclusion,
legitimacy, transparency and synergy to improve the overall governance, claiming and service delivery
capacity. Dialogue tool, which is one of the tools of outcome mapping methodology, tracks changes in
behavior of the actors (partners) with whom it directly engages and wants to influence. CARE Nepal and
its partners have agreed upon a set of indicators in above mentioned areas on which both are interested
to bring changes. These indicators known as progress markers which are qualitative in nature and set in
the form of progressive steps as expect to see, like to see and love to see which carries early positive
response, active engagement and deeper transformation respectively towards the ideal behaviour of an
actor.
CARE Nepal has been supporting the execution of jointly developed plan which was prepared to meet
milestones and dream through direct grant, training and mentoring. Likewise, periodic updates on
progress markers was jointly reviewed and discussed which has brought encouraging preliminary
results. Federations and other partners are progressing in terms of increasing inclusion at all level,
adopting tools and techniques to promote transparency to increase acceptance and bringing synergy. The
current political environment has compelled Nepali non government organizations to be more inclusive
although this is existed as "ceremonial" in most cases. Meaningful participation of women, dalits and
excluded group is challenged by both internal and external factors. Internal factors like perception of
leadership that women cannot participate because of their restricted roles, level of knowledge to
participate and provide strategic inputs and also challenge remains in internalizing and sustaining the
achievements as good governance is still a donor-backed issue. The leadership paradigm shifted from
"friends and families" to more inclusive and legitimate entity.
Importance and priority on governance varies for different donors, which caused Nepali federations and
CSOs to compromise on their internal governance and accommodate as per donors interest. Similarly,
government has focused more on regulation than on facilitation which compelled them to take protection
from political leadership to create spaces to be engaged with government.
Introduction
Nepal is a diverse country in terms of geography, ethnicity, language, religion, and caste. For most of its
history, Nepal was governed by a series of hereditary rulers. In 1990 a popular uprising, ushered in a
new period of political freedom. Before the restoration of democracy in 1990, there were only a few
CSOs operating in Nepal with a main focus on service delivery. After restoration of democracy, there
has been a phenomenal growth of CSOs in Nepal. The number has reached to 39,763 registered CSOs in
2015 (Social Welfare council list of registered NGOs 2072).
The recently promulgated Constitution of Nepal in 2015 has guaranteed the freedoms of association,
assembly, and speech, as well as respect for human rights. Under “policies regarding social justice and
inclusion”, the government may involve NGOs and INGOs in the areas of national needs and priority by
making the investment and role of such organizations accountable and transparent. In Nepal, there is
2. 2
often a distinction between NGOs (about half of which are registered in Kathmandu), loosely constituted
people’s federations and formal or informal community based organizations. In this analysis, these all
are broadly termed CSOs.
While the unprecedented growth of federations and CSOs because of their emergence as prominent
actors in development arena can be seen as a very positive trend, however there are serious issues with
internal governance, opportunism (monetary gain agendas) and politicization around party political.
This results in a highly fragmented civil society landscape.
In most of the cases, CSOs continue to be heavily dependent on external funding which affects the
institutional governance and striving towards the vision and CSOs has inclined to the donor agencies
rather than to their constituencies where they ought to be (DANIDA, 2013)
A recent study on CSO sustainability has categorized Nepalese CSOs and suggests the government has
recognized the contributions of CSOs in strengthening democracy and providing services. Despite these
characters, the report has pointed out that Nepalese CSOs lack internal democracy, transparency and
accountability. These are critical areas for the development of Nepalese CSOs. (GoGo, 2014). Most
CSOs are family and friends-based. As a result, CSOs tend to have poor governance practices and lack
clear divisions of responsibilities between the board of directors and the management. Likewise, the
CSOs dependency on the external funding and on official aid with many provisional clauses has
challenged the legitimacy. The legitimacy of the CSOs is no more likely to be based on values of
voluntarism and altruism but on the contract with official aid agencies. (Saur and Sinha, 2006)
Materials and Methods
CARE Nepal supported its partners; National Farmer Groups Federation (NFGF) and Community Self
Reliance Center (CSRC) to improve their governance, administrative and financial capacities. The
objectives of the support were to make partner CSOs more legitimate and transparent to their
constituencies and to promote multi-layered accountability. Both NFGF and CSRC are registered
Nepalese CSOs However NFGF is a members-based farmers federation.
The project introduced a dialogue tool to improve governance capacities of these organizations in the
areas of representation and inclusion, legitimacy, transparency and synergy (RILTAS) set in the
dialogue tool which is one of the tools of outcome mapping methodology, which tracks changes in the
behavior of the actors (partners). CARE Nepal and partners agreed upon a set of indicators in above
mentioned areas on which CARE Nepal and partners were interested to bring changes. These indicators
are known as progress markers in the outcome mapping system which are set in the form of progressive
steps as expect to see, like to see and love to see. This mapping promotes the multilayerd i.e upward to
the donors and vertical to the boundary partners and impact groups accountability as partners show
progressive change.
Results and discussions
Representation and inclusion: CARE Nepal partners had shown remarkable progress on representation
and inclusion. A gradual change was observed in CSRC. The number of female and marginalized people
had increased in the staff structure including senior level positions. CSRC's main working theme is land
and agrarian rights for the landless and tenants. CSRC has given specific priority to women's access and
control over land as an important agenda in the land and agrarian rights movement. This is a result of
meaningful representation of dalit (the so-called untouchables) and females in the executive committee
of CSRC. These groups, which are traditionally marginalized and excluded hold senior level positions
and are influential in decision making processes.
3. 3
With the support from CARE Nepal, NFGF had formulated human resource mobilization guideline,
gender equality and social inclusion policy, zero tolerance policy and federation mobilization guidelines.
These policies are explicitly focused on mainstreaming gender equality and social inclusion at all levels
of the federation. With the execution of gender equality and social inclusion policy on board, the
inclusion of women and socially excluded communities has been significantly increased. Currently,
women constitute 31% at central committee of NFGF and 45% in the staff's structure with some key
positions.
Legitimacy: Among others, legitimacy includes acceptance of entity by the stakeholders. The partners
had shown remarkable progress on legitimacy. CSRC’s acceptance by government and other
stakeholders as a resource organization on land rights and non-violent movement is widely established.
The government has sought inputs and suggestions from partner CSOs on different policies and acts.
CSRC is deeply rooted at the grass root to be a legitimate facilitator for the rights of landless and tenants
over productive resources. Despite in the forming stage, NFGF’s acceptance as a "true" farmer's
federation has been increasing. However, there are challenges on legitimacy from political party's
farmer’s wings and development-NGOs supported farmer’s groups.
Transparency: There are observable changes in the transparency level of the partners. Partners have
established a formal feedback and complain handling mechanism to promote transparency. Both CSO
partners are organizing social audit at different levels to ensure transparency and accountability in their
works. Both partners are strived to become more transparent and accountable by institutionalizing public
audit practices.
Synergy: CSRC was proactively engaged with the Constituent Assembly members during the
constitution making process to advocate on the land and agrarian agenda and worked closely with the
Government of Nepal during the preparation of national land policy. It is affiliated in different national
and internal network. It was consulted by the government and non government organizations as resource
organization on land. NFGF had also collaborated with other national and international organizations
including the Government of Nepal. It continuously engaged with the government and other likeminded
organizations to advocate on farmers agenda and also to collaborate. NFGF had jointly prepared the
advocacy plan with other CSOs and played a lead role in its execution. NFGF had mobilized the
government resource in different agriculture activities at the district and VDC level.
Acknowledgement
The author is Gender and Partners Capacity Building Specialist at CARE Nepal and would like to
acknowledge the financial and technical support of DANIDA through CARE Denmark and CARE
Nepal to implement the Civil Society Support Project on Right to Food.
References
Saur, D. Hota, B.L and Sinha, H. 2006 "Non Governmental Organizations in Rural Development" In
M.C Behara (ed) Globalizing Rural Development: Competing Paradigms and Emerging Realities. New
Delhi: Sage Publication.
CSO sustainability scores for Nepal, 2014. USAID CSO sustainability index report, feburary 2016
Good Governance Foundation Press release _CSO-SI-2014
CIVICUS civil society index report for Nepal 2006,
Civil Society Report, 2013, Danida