Gender and Development

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Nepal

Training Elected Women Representatives, Sristi Associate - CEDPA

Background to the project

The Nepal Local Government Ordinance (1997) reserves 20 percent of seats in Village Development Committees for women. As a result, more than 39,000 women representatives assumed office following local elections in 1997. However, despite the significant number of elected women representatives in Village Development Committees (VDCs), their participation in the operation and decision-making processes in local government remains low. Many elected women have no involvement in the VDC and are unaware of the operational procedure of the VDC and their role as elected representatives. This is reflected in their lack of participation in planning and implementing village development including the VDC’s development budget.

There is an urgent need to provide capacity training to elected women representatives in VDCs to increase their level of involvement in the operation and decision making processes of VDCs. Their lack of training and experience makes these women unable to voice and defend the interests and concerns of women in their electorate, thus nullifying the rationale of having a reserved quota for women.

To overcome this problem, Sristi Associate CEDPA has been funded by ADB to implement a training program for women elected office bearers in VDCs. This project is being implemented in four village development committees, one each in Morang, Lalidpur, Rupandehi and Dang districts. As part of this project, Sristi Associate CEDPA will develop training course curriculum for elected women, ward chairpersons and other women leaders.

Project Components

The objective of the project is to build the capacity of elected women office bearers in Village Development Committees. The project compromises the following activities:

• Rapport building and team building exercises in the four VDCs. Project staff will hold introductory and rapport building meetings in the four VDCs. The purpose of such meetings will be to inform VDC members about the project, to invite their support, and to set the date for training. The VDC Chairperson and Vice Chairperson, women elected representatives and ward chairpersons are all invited to these meetings.¹
• Development of a training manual and comic book. Sristi Associate CEDPA will prepare and develop a training manual and comic book as training materials. The training manual and comic book will cover the following topics: (i) gender based justice and equity, (ii) decentralization, local self governance and women’s participation, (iii) human rights and legal rights of women, (iv) women and culture, (v) communication, organization and social transformation, and (vi) leadership and personality.

Training Program

The training program will be given to 30 trainees in each VDC, comprising the 9 elected women representatives in each VDC (representing one woman per ward), 9 ward chairpersons (who may be men or women), and 12 other active women in the VDC. The training will be three days in length. One women trainee from each ward will be selected as a ‘master trainer’ at the end of the training. A total of nine ‘master trainers’ in each VDC will then receive two days additional training. Each of these master trainers will conduct three additional training programs per month for three months to other women in their ward. Fifteen women will be trained in each training program over a 2-day period. A master trainer will therefore train 45 trainees a month and a total of 135 trainees in a ward over the three months. Overall, the project will train 36 master trainers, who in turn will train 4860 trainees in their respective wards. In total, the project will train 4980 trainees in these four VDCs over a three-month period. In this way, all women in the village with an interest will be able to access the information prepared in the training material. A more informed local community will also result in more demands for transparent and fair village-related administration.

Outcomes of Project

The project has successfully completed the first stage of rapport building in the four VDCs. All VDCs were supportive of the project, with some reservations as discussed below. Training dates have also been set and the first round of training in all VDCs should be completed by the end of September 2001. The project should thus be completed by the end of the year.

All the elected women consulted were positive about the project and interested to attend the training provided by Sristi Associate CEDPA. Despite their affiliation to different political parties, the elected women were closely united in their views and aspirations, and keen to develop their respective VDCs. Most of them were inhibited and insecure because of their lack of education and economic status. Many were illiterate and felt that this was a barrier to their economic development as well as to the contribution they could make to their VDC. For this reason their primary demand was for more practical vocational and income-generating programs, as well as literacy programs.

Women elected representatives’ sense of inferiority was compounded by the general lack of respect directed towards them by other VDC members. For example, several VDC chairpersons commented that these women lacked education and capacity, and that they were only there because of the government mandate. This was manifest in one meeting where the VDC chairperson took the opportunity of Sristi’s visit to discuss a proposal developed by the Village Development Council to implement an income generation project for women. According to this proposal, a loan from the VDC will be given to village women to establish a small fertilizer production enterprise. It is envisaged that this could provide employment for approximately 150 women. However, none of the women elected representatives present during the discussion knew of this proposal. It appears that the planning committee had not consulted with any of the women representatives, despite the fact that the proposal was allegedly designed to benefit women.

Some women openly acknowledged that they had stood for election because they were asked to do so by their political party, admitting that they had little former interest in or awareness of local government. Many stressed, however, that since their election they now take a more active interest in the affairs of their ward and now aspired to play a larger role in their ward and Village Development Council. One woman representative in the district of Rupandehi said that prior to her election, she would sign anything her party put in front of her; now she reads everything and has her own opinion. Another woman in the same VDC said that in the past she would run blindly when called by her party; now she stops to think, ‘Why are they calling me?’ Another woman considered standing for the position of ward chairperson, but in the end decided against this because of her domestic responsibilities.

The Sristi project has already been a catalyst for change. Even after these short information meetings, elected women representatives were beginning to see their role and potential role differently. For example, some women were unaware that wards were supposed to hold regularly monthly meetings; others knew but were never informed so never attended. After discussion with Sristi project members, these women grew more committed to establishing and attending such meetings. Similarly, many women representatives were unaware that each VDC has its own development fund. Once informed of this fund during one meeting in the district of Rupandehi, women representatives began to discuss how this money could be spent on projects to support women in the village.

This also points to the importance of bringing women together to discuss their common experiences and concerns. A representative in Rupandehi said that women elected members have never before this project met as a group. Some of the women in the meeting saw the potential of holding a meeting of elected women representatives immediately before the Village Development Council meetings, which are held twice a year. The nominated woman representative - who is the only woman to attend the Council’s meetings - suggested that she could then take their proposals and concerns to the meeting on behalf of the elected women.

While the full value of the training is not appreciated in some VDCs - with women asking from income generating activities and vocational training - there is still a large amount of support for the training program. When asked generally in one meeting in Rupandehi district whether the elected women representatives need the sort of training that Sristi is offering, the women present unanimously agreed. ‘Of course we need training!’ was one woman’s reply in order to give them the confidence and skills to participate in VDC and ward affairs. At one meeting in the district of Dang over 50 women attended the information session conducted by Sristi project members, and there was considerable consternation when it was explained that apart from the elected representatives only 12 other women can attend the first training program. Women in this village saw that the general training topics proposed were of relevance to them, even if they would still like additional vocational training. Furthermore, all agreed with Sristi project members that women need to build their capacity first before income generation and other projects can be successfully introduced.

Future Direction

Although this project is far from complete, a number of benefits have already emerged in terms of team building and consciousness raising of elected women representatives. This augurs well for the success of the training programs designed in the project.

ADB should incorporate the lessons learned from this project into its loan projects, such as governance, legal and judicial reform, rural development, rural infrastructure, agriculture and other projects involving VDCs. In particular, the development of a training manual and other training materials could be usefully replicated in other projects where there is a need to build the capacity of elected representatives. There is also no reason why gender sensitive training materials could not also be used to train male representatives involved in VDC and ward activities. This would achieve two objectives: raising gender awareness in local government as well as more general capacity building on issues of governance.

It would also support ADB’s Nepal Country Strategy and Program Update which emphasizes sustainable reduction in poverty through (i) the generation of productive employment and increased rural incomes from faster and broad-based pro-poor economic growth, (ii) equitable improvements to basic social services to enhance human development, and (iii) good governance. Specifically, this project could feed into the RETA on Gender and Governance and the Governance Reform Program. In terms of the RETA on Gender and Governance, components developed in this project (such as the training manual and the training program) could be considered in relation to gender and governance initiatives developed in Bangladesh and Pakistan. One outcome here could be a portfolio of strategies that have been successful in building the capacity of elected women in local government.

Furthermore, as many ADB-financed projects deal with VDCs directly or indirectly, components of this project - in particular the training program - could be included in other projects designed to build the capacity of VDC elected representatives, both men and women. Such training would strengthen the organizational capacity of VDCs and, from the point of view of project management, help to realize project objectives.

Capacity building of local women representatives is both a precursor to effective devolution and a catalyst for increased demands for greater local authority. The need to develop the capacity of elected women representatives has become in principal more urgent following Parliament’s passing of the Local Self-Governance Bill in September 1998. This potentially provides for greater delegation to a lower administrative and political level. To date, the central government has shown little interest in greater devolution of power and authority from the center. However, governance reforms and political instability may lead to greater political and administrative demands for greater local authority. In this context, a program which delivers gender sensitive capacity building training to both men and women representatives could be pursued in consultation with the Ministry of Local Government under further technical assistance or loan projects.

Working Draft

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