Dailekh Mapping Study: Governance and Coherence in one District April 2015 Mary Hobley and Dermot Shields With Krishna Acharya and Dharma Bhattarai Table of Contents Acronyms ............................................................................................................................ 4 Executive summary .............................................................................................................. 6 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 14 1.1 Approach ............................................................................................................. 14 1.2 Methodology ....................................................................................................... 15 2. Framework for mapping ............................................................................................. 18 2.1 Structures ............................................................................................................. 18 2.1.1 Core Ministries ......................................................................................................... 18 2.1.2 Sub-national organisation and structure ................................................................. 19 2.1.3 Sector ministries ...................................................................................................... 20 2.2 Key concepts ......................................................................................................... 20 2.2.1 Local development and national development ....................................................... 21 2.2.2 Citizenship and user-ship ......................................................................................... 21 2.2.3 Deliberation and participation ................................................................................. 23 2.2.4 Nature of local services ........................................................................................... 23 2.2.5 Capital and recurrent activities ............................................................................... 23 2.2.6 Targeting and impersonal governance ................................................................... 24 3. Dailekh ....................................................................................................................... 25 3.1 Context ................................................................................................................ 25 3.2 Drivers of change ................................................................................................. 25 3.2.1 Migration ................................................................................................................. 25 3.2.2 Hydropower and economic development ............................................................... 28 3.2.3 Summary .................................................................................................................. 28 4. District DDC level interventions ................................................................................... 29 4.1 Organisational structure of the DDC ..................................................................... 29 4.1.1 Local Development Office ........................................................................................ 29 4.1.2 Activities coordinated by the CDO ........................................................................... 35 4.2 Coordination, Planning and Decision making at Local Body Level ............................ 37 4.3 Approval process .................................................................................................. 39 4.4 Funding for development .................................................................................... 42 4.5 Accountability arrangements................................................................................. 46 4.6 Flow of funds ....................................................................................................... 47 4.7 Line Departments ................................................................................................. 48 4.7.1 Education ................................................................................................................. 48 5 Projects operating in Dailekh ....................................................................................... 53 5.1 Projects and reach in Dailekh ................................................................................ 53 5.1.1 Fund flows ................................................................................................................ 54 5.1.2 Project interface with district structures ................................................................. 55 5.2 Implementation issues ......................................................................................... 56 5.2.1 Social mobilisation ................................................................................................... 56 5.2.2 Targeting .................................................................................................................. 59 6 Other actors ................................................................................................................ 66 6.1 Political parties .................................................................................................... 66 6.2 Federations ........................................................................................................... 66 7 Village (VDC) development interventions ..................................................................... 68 7.1 Belpata context .................................................................................................... 68 Page 2 Dailekh District Mapping Study 7.2 VDC structures and processes ............................................................................... 68 7.2.1 The VDC office .......................................................................................................... 68 7.2.2 The VDC budget ....................................................................................................... 70 7.3 Planning decision-making structures ..................................................................... 71 7.3.1 Integrated Plan Formulation Committee (IPFC) ...................................................... 71 7.3.2 The Ward Citizen Forums ......................................................................................... 72 7.3.3 Sector committees and plans .................................................................................. 72 7.4 Political parties .................................................................................................... 74 7.5 Projects operating in Belpata ................................................................................ 75 7.6 Groups in Belpata ................................................................................................. 76 7.6.1 Overview .................................................................................................................. 76 7.6.2 Groups for consumption (IGA) ................................................................................. 77 7.6.3 Groups for empowerment ....................................................................................... 78 7.6.4 Emerging new leadership ........................................................................................ 80 7.6.5 User committees for proposal implementation ...................................................... 81 7.7 Summary - effects of small outcomes and high transaction costs ........................... 82 7.7.1 Building an interface between citizens and the state ............................................. 82 7.7.2 Not reaching the poorest ......................................................................................... 82 8. Summary and conclusions ........................................................................................... 86 8.1 Key findings from the Dailekh Mapping Study (DMS) ............................................. 86 8.1.1 Intervention modalities ........................................................................................... 86 8.1.2 Local government systems ...................................................................................... 87 8.1.3 Governance arrangements ...................................................................................... 88 8.2 Outcomes of the current approach ........................................................................ 89 8.3 Impact of the approach ........................................................................................ 91 8.4 Summary and characterisation of current theory of change ................................... 91 Annex: Approaches to targeting, group formation and assets ................................... 93 Annex: Project fund flows through NGO service providers (2013-2014) ..................... 95 Annex: DDC Budget .................................................................................................. 99 Page 3 Acronyms ACDO Assistant Chief Development Officer APF Armed Police Force APM All Party Mechanism AWPB Annual Work Plan and Budget CAC Citizen Awareness Centre CBO Community Based Organisation CDO Chief District Officer CD Community Development Approach CDP Community Development Programme (DFID funded project under LGCDP2) CDP Community