Annexes

Annex 1 - List of participants and resource persons

BANGLADESH

1. Md. Mustafizur Rahman
Joint Secretary (Development)
Rural Development and Cooperatives Division
Ministry of LGRD & Cooperatives
Government of Bangladesh
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka
Tel. 880-2-7164437

2. Bimal Kumar Kundu
Director (Finance)
Bangladesh Rural Development
Board (BRDB)
Palli Bhaban
Karwan Bazar, Dhaka
Tel. 880-2-8114658

INDIA

3. M. Thaha
Professor and Head,
Centre for Micro Planning (CMP)
National Institute of Rural Development (NIIRD)
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500 030
Tel. 91-40-24008522-26
Fax 91-40-24008441, 24015277
E-mail [email protected]

4. S.K. Singh
Professor and Head
Centre for Panchayati Raj (CPR)
National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD)
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500 030
Tel/Fax 91-40-2400428
E-mail [email protected]

5. Manoj Rai
Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)
42, Tughlakabad Institutional Area
New Delhi 110 062
Tel. 91-11-608 1908, 6060931
E-mail [email protected] [email protected]

NEPAL

6. Sant Bahadur Gurung
Vice Chairperson
National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities
Kathmandu
Tel. 977-1-4265143
Fax 977-1- 4258833
Email [email protected]

7. Mukti Prasad Kafle
Policy Advisor
Rural Access Program
Tel. 977-1-5549629
Fax 977-1-5528353
Email [email protected]

8. Ganga Dutta Aswathi
Joint Secretary
Ministry of Local Development
Kathmandu

9. Mahesh Raj Sharma
Ministry of Local Development
Kathmandu

10. Usha Gongol
Women Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal (WEAN)
Kathmandu

11. Rudra Sapkota, ADDCN

12. Pradip Thapaliya, NAVIN

13. Mukti Rijal, Institute of Governance and Development (IGD),
Kathmandu

14. N.B. Khadka
Acting Executive Director
Local Development Training Academy (LDTA)
Kathmandu
Fax 977-1-521521
E-mail [email protected]

15. Dhunu Rana, LDTA, Kathmandu

16. Bhagirath Singh, LDTA, Kathmandu

17. Binay Kumar Kafle, LDTA, Kathmandu

18. A representative of the DDC Association

19. A representative of the VDC Association

PAKISTAN

20. Mohammad Ashraf
Secretary, National Reconstruction Bureau
Prime Minister’s Office
Government of Pakistan
Islamabad
Tel. 92-51-9203084
Fax 92-51-9206726
E-mail [email protected]

SRI LANKA

21. M.O.A. de Zoysa
Director
Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research &
Training Institute (HARTI)
114 Wijerama Mawatha
Post Box 1522
Colombo 7
Tel. 94-11-696743, 698539-41
Fax 94-11-692423, 696743
Email [email protected] [email protected]

22. H.S. Dharmawardena
Acting Director (Natural Resources Management)
Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock
Government of Sri Lanka
Govijana Mandiraya
80/5 Rajamalwatta Avenue
Battaramulla
Fax 94-11-2887437/2863497
E-mail [email protected]

CIRDAP

23. Mya Maung
Director General
CIRDAP
17 Topkhana Road
GPO Box 2883
Dhaka 1000
Tel. 880-2-9563384
Fax 880-2-9562035
E-mail [email protected]

24. B. Sudhakar Rao
Head (Trg.)
CIRDAP
Dhaka 1000
Tel. 880-2-9552430
Fax 880-2-9562035
E-mail [email protected] [email protected]

25. Samir Kumar Roy
Sr. Secretary (Trg.)
CIRDAP
Dhaka 1000

FAO/RAP

26. Wim Polman
Rural Development Officer
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Maliwan Mansion
39 Phra Atit Road
Bangkok 10200, THAILAND
Tel. 66-2-697 4000
E-mail [email protected]

Annex 2 - Programme schedule

Annex 3 - Inaugural address

H.E. Kamal Thapa,
Minister for Local Development, His Majesty’s Government of Nepal

Opening remarks

[H.E. Kamal Thapa, Minister for Local Development, His Majestry’s Government of Nepal told the meeting that the theme of the workshop was very important and timely. Decentralization is the most talked about subject in developing countries at a time when the world is facing new challenges. There are two important issues - the sustainability of development itself and the challenge of meeting the aspirations of the masses.]

The answer to some extent lies in decentralization. In Nepal, there is a fairly decentralized programme through local authority and through them we are able to devolve power to the people at grassroots levels. For decades, Nepal has held elections for local authority. It got further momentum after the introduction of the multiparty system in 1990. His Excellency felt that unless we take democracy to the grassroots, we cannot sustain delivery of services and meet people’s expectation.

In spite of several constraints, Nepal has been able to move ahead, compared to many developing nations, in the decentralization process. We have a local self-government act as an instrument for strengthening local government. Nepal has two tiers of local government - local level VDCs and municipalities with 4 000 VDCs and 58 municipalities, and 75 DDCs which bring decision-making closer to the people so they can plan, implement and own development projects. About a decade ago, we started giving a block grant directly to the VDCs. These resources have played a great role in giving momentum to local projects. Local representatives have revolutionized development.

Over the last two years the government is implementing a policy of transferring the management of primary schools and primary health units to the local community. We have noted sufficient improvement in the management of these institutions. We have realized that until and unless we give them financial powers and autonomy, we will not be able to achieve results. Simply giving resources alone does not make any difference. With this realization, we are proceeding to strengthen the decentralization process. A committee has been set up to suggest measures to strengthen local authority and to suggest specific proposals in the areas of financial autonomy to further strengthen and consolidate local authority.

Apart from strengthening local authority, we are also strengthening the LDTA. For effective implementation, we need to raise the capacity of the poor to manage resources, plan development programmes and effectively implement the projects. Our objective of eradicating poverty cannot be achieved without strengthening democracy at the grassroots level and empowering people. In this context, this workshop is a milestone.

I extend my best wishes to the workshop.

Annex 4 - Address by the chairperson

Khem Raj Nepal, Secretary, Ministry for Local Development
HMG Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

I welcome you all here in Nepal and express my pleasure for giving me the opportunity to chair this inaugural session and address this august gathering to share the subregional country experience on decentralization.

I believe that the presentations by professionals and sharing of cross-country experiences on decentralization will make the workshop lively and interactive. This may lead in building the foundation for the future course of decentralization in the region.

It is interesting to note that decentralization in the region is being watched cautiously by insiders as well as outsiders. However, the achievement has been encouragingly positive. We have experienced that decentralization without people's representation and accountability is difficult. In Nepal, the political vacuum resulting out of non-election due to the conflict did not smooth the process of devolution. The present government has tried to fill the vacuum temporarily through nominated political representatives instead of bureaucratic arrangements as in the past. I hope this would make local bodies more responsive to local development efforts.

Nepal, by virtue of its geographical variations, remoteness and multi-ethnicity, has to decentralize and accordingly it has been adopting that approach. However, the existing number of local bodies versus their viability in terms of economics and administrative support has been identified as an issue to be resolved.

Nepal has experienced positive political commitment with regard to policies on decentralization. The provision of the Decentralization Implementation Monitoring Committee, (DIMC), an apex body chaired by the Prime Minister in LSGA; proactive policies on decentralization in the Tenth Plan; preparation and endorsement of the Decentralization Implementation Plan (DIP); establishment of the secretariat of the Local Bodies Fiscal Commission and finalization of the road map of fiscal decentralization; recent commencement of the Expenditure Assignment Study and preparation of the Local Bodies Service Commission Bill, are activities in support of decentralization. All of these have political acceptance and endorsement. The recent decision on revenue-sharing will enhance the financial capability of local bodies.

Despite these positive indications, differences in implementation and understanding have been observed among individuals in positions and institutions. Such changes in culture take time in both the frame of socio-political aspects and the procedural adjustments.

Nepal's recent experience shows that conflict situations demand more decentralized activities to respond to immediate needs for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. The immediate service needs of local people, especially people in remote areas and activities of local nature are a priority for local bodies which serve these better. Hence it could not get the needed support without decentralization and consequently will not be owned by the local people.

Nepal has initiated devolution at large and presently four sectors, i.e. basic health, basic and primary education, agriculture extension and rural infrastructure which are directly related for the service delivery, are devolved. Consequently, a number of primary schools and sub-health posts have been transferred to the Management Committees; the financial flow to the devolved sectors is through the District Development Fund (DDF). To sanction the expenses through DDFs, the respective council's approval is compulsory.

The technical capacity in relation to rural infrastructure of the local body is being strengthened through the District Technical Office (DTO), which serves as an extended professional arm of the DDC. The social mobilizers are the key in building social capital, where the Local Development Fund (LDF) is playing a crucial role with all poverty alleviation program flow being channeled through it, making it a specialized agency for poverty-focused programs in the DDC. Similarly, we have already adopted participatory bottom-up planning, decentralized financing, and institutionalization of DDF/MDF. More control by local bodies over local resource generation, resource planning, and a formula-based grant allocation system are in practice, although these require more strengthening and updated information.

A High Level Advisory Committee has been recently constituted to recommend strengthening of local bodies and expediting the decentralization process.

I believe these all will be discussed in the workshop and lessons from other countries in the region will produce synergic outputs.

Before I conclude, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Honorable Minister for sparing your valuable time to inaugurate this workshop.

Wishing you success and a fruitful stay in Nepal. I declare this inaugural session closed.

Thank you very much.

Annex 5 - Keynote address

Mya Maung, Director General, CIRDAP

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to have the opportunity to address the Subregional Workshop on Country Experiences in Decentralization. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to the Hon’ble Minister for Local Development, H.E. Kamal Thapa for his kind presence as the Chief Guest at this Inaugural Session in spite of his busy schedule. I would like to thank the Hon’ble Secretary, Khem Raj Nepal and the distinguished delegates for attending this workshop meeting. We are also very much grateful to the Hon’ble Minister for Local Development, the Secretary and the officials of the Ministry and particularly, N.B. Khadka and his staff of LDTA for extending all support and cooperation in hosting this workshop meeting. On behalf of CIRDAP and on my own behalf, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the FAO Regional Office, Bangkok, particularly Mr. Wim Polman, for their technical and financial support to CIRDAP in this collaborative programme. It has been possible to conduct his workshop in Nepal only because of his sincere support and cooperation.

It is a gratifying to note that CIRDAP has got the privilege to be associated with FAO from its inception as FAO is the parent organization of CIRDAP. We had several collaborative programmes with FAO in the past. Very recently, FAO/RAP and CIRDAP organized a series of workshops in India to develop a handbook to improve training capabilities on awareness building and skill development for the newly elected people’s representatives and local government officials. Two draft versions of the handbook were discussed by experts in the workshops held at NIRD, Hyderabad during 2001 and 2002. This was published under the title "A Handbook for Trainers on Participatory Local Development" and copies are distributed to you.

FAO’s rural development priorities in Asia and the Pacific focus on improving grassroots participation in decision-making and service delivery through decentralization and improved local governance. FAO’s medium-term plan is oriented to make the decentralization process contribute towards the overall development of rural communities, particularly the very poor. This is in tune with FAO’s global priority areas for interdisciplinary action and local institutional building to improve capacity for achieving sustainable rural livelihoods.

In this context the FAO Regional Office and CIRDAP are organizing this expert workshop meeting with the participation of the selected SAARC countries. I do hope that with the assistance of all of you, the deliberations during the three-day workshop meeting will be able to share knowledge and experiences among the delegates to make decentralization an effective tool for poverty reduction in the SAARC region and South Asia in particular. As we all know, there are more people living in poverty in South Asia than other regions. According to the World Bank, there are 1.3 billion poor people in the world whose income is under US$1 a day, out of which 515 million people (40 percent) live in South Asia.

Alleviation of poverty has long been declared as a public pollicy agenda in SAARC countries. Several policies, such as agricultural development, rural infrastructure development, integrated rural development, small industries development, fisheries, livestock development, etc. have been formulated and implemented. Social investment in education, health care, drinking water, sanitation and housing sectors have been emphasized. Special targeted programmes in employment, micro-credit, area development and women’s development have been carried out in the region. But unfortunately, achievements have remained limited.

The programmes undertaken so far have demonstrated that the poor can develop through self-help and participatory approaches. It is recognized that decentralization of power and capacity building of institutions and individuals will contribute greatly to the effective utilization of the funds allocated to rural development. It goes without saying that FAO’s efforts in this direction deserve appreciation and praise.

We have realized that the success of any development programme mainly depends on the self-organizing capabilities of people and people’s institutions to create a new pattern of resource mobilization, in addition to the inputs provided by government, NGOs and donor agencies. The people have to frame and fashion a new desire through their participatory approach to arrange resource mobilization and set norms for people’s management. The three major aspects of development are qualitative growth in production, resource and environmental conservation, and welfare of the people. Therefore, it is the responsibility of frontline organizations like the village council, village development committees, village assembly (Gram Sabha in India) and local government, etc. to meet the needs of the society. In this context, human resource development and capacity building of people’s organizations and local governments have become essential as development inputs.

Local governments are a subset of the political system in a country. Its format is decided by the forms of government at all levels, i.e. national, regional, sub-regional and the relations that exist between all these tiers of administration.

The South Asian countries have very rich experiences in the decentralization process. It will be very effective if these experiences are properly utilized in poverty eradicating programmes. In view of this, the expert workshop meeting will play a vital role in coming out with fruitful results.

I would like to take this opportunity to briefly illustrate the experiences of some SAARC countries. During the last few decades, Sri Lanka has significantly enriched social development programmes due to decentralization towards sub-regional levels and local participation in planning and development interventions.

I would like to mention that 83 percent of the population in Sri Lanka has adequate sanitation facility, compared to 31 percent in India, 53 percent in Bangladesh, 27 percent in Nepal and 61 percent in Pakistan. The infant mortality rate in Sri Lanka (per thousand live births) is only 20, compared to 66 in India, 68 in Bangladesh, 72 in Nepal and 85 in Pakistan. Sri Lanka has also better HDI rank than other South Asian countries. These are only some social indicators to suggest that poverty alleviation attempts should be continued with action by local governments to rapidly change the social sector growth scenario.

The top priority should be given to women for capacity building of local organizations as women constitute approximately 50 percent of the population. Female adult literacy (15 years and above) is about 88.6 percent in Sri Lanka, comparing to 44.5 percent in India, 29.3 percent in Bangladesh, 22.8 percent in Nepal and 30 percent in Pakistan. This necessitates scaling up of efforts and this can be best done by local governments and non-governmental organizations operating at village level. We hope that these issues will figure in our deliberations.

One of the important aspects of recent development in South Asia is the growth in the informal sector which is also called the unorganized sector. Most rural and cottage industries are, for example, in the informal sector in India as are informal rural credit organizations. Many attempts have been made by multinational corporations to invade rural markets. There best example is that of Hindustan Lever Company, which is using women’s groups through training for their product marketing in India. Several such examples of women’s groups becoming active in production, sale and marketing are coming up in the region. Success cases and examples of market decentralization are to be shared between the countries.

In this meeting we have an agenda to discuss several important issues. Some of these issues are more important and critical. These are ‘resource mobilization by local governments, private and civil society organizations, capacity building for effective participatory planning, promotion of employment and income generation activities by local governments, and capacity building needs of local governments in empowering the rural poor, women and the most vulnerable at grassroots level.

I am fully confident and believe that we will gain new experience and better knowledge in this very important workshop meeting through the active participation of the hon’ble delegates.

With these few words, I once again thank the Hon’ble Minister, H.E. Mr. Kamal Thapa for being with us this morning as the Chief Guest in spite of his busy schedule. I also thank the Hon’ble Secretary Mr. Khem Raj Nepal, and Mr. N.B. Khadka for providing all the facilities to make this meeting a success. I am very much grateful to FAO/RAP especially Mr. Wim Polman for his sincere support and cooperation and the delegates from CIRDAP Member Countries in responding to our invitation.

I would also like to thank all the people who are directly and indirectly involved in the successful and efficient conduct of the meeting.

I wish you all the best, a pleasant stay in Kathmandu and a grand success to this workshop meeting.

Thank you all.

Annex 6 - Fourteen steps of the participatory district development planning process in Nepal