Community Envisioning Report of 10 Communities from Combatants to Peacemakers Program

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2017 Community Envisioning Report of 10 communities From Combatants to Peacemakers Program

Submitted to THE DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE OFFICE THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID) MISSION Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal

Submitted by Pro Public Linkamarga, Kuleswore, Kathmandu P.O. Box: 14307 Telephone: +977-01-4283469 Email: [email protected]

Disclaimer: All these activities were made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Pro Public and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Abbreviations

CBO Community Based Organization CDO Chief District Officer C2P Combatants to Peacemakers CPN Communist Party of Nepal CSO Civil Society Organization DDC District Development Committee DE Dalit and Ethnic Communities DF Dialogue facilitation ECs Ex-Combatants FGD Focus Group Discussion GESI Gender and Social Inclusion GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft Für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH KII Key Informant Interview LDO Local Development Office LPC Local Peace Committee NC Nepali Congress NPTF Nepal Peace Trust Fund PLA People Liberation Army Pro Public Forum for the Protection of Public Interest SDG Social Dialogue Group SM Social Mobilizer STPP Strengthening the Peace Process UCPN United Communist Party of Nepal UML United Marxist Leninist UNDP United Nations Development Program USAID United States Agency for International Development VDC Village Development Committee WCF Ward Citizen Forum

Acknowledgement

This report briefly summarizes the activity report of community envisioning organized by Pro Public under the 'Combatants to Peacemakers' Program supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), during the period of USAID's CMM commitment to, and Pro Public's involvement in, the promotion of social harmony and peace in the communities absorbing ex-combatants in Nepal. The project would not have been possible without moral and material support of several organizations and people whom we would like to thank. Pro Public would like to express its gratitude to Democracy & Governance Specialists Ms. Amanda Cats-Baril and Ms. Sumitra Manandhar from Democracy and Governance Office, USAID for their unwavering support to make community envisioning workshop possible. Pro Public extends its sincere thanks to organizations and individuals, who helped in the organization of community envisioning in communities' an advisory committee members from 10 communities for their active participation in workshop.

With great acknowledgement, Pro Public appreciates the support of Executive Officers of municipalities, Secretaries of Village Development Committees (VDCs) and Conveners of Local Peace Committees (LPCs) from 10 project communities for their excellent support and cooperation for workshop. All the individuals participated from aforementioned organizations deserve the high respect and great gratitude for their continued support and warm coordination for the program. Pro Public would also like to express special thanks to Dialogue Facilitators and Mediators and SDG members from 10 communities for their preparatory works. On behalf of Pro Public, Sr. project staff were active to coordinate and backstop the events namely Mr. Babu Ram Poudel, Program Manager; Mr. Chiranjibi Bhandari, Training Coordinator; Mr. Prem Bahadur B.K., Program Officer and Ms. Mamata Shah were mobilized in different communities with close backstopping and guidance from the project’s Team Leader Sr. Advocate Mr. Prakash Mani Sharma. Pro Public values the contribution of Ms. Jagat Sharma, Finance Officer for facilitating all the financial aspects of the community envisioning workshop. Also, it was not possible to accomplish all these activities without administrative and logistic support of Mr. Madan Maharjan, Office Assistant in Kathmandu Office.

Table of Contents

Content Page Abbreviations Acknowledgement Table of Contents Executive Summary 1. Background and Objective of the program 1 2. Process of Organizing Community Envisioning Workshop 1 3. Dates and Locations of Community Envisioning Workshops 3 4. Participation in Community Envisioning Workshops 3 5. SWOT Analysis in 10 Communities 5 6. Community Development Plans 9 7. Challenges 13 8. Success and Lesson Learnt 14 9. Conclusion 15 List of Annexes Annex-I: Sex Ratio Annex-II: Age Ratio Annex-III: Caste and Ethnicity Ratio Annex-IV: Monitoring and Coordination Committees Annex – V: Selected Photographs Annex – VI: Registration Annex- VII: Sample letter sent to the Government bodies (at community and district level) requesting for addressing the plan made by the community envisioning

Executive Summary

As listed in the milestone of Combatants to Peacemakers (C2P) project, 10 communities envisioning a social interactive process designed to help define community’s development aspiration and to develop a mental picture of the state to be achieved (visualizing), workshops were organized in between the period of. The purpose of community envisioning is to motivate action to achieve success. It is a necessary tool for communities. The workshop was designed to envision the plan for the next five years of respective communities in the presence of the representatives of municipality, LPCs, leaders of political parties, intellectuals, members of Social Dialogue Groups (SDGs), representatives from NGOs/CBOs, media, academia, ward citizen forum and other different groups like mother, community forest and so forth.

Altogether 516 individuals from 10 communities attended the workshops in the respective communities where they analyzed the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the communities, aka conducted a SWOT analysis. Mostly as the strength of the communities participants shared that accessibility of road, political collaboration and culture of consensus, natural resources as well as infrastructures in education and health facilities. Likewise, lack of skilled human resources and lack of opportunity for job and skill development were considered as weakness. Potential for tourism development and possibility of infrastructure development were considered as opportunities in almost all communities. Open border, youth leaving country for foreign employment, general unemployment and illiteracy were considered as threats in all communities.

Based on the SWOT analysis, the participants then developed five-year plans for their communities, referencing previous plans made by the SDGs. Primarily, physical infrastructures, social awareness program, youth mobilization as well as activities related social harmony and peace in communities were prioritized in the plans. In general, the community envisioning workshop was considered as a unique component of the project that allowed participants to gain hands on experience with participatory decision making processes. 1. Background and Objectives of the Program

C2P intends to promote social harmony and peace in 16 communities absorbing Maoist ex- combatants through a people-to-people (P2P) approach by using both preventive (i.e. trainings, SDGs meetings, peace events, psychosocial counseling) and curative (i.e. mediation) strategies of conflict management and mitigation. Out of 22 milestones listed in the project document, milestone (B4), Community Envisioning Workshop (10 in total – one each in new six communities, and four old communities from GIZ/STPP).

2. Process of Organizing Community Envisioning Workshop

In order to facilitate the community envisioning workshop, preparatory work was done by the DFs and project team. In order to invite the participants, a formal invitation letter was circulated in advance to the selected participants (around 40 participants in each community). on the program day, the first task was registration of the participants by DFs. Following this, all the guests and participants were invited to take their respective seats in the program. On behalf of Pro Public, a DF from each community delivered welcome speech to the participants along with brief background description of C2P project and objective of the program was highlighted by project team. Following the overview, participants primarily raised different introductory question, like: what is community envisioning exercise? Why it is important for community development? What is the process of doing this exercise? Who would be responsible to carry out these plans?

After the introduction, a representative from each of the SDGs was requested to summarize the main issues and plan of seven rounds of meeting in the group that were done. As the fifth rounds of the dialogue exercise completed with the SDGs was community envisioning- aiming to identify the community problem at their own locality and plan to address them in a collaborative way—each DF shared the plans that came out of their individual SDG. This sharing was really supportive for clarifying to the participants what they were going to do and in setting priorities for the community. After all the points were shared by the DFs, project team facilitated a community envisioning workshop.

In this exercise, all the participants were requested to close their eyes and go through an imaginary journey as meditation. This imaginary journey was around 20-25 minutes. During that time participants were requested to follow the guidance of a facilitator, who was guiding the participants for the journey. In the beginning the participants were requested to close the eyes, take deep breath and feel the different parts of the bodies, i.e., foots, legs, stomach, chest, arms, neck, head so forth turn by turn to make them relax first. After that they were requested to think about their community and remember the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Following the same, they were requested to reflect on the next five years and what they want to see in their community, for example quality education, good transportation system, efficient health facilities, pure drinking water, expansion of the

1 electricity, sanitation, social awareness and so forth. Completing this process, the participants were requested to open the eyes and note down one to two points in all four categories, i.e., strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats on different colored Meta cards as part of a SWOT analysis. Different color Meta cards were used for each aspect of the analysis— strength, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. The points collected from all the participants based on the SWOT analysis were read aloud by the facilitator.

After the points were shared with the participants in plenary session, participants were divided into four groups for a group exercise to prepare five-years plans for their communities. The timing for the group exercise was 45 minutes, during that time participants first noted down some of the plans in their notebooks and then shared with fellow participants in a small team. After consent collected from the teams, each group summarized 4-5 major plans as top most priority of this group. The findings of group work were presented in plenary turn-by-turn. After listening to all the presentations, the discussion was made among the participants for prioritizing the important 3-4 major issues for the specific communities. The participants were asked which is the most important and based on their emphasis on the responses, the issues were selected and plans were made. These plans will be shared with the concerned local bodies, LPCs, Advisory Committees, newly elected local representatives in the project communities and District Coordination Committees, District Public Health Offices, District Electricity Office, District Irrigation Office and so forth in district headquarter. Similarly to the concerned authorities in center, i.e., National Planning Commission, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, Ministry of Federal Affair and Local Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Forest, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, the plans are already shared. A committee has been formed, comprising the representatives from political parties, ward citizen forum, civil society organizations, media, academia, ex-combatants and so forth, in each community to lobby for implementation of these plans at the local level. As the members of the committee are all from the same community they will be following regularly for addressing the issues that are included in the plan. In the center level, the members are encouraged to come and meet to the authorities in some of the major issues and Pro Public will circulate the follow up correspondences as reminder and to inform to the new officials as they are changed time to time. DFs are also working very closely with the local authorities and elected representatives in one way or another they will be making follow up. At the end of the program, guests and representatives from C2P’s advisory committees, local peace committees, local government bodies and political parties made their speech in line with their commitments to prioritize the plans discussed by ex-combatants and community people throughout the community envisioning workshop. Furthermore, they requested Pro Public to lobby these plans with the National Planning Commission (NPC) and concerned

2 ministries at the national level and requested local bodies to put forward these plans in District Development Committee and other government agencies at district level as well.

3. Dates and Locations of Community Envisioning Workshops

In accordance with milestone B4 mentioned in the project document a, total of 10 workshops were organized in the period of January to February 2017. Ms. Amanda Cats-Baril, Democracy and Governance Specialist for USAID and AOR for C2P attended the community envisioning in Piprapanchim/Saptari, Kohalpur/Banke & Lamkichuha/Kailali. The details of the community envisioning workshops are as follows:

S. N. Community Envisioning Community

1. January 4, 2017 Ghodaghodi Municipality, Kailali

2. January 8, 2017 Birendranagar Municipality, Surkhet

3. January 23, 2017 Masuria Village Development Committee, Kailali

4. February 9, 2017 Kohalpur Municipality, Banke

5. February 10, 2017 LamkiChuha Municipality, Kailali

6. February 13, 2017 Kalika Municipality, Chitwan

7. February 16, 2017 Rankachuli and NayaBelhani cluster, Nawalparashi

8. February 17, 2017 Purandhara Village Development Committee, Dang

9. March 6, 2017 Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City, Sunsari

10. May 26, 2017 Pipra Paschim Village Development Committee, Saptari

4. Participation in Community Envisioning Workshops

Overall, 516 individuals participated in the community envisioning workshops. Out of that 46% (239) were male and 54% (277) were female. Detailed sex disaggregated data on participation is included in Annex-I.

Sex Ratio

46% 54% Male Female

Likewise, in terms of age the percentage of the participation is as follows. Detailed age disaggregated data on participation is included in Annex-II.

Age

15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40+ 1% 10% 17% 23%

23% 26%

Regarding caste and ethnicity, significant numbers of individuals were Brahmin/Chhetri as they are in the majority in the communities. A percentage breakdown of participation by ethnicity is presented in the following table. To ensure participation of marginalized communities, especially Dalit and ethnic communities, priority was given to invite them based on their availability in the specific organizations/groups and also they were intensively followed up with. Thus, Pro Public has been able to ensure total 48% participation from Dalit and Ethnic groups overall. The participation of the Madheshi and Muslim community is less even the most of the project communities are in the Terai region as the Muslim and Madheshi population in the particular project communities is rare. As such, proportional representation is actually in line with community demographics. Detailed caste and ethnicity disaggregated data on participation is included in Annex-III.

Caste/Ethnicity

Bra/Chhetri Dalit Ethnic Newar Muslim Madhesi other

1% 0%1% 3% 30% 47% 18%

5. SWOT Analysis in 10 Communities

In order to create common understanding in social and other development issues, participants conducted a group exercise and analyzed the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of their respective communities in the presence of a wide range of stakeholders, i.e. political parties, local government body and other concerned stakeholders. The communities’ SWOT analyses are summarized briefly as follows:

Community Strength Weakness Opportunities Threat (challenges) Dharan,  Plain and fertile  Political instability  Possibility of  Lack of Sunsari land  Lack of making Dharan natural and  Transportation representation of as peace and human facilities- concerned prosperous place resources for availability of stakeholders in of eastern region development means of decision making  City of Retired  Explosion of transportation process. British ex- population- for within and  Lack of technology Gurkhas rapid outside in agriculture and  Possibility for urbanization  Increase in education academic and and migration political  Lack of trained business hub  Youth leaving awareness and manpower in job  Centre for trade, country for social harmony market. tourism and foreign among diverse  Political instability education employment social and  Not sufficient health  Lack of cultural groups ( facilities technology in Ethnic and non-  Use of alcohol and agriculture ethnic groups) family disputes  Substance  Hopeful for  Discrimination in abuse future caste, sex and   Rapid religion urbanization

Paschim  Adequate level  Drug addiction  Potential for for  Risk of flood. Pipra, Saptari of physical  Lack of black agricultural  Unemployme infrastructure in topped road/ products nt, health and other  Public land  Poultry farming,  Lack of offices. encroachment ,  Animal enough

 Connectivity  husbandry, awareness, with road  Lack of  Scope of timber  Unhealthy  Access to infrastructures; like industries, politics, education and bridge  Skill  Lack of health services.  Lack of pure development , efficient  Dense forest drinking water,  Vegetable human  Access to  Problem of child farming, resources communication , marriage,  Tourism  Not enough  Awareness on  Lack of economic promotion, resources social issues resources,  Herb production  Sense of  Child friendly  Lack of irrigation, and processing injustice governance  Lack of quality  Unstable health facilities politics and  education unhealthy completion among the political parties for position

 Lack of basic needs and not efficient human resources in job market,  Youth migration and brain drain Kalika,  Plain and fertile  Political instability  Possibility for  A place of Chitwan land and less trust towards economic growth migrated land-  Transportation political parties through mixed facilities—  Lack of agricultural communities within and representation of activities and land outside the women and  Possibility for job encroachment community. marginalized creation. and people's Connectivity communities in  Opportunities for settlement in with east west participatory Employment unregistered highway decision making  Opportunities for land  Common process touristic activities  Politicization understanding  Very less use of of social and and increase in technology in other political education and job institution awareness market.  Risk in social  Positive  Not enough human cohesion expectation of resources for  Brain drain people for for agricultural and other change industrial work.  Development of infrastructure and good price of land in community

Rankachuli  Plain and fertile  Political instability  Possibility for  Risk of and land  Lack of technology expansion of landslide and Nayabelhani,  Transportation in agriculture economic flood Nawalparashi facilities—  resources  Brain drain of connectivity  Lack of  Human resources youth and within and infrastructure for & skilled migration of outside the education, health and manpower unskilled communities other facilities  Possibility of person  Strong sense of  Lack of irrigation, expansion solidarity among electricity technology youth and  Lack of public women places  Expectation of  Lack of bridges people for change .

Purandhara,  Enough forest  Lack of health  Potential of  Geographical Dang  Pleasant weather related education in animal husbandry situation  Naturally higher studies  Agricultural  Lack of beautiful and  Problem of drinking profession employment fertile land water,  Tourism  Unstable  Transportation,  Lack of promotion politics  Animal infrastructure  Establishment of  Lack of Husbandry,  Traditional thoughts Industries human  Agriculture  Unhealthy politics  Fish farming resources production,  uncooperative  Skilled Training  Lack of  Social harmony feelings  Play grounds capital and awareness  Untapped resources investment in among the  Not utilization of education people on social agriculture land (Government issues  Lack of playgrounds Vs. private)  Lack of trainings for agriculture and animal husbandry

Kohalpur,  Fertile land,  Unhealthy politics  Tourism  Lack of Banke Transportation  Addiction promotion efficient  Well managed  Unmanaged garbage  Agriculture human city  Unmanaged production and resource  Facility of settlement market  Lack of communication  Lack of irrigation  Establishment of economic  Peace and  Attack from forest domestic  Lack of social reconciliation animal industries integration  Facility of  Less proportional  Business,  Unhealthy electricity participation Animal politics  Good  Less participation of husbandry  Unstable management of women  Fish farming politics health and  Psychosocial  Poultry farming  Weak education problem leadership  Industrial zone  High use of alcohol  Lack of  Commercial  Gender based scientific plan center

awareness violence  Lack of economic Opportunities  Traditional thoughts Birendranaga  Good  Alcoholic, playing  Tourism  Lack of r, Surkhet environment card promotion coordination  Tourism places  Drain of youths  Establishment of among the  Transportation  Lack of scientific industries political facility agricultural system  Vegetable parties  Resources for  No caring for farming  Lack of animal children  Animal inclusion in husbandry  Not proper husbandry development  Development of utilization of youth  Fish Farming  Less industries resources  Establishment of accountability  Social harmony  Not utilization of technical school.  Economic  Good awareness, tourism places problem Developmental  Maximum use of  Traditional thoughts natural resources thoughts  Modern  Unhealthy politics  Unstable agriculture  Lack of resources politics  Commercial for development plan  Less Center  Lack of efficient awareness  Availability of human resources,  Individual airport Cast system selfness  Availability of  Lack of electricity in  Lack of schools/colleges some of the efficient  Comparatively community human good physical resources infrastructure  Misused of resources  River cutting, Less public participation  Plating of the land. Lamki  Transportation  Waste management  Possibility of  Brain drain Chuha, facility—  Lack of political touristic activities and youth Kailali municipality is collaboration  Possibility of migration linked with east  Lack of strong market expansion  Open broader west highway leadership  Possibility of with India and  Strong sense of  Illiteracy making hub for high risk of solidary among  Lack of awareness education and criminal the people in program industry activities community  Gateway of far  Flood development west region and  Lack of activities door to Kailali resources and district strong leadership  Illiteracy among marginalized groups, women and disadvantage

group Ghodaghodi,  Touristic  Alcoholic behavior,  Tourism  Lack of Kailali destination  Drain of youths promotion coordination  Rich in terms for  Lack of scientific  Establishment of among the Natural agricultural system industries political resources  Not proper  Vegetable parties  Accessibility i.e. utilization of youth farming  Lack of east west resources  Animal inclusion in highway  Not utilization of husbandry development  Access in tourism places  Fish Farming  Less communication  Maximum use of  Establishment of accountability  Declared as natural resources technical school  Economic municipality  Unhealthy politics, problem  Active social Lack of resources for  Traditional organizations development plan thoughts  Enough  Lack of efficient  Unstable educational human resources politics institutions,  Untouchability  Less Fertile land  Lack of electricity in awareness  Community some of the  Individual forestry, community selfness  Implementation  Lack of scientific  Lack of of Mediation for plan efficient dispute  Lack of integration human resolution  Not enough drinking resources water  Resource misuse  Soil erosion in river bank Masuriya,  Plain and fertile  Political instability  Possibility of job  Shortage of Kailali land  Lack of creation for youth economic  Transportation representation  Significant resources in facilities  Insufficient contribution nearby areas  Increase in technology in through  Lack of political education remittance Skilled awareness  Lack of Human  Increase in manpower and  Expectation of Resources for skilled globalization high rate of change jobs.  Positive dropped out in  Increment in  Political instability aspiration of job. urbanization  Lack of skillful people towards  Inaccessibility training peace and of modern development technology  Possibility of  Politicization Foreign of social employment fabric 6. Community Development Plans

Based on the discussion and presentation of the SWOT analysis by all the groups (four groups per community), three or four plans were selected as priorities by community people. Mainly development and social concerns were prioritized. These priorities were solidified in the Community Development Plans, which are summarized below. This plan is not for Pro Public to implement directly but rather for inclusion in the regular planning of the

Government. Pro Public will work to ensure that these plans are addressed in the Government planning process and will support lobbying as needed.

S. N. Name of Plans Completion Responsible Agencies Community Date

1 Dharan, Ensuring pure drinking water 2021 District Drinking Water Sunsari to all Committee, District Development Dommittee, Dharan Municipality

2 Ring road in Dharan Bazar 2022 District Road Division, District Development Committee, Municipality 3 Awareness activities for drug 2019 Social Organization, District control Coordination Committee

4 Technological education 2020 Ministry of Education , CTEVT, District Education Office, sub- Metropolitan city

1 Pipra Awareness focused 2022 District Development Committee, Paschim education on gender equality Municipality Saptari and child rights 2 Construction of Dam for 2019 Ministry of Irrigation, District irrigation in Pipra Paschim Irrigation Office, Municipality area 3 Awareness against dowry Regular Municipality, Women custom in Terai Development Office, District Development Committee, District Administration Office, Civil Society Organization 4 Black topped road and 2022 Municipality, District construction of bridges Development Committee, Department of Road 1 Kalika, Ensuring drinking water to 2021 District drinking Water Chitwan all Committee, DDC, Kalika Municipality 2 Plantation in community and 2019 District Forest Office, Kalika protection of community Municipality forest 3 Promotion of touristic 2021 Nepal Government Tourism activities Ministry, Tourism board, Kalika Municipality 4 Initiation of technological 2021 Ministry of Education, CTEVT, education District Education Office, Kalika Municipality 1 Nawalparashi Drinking water 2021 District Drinking Water Division (Jyaltungdanda and Office, District Development Kawashoti area) Committee, , Nayabelani and Rakachuli VDC

2 Bridge (Rankachuli -8) 2021 Ministry of Local Development ,

District Road Division office, DDC, Rakachuli and Nayabelani VDC 3 Road maintenance and 2021 Ministry of Local Development , quality enhancement District Road Division office, DDC, Rakachuli and Nayabelani VDC 4 Technical education 2021 Ministry of Education, CTEVT, District Education Office, Sub- Metropolitan City 1 Purandhara, Construction of Campus 2022 Village Council, District Dang Building Development Committee, District Education Office 2 Electrification in community June 2022 Village Council, District area Development Committee, District Electricity Office 3 Hospitals with good facilities 2022 Village Council, District and Ambulance Development Committee, District Health Office 4 Scientific distribution of land 2022 Village Council, District and managing agricultural Development Committee, District system Agriculture Office 1 Kohalpur, Elimination of gender 2021 Municipality, District Banke violence and polygamy Development Committee, District Administration Office, Social Organization, Women Development Office 2 Social awareness program for 2019 Municipality, District elimination of caste system Development Committee, District Administration Office, Social Organization 3 Elimination of drug 2021 Municipality, District addiction Development Committee, District Administration Office, Social Organization 4 Program related to Regular Municipality, District psychosocial counseling Development Committee, District Health Office 1 Birendranagar Road Maintenance in 2022 Municipality, District , Surkhet Birendranagar Municipality Development Committee, Road Department 2 Awareness campaigns for September Municipality, District controlling drug use 2020 Development Committee, Social Organization 3 Tourism promotion 2022 Municipality, District Development Committee, Tourism Board 4 Awareness campaign for 2022 Municipality, District stopping child marriage Development Committee, Women Development Office, Social Organization 1 LamkiChuha, Waste management in 2018 Lamki Chuha Municipality Muniicipality Municipality Area Chamber of Commerce People from community 2 Awareness program for 2019 Lamki Chuha Municipality

stoping Chaupadi system, Social organizations polygamy and child marriage Police and District Administration Office People from community 3 Construction of Library 2018 Pacific Command Office (US Building Embassy) Municipality Pro Public DFs Political Parties 4 Drug awareness program 2019 Municipality Social Organization DFs 1 Ghodaghodi, Construction of School 2020 Municipality, District Kailali building in Sandepani area Development Committee, District Education Office 2 Tourism promotion activities 2022 Municipality, District (Ghodaghi lake and nearby Development Committee, areas) Tourism board 3 Pure drinking water to all 2020 Municipality, District and drain management Development Committee, Drinking Water Office, Department Urban Development 4 Establishment of Technical 2020 Municipality, District School Development Committee, District Education Office 1 Masuriya, Ensuring Drinking water for 2020 District Drinking Water Kailali all in community Committee, district Development Committee, Masuriya VDC 2 Black topped road 2021 District Road Division Office, District Development Committee, Masuriya VDC 3 Establishmetn of institute for 2022 Ministry of Education, CTEVT, technical education District Education Office, Masuriya VDC 4 Awareness program to make 2020 District Development Committee, clear on social taboos (like VDC Chaupadi and child marriage)

In order to lobby for implementation of these plans at the local and district level, a Monitoring and Coordination Committee (including DFs, local peace committee, representatives from political parties and local government representative) in each community has been formed through the common consensus of program participants. These plans are shared with the respective local bodies, LPCs, Advisory Committees, newly elected local representatives in the project communities and District Coordination Committees, District Public Health Offices, District Electricity Office, District Irrigation Office and so forth in district headquarter through a formal letter from Pro Public. (A sample letter has been included as annexed VII that were sent on October 10, 2017). DFs have been playing a key role in coordination and collaboration between target beneficiaries and stakeholders, government agencies and other actors as required in the respective communities. Pro Public will guide as and when required by them.

Similarly, in the center level the plan were shared to the authorities, i.e., National Planning Commission, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, Ministry of Federal Affair and Local Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Forest, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare requesting for the required instructions to the concerned agencies and include themselves for including these issues in the specific plan and policies to be made from the different level of Government mechanisms. The plans were shared to these authorities through formal letters in the second week of July 2017. Pro Pubic will make follow up by sending another rounds of reminder through formal letter.

The Monitoring and Coordination Committees has formed at the community level. Pro Public will encourage and guide DFs who are member secretary of the Committee to mobilize the committee to implement the plan as envisioned by the community. The list of the Monitoring and Coordination Committees are presented in Annex – IV.

7. Challenges

 One of the significant challenges of the community envisioning workshop in all the communities was to try to focus the participants on social issues, i.e., significance of social awareness, women participation and empowerment, caste system and so forth. Despite the effort of limiting them on social issues, participants emphasized their agendas on regular development projects like road, bridge, school buildings, and hospital construction and political issues. Also, at the beginning of the workshop, in some of the communities, it was tough to highlight the importance of the participatory planning process. Most of the participants were expressing that they had never participated in a such planning workshop. They were saying that they know about the problems of the community but due to the lack of knowledge on proper planning process they were not discussed sitting together. There is clearly a need to link beneficiaries up with better information on the government planning process, which was not in itself a focus of C2P, in the future to enable their full participation. At least, through this exercise, the idea of planning and linking visions and dreams to concrete actions was learned, as was the need for inclusive and participatory planning processes.

 To ensure the participation of key stakeholders was little challenging due to declaration of local elections. The representative of the political parties were engaged and focused in the planning of the election activities as the election was declared after almost 20 years. To overcome this challenge the dates of the final interaction program were

rescheduled in consultation with the advisory committee and highlighting the significance of the project activities for new elected bodies.  Similarly, another challenge during the workshop was the political unrest in Saptari due to which the community envisioning was postponed. Unfortunately, on Mar 6, 2017 three persons were killed when police opened fire to contain the situation after a violent clash with Madhesi Morcha cadres who were trying to foil CPN-UML’s programme in Rajbiraj of Saptari. The CPN-UML had organized this program as awareness campaign focusing to the local elections. These incidents created a tension in the district and it was impossible to organize any event in such a violent environment. Thus the community envisioning program of the Saptari was organized in May 26, 2017. And that was one of the major reason to request for the extension of the C2P's time frame from March end to June end 2017.

8. Success and Lessons Learnt One of the major successes of the community envisioning workshop was rigorous and sincere discussion of stakeholders on the strength, weakness, opportunities and challenges of their respective communities This was accompanied by an intensive brainstorming and interaction to identify the community problems, social, economic, political and cultural, and plan to address them. The community envisioning process required coordination and collaboration among and between a wide range of stakeholders, including local government, LPCs, ex-combatants, different user groups, members of political parties, ex-combatants and other community people to develop their society. One of the great successes of C2P as a whole which was really seen in the community envisioning workshop was the sense of ―we‖ feeling and ownership generate towards participants’ community development. The workshop also served as a real learning exercise on planning, which will be helpful for participants in influencing participatory planning and decision making processes at the local level. As such, the program succeeded in empowering stakeholders, especially ex- combatants, to participate in participatory planning processes, skillsets that they can use in various aspects of their personal and societal life. Finally, the workshop succeeded in creating hopes of a better future, and promoted a culture of collaboration that will lead the society towards social harmony and peace. The plan developed from the community envisioning has been already presented to the central level agencies and National Planning Commission for consideration. It has also been shared with the respective local bodies, LPCs, Advisory Committees, newly elected local representatives in the project communities and District Coordination Committees, District Public Health Offices, District Electricity Office, District Irrigation Office as well. As the planning process of the respective communities will be initiated during the months of November/December of 2017, DFs are motivated to follow up and campaign during that planning process which even start even at the ward level. Pro Public will remind them and provide information on the follow up process.

An important learning was that the people had never engaged in such planning process that indicates that in the local planning the involvement of the stakeholders is really weak and promoting engagement of local stakeholders in participatory planning through SWOT process ensures a better and practical planning. Also one of the inspiring learnings was to hear the equal voices of women and marginalized communities with political parties and local representatives of local government including police officers at many communities in both formal and informal discussion sessions. In addition to that, small group activity was instrumental to open up the vibrant discussion among the ex-combatants and community people. In overall, the impressions of the participants were really inspiring. The participants thanked Pro Public and USAID and appreciated for organizing such a very practical planning process. They further said that the process has given many ideas for the planning process that they will use in the other kinds of the planning process in the future.

9. Conclusion

As envisioned in the project document, and in accordance with C2P’s theory of change, diverse and very unique nature of community envisioning workshop were considered as successful activity in terms of ensuring the adequate number of participants. A wide range of individuals from various walks of life, women, marginalized people and individuals from both urban and rural settings, attended the program to visualize the community in accordance to their aspirations. The community envisioning workshop resulted in the development of five-year plans and activities for respective communities and in the formation of Monitoring and Coordination Committees for transforming these plans into a reality. Joint planning activities became instrumental to bring all the stakeholders together resulting in a better plan through a joint exercise that has covered the needs and feelings of diverse people. The event promoted a culture of collaboration in the planning process and hope for the better future that has built social harmony and peace in the target communities.

List of Annexes

Annex: I: Sex Ratio of Participants in Community Envisioning Program S.N District Community Total Gender Male Female

1 Kailali Musuriya 57 20 37 2 Ghodaghodi 50 31 19 3 Lamki Chuha 53 26 27 4 Banke Kohalpur 55 34 21 5 Surkhet Birendranagar 51 20 31 6 Dang Purandhara 45 30 15 7 Nawalparasi Nayabelhani/Rankachuli 41 20 21 8 Chitawan Kalika 55 10 45 9 Saptari Piprapaschim 60 24 36 10 Sunsari Dharan 49 24 25 Total 10 10 516 239 277

Annex: II Age Ratio of Participants in Community Envisioning Program

S.N District Community Total Age Group -10 10-14 15- 20- 25- 30- 35- 40+ 19 24 29 34 39 1 Kailali Musuriya 57 0 0 0 10 20 5 7 15 2 Ghodaghodi 50 0 0 1 2 12 14 11 10 3 Lamki Chuha 53 0 0 0 7 19 13 14 4 Banke Kohalpur 55 0 0 0 3 8 28 14 2 5 Surkhet Birendranagar 51 0 0 0 9 6 18 7 11 6 Dang Purandhara 45 0 0 0 3 7 7 12 16 7 Nawalparasi Nayabelhani/Rankachuli 41 0 0 2 16 8 6 7 2 8 Chitawan Kalika 55 0 0 0 0 14 16 8 17 9 Saptari Piprapaschim 60 0 0 0 2 1 10 21 26 10 Sunsari Dharan 49 0 0 0 7 5 14 17 6 Total 10 10 516 0 0 3 52 88 137 117 119

Annex-III: Caste and Ethnicity Ratio of Participants in Community Envisioning Program S.N District Community Total Caste Classification

Bra/Chhetri Dalit Ethnic Newar Muslim Madhesi Other

1 Kailali Musuriya 57 28 12 15 0 0 0 2

2 Ghodaghodi 50 37 5 6 0 0 0 2 3 Lamki Chuha 53 28 17 8 0 0 0 0 4 Banke Kohalpur 55 25 18 5 0 1 0 6 5 Surkhet Birendranagar 51 35 8 6 0 1 0 1 6 Dang Purandhara 45 28 11 5 0 0 0 1 7 Nawalparasi Nayabelhani/Rankachuli 41 11 9 21 0 0 0 0 8 Chitawan Kalika 55 28 3 24 0 0 0 0 9 Saptari Piprapaschim 60 14 5 35 0 0 4 2 10 Sunsari Dharan 49 8 7 29 4 1 0 0 Total 10 10 516 242 95 154 4 3 4 14

Annex-IV: Monitoring and Coordination Committees Sr. no. Name Position Representation from Dharan/Sunsari 1. Mr. Harka Raj Rai Coordinator DF 2. Mr. Sunil Nepal Member Sub-municipality 3. Ms. Suma rai Member Civil Society 4. Mr. Laddiki Sherpa Member Social Dialogue Group 5. Ms, Sabina Rai Member Social Dialogue Group Mr. Swarnim Hang Fombo Limbu, DF: Member Secretary Piprapanchim/Saptari 6. Ms. Rampyari Chaudhari Coordinator Ward Citizen Forum 7. Ms. Devika Karki Member Health Post 8. Ms. Anjana Shingh Member Community Development Program 9. Mr. Pashupati Dahal Member School 10. Mr. Bethan Chaudhary Member Civil Society Mr. Akhilesh Jha, DF: Member Secretary Kalika/Chitwan 1. Mr. Milan Pandey Coordinator LPC 2. Ms. Sapana Rana Member DF 3. Ms. Anu Lohani Member Social Dialogue Group 4. Mr. Ganesh Poudel Member Redcross 5. Mr. Ramadevi Pandey Member Cooperative Mr. Ram Krishna Mahat, DF: Member Secretary

Nayabelhani/Nawalparasi 6. Mr. Tikaram Gharti Magar Coordinator DF 7. Ms. Shobha GC Member DF 8. Ms. Basanti Kunwar Member VDC 9. Mr. Tikaram Gaire Member Political Party 10. Ms. Srijana Baral Member Social Dialogue Group Ms. Madhu Adhikari, DF: Member Secretary Purandhara/Dang 11. Ms. Sharad Raj Giri, Coordinator Health Post 12. Ms. Mina BK Member Media 13. Mr. Narmaya Roka Member Ex-combatant 14. Mr. Ku Ba. Dangi Member School 15. Mr. Hari Pd. Joshi Member SDG Mr. Bishnu Bk, DF: Member Secretary Kohalpur/Banke 1. Mr. Pratap Khatri Coordinator Civil Society 2. Mr. Pin Bahadur Thapa Member Advisory Committee 3. Ms. Binita Bhandari Member SDG 4. Md. Ali Gujar Member Ex- combatants 5. Mr. Pramila Khatri Member Ex-combatants Mr. Madhav Adhikari, Member Secretary Birendranagar/Surkhet 1. Mr. Chudamani Thani Coordinator LPC 2. Ms. Januka GC Member Area Development Committee 3. Ms. Dharma Raj Rokaya Member Political Party 4. Mr. Thir Ba. Thapa Member SDG 5. Mr. Kamal Sharhi Member SDG 6. Mr. Gaj Bahadur Buda Member Cooperative 7. Ms. Laxmi Oli Member Heath Post Mr. Nahakul Sanjayal, DF : Member Secretary Ghodaghodi/Kailali 1 Mr. Minraj Shahi Coordinator Civil Society 2 Mr. Navaraj Niure Member LPC 3 Mr. Karna B. Bohara Member Ex-combatant 4 Ms. Meena Chaudhary Member SDG 5 Mr. Tek Ba. Budha Member SDG 6 Ms. Shanti Bohara Member DF 7 Ratna Bhandari Member Ward Citizen Forum Mr. Chakra Bista, DF: Member Secretary Lamki/Kailali 1. Mr. Ratan Sunar Coordinator Advisory Committee 2. Ms. Maya Shah Member Cooperative 3. Ms. Gita Gadtaula Member Civil Society 4. Ms. Mangala Bajgai Member Women Network 5. Mr. Laxamn Bk Member Dalit Organization 6. Ms. Bimala Shingh Member Ex-Combatant 7. Ms. Tulsa Dhami Member Ex-Combatant 8. Mr. Lokesh Mayal Member Community 9. Mr. Chandra Bk Member Political Party

Mr. Laxman BK, DF: Member Secretary Masuirya/Kailali

1. Mr. Rana Raj Bhatta Coordinator Local Peace Committees 2. Mr. Lila Neure Member Teacher 3. Mr. Pawan Bogati Member Advisory Committee 4. Ms. Dhansari Rawal Member Social Dialogue Group 5. Ms. Dharma Sunar MEMBER DF Ms. Tulshi Sharma, DF: Member Secretary

Piprapanchim of Saptari

Kalika of Chitwan

Nayabelhani of Nawalparasi

Purandhara of Dang

Birendranagar of Surkhert

Kohalpur of Banke

Lamki of Kaialli

Ghodaghodi of Kailali

Masuriya/Kail ali

Annex-IV : Scan of attendance sheet Dharan/Sunsari

Piprapanchim/Saptari

Kalika/Chitwan

Nayabelhani/Nawalparasi

Purandhara/Dang

Kohalpur/Banke

Birendranagar/Surkhet

Lamkichuha/Kailali

Ghodaghodi/Kailali

Masuriya/Kailali

Annex- VII: Sample letter sent to the Government bodies (at community and district level) requesting for addressing the plan made by the community envisioning