Participation In Governance
Real Or Pretence?

By Mukti Rijal

PARTICIPATION is a buzzword now. Governance, development, ideology- all derive their legitimacy and relevance from participation. Participation is often a very misused word and even the non-participative regimes and contexts tend to draw their sustenance from the notions relating to participation. The ideology of the constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 is primarily linked to participation. Its preambular premise draws life from participation and distinguishes itself from the previous constitutions because of the fact that it allows sufficient room for participation of people in the governance of the state. Political participation vested with the right to seek alternatives constitutes the basis of the multiparty democracy. It is in this context that multiparty democracy differs from the partyless or other kinds of authoritarian regimes.

Participation in development is highly in use these days and development designers and implementers owe their rationale and relevance to this notion. Participatory research tradition has become a dominant model these days because it combines social investigation, education work and action. Participatory researchers accord primacy to developmental changes stressing that common people improve their lives through equitable distribution of resources, self reliance and transforming social structures into more equitable societies. Participatory research demands participation of target groups in the control of entire process and regards all participants as researchers. Participation generally implies voluntary or other form of contributions by people to one or another of the public programmes supposed to contribute to development. Participation is also viewed and analysed in terms of empowerment of the people. Participation in this context is viewed as developing the skills and abilities to enable people to manage better and decide on aspects which they feel appropriate or suited to them. It is also defined as the organized efforts to increase control over resources and governing institutions in social situations on the part of groups and movements of those hitherto excluded from such control.

Development researchers have discussed the functions of participation in different ways. Some emphasise on instrumental function of participation while others stress that it has an important social function. Participation has political function as well. Those placing emphasis on political function define people’s power as capacity of the grassroot groups to articulate and systematise knowledge in such a way that they can become protagonists in advancement of their society and in defence of their own class and group interests. It is argued that the core function of political power is transformation of power structures and relationships as well as empowerment of the oppressed people. The political function of participation, according to participatory researchers, aims at three kinds of changes in the society. The changes are development of critical consciousness, improvement of life standards and transformation of fundamental societal structures and relationships.

Participation quite often becomes symbolic and nominal. It does not become real and effective. It is called passive participation. People are informed about predetermined events and activities and their responses and reactions are generally ignored or neglected. What is in deed needed is interactive participation that is people are involved in joint analysis, action plan development, formation and strengthening local institutions so that people have control over local decisions.

In Nepal participation in development has been emphasised and several approaches and techniques have been applied to ensure that people’s participation is in place. Development projects and schemes no matter who the implementor is seek to secure participation of the people especially with a view to warrant that the development process is socially embodied and relevant. Moreover, people’s participation is considered important for sustainable development. If the people own the process of development they have stakes to ensure that development sustains and contribute meaningfully for the same. However, the reality is different. In several stances, it is found that participation is a pretence and people are made to participate only to contribute labour, resources and material incentives. People are not really involved in learning process. Development activities have not been effective due to the fact that participation of the people is sought to serve external goals.

The important legal framework to guarantee people’s participation has been the Local Self Governance Act. The Act provides for participatory framework of governance at the local level. Moreover, it also institutes provisions for decentralised development process. Beneficiary groups are supposed to participate in designing development projects and implementing them accordingly. In few cases this has happened. However, in several cases,participation is just nominal and ritual. As participation is vital to democracy and decentralisation, people’s participation should be maximised so that they are enable as not only decision makers but also empowered to take charge of themselves.

Success Of Nepali Women Entrepreneurs

SABITRI Mainali of Jorpokhari, Paanchthar has clearly understood that a housewife who can earn some income by staying at home gains social prestige, decreases the family burden and acquires mental satisfaction. Sabitri is not only a housewife, she is also a social activist who believes that men and women should share equal responsibilities in the society. She also believes that women who are economically strong and have skills and capabilities to generate income are always respected and they gain a special prestige in the society.

Prabha Budathoki of Siuchatar Kathmandu is also of the same opinion and she has already generated a high income by acquiring skills to run a cottage industry. Sabitri has a small scale hot grams industry in Manamaiju, Nepaltar and Prabha produces soap in Siuchatar. Not only have they themselves profited from these industries, they have also contributed to the country and the society by providing employment to others. Sabitri has provided employment to many other girls in her industry and she has also opened a convention store for her husband. Both of these women have taught a new lesson to other girls who believe that women should only limit themselves to domestic chores.

Sabitri does not have to find a market for her product since retailers come to her shop to drop off merchandise and take her hot grams along with them. Therefore, she does not have to worry about getting goods for her shop and she does not need cash for them. She keeps herself busy from 4:00 in the morning till 11:00 at night. But, she is so satisfied with the progress of her industry that she never feels tired of working. She has also been able to spare time for social work. Her industry sells approximately 400 kgs of packed hot grams everyday.

There are many cottage and small industries which women can conduct at their homes. Small industries producing soap, candle, incense, instant noodles, tailoring, boutique, thanka, etc., can be established with little training. Ramila Lamichhane of Siuchatar believes that women who have the energy and strength in their hands do not have to remain unemployed. Her husband Binod Lamichhane helps her with her soap industry in the mornings and evenings.

Udaya Sharma of Cottage and Small Industry Training Center, Tripureswore has been a witness to how the bond among family members increases after a woman starts generating income. Udaya has been providing training to women for the last 20 years and she does not have a record of how many women she trained. But she derives satisfaction from the fact that many of those women she trained have become successful entrepreneurs. Thirty-two years before, she was married to a respectable Poudyal family in Tanahun but she still looks as if she is just thirty. She believes that she looks young because her job has been very self-satisfying since she shares her skills with the other people of her lot. Although she was married at a very tender age, she had an aim to acquire skills and to share it with others right from her childhood. She came to Kathmandu 29 years ago and participated in various training. She had the capability to effectively train others. She was always worried about the situation of women, which she had also faced, in the country. She was providing training even before she became a government employee. But after joining the government service she feels that she has been able to reach to more and more people. Udaya feels that Nepali women are economically downtrodden and dominated because they are forced to spend most of their time in unproductive work such as collecting wood, grass, etc., and they do not have any skills. Other women are also of the same opinion. Due to lack of skills and capabilities, they are always economically dependent. Women who have been able to acquire business skills and run a business gain prestige in the society and they are economically independent. They are able to share their happiness with the family as well.

Developing skills in small and cottage industries has gained more importance due to the deteriorating employment situation faced by the country. The investment in sophisticated technology and theoretical education is going to go waste because the country has not been able to establish big industries and the industries which were established earlier are gradually being closed down. This adverse situation has given rise to unemployment and poverty. In this situation, it is very important for women to gain business skills and to become economically self-dependent. Most of those women who had the courage to become business entrepreneurs have become successful.

There are many examples of women like Udaya Sharma who have been gaining and sharing skills on small industry and at the same time conducting household chores as well as generating income. There are others who have been successful in selling their products, creations and talents abroad to the larger community.

Successful women such as Mira Bhattarai – President of Handicraft Products Association, Rita Singh of Ama Impex, Aruna Shakya of Lumuna Need Craft have been able to export their products and generate foreign currency. Other popular women who have been able to provide employment to many and who pay high taxes to the government are Indira Sapkota of Cottage Industries, Sulochana Shah of Trading for Development and Rita Bhandari of Trading Craft. Other courageous women are Padmasana Shakya of Manushi Art and Craft, Meena Karki of New Himalayan Sky Export and Laxmi Sharma of Laxmi Woodcraft.

Nara Kumari Karki of Baneswore is a unique example of courage and determination. Although she has already lost both her legs, she has been able to establish a cloth industry. The name of her industry is Makura Textile and she has set an example of hiring handicapped people as employees.

Ray Of Hope For The Blind

By John McConnico

THOUGH blind since birth, 11-year-old Deepak Shambhu Chaitya scampers unaided down three flights of winding stairs to pick up a well-worn flute from his room.

Moments later, he appears at the center of a rousing musical performance with his classmates singing at the top of their lungs and swaying to the beat of tabla drums. Their faces are drawn to the intense morning light pouring in through broken windows.

Chaitya and 30 or so schoolmates then bound down the stairs, hand in hand, to the school yard. Though they are blind, none hesitates.

"They know every nook and corner of this school and don’t need to be escorted around," Sister Vandana, a teacher at Jyoti Niketan, says with a laugh.

For Chaitya and his schoolmates, there is now hope for what they will accomplish as adults, after spending much of their childhood confined to village homes where parents who work in the fields didn’t know what to do with them.

"I want to be a musician!" Chaitya blurts out when he is asked what he will be when he grows up.

Anything related to music appears to be the first choice of the students of Jyoti Niketan, a school for blind children up to age 15. It is run by the Venerini sisters, Christian missionaries, on the outskirts of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state in India’s remote northeast.

"All of them belong to very poor families. There are no schools for the blind in villages and their parents can’t afford to send them to towns or cities to study," Sister Vandana says.

The Venerini sisters run several schools for the blind in India, mainly to help poor families who can’t afford education. The children study science, math, English, Braille and local languages. The emphasis, however, is on music and developing the sense of touch to make them more comfortable in a world they can only feel, smell and hear.

Under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed in November 1989, blind and disabled children are entitled to the same education as other children. Indian lawmakers are debating a bill in Parliament that would make education a fundamental right of every child.

According to the Blind Foundation for India, there are more than 2 million blind children in India. Only 5 per cent receive an education.

Small non-governmental agencies and privately financed schools are doing what they can to overcome that.

"Our schools are well known," Sister Vandana says proudly. "Poor parents write to us about their children and we go and pick them up."

Each day a sister walks to the school down narrow alleys in the company of several blind children. Rather than the sister leading the way, however, it is often the excited students who run ahead, urging her to hurry up so they will not be late.

(AP)