An assessment of the contribution of community Forest on socio-economic upliftment of women, poor and Dalit (A case study of Kalika Chandika CFUG, Bhainse-2, 3, Makawanpur)

Abstract

Nepalese society is made of complex mixture of castes, orders, families, ethnicity, communities and tribes, which create discrimination to have access and control overthe resources. Discrimination affects the participation of users in the implementation of Operational Plan (OP) leading to the failure of programs. The study entitled "An Assessment of the Contribution of Community Forest onSocio-economic Upliftmentof Women, Poor and Dalit" was proposed and carried outaiming to assess the contribution of Community Forest (CF) on socio-economic upliftment of women, poor and dalit of Kalika Chandika CFUG, Bhainse- 2 & 3,Makawanpur District. The findings were made using questionnaire survey as a research tool where altogether 30 respondents were taken for interview. Information on natural, social,human and financial aspects of the livelihood assets were chosen and compared the before handed over CF with CFUG at thepresent. Discussion with users and field observation taken from different socio-economic status also helped to draw findings. Poor and Dalit fulfill their subsistence needs of forest products, but CF could not havecontributed to uplift their economic condition as existed before CF formation. Now,women are little bit encouraged to participate in social development activities.Financially, contribution of CF to the women is not satisfactory. It seems to be insprouting stage for the socio-economic upliftment point of view. Women, poor anddalit should be represented in CFUG-committee on the equity basis and also Income Generation Activities (IGAs), social development activities and human resource development should be given top priority for their livelihood. Keywords:Socio-economic, Livelihood, Equity, Human resource, IGAs