CANADA NEPAL GENDER IN ORGANIZATIONS

Section II: Outcomes Mapping

14.Conclusion and Recommendations

Shova Shah, Doti WDO - "Four years is enough to build roads, but for gender it is not much; more support is needed from CNGO for more impact".

CNGO changed people's lives -especially women's lives. Women who were directly involved in CNGO feel more empowered and able to challenge the power relations that hold them back. But gender change is a long process. Gender as a "cross-cutting" theme is fine in rhetoric but the reality is that women's empowerment is marginalized in most projects. In the context of the conflict, it is even more important to keep on track with gender change. Women's relative poverty and powerlessness hold back development and equal access to benefits. Their situation is worse now as they are the victims of the conflict in so many ways.

However, project work is more challenging than ever, with NGOs caught between the two conflicting parties. Many large projects are confined to district headquarters. "Tangible benefits" are the need of the day, many say. Thus the question posed is, what did we learn from implementing CNGO and what could be next?

We conclude that capacity building remains important in the context of Nepal's development and current conflict. Gender equality and social inclusion demand that development benefits long appropriated by the elites be redistributed to new groups. And this requires a change in these groups ability to access and control these benefits.

It would be difficult to replicate the CNGO model in the current context to new districts. Instead, when discussing new project concepts the factors now well known in Nepal apply: transparency, tangible benefits, negotiations with Maoists as well as local government, employ local people from the disadvantaged groups, etc. But donors are caught in a dilemma - it is common knowledge that NGOs must pay a "donation" to Maoists, and that money comes from the funds channelled to NGOs by donors. And also that even the NGOs are restricted in the areas (VDCs) they are able to work. Although many people said to the team that NGOs should work in the remote areas, it is rhetoric, as NGO workers also fear for their lives and are unable and unwilling to travel to the far edges of their district.

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Therefore given this situation, we recommend:

There are now GROs in six districts, seven counting Kaski. They are the best resource for new projects and scaling up the gender change work. The purpose is to challenge gender inequality by empowering women and working with men: to work toward balanced gender relations by addressing strategic gender needs.

Some elements of a project design are:

Central level coordination: senior gender capacity building support and program direction and monitoring; disseminate the CNGO toolkit; "umbrella" for all the PNGOs
PNGOs refresher/upgrade capacity building on a semi-annual basis from central support unit
PNGOs supported to upgrade own capacity (e.g. resources and facilities upgrade, funds for internal human resource capacity building)
PNGOs supported to design and deliver gender projects that address the root causes of conflict and/or the results of the conflict, e.g. women's role in peace building and mediation, widows and orphans relief support and empowerment, violence against women support, as determined by district needs
PNGOs as district level "executing agency" to plan and support small project implementation on gender through PPNGOs (from current batch and selection of new ones by PNGOs)
PNGOs supported to continue to build gender integrated capacity of PPNGOs
PNGOs supported to train and coach selected Line Agency field staff/extension workers on gender integration in their sector - sectors such as agriculture and health (requires some PNGO capacity upgrade in sectors and depends on government ability to conduct field work)
PNGOs supported to continue their lead role as district GRO in advocacy - through gender allies networking, GECs and DDC/NGO collaboration and other advocacy methods
Each PNGO is supported to select a neighbouring district to then build one or two NGOs to perform as GROs -replicating the concept in about a dozen districts

Some qualifying conditions are:

Long term commitment - at least 5 years
Responsive to change - LFA "deliverables" are subject to annual review, and are adjusted as conditions permit, e.g. during cease-fire, project resources are mobilized at an accelerated pace; during times of tension and conflict escalation, project deliverables are minimized as necessary in order to keep district presence yet not endanger lives
Combination of small projects at community that address immediate needs with longer term capacity building projects that tackle women's strategic interests
Most importantly, this project concept must happen immediately - whether in some phased-in short term support with a longer term phase to follow or a fast/responsive project design, in order to both capture the benefits of the CNGO project and to respond to Nepal's critical problems

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Recommendations for PNGOs:

Recommendations specific to the PNGOs, based on the consultants' analysis are:

Practice more self-reflection and analysis of their organization and its impact. A concern was frequently expressed by PNGOs that a mid-term assessment was necessary to re-orient them. Therefore several areas of confusion could have been cleared up. For example, a major concern and misinterpretation was about, "whether women only NGOs should remain as women only or whether they should bring in more men to balance the number?" However the PNGOs had gone through rigorous organizational assessments prior to this outcome mapping exercise. Thus the authors recommend that the PNGOs build up clarity through sharing and analysis of issues among themselves.
Expand their learning among other NGOs in the district as well as in the region. The PNGOs are capable of handling gender training independently and performing gender advocacy in their districts. They can spread the gender equality impact by working with other partners.
Reflect and learn from their community development programs and share with district stakeholders. The PNGOs have implemented a community level project with CNGO support, which built self confidence to promote gender equality at community level. The PNGOs have to review and analyze the experience among their own members and share the lessons learned in a well organized district forum. Then they will become stronger to do more activities in remote communities in their district by adopting a social inclusion approach.
Develop and implement a follow-up plan with the PPNGOs for support and collaboration. The PNGOs have developed other NGOs (partners of the PNGOs - PPNGOs) at community level within the same district. The PPNGOs are now gender sensitized and trying to promote gender integrated activities. The PPNGOs need follow up support by the PNGOs, to be planned together and implemented through a work plan.
Mobilize the gender allies. The PNGOs should give time and special effort to activate their respective district gender allies in order to make advocacy work more fruitful and effective. Without this support PNGOs' work will be isolated and will be less accepted by the wider community.
Adopt a holistic and strategic approach to tackling gender injustices. The PNGOs were found to be very good in training delivery on gender equality. However training alone cannot change gender discrimination. It is recommended that the PNGOs intervene through a strategic approach to gender equality. For example, the WAM model includes gender training, forming ward level gender allies at grassroots, gender advocacy by extending moral and practical support to the victims through the district authorities, and creating mass awareness about issues among the concerned sectors for sustainable progress.
Revisit their strategic plan to ensure their GRO focus is maintained. CNGO is encouraged to support this final intervention of revitalizing their strategic plan in order to crystallize the entire gender integrated capacity building process for sustainable results. PNGOs work for gender equality implementation is at the early stages following the completion of the capacity building program, i.e., providing training, identifying obstacles on the path of gender mainstreaming in development sectors and finding ways to overcome those constraints and move forward. However the PNGOs now need to prepare a strategic plan to continue as a GRO. With CNGO support, strategic planning can help them to sustain the vision of a GRO and avoid diversion to various donors' priorities.
Follow-up support and project implementation funds for the PNGOs are essential to capitalize on their expertise and the groundwork laid over the past few years. The project was an innovative initiative to develop gender capacity among the PNGOs. Now this gender capacity needs to be not only marketed to other stakeholders but also mobilized to develop a gender responsive district environment. The PNGOs need financial support for community level gender projects. They also need further technical guidance from CNGO (or its successor) to deepen their skills to even more effectively implement the programs. This is necessary in order to sharpen the GRO image more actively for at least three more years in a consistent way.

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