CANADA NEPAL GENDER IN ORGANIZATIONS

Section IV: National Level Support for NGOs and Gender Equality

15. Creating a National NGO Database

Consultation with various organizations and government ministries that interact with NGOs identified a lack of information on NGOs and International NGOs (INGOs) in Nepal. The Social Welfare Council (SWC) maintained a database of internationally-funded Nepali NGOs registered under the Societies Act, but there were significant gaps in data on the rest of the NGO community.

Developing a sustainable database that met the diverse needs required the support and involvement of all the stakeholders. A multi-stakeholder Database Management Committee was established to lead the process, comprising representatives from SWC, Ministries of Home, MLD and Finance, National Planning Commission, AIN, NGOFN, and ADDCN. A series of meetings were held with stakeholders to address their individual needs for data, and a data collection form was designed. An information technology firm was contracted to develop the database. The SWC housed the database, taking responsibility for administering the system of data collection, input to the computer, analyzing the data and generating annual reports.

Chief District Officers (CDOs), district representatives of the Ministry of Home who are responsible for annual NGO registration, distributed the database forms to NGOs during the annual registration process. Other Database Management Committee members also encouraged various district stakeholders to ensure the forms were filled out and forwarded to the SWC for processing. INGOs were directly contacted by SWC.

The Database Management Committee approved a management plan for maintaining the database, and continues its oversight function. ADDCN has taken on the chair role. SWC is responsible for operating the database.

Database Management Plan and NGO Reports: Available from SWC