women empowerment, new businesses and sustainable natural...

Women Empowerment, New Businesses and Sustainable Natural Resource

Management in Nepal

PROCASUR Learning Routes in Nepal 2013 REPORT

International Fund for Agricultural Development IFADPROCASUR Corporation

December 2013

Women Empowerment, New Businesses and Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Nepal

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The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of PROCASUR, its donors or programs. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of PROCASUR concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The contents of this publication, including all figures, tables, and drawings, are the intellectual property of PROCASUR. All rights reserved. Removal or alteration of copyright notices or trademarks is not permitted. Forwarding or reproduction of this publication or parts thereof for commercial use is not permitted without the explicit written authorization of PROCASUR. All program names or services of PROCASUR used in this publication as well as corresponding logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of PROCASUR in Chile and other countries. PROCASUR does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information, text, graphics, links, or other elements contained in this publication. This publication is provided without any warranty, whether explicit or implicit. This applies in part but not exclusively to a warranty of marketability and suitability for a particular purpose as well as a warranty of no violation of applicable law.

ACKNOWLDGEMENT

This report presents the outcomes of the Learning Route “Women Empowerment, New Businesses and Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Nepal”, whose process of preparation and implementation was carried out between September 2012 and September 2013.

The Learning Route is a joint initiative of the United Nations International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and PROCASUR Corporation developed in Nepal thanks to the full support and cooperation of the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme (LFLP), the High Value Agriculture Project in Hill and Mountain Areas (HVAP), the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) and the Western Upland Poverty Alleviation Project (WUPAP).

PROCASUR Corporation would like to express its gratitude to IFAD investment projects in Nepal (LFLP, HVAP, PAF and WUPAP), in the persons of their Project Directors and staff, for their active contribution and participation to all phases of Learning Routes’ preparation, implementation and assessment; to the Nepal IFAD Country Office for the continuous assistance provided in facilitating networking at country level with different institutional partners, as well as in organizing the Panel sessions of the Learning Routes held, respectively, in Kathmandu city on the 3rd of April and on the 13th of September 2013. Last, but not least, a special thanks go to the communities of Rayale (district of Kavre), Devitar (Shaktikhor VDC, district of Chitwan) and Bijwa (district of Kapilvastu) that hosted the Learning Route’s delegations making this learning experience successful by sharing their knowledge and wisdoms.


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TABLE OF CONTENTSACKNOWLDGEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS LEARNING ROUTE OUTLINE AND MAP 5INTRODUCTION BUILDING UP KNOWLEDGE: LEARNING ROUTE PREPARATION HARVESTING GRASSROOTS KNOWLEDGE

HELPING IDEAS TO TRAVEL: THE LEARNING ROUTE PARTICIPANTS LEARNING DYNAMICS

LEARNING FROM OUR CHAMPIONS: LEARNING ROUTE HOST PROJECTS AND COMMUNITIES A. COMMUNITY FORESTRY AND COMMUNITY FOREST USER GROUPS LEASEHOLD FORESTRY AND LIVESTOCK PROGRAMME (LFLP)

• HOST CASE 1: THE KALPASRIKSHA COOPERATIVE AND LFUG, RAYALE, KAVRE DISTRICT

• HOST CASE 2: DEVITAR LEASEHOLD FOREST USER GROUPS, SHAKTIKHOR, CHITWAN DISTRICT

• HOST CASE 3: PRAGATISHIL AGRICULTURE COOPERATIVE, BIJWA, KAPILVASTU DISTRICT

B. SOCIAL MOBILIZATION AND CO-OPERATIVES POVERTY ALLEVIATION FUND (PAF)

CONCLUSIONS LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE LEARNING ROUTE CURRENT CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES SOME FINAL CONSIDERATIONS 28

REFERENCES Annex I LEARNING ROUTES’ PARTICIPANTS Annex II LEARNING ROUTES SCHEDULE Annex III LIST OF INNOVATION PLANS

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ACRONYMS

CFUGs Community Forest Users GroupsCO Community OrganizationDFO District Forest OfficeHVAP High Value Agriculture Project in Hill and Mountain AreasIFAD International Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentLFLP Leasehold Forestry and Livestock ProgrammeLFUGs Leasehold Forest User GroupsLR Learning RouteNRM Natural Resource ManagementPAF Poverty Alleviation FundPPP Private and Public PartnershipSCGs Saving and Credit GroupsVDC Village Development CommitteeVFA Village Finance AssociationWUPAP Western Upland Poverty Alleviation Project


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LEARNING ROUTE OUTLINE AND MAP

TITLE Women Empowerment, New Businesses and Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Nepal

COUNTRY Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

HOST CASES

1. Kalpasriksha Co- operative and the Leasehold Forest Users Inter-Groups in Rayale VDC, Kavre district

2. Devitar Leasehold Forest User Groups cluster, Shaktikhor VDC, Chitwan district

3. Pragatishil Agriculture Cooperative Ltd, Bijuwa, Kapilvastu district

DATES 1st Implementation: 3-11 April 20132nd Implementation: 13-21 September 2013

PARTICIPANTS1st Implementation: 37. Countries: Nepal, Vietnam2nd Implementation: 21. Countries: Nepal, Kenya, Thailand, Somalia, Sri Lanka

IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATIONS IFAD, PROCASUR Corporation, LFLP, PAF


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INTRODUCTION

With a population of almost 30 million, Nepal is passing through a phase of transition of peace and political stability following a 10-yers conflict that ended in 2006 [World Bank 2012]. In recent years, progresses have been made in poverty reduction with a GDP growth of about 5%. Despite these progresses, Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in the world and currently ranks 157th out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index [Ibidem]. About 80 per cent of the population lives in rural areas and depends on subsistence farming for their livelihoods. Household food insecurity and poor nutrition are major concerns in these areas and most rural households have little or no access to primary health care, education, safe drinking water, sanitation or other basic services [IFAD 2013a]. During this transition, the former lowest castes were left out at the margins of the mainstream society mainly because political parties were unable to represent and articulate the demands of the less powerful Nepalis. Those left out were mostly women, the formerly ‘untouchable’ castes who now call themselves Dalits (‘oppressed’, ‘broken’ or ‘crushed’), and the ‘tribal’, indigenous ethnic groups, the Adivasi, Janajati or ‘indigenous nationalities’ [Bennet 2005].

IFAD is active in Nepal since 1978 and over the years it has supported 13 projects and programmes, approving loans and grants for a total of US$ 146million [IFAD 2013b]. Over the last decade, IFAD’s activities focused on community-based development in marginalized areas and in strengthening farmers’ integration into markets, fostering economic inclusion, gender equity and empowerment of rural organization of poor people. It is in this framework that the Learning Route (LR) “Women ́s Empowerment, New Businesses and Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Nepal” has been designed, addressing the innovative experiences in the development of second tier network organisations (Co-operatives) supported by the Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme (LFLP) and the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF), in the frame of IFAD interventions in Nepal.

A first implementation of the LR was carried out between the 3rd and the 11th of April 2013 involving a group of 37 people (36 Nepalese and 1 from Vietnam). Following the success of this initiative, a second version of the LR, open to Nepalese and international participants, took place from 13th to 21st September 2013 involving 21 rural development practitioners from Asian and African countries.


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The Learning Route is a capacity building tool developed by the PROCASUR Corporation, which draws upon the local knowledge and experiences to disseminate and scale up field tested innovations and best practices in rural development. Through a continuous process of “training in the field” composed by a sequence of interrelated educational activities (workshop, case analysis, field visits, group discussions etc.) the LR provides an opportunity for individual and collective learning both for visitors and their local hosts; in this sense, the LR represents a powerful tool to build capacities through peer to peer exchange of knowledge in the field while, at the same time, to facilitate the adoption and scaling up of good practices for rural livelihoods improvement.

BUILDING UP KNOWLEDGE: LEARNING ROUTE PREPARATIONThe implementation of the two Learning Routes is the result of a continuous process of capacity building and training carried out by PROCASUR Corporation in Nepal during 2012 and 2013, as part of the activities promoted by the IFAD-PROCASUR Programme “Strengthening Knowledge Sharing on Innovative Solutions using the Learning Route Methodology in Asia and the Pacific”. In this framework, PROCASUR designed customized proposals for knowledge stocktaking, capacity building and training involving project staff and stakeholders from 4 IFAD investment projects in Nepal, namely LFLP, PAF, the High Value Agriculture Project in Hill and Mountain Areas (HVAP) and the Western Upland Poverty Alleviation Project (WUPAP).


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At a first stage, strategic thematic areas were project have gained recognized expertise were identified together with the Nepal IFAD Country Office and, within these areas, outstanding experiences developed by farmers’ groups were selected to host knowledge sharing events, such as Learning Routes. Subsequently, relevant information, key learning and good practices within these experiences were gathered and systematically organized during in field specialised methodological trainings (systematization process). This process interested both IFAD project staff and local stakeholders from the selected experiences (farmers and their groups’ leaders) with the double objective of collecting the relevant facts on the case and strengthening local people’s capacities to share this knowledge to third parties during Learning Routes. In 2012 and 2013 PROCASUR delivered 3 methodological trainings involving a total of 32 people from HVAP, LFLP, PAF and WUPAP aimed at systematize the successful experience of 3 Co-operatives, 2 of them supported by LFLP and 1 by PAF. These experiences then become host cases of the Learning Route.

HARVESTING GRASSROOTS KNOWLEDGE The active engagement of the communities in the process of systematization has been regarded not only as functional to the gathering of the information, but essential to the right development of the process itself, with the aim to strengthen local people’s capacities to critically reflect on their own experience and thus to generate positive changes. In this sense, PROCASUR has privileged the composition of mixed working-team (project staff and farmers) as a key component of the systematization process; the transfer of information and techniques from peer-to-peer, in fact, has been recognized as an asset to facilitate the incorporation of new concepts and methods in the rural milieu. At the same time, this practice demonstrated to be successful to improve communication and collaboration between projects’ staff and stakeholders, to best benefit from different competencies, knowledge and abilities and to improve team-working skills, supporting the creation of enabling environments for knowledge sharing at project level.

“Before, we used to go to the community, ask some questions, and say ‘ok, that’s fine’. But thanks to this new methodology we learned how to get information in a participative way, for example through role playing; we learned to systematize every aspect of the experience, to understand the actors involved, their roles and responsibilities. This provided a lot of positive feedback to us. Before, we used to think that only a couple of people in the community was doing a good job; now, thanks to exercises like the ‘map of actors’, we realized how many individuals and organizations have given their support, and how these contributions has been crucial to achieve what the community has today.” (Mr. Sanjay Kumar Jha, Portfolio Manager, PAF)

According to this, outstanding farmers that have improved their competencies following one or more methodological trainings have been successively contracted by PROCASUR as trainers to facilitate the knowledge transfer their peers; in contexts where the social fabric is mostly made up of ethnic groups, as in Nepal, ethnic affiliation and linguistic affinity of the trainers with the participating community members contributed significantly to understanding and trust between the partners involved. Moreover, the positive discrimination of women (indigenous, farmers) within the training team proved to be particularly productive to encourage women’s participation at community level.


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BOX 1. FARMERS COACHING FARMERS, INDIGENOUS WOMEN AS METHODOLOGICAL TRAINERS

Karpura and Subhawati lead the Pragatishil Agriculture Cooperative of Bijuwa, in the district of Kapilvastu, while Chhami coordinates one of the 11 groups that compose the Devitar Leasehold Forest User Groups cluster in Shaktikhor, Chitwan district. They are indigenous, Dalit, farmers, and all outstanding women in their own communities. Their determination, tireless work and gained self-confidence have been source of motivation for other women to join interest’s groups and start out speaking about their rights.

In October 2012, Karpura, Subhawati and Chhami took part into the training on systematization organized by PROCASUR in their respective villages (that become then host cases for 2 Learning Routes). In February 2013, PROCASUR invited them to join the systematization process in the village of Rayale, Kavre district, as part of the Training Team. They role has been key to facilitate the transmission of the new concepts to community members and to guide the development of collective exercises, such as map drawing and focus groups’ interviews with women. “Before we didn’t feel comfortable attending any type of meeting but now we want to take leadership for any activity” reported a member of the women’s group.

Image: from left to right, Karpura, Subhawati and Chhami in Rayale, Nepal

Over the course of the three systematizations, a total of 12 people (8 project staff and 4 farmers leaders) were fully trained in the LR methodology; the last step of this stage enabled the trainees to further improve their skills by following the methodological and technical preparation and development of the LR as part of the Coordination Team.


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HELPING IDEAS TO TRAVEL: THE LEARNING ROUTEThe two implementations of the LR “Women Empowerment, New Businesses and Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Nepal” were hosted by: (a) the Kalpasriksha Co- operative and the Leasehold Forest Users Inter-Groups in Rayale V.D.C., Kavre district; (2) the Devitar Leasehold Forest User Groups cluster in Shaktikhor, Chitwan district and (3) the Pragatishil Agriculture Cooperative Ltd, of Bijuwa village in district of Kapilvastu.

These experiences were selected for their recognized success in generating new opportunities for the rural poor to develop and diversify their livelihoods by increasing biodiversity, strengthening networking and establishing efficient models of pro-rural poor Private and Public Partnership (PPP), and in mainstreaming gender. The leadership role of women in the establishment and management of Saving and Credit Groups (SCGs) and the involvement of Dalit, Janajati and other socially marginalised groups have been crucial; women have gained increased recognition at community level mainly through their role in household decision-making and their improved position as SCGs leaders. Over the years, the consolidation of these groups has lead to the formation of Co-operatives themselves. Furthermore, the establishment of PPP targeting rural poor has secured communities’ access to markets and, in turn, promoted the diversification of local livelihoods.

The Learning Route’s main objective was to analyse and learn from best practices and successful strategies on poor rural people’s livelihoods diversification and improvement through formation, strengthening and building of Co-operatives where women leadership plays a fundamental role.

In the specific, the LR focused on the following thematic areas of learning:

Meeting of women from LFUGs, Shaktikhor VDC


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1. Community mobilization: the formation of Co-operatives as the result of community’s mobilization and their organization into networks;

2. Diversification of rural livelihoods: thanks to the provision of low rate interest loans and the promotion of savings, Co- operatives have promoted the creation of new small rural businesses both at individual and group level. Linkages to new markets have been explored in order to ensuring the selling of the products;

3. Women empowerment and gender mainstreaming: women’ involvement in social, economic and financial activities led to increase their role as leaders at community and organizational level. These factors have contributed to a decrease in discrimination and improved the self-confidence and skills of women;

4. Innovative solutions in community-based forestry management: the improvement of biodiversity thanks to sustainable Natural Resource Management (NRM) practices allowed the diversification of income-generating activities, enhancement of local livelihoods and climate change resilience.

5. Public-Private Partnerships: an important factor of the Co-operatives success is explained by the partnership between community and NGOs, private companies and government.

PARTICIPANTSThe LR addressed public and private rural and agricultural development practitioners, particularly IFAD project staff and the public sector at the national and sub-national level as well as farmers’ economic and social organizations. The two implementations of the LR greatly differed in terms of users: the first one was opened mainly to Nepalese farmers and to IFAD-supported projects staff, while the second implementation mostly counted with the participation of representatives from the public sector, from both Asian and African countries.

Overall, 46 participants joined the LR, of which 50% were women; considering both LR, the 46% were farmers and the 56% project staff. In addition, 8 project staff from HVAP, LFLP, PAF and WUPAP integrated the LR Coordination Team together with PROCASUR staff. The complete list of participants for both Learning Routes is available in Annex I.


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LEARNING DYNAMICSEach LR is organized around a sequence of educational activities structured to make every practice propaedeutic for the development of the following one. The set of activities comprises case analysis, group work exercises and thematic workshops (in-door activities) as well as structured field visits leaded by the LR host communities (out-door). This methodology has proved to be effective to equip participants with the right bulk of knowledge and tools to critically reflect on the experiences visited, improving their capacities to identify good practices and relevant information in the field with potential to be applied and replicated in their contexts of origin. At the same time, the methodology allows spaces for a double-way knowledge sharing between the host communities and their guests; open feedback sessions are organized to give participants the opportunity to share recommendations and suggestions with their hosts during the visits. The schedule of the LR is provided in Annex II.

The LR started with an Induction Workshop, where the thematic of the Learning Route, main activities and methodology were presented, followed by the Experience Fair, an open space for discussion where participants had the opportunity to introduce the work of their institution/organizations to the rest of the group. A Country Panel officially opened the LR, offering a moment for representative from the public sector (IFAD-funded projects, Ministry of Agriculture of Nepal) and international organizations (FAO, Heifer International) to present the initiatives carried out at country level to reduce rural poverty.


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Traveling from Kathmandu to the districts of Kavre, Chitwan and Kapilvastu, LR participants could then experience the field visit of the 3 host communities. These were structured around the essential economic activities of the groups, illustrating the different stages of preparation and production of specific livelihood activities (e.g. briquette production, grass and cardamom plantation and dairy farming in Kavre, goat rearing in Chitwan, vegetable farming and fishing in Kapilvastu) and the organizational and management modalities of the Co-operatives (group formation and strengthening, access to market, financial management, leadership and women’ role). During the field visits, interplay of practical experiences with field-based demonstrations, theoretical inputs and reflection sessions opened an interesting and versatile access to the host cases and revealed insights into their success stories.

The Sri Lanka Team preparing the presentation for the Experience Fair

“This Learning Route was a process where the participants could learn how communities generate income from the sustainable utilization of their natural resources. The LR was organized in such a way that the participants fully integrate with the host communities by discussing issues together, eating together, spending the nights together and also sampling the cultures of different nationalities through song and dance.” (IFAD–UTaNRMP Team, Kenya, LR September 2013)

“[During the Learning Route] we had the chance to meet all these organizations and learn from them and, personally, seeing all these experiences made me feel the desire to start something new. By myself, I can do very little; but together... let's see what can we do!” (Ms Meena KC, Chairwoman, Mahendrakot Cooperative, LR April 2013)


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At conclusion of the LR, each project/working team elaborated an Innovation Plan, i.e. a structured action plan based on the knowledge gathered from the exchange with the host communities during the field visit and aimed to promote innovative changes for poverty reduction. These changes are kick-started by seed capital awarded by PROCASUR. Through these changes, the Innovation Plan contributes to scaling up good practices (from peers) towards sustainable results for the rural poor. From a total of 16 Plans designed by LR participants, 6 were selected and awarded. Annex III provides the list of the Innovation Plans for the two LRs.


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LEARNING FROM OUR CHAMPIONS: LEARNING ROUTE HOST PROJECTS AND COMMUNITIES

A. COMMUNITY FORESTRY AND COMMUNITY FOREST USER GROUPS Community forestry policies emerged in Nepal to respond to the progressive degradation of forests’ hills. Prior to the 1950s, forests in the Middle hills of Nepal were held by local landlords who granted rights by the King to use the forest [Springate-Baginski, O. et al., 2003:11]. As result of the democratic revolution of 1950, during the initial period of democracy (1951-61) the forests were nationalized and transferred to the control of the Department of Forests (DoF); however, during this time local users lacked incentives to regulate forest use and consequent forest degradation began to threaten the sustainability of livelihoods in the Middle hills.

To face this situation, in the late 1960s and 1970s the need for community re-involvement in forest management was considered crucial to stop hill forests’ deterioration: in 1976 the National Forest Plan was introduced based on the Panchayat Forestry Governance, which evolved into the current form of community forestry governance.

The fundamental concept of community forestry is to establish community-based organizations through which forest users are given collective management responsibility, but not ownership, for the local forests on which they depend on for product flows. This also empowers them to plan forest management activities on the basis of their needs [Ibidem].

During the 1980s, the encouragement of community forestry through the mobilization of people’s participation in forest management continued in various policies, while the concept of “ Community Forest Users Groups” (CFUGs) was introduced. In the early 1990s, the Forest Act (1993) finally provided the legal and procedural basis for CFUGs to become local-level autonomous forest management bodies. These groups are responsible in preserving the forests through a wide range of activities which link the community with the forests, timber, foliage and grass and other no-timber forest products. In this sense, the community forestry policy has also shifted from a tool to improve resource management towards a more comprehensive mean to achieve local livelihoods and community development.

Over the past years, many CFUGs have developed successfully and today represent an effective local institution increasingly involved in wider community development activities, often networking with a range of government and non-government groups [Springate-Baginski, O. et al., 2003:17]. However, since the success of CFUGs critically depends upon the nature of planning decision making processes at group level, the most of the CFUGs still remain at an early stage of development and need further support.


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LEASEHOLDFORESTRYANDLIVESTOCKPROGRAMME(LFLP)The forest resources cover almost the 40% of the land resource in Nepal; government’s policy focuses on the rehabilitation of degraded lands, environmental conservation and poverty reduction through people’s participation. In this framework, LFLP is being implemented in 37 mid-hill districts of Nepal, benefiting more than 60.000 poor rural households who are allocated leasehold forestry plots. The Programme aims to reduce rural poverty through increased production of forest products and livestock. LFLP has developed the alternative model of Leasehold Forest User Groups (LFUGs) as a way to target the poorest community members who were not able to access the forest through the CFUGs. The model consists in providing groups of poor households with a plot of degraded forest with a 40 years lease, renewable after that for another 40 more years. LFUGs with 5 to 15 households are formed and are provided with technical support for the preparation of group constitutions and operational plans. District Forest Offices (DFOs) formally hand over the forestlands to the groups. After that, the Programme provides seeds and seedlings for reforesting and improvement of the leased lands. At the same time, groups are strengthened by group promoters to ensure adequate social mobilization. A household-level saving scheme is introduced with the group’s formation. Furthermore, eligible households are provided with two goats from District Livestock Service Offices. Multiple trainings are delivered to the beneficiaries and staff in order to strengthen their technical competence and the sustainability of groups created [IFAD 2012].

Today there are more than 6800 LFUGs formed since 1992. As part of the Rural Finance component of the Programme, LFUGs are also provided with support to establish Saving & Credit groups and, at further stage, Village Finance Associations (VFAs) or Co-operative. In this context, 2 Cooperatives and LFUG cluster have been selected among the experiences supported by LFLP to host the Learning Route.

HOST CASE 1: THE KALPASRIKSHA COOPERATIVE AND LFUG, RAYALE, KAVRE DISTRICT

Rayale VDC is a mid-hill village of nine wards with around 4000 households or families. It is in the district of Kavrepalanchok situated in the Bagmati Zone, at the heart of the Central Region (Madhyamanchal) around 20 km southeast of Kathmandu. This is the region of the “middle hills” of the Mahabharat Range, also known as the Lesser Himalaya. The Middle Hills are densely populated in the lower valleys while population thins out above 2,000 meters. The paddy and cereal-based agriculture in the lower valleys gives way to seasonal herding and cold-tolerant crops such as potatoes in the higher valleys. Rayale has both paddy fields (khet) along the river valley floor, and non-irrigated cereal fields (bari) higher up, with forests on the higher slopes, on which much of the income generating activities are based.

Over 70% of the population is composed by indigenous groups, i.e. Tamang, Magar and Gurung and 25% are upper castes, such as Bahun or Chhetri and there are also a few Dalit (such as Kami and Sarki).


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Until the late 1970s, villagers had been felling in the forest illegally selling wood for cash income, which led to serious forest area degradation. Forest condition was poor: ground was covered by bushy and thorny plants, with open grazing, which exacerbated land degradation. People had to spend whole day to collect one head load of grass or fuel wood. Later on, when the Nationalization Act was reversed and the Government of Nepal began to encourage the transfer of forestland back to community control, CFUGs were established and later LFUGs were created in the village. Improved management of natural resources was dependent on the active participation of all members in the LFUGs; good practices in forestry management and reforestation of degraded areas were developed and shared. Lately, the availability of natural resources allowed for the diversification of rural livelihoods. The LFUGs acted as small savings groups, based on strong commitment and social cohesion within the community, and this was the basis for the emergence of the cooperative. The Co-operative has then created new opportunities for income generation activities at the individual level as well as at the Co-operative or community level. The LFLP started supporting the formation of LFUGs in the early 90s and the Co-operative of Kalpasriksha resulted from the consolidation of some of those Groups in 2011. Today, there are 35 LFUGs active in Rayale with 7 people for each group. One hectare is allocated to each household.

TRADITIONAL RECEPTION, RAYALE VDC


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RAYALE VALLEY

Several different economical activities have recently emerged at individual (briquette production, fish farming, and poultry), Co-operative (milk and dairy production, vegetables) and LFUG level (cardamom, harvesting of grass and agro-forestry management). Women are playing a key role in the development of new income-generating activities both at household and collective level. Some of the livelihoods activities are here after described.

Cardamom production started about 20 years ago in Rayale as an individual activity. At that time, during a travel in eastern regions of Nepal, a community leader discovered the cardamom and decided to bring some seeds to Rayale. Mr Chaturnman and Mr Indra were the first to try planting cardamom and today many other farmers are following their example. Initially, they started with few seeds (100-200 plants) and within 2-3 years, the time the plant needs to grow, they were able to harvest about 1-2 Kg of cardamom seeds from each plant. At the very beginning, 1 Kg of cardamom seeds was sold for NPR 125 (US$ 1,2); today this price has increased 100%. Cardamom doesn’t require much care and it’s easy to grow, resistant to diseases and has only to be planted once, at the starting of the monsoon season (May, June). Since it needs the shadow of the big “elder” trees to grow, the cardamom also concurs to maintain the agroforestry system and helps to improve soil fertility. Farmers sell both seeds and fruits, natural and dried. Since they joined in the LFUG they are selling the products collectively, being able to get a better price from buyers. Last year Mr. Indra sold 90 Kg of seeds at NPR 1,115 (US$ 11) per Kg plus 52,000 plants to others Group’s members. From this production, farmers like Indra and Chaturman are able to get around NPR 60-70,000 (US$ 500-700) per year or more. In 2013, Mr. Indra earned a total of NPR 65,000 from the selling of both cardamom seeds and fruits.

Dairy production. Together with his family, Mr. Lekhnath Sapkota is running a local dairy production; he buys milk from local farmers, which would be put it in a chilling system for preservation. Milk is purchased by a commercial buyer that bring it into local dairy factories for processing. Started off 14 years ago with a daily collection of only 30 liters, with his family business Mr. Sapkota is now able to buy up to 50 liters of milk on a daily basis. Fat milk, sold at the beginning at 3 NPR per liter, is now providing a profit of 7.7 NRP. With the little land for cultivation, this provides regular work opportunities for about 80 households of the community that raise buffalos or cows. The family has also started processing milk on their own to be able to get direct access to local markets. “I


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am very happy because, as a farmer, I can support other farmers with income generating activities and this is something they can do on their own and based on their potential. On average, we buy 8 to 20 liters of milk from each household every day”, he says1.

DAIRY PRODUCTION, RAYALE VDC

The Kalpasriksha Co-operative was established in 2010. The starting fund was of about NPR 12-13,000 (US$ 140-150) and the membership initially was of 30 people representing 12 LFUGs. The cooperative membership fee was of NPR 100 (just over US$1) for the poorest, and otherwise NPR 1000 (around US$ 12). There are now a total of 240 members. The majority of the members are women; the role of women in the initial start of savings groups, which then led to the Co-operative, was also crucial. Even before the formation of the LFUGs, women in the VDC formed a women group that used to collect NPR. 50 (US$ 0.58) per month per person. However, the money collected was not mobilized and finally the group collapsed. The experience showed the group how to mobilize funds and this helped them with the experience of how to run a Co-operative in an organized way. The formation of the Co-operative has increased the number of farmers who undertake individual income-generating activities and has improved the amount villagers are now able to save.

1 Adapted from Lam Pham, April 8 2013, IFAD Blog, Reporting from the LR.


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BOX 2. LEARNING FROM RAYALE EXPERIENCE

The case of Rayale VDC offers the opportunity to deepen knowledge on:• Diversification of rural livelihoods (Co-operative and individual businesses) based on the

sustainable use of forest resources (cardamom, grass and forage, goats, briquettes, dairy products)

• Formation and management of the Co-operative• Social inclusion, role of women and women empowermentSTRENGHTS

• People’s awareness of their territory and resources –decision-making, self-reliance, risk control

• Strong commitment and cultural identity• Good organization and management of the

LFUGs• Women’s participation• Openness to adopt new technologies

WEAKNESSES

• Weak involvement of youth• Lack of leadership rotation at Coop’ level• Weak documentation of their vision and lack

of a clear action plan• The access to market is still mostly individual;

the role of the Coop’ in supporting farmers’ collective access to market should be strengthened

OPPORTUNITIES

• Good presence of raw material, water, soil• Easy access to external markets (good road)• Potential to expand to organic market• Support of several donors and agencies

THREATHS

• Land ownership (changes in regulation)• Youth migration• Climate change• Dependency from external donors

LESSONS LEARNED

• Leasehold forestry is a good way to promote the improvement of poor rural people’ s livelihood• Community’s awareness of their territory and commitment is fundamental to promote sustainable

NRM and good group management • PPP can be effective also at small scale (grassroots and community level)RECCOMENDATIONS

• Increase women’s active participation within the Coop’ and in decision making• Create mechanisms to incentive participation of the youth• The Coop’ should support more livelihoods activities currently run as individual businesses• Improve documentation at Coop’ level (action plan, financial records etc.)


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HOST CASE 2: DEVITAR LEASEHOLD FOREST USER GROUPS, SHAKTIKHOR, CHITWAN

DISTRICT

Shaktikhor VDC is located in the inner Terai (foothill, low-land) in an area of mixed forestry, woodland and rice paddy agriculture. The Devitar LFUGs cluster in Shaktikhor VDC emerged as a second tier organisational network of the community’s LFUGs which developed into a savings and credit Co-operative. The leadership role of women and the involvement of Dalit, Janajati and other marginalised groups have been crucial. The resulting income and livelihood diversification by women has been based on the development of forest products along with a move to the stall-feeding of livestock. It has also meant the development of strategies for the establishment of pro-poor PPP, dependent on institutional coordination, securing access to markets which in turn supports the on-going diversification of livelihoods.

There are currently around 173 households in the village; ethnically, the Magar, Newar and Gurung (indigenous) peoples are predominant, while other groups include Kami and Damai (Dalit), Chepang (indigenous) and Chhetri (Bhandari or upper caste). Almost all can be considered to be historical migrants, as they have moved down from the northern hills in the 1960s. Of the current 173 households, however, about 60 came into the village after Leasehold Groups were formed. When the village was established, at the end of the 1960s, the forest had been already deprived from the most of its resources and new migrants used to collect timber and wood for selling. At that time, the main sources of community income came from the sale of agriculture surpluses, manual labour, the sale of timber and non-timber forest products supplemented by borrowing and bartering for daily necessities. The women carried out household work and their involvement in social activities was very limited. Also, the widespread drinking habit among males led to increased domestic violence against women.

Women Empowerment In this context, the establishment of CFUGs first and of LFGUs later and the formation of women saving and credit groups has been crucial to ensure both environmental protection and sustainable management of forest resources and women empowerment at community level. Due to their involvement in LFUGs and other development activities, in fact, women have increased their position and become more empowered. As part of this process, women received training in financial literacy and accountability, group management and leadership. At the same time, they got support on domestic violence and today the community is a free-from alcohol village; the training also changed women’s role in household and they were able to gain increasing self-

Members of women LFUG, Shaktikhor VDC


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confidence to attend to meetings and to negotiate with men and with local institutions. This stimulated a new practice of dialogue and partnership between village representatives and district level institutions, especially through the changing and recognized role of women. Today, out of 11 LFUGs, involving 131 households, 5 are led by women; the Milli Julli Chulli Women’s sub-group was formed by the women of these 5 LFUGs. A part from improving the environmental condition of the forest, the social work as part of LFUGs also stimulated cooperation and cohesiveness among people, helping to break down cast barriers. Women are very active and are currently managing exposure visits to the leasehold forestry to other farmers and women’s groups; to date, they have been receiving more than 100 visits from other districts to their village.

“In the past people were not united and there not much awareness” Ms Chhami K. Magar, LFUG’s leader explains, “we were shy to speak in public and we used to hide ourselves if someone from outside the village was coming. The separation between castes was also very strong; if you have an inter-caste marriage you were given a plot of land outside the village to not to mix with the others. Before the leasehold forest our workload was also very heavy, in the morning we used to collect firewood and grass in the forest from 6am to noon; then we worked at home, raising small animals and doing other agricultural activities. Today with the biogas we can avoid spending much time collecting firewood in the forest and use this time for other occupations”.

Goat production has increased as the shift from grazing to stall feeding means that most households have now one or more goat sheds. Goat rearing was initiated as part of the activities supported by LFLP and linked to the development of LFUGs; in this framework, each household received two goats and a buck. Once they started breeding they give a goat to help someone else in the community. Goats were also a form of household livelihood insurance. However, there was a need to change the way in which they were being raised and to prevent them grazing in the forests and thus destroying forest habitats. The crucial aspect and innovation of this project was its success in mixing LFUGs and changing goat-rearing patterns. Goats have traditionally been sold directly by the producer, but recent improved access to markets has resulted in higher farm-gate prices with goats being sold at around NPR. 3,000 to 5,000 [US$ 34 to US$ 46] per head. On average, each household earns between NPR 40,000 [US$ 450] and NPR 200,000 [US$ 2,200] per year from the selling of goats. The other important outcome of the shift from free grazing to stall-fed goats and cattle has been the increase in the forest biodiversity with the former barren forest becoming much richer in both species and products. With the support of the district livestock office and other governmental institutions, women were also able to set up a “goat house” that operates as a market once a week and that is entirely managed by women. By selling goats collectively, women are able to set fix prices and get a more advantageous entrance to the local market. Their increasing participation to the overall income generation at household level also contributed to enhance women’s position within their families and the community; today, women are more respected by men and included into the decision-making processes.

CHILDREN STUDYING, SHAKTIKHOR VDC


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BOX 3. LEARNING FROM SHAKTIKHOR EXPERIENCE

The case of Shaktikhor VDC offers the opportunity to focus on:• Women empowerment and gender mainstreaming • Formation and management of the Co-operative• Sustainable management of forest resources and diversification of rural livelihoods (based on

LFUGs)STRENGHTS

• Women’s active participation• Able to mobilize people and involve youth• Good management of forest resources• Sharing of responsibilities and leadership

rotation, good group management at both Coop’ and LFUG levels

• Social cohesion and conflict management• Self-awareness of community’s needs

WEAKNESSES

• Not equal share of workload and responsibilities at household level and low visibility of men’s contribution at community level

• Savings are good at LFUGs but not at Coop’ level (low shared capital)

• Households mostly rely on goats only for their livelihood

• Weak documentation/ financial recording at group level

OPPORTUNITIES

• Good availability of natural resources and potential to introduce organic farming

• Access to market and value-chain based market system

• Processing center for livestock and market point managed by women only

• Provision of knowledge services to other women’s groups

THREATHS

• Lack of female leadership at public level• Low level of formal education to access new

opportunities• Low contribution of the men in the sharing of

workload and responsibilities• Lack of infrastructure• Men migration

LESSONS LEARNED

• Strong commitment and leadership are key element for the strengthening and sustainability of the groups and their efficient management

• The link between environmental protection and livelihoods improvement is a successful strategy to reduce rural poverty

• Active female participation is essential to contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources

• Social inclusion and gender balance are prerequisites for the development of long term strategy for poverty reduction

RECCOMENDATIONS

• Improve formal educational at community level• Promote the differentiation of livelihoods (not only goats) as organic farming• Strengthen the participation of men into livelihoods activities• Enhance visibility of other key actors during field visits and charge a fix price for the knowledge

transfer provided to visitors• Develop self M&E indicator for self-assessment


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B.SOCIALMOBILIZATIONANDCO-OPERATIVESStarted in the middle 1950s in support to the floods victims in Rapti, in the mid-Western region of Nepal, the Co-operative Movement greatly evolved since that time. The formation process of Co-operatives has depended on the mobilisation of the communities and subsequent organization of the groups into networks. Today, nearly 20,000 Co-operatives operates in the country, mobilizing over NPR 100 billion [US$ 10million] and providing direct employment to more than 50 thousands, while indirectly creating more than 10,000 job opportunities in different fields [Mahato 2012]. The most of the Co-operatives (45%) active at country level provides saving and credit facilities to its members, sustaining the development of different livelihoods opportunities for rural people.

Over the years, the role of the Co-operative demonstrated to be crucial to contribute to rural poverty reduction and today the Co-operative model has been recognized as an essential part of Nepalese economy. Especially when addressing the most marginalized and vulnerable segments of the society (Dalit Janajati, poor women) the potential of the Co-operatives to improve poor people’s livelihood has become evident; a part from enhancing assets and increasing access to capital and to markets, in fact, Co-operatives act as catalysers to strengthen social relations and promoting the integration of the poorest and more marginalized into collective activities in their communities. This has been particularly key for women; it is considered nearly 40% of the Co-operatives in Nepal being mostly composed by rural women [see, Bharadwaj 2012]. The enhancement of the role of the Co-operatives also led to the establishment of networks among farmers and between farmers and public and private actors that, in turn, have created more opportunities for poor rural people.

POVERTYALLEVIATIONFUND(PAF)Started in 2004 in 6 pilot districts and reaching today 59 districts, PAF set up community-based programmes to reduce rural poverty, working in the more remote areas of Nepal. Through its demand led community-based approach, PAF aims to put poor people at the centre of holistic development interventions, encouraging them to take self-driven initiatives to improve their livelihoods. In this framework, PAF is addressing the most vulnerable groups, especially those who are disadvantaged due to gender, caste, ethnicity or physical isolation, organizing them into groups and enabling the building of community institutions; therefore, one of PAF’s objectives is to strengthen local bodies (such as VDCs) and support long term decentralization processes. To reach this goal, PAF provides capacity building and training to strengthen individuals and groups’ skills and to enhance the capacity of the communities to establish diversified and locally oriented livelihoods and financial activities and to run these schemes in sustainable manner. As a way to pursue the self-empowerment of rural communities and the ownership of their projects, PAF has also fixed community cost sharing or contribution as mandatory. This greatly increased the level of responsibility of community members towards the assets and the activities run in a collective way.

One of the core components of PAF is the social mobilization, which aims to create awareness among the community people (particularly poor women, Dalit and Janajati), helping them to get a more relevant role in decision-making at community level and to prioritize their needs. This also includes building up capacity for preparation, implementation, operation and management of the targeted


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community and enhancing their livelihoods. This is mostly done by encouraging and supporting them to organize in Community Organizations (COs), from interest groups and saving and credit groups to second-tier organizations such as Co-operatives. Social mobilisation, although it works with all community members, has been particularly successful in increasing women’s participation in local decision making.

Located near the border with India, Kapilvastu is one of the first districts were PAF started implementing its activities. The majority of Kapilvastu is flat lowland were paddy, wheat, oilseed, sugarcane, banana and vegetables are the main crops cultivated, while animal husbandry is mainly focused on buffalo, cattle, goats and poultry. According to the District Livestock Service office, in 2011 the majority (53%) of households in Kapilvastu owned less than one hectare of land, and 8% were landless [UNDAF 2013].

The topography of the district is composed mostly of plains in the south and forested hills in the north, with fragile rocks and soils. The increased migration from the hills to the Terai, deforestation and uncontrolled excavation of sand and gravel from riverbeds, in areas already susceptible to soil erosion, had led to an increasing of flooding and natural disasters during the monsoon time.

This situation is further exacerbated by social and gender inequality and discriminatory practices. Women face unequal power relations due to a patriarchal social structure: data show that the 26% of women get married before they are 15 and more than 60% between 15 and 19 years old [Ibidem]. This means that the large majority of women are married to their husbands as adolescents. As a consequence of early marriage and early pregnancy, girls are forced to abandon school and their lack of formal education becomes a barrier for getting opportunities when adults. It is estimated that only 22% of women in the district can read and write [Ibidem]. Caste-based discrimination is also prevalent in Kapilvastu and, despite the fact that various organizations promote their rights, Dalits are not freely allowed to share public spaces with non-Dalits. Finally, the proximity with India facilitates temporary male migration during the agricultural off-season and the district’s economy is reported highly dependent on remittances.

AGRICULTURAL FIELDS, BIJWA, VDC


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It is in this context that in 2005 PAF inaugurated community mobilization in Bijwa. In 2006, more farmers organised into COs and, at the same time, awareness training was carried out regarding gender and caste discrimination by the COs, with the support of Kalika Self-Reliance Social Centre (KSSC), a local NGO. In 2007, coordination among the COs resulted in a Community Organisation Network, which started to collect the necessary share capital to set up a Co-operative. NPR 15,000 [US$ 170] was raised from each CO with the campaign for Co-operative formation being supported by the network and KSSC. The COs succeeded in formally registering the Cooperative as the 'Pragatishil Agriculture Cooperative Ltd' in 2008. Co-operative development began in 2009 with the identification of different areas of investment for increasing income generation, including developing trading businesses; the Co-operative also became a remittance service in the village. Thanks to the support of the Lumbini Seed Company, the Co-operative ensured direct access to market to its members that sell locally produced cereals to the private enterprise.

HOST CASE 3: PRAGATISHIL AGRICULTURE COOPERATIVE, BIJWA, KAPILVASTU DISTRICT

The Pragatishil Agriculture Cooperative Ltd, of Bijuwa village in district of Kapilvastu is as a second-tier network organisation that gathers 20 Community Organisations. It currently has 536 members, being located in the southern central part of the low-lying plains of the Nepali Terai area. The Co-operative supports a range of innovative activities that have enabled the diversification of economic opportunities for farmers. These include a collective farming fish, wheat and paddy farming, vegetable farming and the establishment of a Co-operative market and shop. The Co-operative also offers the service provision of basic social welfare, as well as adult education and training activities, small infrastructure development and livestock insurance for farmers. In 2012, the provision of health and hygiene information was increased and the first toilet in the VDC was built with support from the District Development Committee.

Over the course of the last years, the Lumbini Seed Company had become an important private sector partner ensuring the purchase of seeds and cereals products. The partnership was set up through the District Agriculture Development Office (DADO), which also provided training to Co-operative members on seeds conservation, and thanks to the support of PAF and KSSC. This partnership is an example of how pro-rural poor PPP can develop and work effectively, involving different actors (local government, farmers’ Cos, the private sector and civil society organizations) and promoting a sustainable business model which combines the provision of agricultural products with the provision of technical services and capacity building.

Women Empowerment. The active involvement of women was crucial to the development of the whole experience. For women, the possibility to gather into groups and to mobilize funds through them was also the opportunity to get increasing self-esteem and to enhance their role in decision making processes at village level. At a first stage, women’s participation into saving and credit groups and then into the Co-operative was very limited; to ensure their involvement in community’s activities, PAF had to establish rigid rules for the community to get access to project’s initiatives and loans and the institution of female quota within the farmers’ groups was one of those. Over time, women gradually gained self-confidence and through their participation in the community organization and the Co-operative they became able to talk in public confidentially and to get increasing space in decision-making and leadership roles.


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Ms Kusma Kori, Pragatishil Agriculture Cooperative’s member explains:

“We began collecting a handful from each member, 10 rupees each. Now our group has the support of the World Ban [PAF]. When we began, our husbands told us: 'where do you go? You have work to do at home'. We started answering: 'Cooking and feeding the children is not my responsibility only, it is also yours. I have to attend the meeting'. Now husbands support us as a group, and help us with the housework. With our savings, we can support our house needs, when some of us lacks money we lend it, and when we have we pay back. Husband and wife began to work together, as the two wheels of one bicycle”.

Female members of the Pragatishil Agriculture Cooperative Co-operative, Bijwa

Ms Subhawati Pasi, former president and co-founder of the Pragatishil Agriculture Cooperative, was leading the Co-operative for 3 years and witnessed the organisation growth to the point where it had 250 members. She recounts that:

“Changes have happened. Women before used to wear the veil all the times and when people came to the village they would go inside the house. Initially, there were problems after forming groups but when benefits increased and experience gave knowledge, men started to tell women to come forward, to learn how to write. Now women are able to speak more. The household improves because of the


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training, especially in terms of savings. If NPR 100 is income, NPR 10 to 20 is used as savings and the rest is for the home, clothes and children. Before the programme, people used to work in the village landlord’s house and after the programme started people had their own personal business. But the main difficulties are still the education, especially of board members who generally are not educated and group members are not educated either.”

At the heart of the experience therefore is the transformation of COs into a wider second tier network organisation. The network has then become the foundation that allowed the savings groups to act together as a Co-operative. The role of women in this process of formation, strengthening and building of the community organisations, and then the wider cooperative has been key, since women have been both leaders and have also been increasingly empowered and able to shift the culture of patriarchy. The diversification of economic opportunities has therefore shifted the role of women, but also the role of other discriminated groups such as Dalit, Janajati and other marginalised groups in the area. However, challenges still persist in terms of illiteracy and innumeracy within the community. There has also been interference of landlords and richer people who have tried to prevent the development and education within the community by putting up barriers, discouraging new forms of organisation and spreading misinformation. Also, the access to basic services such as clean water, health, drainage and sanitation facilities remains a challenge.


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BOX 4. LEARNING FROM IN BIJWA

The case of Bijwa VDC offered the opportunity to focus on:• Diversification of rural livelihoods through the Coop’• Women empowerment and social inclusion• Networking, access to market, PPPSTRENGHTS

• Gender balance and positive social changes • Paid staff and presence of physical assets• Differentiation of IGAs • Effective linkages with different actors (PPP)• Good record at Coop’ level

WEAKNESSES

• Poor sanitation system and infrastructure• Weak document and financial record• Dependency on external financial aid• The shared capital is low• Not clear participation of youth• Lack of clear budget and timeframe • Weak coordination btw groups and Coop

OPPORTUNITIES

• Commercial seeds production (fertile land) and potential for mixed farming

• Scaling-up of Coop’ shop (supplies)• Linkages with financial institutions, NAFFCL• External aid (if well managed)• Improved education (opportunity for youth)

THREATHS

• Poor sanitation might compromise the development of other activities (agric.)

• Youth and male (seasonal) migration• Potential lack of ownership of collective goods

by community

LESSONS LEARNED

• Paid staff will improve the sustainability of the Cooperative• Investment on social assets (education) is important to livelihoods’ improvement• Unity and commitment are key ingredients for the success of any collective action• Integration and coordination btw groups and Coop’ is required for sustainability• Market promotion and diversification of livelihoods are the good combination for poor livelihoods

improvement • The Coop’ should be involved in different IGAs and not only as linkage btw farmers; in this sense,

the Coop’ could act as agent of change and development for the communityRECCOMENDATIONS

• Gender mainstreaming and women empowerment should be a continuous process: promote the inclusion of women also at managerial level of the Coop’

• Capacity building should be improved (community mobilization, integrated farming)• Carry out campaign for sanitation and hygiene• Establish an extension network at village level • Seek for alternative IGAs (e.g. biogas)• Improve education standards and infrastructure• Even if the businesses are run at individual level, the link with the market should pass through

the Coop’ • Improve access to market’s prices and design a concrete action plan with budget


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CONCLUSIONS

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE LEARNING ROUTEThe experiences reported testify the important achievements made so far to reduce poverty in Nepal’s rural areas, especially when targeting those social groups traditionally left aside from mainstream development processes, as the case of the Dalit, Janajati and the rural women. Today, these groups are at the core of public projects and their active involvement in Community Organizations and livelihoods activities has become a common denominator for development interventions. Although the differences and the diverse level of maturity of the experiences of the Learning Route (the still “green” and young Rayale, the grown-up case of Chitwan and the mature experience of Bijwa) it is possible to draw some general considerations.

The need for an integrated approach to development, demand led and community-based, that can stimulate self-driven initiatives for enhancing poor people’s livelihoods and increase level of ownership of community’s project by their actors. As these experiences have demonstrated, the generation of new income opportunities for poor rural people has been strongly linked with the creation of a fertile environment for the social integration of marginalized and stigmatized groups, the strengthening of women’s leadership role and the establishment of networks inside and outside the community’s borders. At the same time, the improvement of natural resources and environmental protection, groups’ mobilization through the establishment of saving and credit groups and Co-operatives, and the enhanced access to markets, created the condition for the diversification of livelihoods activities and their long-term sustainability in rural areas.

In this framework, the formation of Leasehold Forestry Users Groups has been recognized as one of the most successful practices to enhance environmental conservation while offering income-generating activities to farmers based on the sustainable management of forest resources. This has greatly transformed community livelihoods, including expanding their agriculture, forestry and livestock activities.

As following step, the strengthening of LFUGs and COs and their further linkage into Co-operatives have been crucial to facilitate the access of poor people to loans from groups’ saving funds. With loans from their own organizations, poor farmers have been able to invest in different economic activities, mostly in agri-business, at both individual level (as in the case of Rayale) and collective level (as in Bijwa). Before the creation of LFUGs and COs, rural farmers had mostly been selling their labour force to landlords or relay on middle men to sell their products to local markets, due to the limited possibility to increase their agriculture and livestock production.

The institutional development of the LFUGs as well as of the other COs has led to higher level of awareness, increased empowerment and greater commitment by their members. In many areas of the country, communities have progressively overcome the strong cultural perception of “untouchability”. As result of a deeper social inclusion, conflicts also reduced in the villages. The role of women in the process of formation and strengthening of COs, LFUGs and Co-operatives has been key; the diversification of livelihoods activities within the groups, some of them specifically targeting women, provided them with opportunities to contribute to the economic management at household level that


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in turn allow women to gain respect from their husbands. Trainings and capacity building furthered their financial literacy and managerial skills making women able to get higher positions and leadership roles within COs and Co-operatives. Increased self-confidence also stimulated women to link with different stakeholders outside their villages, getting further support to expand their businesses.

CURRENT CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIESDespite such remarkable achievements, some challenges still persist. These mainly revolve around the availability of human resources to manage and lead COs and the stable access to external markets.

In rural areas of Nepal, in fact, the access to market on a broader scale still present severe challenges for producers: the lack of infrastructure and the limited access to road (especially in mountainous regions), the scarcity of modern processing facilities (as for the dairy products), the difficulty to get up-to-date market information, are some of the main constraints farmers are facing. Furthermore, producers groups often lack of investment funds and seed capital for starting up new business activities and diversifying their production. This constraint might be partially overcome by strengthening the relation with reliable private partners eager to commit on a long-term base for the development of livelihoods activities with poor rural farmers. Indeed, this requires the establishment of a solid and trustful relationship between public institutions, development programmes, private sector and civil society organizations, which at the beginning is key to allow farmers’ groups to grow. In the case of the Pragatishil Agriculture Cooperative of Bijwa, the linkage with the Lumbini Seeds Company - thanks to the support provided by PAF and KSSC NGO – guarantees the purchase of bulks of seeds and cereals from farmers thus diminishing their risks in production. This kind of PPP should be envisaged at the very first stage of the design of programme’s activities with poor rural communities.

The limited financial literacy and managerial skills of community’s members also creates a barrier for the genuine rotation of leadership roles within groups and Co-operatives, which instead is crucial for the long-term sustainability of the organizations and their supported initiatives. This led to a low level of awareness about saving and credit mechanisms and, consequently, a limited potential for the expansion of economical opportunities. In this framework, knowledge transfer and skills enhancement, along with the creation of new income-generating activities in the villages, would be strategic to ensure the long-term sustainability of these experiences.

The participation of women and youth in community’s activities should be improved. At the moment, in fact, only few numbers of women and young people have the set of skills and competences necessary to run a Co-operative or to lead groups. The enhancement of women’s role, in villages where seasonal male migration is high, and the creation of employment opportunities for the youth are fundamental to sustain rural livelihoods on the long term. The introduction of new income-generating activities culturally accepted and suitable for women (e.g. goat farming or vegetable production) has been key to open up economic spaces for rural women, especially when these have been combined with timesaving technologies.


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The case of Shaktikhor is an example of a good combination of well-balanced activities: while the goat farming (managed by women) has been introduced, the establishment of biogas digesters at household level allowed women to save time they would have used to collect firewood in the forest; in this sense, the time left free from a not-economic activity (collection of timber for house use) has been replaced by a livelihood activity with high economic potential. With the revenues from the goats, women have now the possibility to expand their businesses.

Women’s involvement and active participation in livelihoods activities and within COs demonstrated to be strong especially at the beginning of the project; the introduction of “female quota” in the Co-operative and capacity building and training specifically targeting women have been recognized as successful strategies adopted by the projects to ensure female participation at a first stage. However, gender mainstreaming and the equal sharing of roles and responsibilities at household level should accompany all activities carried out with the community along the time.

SOME FINAL CONSIDERATIONSAs the experiences of the Learning Route contributed to evidence, the achievement of an integrated and community-based approach to rural development relies on the combination of some key factors, such as: a demand led strategy for the design of new livelihood activities at community level; the dialogue between socio-economic improvement and environmental sustainability; a gender-balanced share of responsibilities at household and village levels; a long-term partnership between key actors and stakeholders in the territory to facilitate poor farmers’ access to market and the development of new business activities; the enhancement of local capacities within COs and, the integration of the most vulnerable sectors of the society into collective activities.

In this framework, development projects provide the right space to experiment and taste innovative solution to fight rural poverty together with their main stakeholders, and they can become excellent vehicles for the dissemination of these good practices at broader level. In turn, to capitalise on field-tested successful practices and scaling-up of relevant knowledge and innovations becomes relevant to improve the efficiency of rural development projects themselves and to ensure that existing successful strategies might benefit a larger number of people. In this context, the LR methodology has demonstrated to be a suitable tool to enhance knowledge sharing, promoting a two -way learning process between the host rural communities and their guests.

Finally, when approaching adaptation and replication of new practices and innovations in the rural areas, it is important to consider this process not only as the integration of new techniques into a shared body of existing local knowledge and practices, but also as a process of change at social level. In this sense, it is important to take into account the “innovation” as a process that requires the interaction among actors that operates at different levels, or in different areas, and the changes that new practices or approaches might generate among these actors. Culturally adapted approaches and tools for knowledge management can offer a valuable support to strengthen people’s access to information and innovations and to facilitate the integration of new practices and knowledge.


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REFERENCES

Bharadwaj B., 2012, Roles of Cooperatives in Poverty Reduction: a Case of Nepal, Administration and Management Review, Volume 1, January 2012, Nepal

Bennet L., 2005, Gender, Caste and Ethnic Exclusion in Nepal, Following the policy process from analysis to action, the World Bankhttp://www.k4health.org/sites/default/files/Gender,%20caste%20and%20ethnic%20exclusion%20in%20Nepal.pdf

IFAD, 2012, Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme: Building an reliable and efficient system of monitoring and evaluation, M&E Report by B. Thierry and D. Da Silva Cabral

IFAD, 2013a, Rural Poverty in Nepal, Rural Poverty Portal http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/nepal

IFAD, 2013b, Nepal Country Strategic Opportunity Programme (COSOP) https://webapps.ifad.org/members/eb/109/docs/EB-2013-109-R-17.pdf

Mahato S., 2012, Co-operative Movements in Nepalhttp://www.slideshare.net/123account/co-operative-movements-in-nepal

Springate-Baginski O. et al., 2003, Community Forest Management in the Middle Hills of Nepal: The Changing Context, Journal of Forest and Livelihood 3(1) Julyhttp://nrsp.org/database/documents/869.pdf

The World Bank, 2012 Nepal Overview, http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nepal/overview

United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), 2013, Field Coordination Office Nepal, District Profile: Kapilvastu http://www.un.org.np/sites/default/files/kapilvastu_district_profile.pdf


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ANNEX I

LEARNING ROUTES’ PARTICIPANTSLEARNING ROUTE 3-11 APRIL 2013

PROJECT NAME POSITION ORGANIZATION

HVAP Suresh Thapa DADOGuruprasad Adhikari Agric. Extension Officer HVAPShanta Oli Agric. Technician Nari Ekta Agriculture

Coop’Sushila Kumari Thapa Magar

Farmer/President HVAP

Hari Prasad Gurung Gender Specialist HVAPBhim Kumari Oli Senior Agriculture Officer Kalika Goat Farming

GroupLFLP Tek B. Thapa Farmer/Member Coop member

Kabita Sapkota President Coop member, RayaleDal B. Magar Farmer/Member Coop member, ChitwanSarswoti Jargha Magar Farmer/Member Coop memberSantosh Mishra Farmer/Member LFLP

PAF Kumari Pabitra Nepali (Sarki)

Ranger Karmeshwor Coop Ltd

Hemraj Pokharel President IIDS PORamkumari Tharu Program Coordinator Shital Agriculture Coop’Sajata Khatun Farmer/President PAFMeena KC District Porfolio Manager Mahendrakot Coop’Maya Gupta Farmer/President PAFNiranjan Kumar Poudel Local Development Fund

WUPAP Basanti Bhandari District Sectrary WUPAPVhisma B.K Social Mobilization WUPAPChadani KC Senior Social Mobilization WUPAP (FG)Jay B. Oli Manager WUPAP (FG)Chanda Devi Singh Member Deura Gramin Mahila Bhoj Kumari Oli Coop’ Manager WUPAP

LR TEAM PROJECTS Sirish Pun Manager HVAPBinita Guragain Planning Officer LFLPKamlesh Yadav Planning Officer LFLPSanjya Kumar Jha M&E specialist PAFDhruba Regmi District Portfolio Manager WUPAP


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LEARNING ROUTE 3-11 APRIL 2013

PROJECT NAME POSITION ORGANIZATION

LR TEAM PROCASUR Lam Pham M&E specialist IFAD VietnamGiulia Pedone KM Vietnam

PROCASUR Cecilia Ruberto LR CoordinationKrishnaraj Khanal LR Coordination

Ram Chandra Gaire Focal Point Nepal


COUNTRY NAME POSITION ORGANIZATION

KENYA Faith Muthoni Livingstone Project Coordinator Upper Tana Catchment Natural Resource Management Project -UTaNRMP (IFAD)

Paul Njuguna Land and Environment Coordinator

NEPAL Anju Pathak Senior Manager Small Farmers Dev. BankJanak Siwakoti SFACL member SFACLMeena Porkhrel Programme Manager Sana Kisan Sahakari

Sangh(NACCF)

Ganesh Prasad Upadhaya

M&E and KM Specialist

Riikka Nieminen Field Specialist Rural Village Water Resources Management Project II (RVWRMP II)

Sunita Sharma Micro-Finance and Cooperative Officer

Padam Lal Bhandari Institutional Development Advisor HVAP

Govinda Porkhrel Agriculture OfficerSOMALIA Sulub Aman Deputy Programme

CoordinatorNorth-western Integrated Community Development Programme -NWICDP (IFAD)


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COUNTRY NAME POSITION ORGANIZATION

SRI LANKA Prathapasinghe Dharmasiri

National Programme Coordinator

PTCRRMP (IFAD)Bandara Basnayake Expert - Gender, Rural

FinanceMahinda Suwandaarachchi

Sub-Programme Manager SPMU

Smallholder Plantations Entrepreneurship Development Programme- SPEnDP (IFAD)

Amara Kuramagamage Marketing Specialist SPMU

Chandana Hewawasam Project Scientist COSTITHAILAND Suthamma Maneepitak Policy and Plan Analyst Ministry of Agriculture

(MOAC)Sangworn Prompao Policy and Plan AnalystLR TEAM PROJECTS Shila Ghyawali Assist. Forest Officer LFLP

Sanjay Kumar Jha Portfolio Manager PAFSajada Khatun Portfolio Manager PAFLalit Budha Magar WUPAP

LR TEAM PROCASUR Ariel Halpern Programme Coordinator

PROCASURGiulia Pedone LR CoordinatorKrishna Khanal Focal Point, NepalPichet Nanta Focal Point, ThailandRamchandra Gaihre InterpreterJorge Riquelme Filmmaker Video TeamDaniela Maldonado Anthropologist


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REPORT

ANNEX II

LEARNING ROUTES SCHEDULELEARNING ROUTE AGENDA

Kathmandu – Kavre – Chitwan – Kapilvastu Day Zero Whole day KTM Gathering of participants

Day One Moring KTM 08:30 - 12:00 Learning Route OpeningIntroduction Panel

Lunch KTM 12:00 - 13:30Afternoon KTM 13:30 - 17:00 Experience FairDinner KTM 19:00 Opening dinner

Day Two Moring KTM-Kavre 07:30 - 10:30 Travel to KavreKavre 10:30-11:30 Field Visit

Lunch 11:30- 12:30 Lunch with the communityAfternoon 13:00- 18:00 Field Visit Dinner 20:00 Dinner and accommodation with the

communityDay Three Moring Kavre 06:00- 06:30 Breakfast

07:00-11:00 Field Visit 12:00 Lunch with the community

Lunch Kavre- Chitwan

13:00 Departure from KavreAfternoon 13:00 - 18:00 Travel to ChitwanDinner 20:00 Night in Bharatapur

Day Four Moring Chitwan 08:30 - 12:00 Case Study Analysis and Introduction to Innovation Plans

Lunch 12:00 – 13:00Afternoon Shaktikhor 13:30- 17:00 Field visit – Introduction to the

communityDinner 20:00 Dinner and accommodation with the

communityDay Five Moring Shaktikhor 8:00- 12:00 Field visit

Lunch Bharatpur, Chitwan

12:00- 13:00 Lunch with the communityAfternoon 14:30- 17:30 Case Study AnalysisDinner 19:00 Night in Bharatpur

Day Six Moring Bharatpur, Chitwan

08:30 - 12:00 Working at the Innovation PlansLunch 12:00 - 13:30Afternoon Chitwan-

Lumbini13:30 - 17:30 Travel to Lumbini

Dinner Lumbini 19:00 Night in Lumbini


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REPORT

LEARNING ROUTE AGENDAKathmandu – Kavre – Chitwan – Kapilvastu

Day Zero Whole day KTM Gathering of participants Day Seven Moring Bijuwa,

Kapilvastu08:00 - 12:00 Field visit.

Lunch 12:00 - 13:30 Lunch with the communityAfternoon 13:30 - 17:00 Field visit Dinner 19:00 Lumbini

Day Eight Moring Lumbini 08:00 - 12:00 Case Study Analysis and working at the Innovation Plans

Lunch 12:00 - 13:00Afternoon 13:00 - 17:00 Free Time in Lumbini Dinner 19:00 Night in Lumbini

Day Nine Moring Lumbini 08:00 - 12:00 Working at the Innovation PlansLunch 12:00 - 13:00Afternoon 13:30 - 17:30 Presentation of the Innovation Plans

and Closing CeremonyDinner 19:00 Closure dinner Lumbini

Day Ten The whole day Lumbini Participant return to their places


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REPORT

ANNEX III

LIST OF INNOVATION PLANS

LEARNING ROUTE 3-11 APRIL 2013PROJECT /

ORGANIZATIONTITLE CONTENT

HVAP Commercial Goat Farming in Surkhet

Improvement of social and economical livelihoods of poor rural people (especially women and vulnerable groups) through the establishment of a goat farming.

Mushroom Farming for Income Generation in Surkhet

Establishment of collective mushroom farming for improving livelihoods of poor rural women.

LFLP Cooperative Poultry Farming in Kavre

Establishment of poultry faming activities within the Cooperative targeting women and the poorest.

Collective Vegetable Farming in Chitwan

Improved production of clean vegetables within the Cooperative.

Collective Mushroom Farming in Kavre

New income-generating activity within the Cooperative to benefit poor rural women.

PAF Cooperative Promotion Plan in Kapilvastu

Enhancing efficiency of 4 Cooperatives and competencies of their members by strengthening networking and knowledge transfer through peer-to-peer learning exchanges (LR)

WUPAP Women Empowerment through Commercial Goat Farming in Rolpa

Increasing incomes of women through the establishment of a collective goat farming

Seasonal and off-seasonal vegetable farming in Bajhang

Improve food security and income generation through collective vegetable farming targeting the poorest and women.


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REPORT

LEARNING ROUTE 13-21 SEPTEMBER 2013PROJECT /

ORGANIZATIONTITLE CONTENT

HVAP - NEPAL Strengthening the goat enterprises of rural farmers in Lekhparajul village in Surkhet

Promotion of goat enterprise for the improvement of livelihoods of poor women and marginalized groups.

NACCF, Small Far-mers Development Bank, Small Farmers Agro Cooperative Rupandhehi - NEPAL

Banana Farming and Utilization of its products

Diversification of banana’s products (fruit and waste) to improve small producers’ access to market through PPP

RVWRMP II - NEPAL Agri-based Livelihoods through Cooperatives

Strengthening of farmers’ groups into Cooperatives focusing on advanced level livelihood activities.

CEAPRED - NEPAL Intra-project learning route and leadership development

Reinforce some of the components of CEAPRED’s work for women empowerment and gender equity, testing a new methodology of self- analysis for women and strentgthening networks among women’s groups.

NWICDP - SOMALIA Establishment of a Milk Collection Centre

Establishment of a milk collection centre for facilitating women’s access to market

UTaNRMP KENYA Improved Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction through Poultry Farming for Gitaraga Self-Help-Groups

Implement a collective approach to market through the establishment of a poultry farming addressing poor women farmers.

SPEnDP – PTCRRMP SRI LANKA

Community Cooperative and Private Partnership Approach for Women Enterprise Development

To improve micro enterprises and ensure their success and sustainability by placing them under micro entrepreneurs cooperative, strengthening of product market network and input supply mechanism for cooperative network using value chain approach.

MOAC- THAILAND Mae Lavan Green Family Camp Enhancing inter-generational transfer of knowledge for sustainable NRM using CLC approach.

Women Empowerment, New Businesses and Sustainable Natural Resource

Management in Nepal

PROCASUR Learning Routes in Nepal 2013 REPORT

International Fund for Agricultural Development IFADPROCASUR Corporation

December 2013

women empowerment, new businesses and sustainable natural...

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