It gives me immense pleasure to present to you the Fifth Issue of the Civil Society: Mutual Accountability Project (CS:MAP) monthly newsletter. This newsletter for the month of March 2018 provides a snap-shot of some of the activities and achievements from the month of February 2018. As with the earlier Issues, we anticipate that you will find this newsletter useful to understand what other CS:MAP partners are doing, and will provide your feedback in making future editions even more interesting and fruitful. Happy reading!

Best regards,

Bishnu Sapkota Chief of Party, CS:MAP; Country Director, FHI 360 Nepal

Strengthening the Enabling Environment for Civil Society and Media Organizations in Nepal

Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on CSOs: Challenges and Opportunities

GoGo Foundation organized a ‘Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Civil Society Organizations: Challenges and Opportunities’ on February 27, 2018 in Charikot, Dolakha. At this discussion, Chief of the District Coordination Committee Dabal Pandey, expressed commitment on behalf of the local government to support CSOs, provided they worked in a transparent manner. ‘The role of CSOs is very important in the present context as we transition to new system. CSOs should coordinate with local governments and work in the priority areas identified by the government’, Pandey added. Similarly, Mayor of Bhimeshwor Municipality Bharat KC raised questions on CSO’s accountability and transparency. He further added that local governments need CSO’s support and emphasized on the CSO’s program alignment with local government. ‘Local government will support the CSOs and will not frame policies that restricts freedom of association’, KC added. Forty-seven participants (11 female) attended the event.

Public Information Officers Trained on Right to Information

Freedom Forum conducted two three-day training workshops on Right to Information (RTI) for Public Information Officers (PIO). These were held in Surkhet from February 17 to 19, and in Dhangadhi from February 20 to 22, 2018. A total of 50 PIOs (2 female) got trained on the importance of the RTI Act, and policies and provisions for maintaining transparency and accountability in the public agencies. The training covered concept, meaning, principles, rights and duties of Information Officers, importance and utility of RTI, proactive disclosure mandated by law, process of handling information requests, and RTI as a tool for promoting good governance in local governments. Twenty-five Information Officers from various public agencies participated at the training in Surkhet. More than 60% participants were from local level governments and the remaining represented the District Administrative Office, the District Treasury Controller Office and the District Election Commission Office from Surkhet, Rukum, Dailekh, Jajarkot and Salyan districts. Similarly, 25 Information Officers from Baitadi, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Doti, Achham and Dadeldhura districts participated in the training in Dhangadhi. Freedom Forum’s Chairperson Hari Binod Adhikari, General Secretary Dharmendra Jha and Federation of Nepali Journalist’s (FNJ) Vice President Bipul Pokharel facilitated the training at both locations.

Workshop on CSOs' Enabling Environment

NGO Federation of Nepal (NFN) organized a two-day workshop on CSOs' Enabling Environment on February 21-22, 2018, at Dhulikhel, Kavre. A total of 41 participants (11 female) included NFN's central executives, members and the representatives from some selected federated organizations namely Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal (FECOFUN), Federation of Drinking Water and Sanitation Users in Nepal (FEDWASUN), Dalit NGO Federation (DNF), National Federation of Disabled Nepal (NFDN), Beyond Beijing Committee (BBC), and Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ). Former President of NFN and a prominent civil society leader Gauri Pradhan, Country Director of FHI 360 Nepal Bishnu Sapkota, Democracy and Governance Specialist of USAID Nepal Krishna Pathak and NFN President Gopal Lamsal delivered the opening remarks. The discussion focused on wide ranges of issues relating to CSOs including the four sub-sessions on: situation and context analysis, stakeholders power and influence analysis, priorities, actions and tools for creating enabling environment, and developing joint action plan and

assigning roles and responsibilities to different network organizations. The group work exercises, presentations, comments and inputs helped in the formation of a nine-member task force to finalize the CSO Enabling Plan. The

March 2018

Issue 5 CS:MAP Newsletter Civil Society: Mutual Accountability Project

final CSO Enabling Plan will now incorporate the inputs from other key civil society actors and experts. Civil Society and Media Engagement with Government on Public Services Delivery and Resources Use

A total of 16 Common Assembly meetings were held in CS:MAP program districts, where the service providers and citizens discussed about the issues related to public resource use and public service delivery in health, education, agriculture and disaster risk reduction sectors. With the support from ISO partners, local CSOs also conducted Social Accountability trainings for local stakeholders in Dolakha, Dailekh, Surkhet, Kapilvastu and Palpa districts. A new Shreejanshil Shakha established in Baitadi, provided hope for improved collaboration between civil society and media. Listening, Discussion and Action Groups (LDAG) meetings were conducted in all 34 program districts and an additional 44 LDAGs were formed in 34 program districts. Three Sajha Sabhas were conducted in Bhaktapur, Rasuwa and Ramechhap districts. In coordination with the district chapters of FNCCI, NGO Federation and other CSOs working in the districts, IHRC in Banke and RWDC in Dang maintained stalls in district trade fairs, from where they imparted information on CS:MAP, RTI and services available from local government units.

An Orientation on Local Level Planning and Budgeting

To support better understanding of the local level planning and budgeting process within the local government, SOCH Nepal collaborated with the Kageshwari Manohara Municipality in Kathmandu to organize an orientation on February 16,

2018. A total of 86 participants attended the program including the Mayor, Ward chairperson and members, and members of civil society coalitions in the Ward. Former Secretary of the Nepal Government Ganga Datta Awasthi, explained the seven steps of the planning process, focusing on the importance for participatory planning, prioritizing and effective implementation. The orientation stressed on the need to generate an effective and efficient budget within stipulated deadline, and the identification and collection of local revenue and resources. Kantipur editor, Hari Bahadur Thapa led a session on the Local Government Operation Act 2074 explaining the guidelines for conducting Committee and Council meetings, and prioritizing needs to ensure improved service delivery.

IRDS Gulmi organized a day long orientation program on SA tools for locally elected representatives of Madane Gaunpalika, Gulmi on February 14, 2018. The entire elected team including the Gaunpalika chairperson and vice-chairperson, and the Ward chairpersons and members participated in this event. The participants were oriented on legal provision for SA tools application and on public hearing, social audit and public audit. During the orientation program, Gaunpalika chairperson Dan Bahadur KC made a commitment to apply SA tools for ensuring effective public service delivery and to promote good governance at the local level. Furthermore, he acknowledged the need for IRDS support for the application of SA tools in the future too. Ward members were explained and have understood the importance of maintaining citizen charters within Ward premises.

Orientation on Advocacy for District Level Coalition Members

IRDS organized a one-day orientation program on advocacy for the district level civil society coalition members on February 27, 2018 in Gulmi, to promote governance at the local level. The coalition members also discussed priority advocacy issues and the importance of advocacy in policy reform, analysis and formulation. The chairperson of the coalition Shyam Kumar Pandey, expressed satisfaction that such orientation programs were useful for building capacity of CSOs working on sub-national governance. The advocacy orientation program was facilitated by ISO, MITRA Samaj.

Local Government Allocates Budget for Shreejanshil Shakha

Since its establishment, Masuriya Shreejanshil Shakha in the Kailali district appealed to people to use this as a common space to access information and also as a platform for sharing common issues around public service delivery and resources use. Such access enabled people to get recent updates and updated information. With the Shreejanshil Shakha hosting project related events such as LDAG meetings, Common Assembly meetings, and RTI clinics at its premises, and the opening up of the space for other forums of public interest, the space is slowly gaining popularity. The Masuriya Common Assembly succeeded in convincing the Gauriganga Municipality of the importance of this space and the Gauriganga Municipality Ward No 9 has provided NRs 100,000/- (One Hundred Thousand) for upgrading the space with some maintenance and additional basic infrastructure.

Public Forums held in Bhaktapur, Ramechhap, and Rasuwa

IHRICON conducted a Sajha Sabha (Public Forum) in Bhaktapur on February 26. The event focused on sharing the local issues raised by several Common Assembly (CA) meetings held in Suryabinayak Municipality Ward no 2 and 3, Changunarayan Municipality 6, and LDAG meetings in the district. A total of 40 participants participated in the Sabha chaired by the Deputy Mayor of Suryabinayak Municipality Sarita Kunwar. The Deputy Mayor acknowledged the value of this forum and urged for expanding the Common Assembly concept to all Wards of the Municipality. She appreciated the Common Assembly concept of bringing the local issues up for discussion with the local authority within the spirit of mutual accountability. Orientation on social accountability tools and Sajha Sabha Apps were well appreciated by the local government office representatives including the Chair of the National Reconstruction Authority of Bhaktapur and the Chief District Officer.

CDC-Nepal convened a Sajha Sabha in Rasuwa on February 24, 2018 in coordination with the District Coordination Committee (DCC), FNJ, media representatives, elected representatives, Common Assembly members as well as representatives from the HEAD network. A total of 44 participants (25 female) participated at the Sabha chaired by DCC member Krishna Prasad Subedi. The Sabha discussed issues related to reconstruction, scholarship distribution and free medicine

distribution. The service providers committed to improved public service delivery in Kalika and Uttargaya Gaunpalikas at the least.

HURADEC convened a Sajha Sabha on February 22, 2018 in Ramechhap district. Since Ramechhap is an earthquake-affected district, the Sabha focused on issues related to reconstruction, such as boundary of shelter construction, scarcity of technician support, and design approval of shelters. The DCC Chief, Mayor of Manthali Municipality, Chief of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), the District Education Officer, the District Agriculture Senior Officer, the District Livestock Service Officer, and the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries representative for Ramechhap district addressed citizen concerns raised at the Sabha.

Micro-finance Group Mobilizers Trained to Adopt Public Oversight Lens

RWDC has launched micro-finance programs in Dang, Banke and Salyan districts, with 15,000 members in Dang alone, from among a total of over 36,000 members. Sixty staff engage with micro-finance groups running in all local units of Dang district, to mobilize participation of women from marginalized and disadvantaged groups. On February 9-10, 2018, RWDC organized an orientation for thirty staff (14 female, including Executive Director and Board members) on monitoring and oversight of public resource use and public service delivery. Through active community engagement, these staff were seen to have very good understanding and knowledge of the needs and challenges in communities. With this orientation, they are now able to raise these issues for citizen-government engagement through the regular forums like women group meetings, meetings with ward offices and Gaunpalikas. For example, the participants mentioned how proper distribution of free medicines, fair distribution of scholarships allocated for freed Kamlahari and Dalit students, and the need for citizen charters to spell out government incentives and compensations for marginalized groups, were immediate priorities.

RTI Campaign in Arghakhanchi District

IRDS organized a one-day campaign on RTI in Arghakhanchi, where more than 189 people visited their stall to seek information. The stall was made available for IRDS by the organizers of the Arghakhanchi

Industrial Fair. The campaign was organized in collaboration with the NGO Federation of Arghakhanchi, Campaign for Information and Good Governance, FNJ, Nepal Media Network and the district level coalition for HEAD. More than 250 people visited and about 189 people sought information and counseling on RTI.

Brochures on the RTI Act, procedures for seeking information from public offices, success stories of RTI, different publications of the National

Information Commission

were displayed at the fair. During

the campaign, different organizations and individuals signed commitments for the effective use and application of RTI.

DCC Initiation to Implement PPWG Decisions

The DCC has circulated decisions taken at a Public Private Working Group (PPWG) meeting conducted in Baitadi district for effective implementation. The PPWG coordinated by Sanjeevani, the CS:MAP partner in Baitadi, discussed on the quality of education in the district. DCC Chair Siddha Raj Bhatt chaired

the PPWG meeting held on February 07, 2018 and

representatives from different stakeholders and service providers participated in the meeting as PPWG members.

Sanjeevani has taken issues of education up for public policy advocacy since the project started in Baitadi from April 2017 and issues related to education had been widely discussed in local level Common Assembly meetings, coalition and other meetings and forums. DCC Baitadi has circulated the meeting decisions along with a letter to the Dasharathchand Municipality for their necessary support and action in addressing issues and concerns.

Capacity Building of CSOs and Media

As part of CS:MAP’s capacity building objective, ISO partner MITRA Samaj with the technical support from Equal Access, conducted a Participatory and Evidence-based Action Research (PEAR) training to train 33 CS:MAP volunteers as Community Action Researchers (CARs). Likewise, ISO partners NNSWA, NEPAN and MITRA Samaj supported FMDC, HURADEC, Sundar Nepal, IRDC, IRDS SOCH, IHRICON and Sanjeevani to review and update their personnel and financial policies.

Training on Participatory and Evidence-based Action Research (PEAR)

MITRA Samaj conducted a training on PEAR from February 1 to 5, 2018. A total of 33 volunteers representing 33 CS:MAP districts learned the concept of basic research, its purpose, research planning and implementation, research ethics, conflict sensitivity, power dynamics, GESI sensitivity, and networking and collaboration. Participatory research techniques were discussed as means for generating evidence for public policy advocacy and as a means of carrying out oversight of public resource use and public service delivery. As such, participants were made familiar with local governance in the changed federal dispensation, to make them aware of the scope of research they would carry out. Participants were made familiar with research tools such as community mapping, service mapping, key actor analysis, timeline/ event mapping, observation, road blocks, division of labor, interviews, and focus group discussions. Participants were explained their roles as CARs, especially in relation to data management, documentation and reporting research findings through the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system and the Mero Report platform developed by Equal Access. The participants also practiced PEAR focusing on health and agriculture issues, among members of common assembly and LDAG in Budhanilkantha and Kageshwori Manohara Municipalities.

Financial Management Training to CS:MAP partners

CS:MAP organized a three-days Financial Management Training for ten implementing partner organizations of western region on February 19-21, 2018 at Nepalgunj. Two key staff, Program Coordinator and Finance Officer, were invited from each organization, with a total of 18 participants (3 female). The objective of the training was to enhance capacity of implementing partner organizations for efficient management of program activities, administration and finance. The sessions focused on ways to identify and assess the key elements and approaches of Project Management and Budgeting; understanding and contributing database management system and reporting mechanism in CS:MAP; importance of financial monitoring and its

types; value of cost share, its importance and financial reporting benefited the participants as the sessions were directly related to their day-to-day function and concerned area. In addition to training content, observations of financial monitoring were also discussed which helped a lot to know the existing gaps and finding the way out. Similar training has

been planned for the remaining 16 Implementing Partners to be conducted at Kathmandu in the third quarter of this year.

ToT on Using ICT Tool (Sajha Sabha) for Strengthening Governance

Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL) organized a two-day Training of Trainers (TOT) from February 13-14, 2018 on using Sajha Sabha tool, an ICT application for strengthening governance through tracking and addressing governance issues with citizen participation. The ToT was based on a detailed guideline developed by the KLL team on how to conduct sensitization on Sajha Sabha tool. The guidelines also included the content to be covered while introducing the application. The participants also received a copy of user’s guides to use the Sajha Sabha (web) as well as Sajha Sabha (mobile) applications. The purpose of this ToT was to introduce Sajha Sabha tool implementation strategy with CSOs; and sketch a preliminary roadmap on how to take Sajha Sabha tool to the local government units. In addition, a brief orientation was organized for CS:MAP volunteers on February 12, 2018 to enable them to use the Sajha Sabha app and provide necessary support when needed.

The journalists in attendance stated that they found the application very useful. They requested the KLL team to organize an orientation program with focus on media and their role within the implementation of Sajha Sabha tool. The elected representatives described it as a very good application, but also highlighted the need of sustainability of its usage. A recommendation from the CSOs was to operationalize the Sajha Sabha app throughout Nepal and at least in the whole local government. The team reflected that the sensitization had been really effective and brainstormed briefly on the module of hands-on training of the app with small groups of people in the future.

Social Accountability Orientation in Dolakha

HURADEC Nepal organized an orientation program at the district level on February 5, 2018. A total of 25 participant including PPWG and coalition members participated in the orientation. The orientation covered information and importance of exit poll, citizen report card, community score card, public hearing, social audit, public audit and public expenditure tracking survey in new local structures.

During the orientation program, Senior Social Development Officer Narayan Sedain, from DCC Dolakha opined that SA tools were not being properly used after the change in

structure of the State and in the absence of clear guidelines for their use in the new dispensation. He highlighted in his speech ‘every organization should promote good governance in the local units and promote the SA tools as necessary’. He also committed that the DCC will make efforts to coordinate with and promote SA tools within all local government institutions. He highlighted the importance of SA tools especially when the grievance handling mechanism had failed in the context of Nepal.

This newsletter is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this newsletter are the sole responsibility of FHI 360 and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

For Further Information Contact:

Civil Society: Mutual Accountability Project (CS:MAP) | FHI 360 Nepal

GPO Box 8830, Gopal Bhawan, Anamika Galli, Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal

Tel: 977.1.4437173 | Fax: 977.1.4117475

Web: https://www.fhi360.org/countries/nepal

Editorial team

Sajana Maharjan, Deputy Chief of Party, CS:MAP, FHI 360 Nepal Nirmal Rijal, Ph.D., Media Director, CS:MAP, Equal Access Khadga Ramtel, M&E Manager, CS:MAP, FHI 360 Nepal