Institutional sustainability at grass root level A success factor for leasehold forestry programme in Nepal

Institutional sustainability at grass root level

A success factor for leasehold forestry programmein Nepal

By Pashupati Koirala, Dr. Binod Devkota and Harischandra Singh

Leasehold Forestry Regional Workshop, Kathmandu, 2014

Outline • Forest entitlement • Institutions in leasehold

forestry • Practices at grass root

level – Objectives – Outcomes

• Conclusions and recommendations


Environmental entitlement


Endowment: forest land

user committee

Entitlement to produce and use

Well being of users

Institutional arrangement

S.N. Group Name Formed year

Area ha Households Beneficiaries population

1 Khalidanda 2007 4.64 13 79

2 Aarugada 2007 4.16 10 50

3 Chadakhola 2007 3.36 11 68

4 Mulpani 2009 2.58 12 65

5 Sunsamaiji 2010 8.28 15 86

Total 23.02 61 348

Seri Cluster-Alital, Dadeldhura


Institutional level

• Registration at District Forest Office • Lease contract between group and the DFO Strategic/Legal

• Local groups/ community norms and culture • Cooperative groups • Female groups • Mother group

Normative

• Saving credit mobilization • Forest management decisions/plan• Social development decisions/plan • Livelihoods improvement plan

Operative



Leasehold forest

Working Plan

Group of members

Cooperative group

Women group

Mother group

Constitution


Local Institutions at grass root level and their rolesLeasehold

Forestry Groups ( Constitution)

Leasehold Forestry Operational Plan

Cooperative Organization

• group formation • group rules • reward and

punishment • meeting rules• assembly rules

• annual and periodic plans preparation

• annual plan implementation

• resource assessment• resource mobilization • natural resource

utilization• land use plan

implementation • forest management and

development

• local business plan preparation and implementation

• collection and mobilization of fund

• Interest fixing • support in emergency

fund for members • develop local project

and share in investment


Local Institutions at grass root level and their rolesWomen Group Mother Group

• agriculture farmer school operation

• income generating activities training

• local social best ritual promotion

• joint land registration system promotion

• female problem solving advisory service

• saving among women • local social development

support • rural peace development

INSTITUTIONAL ASPECT AT GRASS ROOT LEVEL ACHIEVEMENT



Local Institutions at grass root level and its outcomes Women Group Mother Group

• Trained based on gender management thinking

• Increased local production and garden farming

• Created check and balance in the rural community for equity attitude.

• Skill development among women through special training such as weaving and so on.

• Established peace in rural region.

• Controlled and regulated informally the abuse of drugs and wine including smoking.

• Mobilized the local peoples.• Bridged the community to

community and made network more cohesive.


Local Institutions at grass root level and its outcomes Leasehold Forestry groups( Constitution)

Leasehold forestry Operational Plan

Cooperative Organization

• Group formation very easily for other informal and formal decisions

• Started beginnings united for the decisions and propose developmental activities.

• Perceived recognition from the government and forestry instructions.

• Operated local rules and provisions with making coherent to the other mainstream programme

• Prepared proposals for community development.

• Invested on livelihoods improvement plans.

• Organized forest management inside the leasehold forests.

• Non-timber forest products forage farming on sloppy land.

• Recovered much degraded land into protective land including productive forest products.

• Promoted local business • Availability of monetary

support from their courtyard.

• Changed habit of saving being a regular saver as a cultural habit.

• A kind of bond has been created for local rural people.

• Local enterprise development ( cow, bee hive farming), banana farming

Innovative opportunities.........


• Involvement of pro-poor people in degraded forest management, environment conservation and contribution in mitigation of climate change.

• Development mainstreaming through empowerment.

• Fund availability for small and medium enterprise development.

• Forest administration and poor people interface for poverty alleviation through positive attitude development in forestry sector.

• Self development of local resource persons for self dependent (social, economic and institutional).

• Fund mobilization with diversification and increasing leverage for micro-enterprise development.

• Contribution continuation to the environmental conservation and self confident build up of the groups for poverty alleviation in the coming future decade.

Major challenges.............


Recommendations

Development of local resource persons (professional) • Support needs for medium and less active groups for

further couple of years

Risk always are around the more positive outcomes too• Community to community and community and

professional community interactions should be as a regular jobs for future policy changes



Documents

Institutional sustainability at grass root level A success factor for leasehold forestry programme in Nepal