Women’s Knowledge and Participation in Community Forest (A case Study from Pragatishil Community Forest of Lekhanath, Kaski District)

Abstract

This research was carried out aiming at analyzing the women's knowledge and theirparticipation rate in management activities of Pragatishil Community Forest (CF),Lekhanath, Kaski district, Nepal. The data were collected through Household (Hh)interview and a set of questionnaire format was used as adata collection tool with 10%sample intensity were taken for this study where respondents were selected randomly.Field observation and informal discussion with different strata people of the study areaalso helped to draw the findings. The weighted meanscore obtained on theLikertscalewas used to determine the participation rate of the women in different CF managementactivities, for this three point scale was taken. Besides these, frequency distribution andother simple statistical tools were used indata analysis. Majority of the general users of Community Forest User Group (CFUG) are stillunaware about the CF management system whereas most of the committee membershave a good knowledge about it. Young aged women are more knowledgeable thanmiddle and old aged women except few events. Participation rate of middle agedcommittee member in decision making process as well as basic forest productscollection is higher than others. Due to the gaps in information dissemination, highlevel of unawareness among the women and male dominant community are reducingwomen's participation in CF management activities. Intensive extension program regarding awareness should be launched for users abouttheir rights and duties. They should be made aware of the government laws, policiesand administrative arrangements of CF program. Networking and coordinationmechanism should be established between the users and DFO/other organization foraddressing the problems concerning inadequate technical knowledge and otherfundamental women's requirement. Key words:Community Forest, Knowledge, Participation and Women