Participatory watershed management and development is the core issue of the "Inter-regional Project for Participatory Upland Conservation and Development", GCP/INT/542/ITA. The watershed wide Participatory Rural Appraisal and Planning exercise carried out in the Bhusunde Khola watershed between October 1995 and January 1996, was more than a milestone in the project.
For the first time large scale satisfactory use was made of truly participatory planning methods in the Nepal component of the project. The resulting 26 Community Action Plans were so elaborate and so demanding, that the whole project team has been working flat out during the rest of 1996 and into 1997 in the -participatory- implementation of planned activities.
Little time was left for further analysis and reporting of this most important event during the second phase of the project. Finally, with the level of field activities and other commitments somewhat decreasing in 1997 it has been possible to make a decent report on the 1995/96 PRA. The whole project team has contributed in one form or another in the PRA exercise, and its subsequent analysis and reporting.
However, most important actors of all were the more than 1000 villagers of the Bhusunde Khola watershed that have been directly involved in the PRAs, and who have on the whole been the most enthusiastic supporters of these planning methods. They have since undertaken the accomplishment of most of the more than 220 activities included in the 26 Community Action Plans, some on their own, some with support of the project, and some with support of other agencies or NGOs.
