Livelihood Recovery for Peace Project is seen as the "flagship project" and has drawn a lot of interest from senior management of UNDP in this integrated and area focused programme in Central Tarai for restoring the foundations for sustainable development through improvement of livelihood assets of the most disadvantaged communities.
Just recently the project received a high level visit comprising Mohammad Younus, Deputy Chief/Programme Adviser for South and West Asia Division, Shoko Nodo, UNDP Nepal Country Director, Naeem Ahmad, HR Specialist of UNDP, Development Communications Officer Sangita Khadka Bista, Dharma Swarnakar, Programme Analyst and Priyanka Chaudhary from Procurement Unit. The team visited Ankar and Sarpallo VDCs in Mahottari and interacted with the project beneficiaries, focusing on what has been the difference with the intervention of LRP.
The beneficiaries shared their new learnings through weekly Participatory and Action Learning (PLA) sessions conducted by local social mobilisers. The beneficiaries expressed delight that they were now in a position to understand the importance of vital registration and how to acquire those rights, why they should never compromise with their children's education and what services were provided by the local government. More importantly, the women said they had learnt the strength of their own community by understanding their power to negotiate and put up their case before local authorities, especially at the office of Village Development Committee and District Development Committee. They had even started listening to each other's ideas and learning from each other instead of quarrelling on small matters. Following the field visit, the visitors shared their candid reflection about the project activies.
What Visitors Had to Say Mohummad Younus Deputy Chief/Programme Adviser for South and West Asia Division
"We had the opportunity to see the project brief and it was an opportunity of how the project was doing and all of that. And in terms of the work and obviously, we saw from the beneficiary and we saw from the NGOs, there is no better testimony than what they said. It talks about the importance of the project, impact of the project.
One thing we should avoid is to give NGOs an impression that they are commercial contractors. You build the road, you build the bridge, you build the street and that's what an NGO is. No, that is not an NGO. And how we could build on these networks we have beyond the LRP Project is part of the governance portfolio and I think it's a very important bridge we have and how we utilise it beyond that."
Shoko Noda, UNDP Country Director
"You are doing good on the ground as we also saw today. Part of my visit why I came here was to understand your project so that we could start meeting donors. As part of donors we need human stories from you, so that we can do some packaging for donors. The immediate thing for us to do is the fundraising with donors for this year. So be prepared. I may be caming back with donors. It means to create a momentum. I think it's also good that those unhappy NGOs (for not been selected as contract partners) are also voicing their concerns. if they were not interested, they'd not have come so I think we should also think how we can utilize how we can utilise their commitment to development. This procurement process, not only in this country but even in Japan, there is always some concern so it is not anything extraordinary in this part of this world.
But I think it would be good to know what it is all about. That can also be part of, as Mohammad said, Democratization process, the capacity building process and see how your project does this. Just give us a call. We'll try to cooperate in in the way we can."
Jorn- Political Affairs, UNMIN
”I think this region in the politial front is the most affected and poorest region in the country, although there is poverty in the hilly region as well. The three districts LRP is working in and Saptari and Siraha are really the poorest districts. If you visit these distrits, there is no service of the government, sanitiation, etc. This is the political context of the region. There are inequalities, geographic situations, exclusion and all such things leading to security concerns. This is a large context. But in the last five or six years, what has happened is, there was a politial movement. The movement started here in Madhesh. But it seems their leaders have defied the political demands. The problem of political representation, the problem of political will, the problem of resolving the people's expectations by their leaders hasn't really improved. There were a lot of expectations three years ago but now there is more frustration, so this is something you need to take into account for your exit strategy, because the people see this type of project as the only source as their support."
Naeem Ahmad HR Specialist
"From the Operations side, if I could share a couple of points, i would go with Shoko's point of really getting engaged with NGOs and providing them some kind of training and orientation on our system. And it will be a very good activity. We'll help them understand better how the system works.
My second point is regarding the gender balance. From the HR you know we try to do that, shortlisting many times, telling the projects, please look at the shortlisted candidates. And many times they gave us a long list of why a female is not available there. It's a very collaborative effort. it starts from really the project. We just facilitate in that sense. so I'd say whenever a new opportunity comes up now, I'd request you and the team to consider this thing in a very high priorty thing. And from our side if you need any extra sort of help, we'll also look at our system, our outreach options, how we are accessing the right candidates."
Sangita Khadka Development Communications Officer,
"Looking at the feedback of so many NGOs, there was one thing common amongst all of them that LRP was doing good for the community. That was one place where none of them had differences of opinion. I think their dissatisfaction is in the process of procurement and bidding which has to be taken up by the country office. It's been ten years I have been with the country office and I have travelled to many villages and heard the same kind of stories of so many women. But it's really a backward community. And most probably the things they said today, I might have heard in 2001 when I joined UNDP. That's what I am trying to say, in those places they have already come out of that status now. They may have now turn out to be entrepreneurs. But I mean I see they must have been marginalised from the mainsteam development so much. That this little amount of support we are giving, from Kathmandu it's really a big support from our side. I think they should continue doing what they are doing with our grant. But the point is that, Mohummand also pointed out, by the time we phase out from this district, what will we have left behind the legacy, sustainability. We're relying so much on grants and how will they sustain their work after we go out."
Dharma Swarnakar, Programme Analyst
"For my part, it's been just a bit more than a year. In this short period of time, we've been able to show something concrete in terms of reaching to the poor and most marginalized groups. For those who understand the context in which the project is operating, it's really a big thing, having access to the poor people, which is really difficult. When we're organising them, forming a group, and helping them to learn about a lot of things, starting from having access to all state services, from birth registration to vital registation to citizenship and all those things for these people we call VEEDs or vulnerable, excluded and economially deprived. They are not even exposed to public places. They hesitated to take to anybody. In one year's time we' ve been able to demostrate something concrete. This is really something that I am impressed.
And I was really impressed with what the Chief District Officer and LDO shared that LRP is a really good programme; we want this programme to expand, all those things and I really go with Mohummud's point that we need to wait and that we are not here to replace the government. That point, I think we need to be very very serious on that. And when we talked to LDO, because you said it's a very good programme and moving very good but is there any coordination between your district's regular programme? Is this programme alligned with the government and there was confusion. I would say this is the area, because based on our experience of 10-15 years of development work with UNDP, this was the area we didn't do very well in the past. Perhaps this is the area LRP has to take seriously to maintain the credibility from the government people do real coordination at the field level. "
