Impact Study of Village Development Program (A case study of Bardiya District)

Abstract

Participation is mental and emotional involvement of an individual in a group thatencourages him/her to contribute to achieve common goals and to share commonresponsibility. Participation refers to the involvement of people in decision making processof all the aspects that have influence their life. Government of Nepal has adopted a nationalstrategy of decentralized and participatory approach for the development of ruralinfrastructure in country. The general objective of the study was to evaluate rural development throughcommunity mobilization at local level and specific objectives were :  To access the role of community mobilization in enhancing the equity, empowerment,decentralization, sustainable rural development and poverty alleviation.  To examine development activities implemented through the community mobilizationsin the study area.  To assess the level of participation of the community members in differentdevelopment activities and their involvement in the community mobilization process. The study was carried out through the primary data collected from the semi-structured questionnaire and secondary data along with other relevant literature. Thequestionnaire for primary data were distributed to a wide range of stakeholders like COmembers, VDC personnel, DDC/DTO personnel and MLD personnel. The questionnaireseeks the responses from the stakeholders about the major issues on community mobilization.Issues were identified through the literature review and preliminary consultation with thestakeholders. This study is mainly for academic purpose. The scope of the study was limited to DDC Bardiya. The rationale behind the selection of the topic for the study was to generate more information to enrich the knowledge about the effectiveness of community mobilization process for sustainable development, decentralization, empowerment and poverty alleviationin the rural context and come up with an alternative rural development approach andstrategy. The main findings of the study have been grouped under five components namely Admins & SO, CC, HRD, SGF and technology promotion. Under Admin and SO, the formation of CO and the support organization at DDC were studied. A team of 14 staffs at DDC to support COs at different VDCs exists. COs were formed from the mass meeting of beneficiaries at the program VDCs. COs colelct regular savings and provide loans to community people. LTF from the centere is also utilized to provide credit. The rate of interest on savings and credits are decided by COs themselves. -v- The VDP enhances social capital by motivating people to initiate productive activities. On the basis of the weekly meetings and saving schemes in the COs, the community members have been able to probe and initiate different income-generating activities. In this way, the VDP has paved the way to start a number of entrepreneurial activities leading to the economic uplift of the people. Similarly, the amount of LTF is to be increased to meet the credit demands of the people. Various training activities have been organized in the programme districts. The trainings are based on demand, which is decided by CO meeting. These training include village experts training leadership training, social mobilization training etc. Under Seed Grant Fund, different infrastructure programme are implemented as demanded by COs based on their needs. Fund is provided at once only for construction and it is the duty of COs for O & M of the projects. Under technology promotion program LTF provides financial support in the form ofgrant to procure new & modern technology. It can be concluded that the main achievement of the NGO-led program is the empowerment of community people for their rights. Most of the deprived people from the study area became talkative even female who couldn’t pronounce her name before the intervention of such program. Appropriate policies and measures should be developed to enhance the active involvement of women in decision making program. Similarly the program suggested to be extended in more VDCs and to cover more and more settlements.