FES generally
works with its partner organizations in social, economic
and political areas, and executes all the activities
it plans on an annual basis. The basic socio-economic
and political objectives of FES are to promote democratic
structures in Nepal and create dialogue For a independent
of political parties. FES-sponsored activities, accordingly,
aim to impart political information and knowledge in
an impartial manner, stimulate communication between
different political and social spheres and life-world
and motivate the public to discuss complex social, political
and economic matters emerging from the pressures of
daily decisions.
The project objectives have
been designed to:
-
create awareness about
the role and function of political parties and other
democratic institutions;
-
educate the young generation
about their rights and duties;
- analyze, discuss and debate
the development policy of Nepal;
- increase the rights of consumers;
and
-
enhance awareness about
gender equality to the ordinary citizens and the public.
Under the first
project objective roles and functions of political parties,
civil society, NGOs and private sectors were discussed
in the public taking into account their legislative
framework, embeddedness in society, accountability,
legitimacy, transparency, institutionalization and democratization.
Democracy assistance requires long-term efforts in re-ordering
the state and non-state actors democratically and in
enlisting the continuous and active participation of
large sections of people in economic and political decision-making
processes. It also requires some support to intermediary
bodies like NGOs, civil society and academic institutions
because they constitute a pre-condition for, as well
as a complement to, the decentralization initiatives
of the government to remove the problem of unequal access
and solve the substantive problems of society. Under
democracy, the associational ethos is expected to create
a public space for civic activities and help in the
formation of a democratic will essential to fight the
feelings of silence, isolation and political apathy
of citizens.
A short-term
effort to get Nepal through a sudden take-off to democracy
is not feasible. It takes years for the people to internalize
the basic concepts, values and institutions of democracy
and form a rich associational life for the genuine aggregation,
articulation and communication of their interests. An
attentive public and the citizens at large from all
walks of life should understand the vision and details
of the Constitution, help sustain the political culture
of institutions they consider important and pin hopes
on those organization for addressing issues they encounter.
Without this, efforts towards the consolidation of democracy
will remain incomplete.
In order to
facilitate debates on the social, economic and political
questions, FES has supported its partner organizations
to initiate seminars on consensus building and coalition
politics and to help them take stock of the state of
progress of democracy in Nepal. FES along with the International
Institute for Electoral and Democratic Assistance (IDEA),
Sweden and DANIDA, was instrumental in facilitating
the initiative of four Secretary-Generals of major political
parties to establish the Center for Studies on Democracy
and Good Governance (CSDG) in Kathmandu in the hope
of initiating all-party dialogues and linking democracy
consolidation to a wider area of national consensus.
CSDG in the
year 2000 and 2001 and Nepal Center for Contemporary
Studies (NCCS) in 1998 took the initiatives to involve
the Secretary-Generals of the major political parties,
Speaker, Chairman of Upper House, MPs, including the
Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, in a discussion
on consensus building and conflict resolution (especially
structural conflict with the Maoist Party, manifest
conflict with major opposition political parties and
latent conflict with the society and civil society forces)
process on matters of vital importance to the public.
They identified three areas: to develop common approaches
towards democratic norms and procedures; promote institutional
development of the central level public bodies; and
formulate a politically neutral civic education course.
FES has been able to achieve the last objective by executing
civic education at schools and combining micro and macro
approaches in programme implementation.
A number of
conceptual areas, such as diffusion of democratic values,
constitutionalism, good governance, formation of civic
political culture, judicial reforms, the organization
of functional interests, political institutionalization,
electoral reforms, decentralization of power, empowerment
of Dalits, disadvantaged and marginalized sections of
society, in which FES is supporting its partner organizations
in lending coherence to the objective of democratic
consolidation. These are the areas in which partner
organizations of FES have been continuously debating
involving the major stakeholders of society and providing
inputs to the policy makers.
Under the second
project objective - educating the young generation about
democracy in Nepal, their rights, knowledge about the
transition of rights and duties at different ages, risks
in the Nepalese society, knowledge about human rights
and social justice and civic education - several workshops/seminars
have been organized in the country and feedback has
been collected to prepare a course on civic education
for 10+2 students in co-operation with the Higher Secondary
Education Board of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal.
Feedback on the seminars has been used to update the
book and reflect the experiences on current and future
activities.
Promoting democracy
is a strategy for the enhancement of the system of fundamental
rights and duties and participation of all citizens.
Without the concrete realization of state rights, the
inequality of wealth, power and status in society can
easily disrupt the implementation of social and economic
policies. In this context, in order to make civic education
programme sustainable, FES helped in the preparation
and publication of a new book "Contemporary Nepalese
Society" upon the request of the Higher Education
Board of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal thereby initiating
public debates in the five development regions of the
country.
Sustainability
of the post-transition process of democracy requires
continuous socialization of young generation and inducing
them to accept the democratic polity. Democratic practices
can flourish only in the context of educated and informed
citizens in society and making opportunities available
to form their own organizations for the articulation
of their needs and interests. The course on civic education
must be taken as a long-term goal for the democratic
constitution of the state and the real control of governmental
power by the public. The quality of democratization
and institutionalization may be affected by the quality
of civic education, skills and dispositions and performance
of the polity during the transition period. It is relatively
easy to support a bottom-up approach to civic education,
particularly because it is demand-driven and it is the
only means to transform the people into citizens and
citizens into public thereby helping them to assume
social and political responsibility in their personal
and public life.
Under the third
project objective, FES supported its partner organizations
to:
-
analyze,
discuss and debate on the development policy of Nepal
and help to sort out a number of questions and educate
the public on the roles and responsibilities of public
and private institutions working in the fields of
democracy, human rights, good governance, civil society
and various development practices existing in the
nation. (Public debate on development policy covered
many areas, such as indigenization of policy-making
in Nepal, hydro-power development, environment and
sustainable development, social economy, role of private
sectors, social justice, different paradigms of development,
such as the state, the market economy, NGOs, community
organizations and civil society, sound industrial
relations).
-
conduct
seminars and workshops, and support the publication
of books and policy papers on issues affecting Nepal’s
long-term development policy, national security, viability
and survival. Other areas were Nepal in the International
System, foreign policy and geopolitics, foreign aid,
debt and trade, open border between Nepal and India,
sub-regional cooperation on energy, Nepal and WTO,
Nepal and SAARC, social charter, which are considered
useful in informing the policy makers and the public
about the implications of emerging international regimes
and how policies should be devised to avoid negative
fallout while reaping the benefits from the emerging
regional and global co-operation and development.
The strengthening of development policy requires an
awareness of political decision-makers and the public
towards global interdependence and the need to undertake
global responsibility in the fields of development
co-operation.
Under the fourth
project objective - increasing the rights and duties
of consumers and enhancing awareness about gender equality
in the attentive public and citizens - FES co-operated
with its partner organizations on the issues of building
and disseminating knowledge about gender equality, women
and development, social, economic and political participation
of women, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discriminations Against Women among the school
and university teachers, lawyers, people’s representatives,
students and media persons. Accordingly, it supported
the sensitization of gender issues among the newly elected
women of selected Village Development Committees, extended
financial co-operation in the preparation of manual
in Nepali on the Nirbachanma Mahila Sahabhagita: Rajnaitik
Sasaktikaran (Women’s Participation in Election: Political
Empowerment) and helped in organizing workshops in the
five development regions of the country. Moreover, FES
also organized exposure visits of Nepalese women to
different development projects in India and provided
other similar opportunities to take part in regional
and global debates on gender politics.
Similar programmes
have been initiated with a consumer related partner
organization, Pro-Public, which has been active in educating
and informing consumers, raising issues of food security,
taking case of adulteration to the courts and providing
inputs to law enforcement agencies, including lobbying
for the formulation of consumer friendly Laws and Acts.
Additionally, it has been organizing the Nepalese consumers
on many matters of public interests, pertaining to social,
economic and technological and informational policies
and their impacts on the lives of Nepalese consumers.
Every year it prepares four to five briefing papers
in Nepali language, distributes them among the media
and consumer organizations and the citizens, and runs
programmes on "Good Governance" in order to
sensitize the workers, citizens and consumers on issues
of public interests. There are other areas where FES
has been instrumental:
-
Execution
of research and study on the role and functions of
governing institutions and institutions of democratic
societies, such as political parties, NGOs, civil
society, decentralization and local governing institutions.
-
Providing
exposure, training and visits of Nepalese MPs, academics,
politicians, business persons, students and journalists
for the development of regional and international
understanding.
-
Technical
backstopping of NGOs, and different departments of
TribhuvanUniversity and civil society organizations
by providing material support such as books, computers,
fax machines. Support is also given for organizing
seminars, conducting scientific and academic research
and publishing books in various areas of teaching
and research, public and policy interests of the country.
-
Training
on "Research Methodology Course" for Political
Science Teachers who are teaching this course in various
post-graduate campuses of Tribhuvan University Prof.
John Scholz, a Fullbright Professor, in co-operation
with the faculty members, conducted this course.
- Arranging for teaching assignment.
- Arranging short-term scholarships
for a number of Nepali scholars to study in Germany
and German students to study in Nepal.
Tables 1 to
3 show the types and number of activities in each field
which were mentioned earlier.
|
Table-1 Development
Policy
|
| Types of Activities |
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
Total
|
| Seminars |
9
|
1
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
7
|
7
|
3
|
4
|
1
|
44
|
| Workshops |
-
|
3
|
6
|
7
|
6
|
7
|
-
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
37
|
| Trainings |
-
|
4
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
5
|
| Studies & Publications
|
4
|
4
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
5
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
40
|
| Study Tours |
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
3
|
| Material Support
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
1
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
7
|
| Total |
13
|
12
|
15
|
20
|
18
|
19
|
12
|
11
|
9
|
7
|
136
|
|
Table-2 Democratization
|
| Types
of Activities |
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004 |
Total
|
| Seminars |
4
|
-
|
1
|
10
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
3
|
1
|
43
|
| Workshops |
5
|
12
|
11
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
3
|
-
|
6
|
6
|
64
|
| Trainings |
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
3
|
1
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
7
|
| Study & Publications
|
-
|
7
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
-
|
1
|
1
|
21
|
| Material Support
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
5
|
| Total |
9
|
20
|
16
|
18
|
15
|
20
|
15
|
7
|
12
|
8
|
140
|
|
Table-3 Women
and Development
|
| Types of Activities |
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
Total
|
| Seminars |
-
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
11
|
| Workshops |
-
|
-
|
5
|
7
|
5
|
3
|
2
|
-
|
4
|
4
|
30
|
| Studies & Publications
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
7
|
| Study Tours |
2
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
4
|
| Total |
2
|
1
|
8
|
10
|
7
|
4
|
3
|
5
|
7
|
5
|
52
|
Through partner
organizations FES has been able to institutionalize
multiple fora for initiating dialogues among the three
sets of partners: trade unions, consumer organizations
and civic groups. FES’s experience of working with the
motivated partners has been encouraging. Public debates
often anticipate new public needs, increase awareness
of the alternative choices and their costs and benefits
to the various strata of population, help improve the
understanding of the implications, and generate input
for the process of policy formulation and policy options
to the government. If political development is to be
sustainable, political issues should be subjected to
debate in a fully democratic manner and a series of
discourses should be organized on the introduction of
democratic processes.
The strength
of FES lies in its transparent operation, and its outputs
from researches, seminars and workshops are publicly
shared. FES and its partner organizations have considerable
strength in their publications (see the list of FES
publications subscribed in the University Curriculum,
Appendix I). Many of the publications have been reprinted
twice or thrice indicating their increasing relevance
in the country. These publications, studies and seminars
have remained not only cost-effective but have also
offered academics and policy makers considerable outlets
for, and opportunities in, pursuing locally relevant
academic work and influencing policy dialogues. Moreover,
the process of knowledge-building and knowledge-production
has equally helped the students and teachers in updating
their learning skills, knowledge and information as
well as their teaching curriculum. It has to be observed
that the development of civil society cannot be enforced
from outside but must occur from within through open
inter-political dialogues across the diverse ideologies,
ideas and social actors at different stages of social,
economic and cultural development.
Another area
of FES strength lies in building interfaces. Programme
activities are specially designed to facilitate cross-fertilization
of ideas among the policy communities, academia, civil
society and people’s representatives so as to formulate
a strategic overview of the various activities undertaken
for creating, managing, and sustaining the social capital.
The increasing interface which FES has fostered between
the social scientists and policy community on the one
hand and political parties and civil society on the
other has generated valuable information to bear upon
the choices of policy alternatives or even an evaluation
of the likely effects of short-term and long-term policies.
The various seminars and workshops held on Nepal and
SAARC, Nepal and the World Trade Organization (WTO),
Debt Trap and Its Management in Nepal, Inputs for Decentralization
and Local Self-Governance Bill and Nepal’s Foreign Policy:
Issues and Options have been able to capture the realm
policy-relevance. FES support to other bodies like the
trade unions, civil societies, NGOs, media, women’s
organization, Dalits, academia and professional establishment
has been primarily designed to steer democratic awakening,
education and knowledge-building, advocacy and exercise
in support of democracy consolidation. These activities
have considerable bearing on expanding the horizon of
policy process on a country-wide basis.
Since the support
to gender equality and Dalit uplift began recently,
it will take time for tangible effects associated with
gender-sensitization, advocacy, awareness and education
to be more visible. The priority of Nepalese government
arising out of its interest in and also of international
obligations to place the gender question on the agenda
for its active promotion will make good sense when women
and Dalits can assume their rightful place in society
and attain social justice. Re-education on democratic
participation, control and decision-making is an educational
challenge of enormous significance which the partner
organizations of FES are taking to the grassroots. Legal
Aid and Consultancy Center, one of the partner organizations
of FES, has claimed that because of the gender sensitization
programme introduced to the law professors and teachers,
the concept of gender equality has been introduced in
the LL.M. course under the title Private Law. Two national
workshops on Dalits have inspired the World Hindu Federation
and Pashupati Sena Nepal to take up the issue of untouchability
and seek solution to this problem.
Increasing social
and political awareness, and political education and
discussion about the standards of democratic quality
help in the democratization of society and the state.
Public debate on political education of women, disadvantaged
groups and Dalits is expected to provide opportunities
for the reflection of "social reality" and
promote the politics of protection, reach accommodation
and provide scope for the articulation of interests.
The alternative of denying even the minimum assistance
to the civil society organizations working for Dalits,
would hinder the democratization processes. With moderate
support, civil societies and NGOs stand a better chance
to develop institutional capacity and attract a popular
constituency over time if they are professionally run.
FES helps the
partner organizations in networking and solidarity building.
In an age of globalization, co-operation and solidarity
alone can offset the negative effects of internationalization,
help prepare the people and the state to participate
in the regional and international development processes,
and identify and exploit opportunities from those processes.
Here, FES is particularly active in three areas of regional
cooperation through Coalition for Action on South Asian
Cooperation (CASAC), South Asian Media Association (SAMA)
and South Asian Watch on Trade, Economy and Environment
(SAWTEE). These organizations have been operating as
regional tanks for the provision of advice on the issues
of regional cooperation Coalition-building, contacts
and networking with these organizations have served
as vehicles for gaining access to the much needed information
in particular areas that the partners are engaged in.
Besides this, FES has also lent support to the South
Asian Economists’ Association (SAEA), South Asian Trade
Union Council (SARTUC) and Non-Aligned Movement Media
to organize activities in matters of mutual interests
benefiting the people of the region. Access to the regional
and global fora helps the decision-makers to adapt themselves
to the latest thinking and the most advanced analytical
tools to enhance international understanding and cooperation
FES encourages
the partner organizations to assume the ownership of
the programme thus making all the activities compatible
with the vision embedded in the Constitution of the
Kingdom of Nepal 1990, Planning Documents, Local Self-Governance
Act and the Priority Reform Actions set by His Majesty’s
Government of Nepal. Accordingly, it has supported the
partner organizations to initiate, determine and sustain
the programmes and bear the accountability arising from
the ownership. A collaborative effort between the FES
and partner organizations in formulating goals, strategies
and activities can be said to be mainly responsible
for achieving these objectives.
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Gateway
to Nepali Politics
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