Village Development Programme
A Breakthrough In Rural Livelihood

By Jhabindra Bhandari

OVER the past decades, the development efforts of national and international community towards poverty alleviation have gained an important priority particularly in the least developing countries of the world. As a matter of fact a significant portion of the total population still lives under extreme poverty. And the indicators of human development present a gloomy picture. That is why, the global challenge of poverty alleviation in the poor least developed countries of the world is still growing.

After the restoration of democracy in 1990, there has been a significant growth of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country. With the social goal of improving the lives of majority of rural poor and disadvantaged people, the integrated community development programmes that have been launched from the government and NGO sectors have been a landmark to contribute significantly to alleviating poverty.

In a country like ours where majority of the population lives in rural areas and depend heavily on subsistence farming, the rural development strategy should give high priority to agriculture development. By enhancing agricultural productivity, there is maximum likelihood of raising socio-economic status of majority of small farmers. It is a matter of fact that the rural livelihoods will not improve unless integrated community development programmes are launched effectively in remote parts of the country.

Even though, agriculture development is a much emphasised agenda in the national economy, there has not been a remarkable progress in the agriculture sector. As there are still problems of marketing, the poor small farmers are yet to benefit much from their agricultural production. There are still crucial needs to introduce new farming methods and techniques to raise agricultural productivity and hence economic growth.

For years, it has been constantly observed that the community development efforts are largely focussing on need based development approach where people's participation and choices are key elements. However, the impact is still minimal. So, participatory approach in development planning is gaining wider application in order to respond local needs and priorities. More importantly, there is less likelihood of sustainability of the development programmes unless local people's participation is ensured for ownership.

As the rural sociology demands crucial needs of community development interventions, the emphasis should be mainly placed on education, primary health care, skill based vocational training, rural infrastructure, communication, new farming methods and income generation activities with active participation of community based organisations.

Undoubtedly, the initiatives of rural development banks, micro-credit for rural women and small farmers development programmes launched so far have been very effective in the fight against rural poverty. The joint effort has, of course, been a breakthrough in rural livelihood.

In a world of gender inequality, there are great concerns of gender discrimination in all aspects of social life. Thus, women's equal access to and control over resources in the families and communities have been a crucial factor for sustainable socio-economic development. The gender and development approach is therefore an emerging priority while formulating development policies and plans at micro and macro level.

As there is poor mobility of women as compared to men, the status of rural livelihoods of women is relatively lower in the society. Therefore, there is an urgent need of community development efforts that offer equal rights and opportunity to raise women's status in the families and communities. The emphasis should be given for education and economic opportunities to women for sustained economic growth.

Even though the community development efforts have been targeted to improve the livelihoods of majority of the poor, marginalised and underprivileged population, the progress is minimal yet. The strategies of reaching these populations should be a matter of grave concern in various community development programmes. In this regards, there are many challenges ahead to strengthen the institutional capacity of community-based organisations and local NGOs.

Nowadays, it is of central importance that the social mobilisation is gaining wider strategy for poverty alleviation. In this regards, participatory approach in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of community development efforts is crucial for continuity and sustainability. Furtheremore, active participation of people in any development programmes promotes local recognition and ownership.

The integrated community development programmes are particularly focusing on a wide range of activities. Most common are income generation, savings and credit, rural water supply and sanitation, literacy, primary health care, agro-forestry, rural energy development, rural infrastructure and skill based vocational training to youths and women to improve the rural livelihoods.

There has been enormous progress in the village development programmes initiated so far. The community based organisations are showing keen interest to identify people's real needs and priorities. Participation of women in savings and credits, small scale schemes like poultry farming and vegetable farming have been instrumental in raising their socio-economic status - thereby making them self-reliant. In some communities, the women's groups have been so successful in raising social awareness of various development issues that have positive effects on the rural livelihoods.

The Local Self - Governance Act has offered an ample opportunity of experiencing decentralised local governance. The growing concern of local development rests heavily on the fact the development plans should respond to local needs and priorities. The coordinated efforts of government and NGOs should have a core strategy to empower rural poor to foster their choices and determinations.

Decentralisation is key to good governance. In the present context, the Village Development Committees (VDCs) and District Development Committees (DDCs) are therefore key actors of development at local level. However, there are emerging needs of institutional capacity building activities so that there actors can exercise their authority and responsibility effectively. For village planning, the DDCs should facilitate the VDCs in planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of local development schemes in participatory and gender sensitive approach.

After all, the challenge of development is a matter of global concern worldwide. Rapid population growth is causing problem not only in food security and poverty but also in sustainable use of natural resources. As poverty alleviation is one of the key challenges of 21st century that the poor developing countries are facing, there are visible rays of hope that integrated community development programmes can contribute significantly to alleviate poverty for sustainable human development.

RANDOM NOTES
The Importance Of Letting Know

By Bijay Aryal

IN the past two weeks or so, some things have become clear in information flow. For whatever reasons the obstruction may have occurred, a smooth flow of information is necessary to nip in the bud any rumours, many of them being falsehoods or half-truths. When the flow of information through proper channels is disrupted, the media tend to tap many sources, all of them not authentic. In reporting the information thus received, there may be false reports even without intending to do so. After all, the media cannot put the earth-shaking events off the air or off their pages.

So, under such circumstances, even with the best intentions errors are likely to pop up in reporting. And if any section of the media wanted to distort the news, they could easily do so. The general people are dying to get to know the full truth about any earth-shaking events that interest them. And, in such a situation, if you cannot rise to the occasion and provide truths as often as are needed, then they would try to get the information from their own sources. And, here, the rumour mills naturally do overtime work. Rumours spread like wildfire, especially when there is no source of credible information.

Rumours can be more unpleasant for the people who, for various reasons, may have thought that they should not shock the public with unpleasant truths.

There has been a spate of complaints against the foreign media regarding the coverage of the tragic events of June 1. Why just blame the foreign media? Back home, look at the pages of our own newspapers, and look at the many different versions of the same news. It is another matter that, in some cases, vested interests could play a role in the coverage of news by the media. To weaken these forces, too, timely and correct information should flow smoothly. And, even without this need, the people’s right to know is paramount.

Transparency

The importance of transparency has been felt by many in the past few days, probably even by those who were not so enthusiastic about it till just the other day. Without things being transparent in any case, even the belated truths would not have the same force as it would have been if truths had been revealed in time and in a transparent manner. It applies to all areas of information.

Our leaders have been shouting hoarse over the need for transparency in almost all matters. They have been giving lectures to the people on the subject so that even a layman now knows that transparency in public matters is a good thing, and that every official and leader should make themselves transparent.

Media Allegation

The Nepalese media have made an allegation that the Nepalese officials showed their bias for the foreign press in giving information about the very recent tragic events. Pushkar Lal Shrestha, the editor and publisher of the Nepal Samacharpatra, a vernacular daily, has written, for example, that our officials who were so open with the foreign media were far less so with the Nepalese press. Why is this so? He asks. He gave the example of the Nepalese journos having to sit in front of their computer sets and to jot down information from the web-sites of the foreign media to report even the events that had taken place in Nepal.

It would be advisable for our officials to take this seriously so that they would be spared this the next time.