NEWS BRIEFS -- May 5, 2000 Volume III, Issue 2

USAID/ALO Partnership in Nepal Could Provide Lessons for Development Work in Afghanistan, other Countries

Frequently, lessons learned from projects in one developing country seem readily exportable to other countries or regions facing similar social and economic concerns. However, ventures that are very successful in one country can fail completely in another - thus leaving open the question of how to apply a model method to development programs.

The answer, according to Guatam Yadama of Washington University (WU) in St. Louis, is not to rely on models, but rather on approaches.

"Many times in the past we have applied wholesale program models across countries that have only failed. Where there is applicability, it would be in the areas of approaches to a problem rather than specific models," said Dr. Yadama.

Yadama is the project director of a recently completed Association Liaison Office (ALO)/USAID-sponsored partnership between WU and Tribhuvan University Faculty of Law in Nepal. The partnership, a multidiscipinary effort between the WU's Schools of Law and Social Work, trained law students to examine social policy concerns and prepare leaders who will protect the rights of marginalized Nepalis, especially women and children. He recently spoke to ALO about applying the successes of this partnership to the situation in a developing but highly problematic country such as Afghanistan.

The key to the program's success - and what Yadama said may be replicated in Afghanistan with the political will of the Afghan people - is the grassroots approach that WU and TU used so successfully in Nepal. Development from the bottom up requires building institutions such as an open media and freely-operating non-governmental organizations. After only ten years of democracy, Nepal already has a vibrant press and rising numbers of Nepali NGOs that advocate for the disadvantaged. "Here the lesson for Afghanistan would be to foster a vibrant print media, create enabling conditions for civil society -- both NGOs and communities taking charge -- so that development is not determined from the top," said Yadama.

The partners designed a new course at Tribhuvan entitled "Social Policy Analysis: Models, Frameworks, and Methods," which introduced law students to social policy tools critical for sound advocacy. They also launched a project web site to give faculty and students access to a comprehensive bibliography of published legal materials and sustainable development topics related to Nepal. To facilitate access, the partners established the first computer lab at Tribhuvan's Law School. The partnership has also placed WU students in internships at organizations in Nepal working in areas such as human rights, environment, and the empowerment of women.

The WU/TU partnership relied on this grassroots ethos as their guide throughout the program, emphasizing local ownership of development challenges.

"In Nepal, local communities are increasingly involved in conservation and protection of forests, in supplying certain public goods such as water, and they are partners in development with the state. A significant lesson for Afghanistan would be to rebuild communities and give them a voice in how development unfolds in their communities. Make them real stakeholders, rather than pawns in yet another war. Enable communities to discover the fruits of peacetime and rebuilding and make them partners in governance."

In 1990, Nepal's "Movement to Restore Democracy" helped initiate what most experts view as real change in the country, including the dissolution of the panchayat (partyless) system, a lift on the ban of political parties, and the release of all political prisoners. An interim government was sworn in April 1990, with a prime minister presiding over a cabinet made up of members of the Nepali Congress Party, the communist parties of Nepal, royal appointees, and independents. The new government drafted a constitution in November 1990, which preserved fundamental human rights and established Nepal as a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch.

However, substantial problems remain. Trafficking in women and child labor remain serious problems for Nepal, and discrimination against women and lower castes is prevalent. A prime focus of the partnership was the empowerment -- and inclusion in the project -- of women, which also has been one of the key focal points for development efforts in Afghanistan.

"In Nepal, forest regeneration through community forests has been achieved because of women's groups. Women have enormous say in the management of forest resources, and they are part of a very powerful advocacy group the Federation of Community Forest Users of Nepal," Yadama explained. "Gender balance [in the ALO partnership program] was also important as we did not wish to create a program that focused on marginal and disadvantaged groups to benefit men who are traditionally in the role of decision making in universities and other institutions. It was difficult to achieve on the Nepal front. The law school in Nepal has a very small enrollment of women." However, the partners still managed to achieve a 25 percent participation rate for Nepali women in choosing women LLM students to participate in a study tour to the US.