People’s Participation
A Working Approach

By Mukti Rijal

PARTICIPATORY approach has been exalted as a mantra in development Participation is touted as a means to achieve effective results both in development and governance. It is a vital element of political legitimacy and democratic credence. Participation has been considered as a necessary precondition in assigning legitimacy to development activities. Not only at the level of project identification, participation is said to be an important basis and need for monitoring and evaluation. Moreover, it is a must in creating ownership and thus lead to the self sustaining and self propelling development process.

Definition

Participation has been defined in different ways. Difinitions may vary with respect to how operational they are in terms of applicability and relevance in actual projects within social, cultural and political development contexts.

A UN agency has defined participation as the organised effort to increase control over resources and regulative institutions in given social situations on the part of groups or movements hitherto excluded from such control. This definition captures wider meaning of participation and stresses its empowerment, control and decision making aspects.

The World Bank’s Learning Group on Popular Participation defines popular participation as a process by which people, especially disadvantaged people, influence decision that affect them. The term popular refers not only to the absolute poor but also to a broader range of people who are disadvantaged in terms of wealth, education, ethnic group or gender structure. And participation connotes influence on development decisions. The term popular participation has been remodified as participatory development.

This has been explained as a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives, decisions and resources that affect them.

The term stakeholder is an oft-used term to denote the ultimate beneficiary or individuals, institutions having indirect interest in the project.

It has been found that participation can, in many circumstances, improve quality, effectiveness and sustainability of the development projects. It contributes to strengthening of ownership and commitment of government and stakeholders. Evaluations indicate that the participation increases benefits and lowers costs.

A World Bank analysis of rural water supply projects found that beneficiary participation was single most important factor in determining overall quality of implementation.

Participation has been a significant contributing factor to project effectiveness, maintenance of water systems, overall economic benefits, and percentage of the target population reached and environmental benefits. Participation also resulted in community members acquiring new water related and organisational skills and strengthened members acquiring new water related and organisational skills and strengthened community organisations that went on to undertake other development activities. There are other benefits of participation as evidenced in the World Bank findings.

An increased uptake of project services, decreased operational costs, an increased rate of return and increased incomes of primary produces are some of them.

Participatory development is thus highly beneficial and effective. It stands for dialogue and partnership among various actors. Development agenda is set jointly and collaboratively. Local views and indigenous knowledge are elaborately sought and respected. This implies negotiation rather than dominance of an externally set agenda. Participatory development transforms people into actors, not simply beneficiaries. It also implies the empowerment of people to make development sustainable.

At the backdrop of theoretical discussion on the benefits of participatory development, it would be useful look at how participatory process is applied in the Nepalese context. Participation has been community-based value in our context.

However, the indigenous community value of harmony, solidarity and mutual cooperation seems slowly going on the decline. But in many development functions initiated through community participation have been sustainable and also accruing benefits to the community. This is clear especially in case of schools and educational institutions. In almost all instances schools are the local initiations in the Nepalese village. But popular interest and participation wanes after the schools are taken over by the government. Locally initiated and managed schools sustain community interests and participation. Government aid and support is all right but onus of management should be retained and maintained at the community level.

Benefits

The local self-Governance act enacted and enforced in recent times provides for important institutional devices for local participation and development. Beneficiary participation has been promoted and user groups are organised as implementers of development projects. However, real benefits and advantages are yet to be properly evaluated. It is high time participatory development is made a real norm, not a ritual in our context so that both development and governance are responsive and self sustained.

The Chimes Of SLC Results

By PNK

CALL it the Iron gate or whatever you like yet the fact remains that getting through SLC exams is still a hurdle for most of the students who sit for it. Every year the same story gets repeated with no breakthrough in sight as far as the low pass percentage is taken into consideration.

Imagine a pass percentage of below fifty per cent in times when everything has advanced and you have to pinch yourself. When so much has taken place in the field of education and the government making ambitious plans for the country’s development and the education sector in particular the results are quite frustrating.

The so-called English boarding schools steal the show when it comes to counting the heads that have successfully scaled the SLC hurdle while the government schools come far behind. It would not have been disappointing had it not been for a majority of the students coming from government schools.

It might sound like a conundrum but the reality is not hidden from the general people. The quantity aspect has been fulfilled by the government schools despite the heavy rate of dropouts but when it comes to the quality aspect there is something amiss. A sense of responsibility to see that the students farewell in the SLC exams is missing though it remains a mere hope.

In exams no miracles take place. It is the sheer effort of a student that sees him/her through the exam. One doesn’t know whether there is much truth in the bullying tactics both influence aspect and money power have a role in shaping the results but doubts persist in the minds of the people especially because of such news being carried by a vernacular weekly.

The boarding schools have proliferated much in recent years. Maybe they offer better education but the financial burden is there to see for all whose children go to such private schools. Financial costs aside, the heavy backpack that the small children have to carry to school and back certainly troubles the parents. But these same schools have much say when it comes to the results.

It seems that seeing the effects of giving the schools free publicity at the cost of the SLC results the concerned authorities have once again done away
with the Top Ten system. Now one doesn’t know unless one is snoopy to find the overall results of any school except for the N0 1 slot in the boys and girls categories.

There may be some for whom removing the system of Top Ten is a matter of concern. In this group there may be schools who had benefited much from the traditional approach. The school’s name spelt magic on parents just because one of its student came out in the "board". There can be a heated debate on this particular decision. At present the results have been published without the top Ten item.

With over 200,000 students sitting for the exam, a pass percentage of about 46 per cent may not be quite encouraging yet it has to be accepted. The only solution lies in upgrading the quality of education provided by the govern-ment schools. If concrete steps are taken then in a few years time the pass percentage may well rise to 80 or over. If that is achieved then it will be great leap forward in the educational sector. Expectation with action in the direction is what is needed.