Joint Programme Evaluation final evaluation report august 2016 DanChurchAid (dca) Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur Nepal Dr. Prakash Bhattarai and Dr. Dhruba Gautam

2.2.2 Inclusive Citizenship for Accountable Governance Programme

• 
  ICAG programme in all three countries, and specifically in project locations, have mainly contributed to a) strengthen advocacy efforts for protecting and promoting the human rights of women, Dalits and marginalised groups, b) capacitate them with leadership and advocacy skills, c) facilitated their active participation in civic, political, and local development processes, d) organize them in CBOs and various district and national level networks, and e) ensure their representations in formal and informal local governance structures. Effectiveness of ICAG programme can be justified with following assertions as identified by the evaluation team;
  

• 
  According to view from the DCA staffs, project partners and beneficiaries at the local level, there is an increased participation of Dalits and women (in Nepal as well as Bangladesh) in the local political, social, and developmental initiatives, particularly for local government’s budget distribution, community based dispute resolution, and the prevention of socio-cultural violence such as dowry system. Likewise, ICAG programme has also promoted multi-stakeholder’s participation for ending caste based discrimination in project locations.
  

• 
  In both Nepal and Bangladesh, some of the DCA partners have formed and strengthen CBOs with a view to encourage marginalised and Dalit’s participation in decision-making processes. In Bangladesh, informal platform among CSOs have been created at the national level to work on marginalized women’s issues, whereas in Nepal, CSOs, including DCA partners working on Dalit rights issues are engaged in national level advocacy with their demand to draft Dalit friendly constitution, inclusive political and bureaucratic structure of the state, inclusive political parties and so on.
  

• 
  ICAG programme has also facilitated national level policy and public advocacy on Dalit and untouchability issues. For example in Nepal, DCA partners along with other CSOs created pressure to the government to the amendment of Untouchability Act 2012. Formation of National Dalit Women Federation (NDWF) in Bangladesh with the support from DCA can be considered as another positive step towards public advocacy Dalit women’s rights. There was no such women led and women focused Dalit federation in the past. Dalit women groups at the local level are also formed in Bangladesh and these groups are tied up with local government agencies. With the formation of NDWF, it has contributed to enhance Dalit women’s capacity to claim their rights and increase their access to justice.
  

• 
  DCA’s support has also contributed to enhance ICAG partners’ engagement at the regional and international levels. For example, NagarikUdyog has been able to participate and contribute to Asian Dalit Rights Forum. DCA also supported NagarikUdyog’s president’s visit to New York to attend UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Forum in 2015.
  

• 
  At a South Asia Regional level, through DCA’s regional partner Forum Asia, contributed to consolidate civil society calls for the establishment of a regional human rights mechanism and to draw a common strategy to reinforce and amplify the call at the regional level. This was done through organizing five national workshops and state‐level civil society dialogues. The national workshops led to the formation of National Core Committees in Bhutan (August 2015), Nepal (November 2015), Sri Lanka (December 2015) and Maldives (December 2015). Other Cross-national organisational engagements in active citizenship in Nepal, India and Bangladesh were facilitated through organizing annual partners’ meeting, cross country study on gender responsive budgeting and marginalised women, focusing India, Bangladesh and Nepal. However, these could be only one off event rather than a continuous process.
  

With all evidences presented above, the evaluation team concludes that the ICAG programme has significantly contributed to create an enabling environment in project locations for enhancing the leadership capacity of discriminated women for furthering their participation in decision making processes and structures. Likewise, ICAG programme has also been able to achieve its objectives of enhancing Dalits’ and other excluded groups participation within state and social institutions at the local level where this project has been implemented. Participation and inclusion of women and Dalits in project locations has created a foundation towards the elimination of caste and gender based discrimination. Likewise, ICAG programme has also contributed to enhance the capacity of women and men human rights defenders at the local level and through which attempts are made to make responsible authorities responsive. But there is a long way to go for the full achievement of this objective. Moreover, ICAG programme has also been somehow successful in facilitating cross-regional linking, learning, and sharing opportunities among the NGO partners.

2.2.3 Resilient Livelihood and Sustainable Food Security Programme

In a broader picture, the RLSFS programme has contributed to mainstream DRR and climate change adaptation into livelihood diversification and food security improvement. It has further strengthened CSOs’ and right holders’ participation in the local governance structures. Capacity building of right holders has been instrumental for policy advocacy and claim for their rights and the government services. Assertions and examples presented below further justify the effectiveness of the RLSFS programme;
Increased awareness and recognition of right to food policies and programme: Due to continuous advocacy from NGO partners of DCA, right-holders from the programme locations are now aware of policies and laws related to food security, natural resource management, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation. For example in Nepal, formulation of pro-poor policies/laws related to food security was initiated by DCA partners, which contributed to the establishment of RtF network and draft a RtF bill from civil society sector. Eventually, ‘RtF’ and ‘food sovereignty’ issues have also been incorporated in the Constitution of Nepal 2015.
Policy formulated as result of continuous advocacy: Achievements such as a) provision of joint land ownership in Odisha, India, b) allocation of public land to landless households and access to land certification provisions in Bangladesh, and c) equal wages for men and women, implementation of rehabilitation programme for ex-Haliya, and identification card for Badi community and claiming over forest rights in Dailekh district of Nepal were made possible due to continuous policy advocacy from the DCA and its partners. Likewise, an ad-hoc provision for allocating 15 percent budget in the agriculture development sector by the local government bodies were made possible in programme locations of Nepal due to consistent advocacy from DCA partners and other CSOs. Moreover, there are some practices of recognising civil society in NRM related budget formulation process. For example, Government of Rajasthan in India invited ‘Association of Strong Women Alone’ for pre-budget consultation meeting in NRM sector.
Continuous policy advocacy yields some other results. For example, in Rajasthan, India, quality of mid-day meals has been improved and poor households received ration on time. The Government of Odisha agreed to revise ‘pension scheme guidelines’ and allocation of government resources for livelihood diversification. Right holders started to claim social protection allowances for the first time albeit they were eligible for many years.
Contribution to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA): Local disaster risk management plans (LDRMP) and local adaptation plan of actions (LAPAs) have been reformed in Nepal due to policy advocacy from DCA partners along with other CSOs working in RtF sector. DRR and CCA are mainstreamed in the local government’s plan and programmes. Local people now better understand the likely impacts of climate change, disasters, and coping mechanism to reduce the risks. As a result, community based flood early warning system have been established. Cross Border Citizen Forum (Nepal-India) in Koshi river basin has explored the cross-border related flood issues with both governments and strengthened the flood based EWS. People living along the riverbank expressed that because of upstream and downstream linkages and availability of real time information about floods through sirens and announcements on local FM radio, they are able to save lives and protect valuable assets.
This programme has also been successful in leveraging the resources from relevant agencies for DRR. Flood mitigation through bio-engineering technologies has been helping in protecting riverbanks prone to soil erosion, saving productive land adjacent to rivers, and restoring greenery. Emergency fund and grain bank with fistful rice campaigns were outcomes for disaster preparedness and response. According to the views from right-holders, these initiatives are rays of hope during crises and emergency. People who used to wait for relief and rescue after a disaster have now started to manage a response themselves which fostered self-reliant and thereby take an important step from risk to resilience.
The climate factsheet was developed by DCA in 2015 and shared during Lima–COP 20. This further helped to make the climate change related issues of South Asia quite visible at international level.
In sum, DCA’s RLSFS programme have contributed to formulate and implement pro-poor policies and laws regarding food security, natural resource management and disaster risk reduction through strengthened governance and effective response.
Strengthened CBOs and their alliances for ensuring livelihood and food security rights: The evaluation team has found that RLSFS programme has significantly contributed to strengthen CBOs and their alliances for ensuring livelihood and food security rights, and this is achieved through organising various trainings related to organisational management, leadership development, and advocacy skills in programme locations of all programme countries. According to the views from right-holders, these new skills and understandings have contributed to increase their confidence to work on these issues. The capacity building efforts have also contributed in developing strategies and operational action plan, fostering confident and initiating meaningful dialogue with duty bearers. For example, RLSFS programme has contributed to build women’s resilience to disasters through integrating gender perspectives in DRR initiatives. Likewise, inclusive DMCs have been instrumental towards reducing the risks of hazards, eliminating social vulnerability, and building disaster-resilient communities. Moreover, due to strengthened CBOs, they have been very successful in accessing government services and mobilise government resources at the local level. For example, in Doti District of Nepal, farmer’s institutions are able to harvest NPR 1,779,410 from various government institutions. According to right-holders, one of the major achievements of RLSFS programme is that it linked them with relevant government agencies for leveraging the resources.
Access to livelihood and food security rights: The evaluation team has found that RLSFS programme has also been instrumental for accessing livelihood and food security rights of poor and landless farmers from marginalised communities. For example, more than 83 landless and smallholder farmers in Dailekh district of Nepal have received 23 hectare of forest land under the leasehold scheme from District Forest Office and initiated turmeric, ginger, and non-timber forest products (NFTPs). According to the views of right-holders, this scheme is very effective in generating additional income to the poor farmers. In India, communities have fetched good income from NFTPs as those NTFPs business were linked with producer companies and develop business plan for market. Farm/non-farm climate resilient livelihood models were promoted through demo plots which further helped diversify livelihood options and improve food security. The programme’s approach of supporting the poor and deprived families with small scale farming support is impressive but to fetch large chuck of income in a sustainable way, RLSFS programme could advocate for the commercialisation of agriculture, financial mechanism through agriculture cooperatives, establishment of collection centres and link CBOs with private sector through value chain development.
Enhanced food security of excluded and marginalised communities through on farm based livelihood initiative: The programme has contributed to reduce the food insecure periods through on-and-off farm based climate resilient livelihood models. The programme’s records demonstrated that increased farm productivity helped farmers to improve their food security from 90 to 180 days. In this regard, the RLSFS programme has introduced already tested and trailed approach of climate resilient livelihood models, namely, organic vegetable farming, drought tolerant rice varieties, integrated home gardening, riverbed farming, community seed banks, poly-house based vegetable farming and so on. Quality of seeds and irrigation facilities provided from the programme improved farming practices. Interactions with farmers during the field visits revealed that crop yield is reportedly increased (80%) with an improvement in irrigation facilities and so is cropping intensities. Irrigation facilities have reduced the risks of water shortages during drought season. For example in Doti and Achham districts of Nepal, women expressed that easy availability irrigation facilities have been a huge mental relief to them, as they don’t have to go to field at night for checking irrigation water and this secured them from the attack of wildlife and other gender-based violence.
In Nepal, poly-house based vegetable farming (mostly led by women) is very impressive as its yield is three times more than that of conventional methods. According to women interviewed in the field, group-based vegetable farming helped them to overcome generations of poverty and social stigma. Being able to deposit their personal savings in a registered farmers’ group has helped them to reduce divisions between classes and castes and create equality. In Bangladesh, successful livelihood initiatives involve homestead gardening, flood and drought tolerant rice cultivar, organic vegetable farming, duck rising, and tilapia fish. In India, farmers have harvested good income through vegetables in eight high raised platforms and low level platforms for fish cultivation. In Rajasthan, the programme’s initiatives were successful in lifting the water from river and cultivate 2 to 3 crops in a year. At the regional level, climate resilient crops were further tested and up-scaled in collaboration with research institutions and universities.
Off-farm climate resilient livelihood models: The programme introduced off-farm based livelihood options namely animal husbandry, seed bank support, gender friendly farming tools, and petty cash for small scale enterprises. Among them, improved animal husbandry with vaccination and care, and fishery are found to be successful in reaping the impressive income. Seed banks have been able to conserve the seeds as well as protect the farmers from the market threats of unavailability of seeds and high cost and this will ensure the food security in the long run. Unless challenges like resource demands, decline of farmers’ interest, limited scientific knowledge, lack of physical infrastructure, and lack of technical knowledge about managing seeds and regenerating collected seeds are met, community seed banks cannot be sustained. DCA could consider these aspects while developing seed bank related projects.
Considering feminisation in farming system as a result of high flow of cross-border and international labour migration in Far-Western Nepal, gender friendly farming tools namely mini power tillers, paddle driven rice/wheat threshers, mini gasoline fast hand harvester for wheat, rice and maize were piloted. In general, these technologies are well accepted. According to woman farmer interviewed, considering the geographical terrain, mini power tillers is not much feasible for women, as it is difficult to carry it from one plot to another.
In sum, DCA’s RLSFS programme is successful in empowering excluded and marginalised communities in food insecure and disaster prone areas for increasing access to livelihood and food security rights through strengthened community based organisations and their alliances.
Increased organisational capacity of DCA partners empowering excluded and marginalised communities: One of the organisational capacities of DCA and its partners is result based monitoring. The culture of organising reflection-action session among relevant stakeholders, sharing of recommendations with partner organisation and developing mutually agreed action plan has promoted accountability and transparency in programming. Likewise, DCA’s RLSFS programme is successful in developing long-term advocacy strategies on programme related issues. Eight partners in Nepal, two in Bangladesh and nine in India have developed long-term advocacy strategies on RtF, climate change and DRR. Pre-people’s SAARC consultation and meetings among partners created a conducive environment for active engagement to strengthen alliance on land rights issues. A “right to food movement for zero hunger” campaign in Nepal has helped to disseminate food security related issues at the regional level delegates.
In sum, RLSFS programme is effective in building DCA partners’ organisational capacity to empower excluded and marginalised communities. The organisational development and capacity building support to partner NGOs from the DCA is based on the prioritised needs of the partners hence they are effective. In the future, DCA could facilitate to build alliance among the relevant partners NGOs for consolidated advocacy.