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Activity
Report of FES Nepal in 2001
Under Social Political and Development
areas FES supported 42 activities involving seminars, training,
workshops, publication, material help, and exposure. The areas
covered are: democracy, civic education, women and development,
Dalit, development policies and regional cooperation in South
Asia: The activity reports in detail are as follows:
Democracy
<Go to Contents>
- Central Department of Political Science
(CDPS) organized a five-day training on "Methodology
for Improving Research and Teaching on Democracy" on
March 19-23 in Kathmandu. The themes of the training involved
importance of research skills in the promotion of democracy
and good governance, understanding about the emerging global
trends, public policy and democratic process, conceptual
and theoretical aspects of problem formulation, scientific
research, hypothesis and research process, statistics, data
collection and proposal writing, survey research, tabulation
and graphs, hypothesis testing and research design, survey
project and questionnaire design, writing research report,
etc. Fifteen political science teacher teaching post-graduate
course from Kathmandu, Janakpur, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Dang,
Surkhet, Mahendra Nagar and Pokhara and political science
students of Central Campus Kirtipur participated the training.
Eight colleges outside Kathmandu have offered post-graduate
political science teaching and research. The chief guest
of the training Dean of the University appreciated FES for
helping the social science faculties to upgrade university
teaching, research and material improvements through financial
and technical cooperation. Five resource persons including
a Fullbright Professor conducted the training course.
- Center for Studies on Democracy and Good
Governance (CSDG) organized a one-day seminar and book-launching
program on "A Decade of Democracy in Nepal," on
June 30, in Kathmandu. CSDG is an office manned by the Secretary-Generals
of NC, CPN-UML, RPP and Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) including
the Speaker of the Lower House and the Chairman of Upper
House of parliament. The objective was to discuss on the
recommendations of the book regarding the problems of democracy,
local self-government, human rights, elections, media, economic
development and poverty alleviation, constitutional issues,
governance, corruption and judiciary. Former Prime Minister
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was the chief guest, while leader
of opposition in the parliament Madhav Kumar Nepal chaired
the session. Forty-one participants involving members of
parliament, secretaries, journalists, academicians, lawyers
and policy makers participated the seminar. CSDG organized
the second one-day seminar on "Strategies for Managing
Political Instability in Nepal," on September 30 in
Kathmandu. Three aspects of conflicts were articulated by
five papers presented by experts: structural conflict between
the government and the Maoists, manifest conflict between
the government and opposition political parties and suppressed
conflicts between the government and the societal forces,
especially focusing on ethnicity, civil society, Dalits
and women. The papers and the discussions suggested different
modes of conflict resolution for different types of conflicts.
The seminar was participated by Speaker of the Lower House
of Parliament, leader of Opposition, General Secretaries
of major political parties, MPs, lawyers, civil servants
and members of civil society. CSDG utilized the inputs of
the seminars for preparing Governance Act for Nepal.
- The Martyrs Memorial Foundation (MMF)
organized a two-day seminar on "Is Democratic Socialism
Appropriate for Nepal?' at Hetaunda on August 13-14. Altogether
50 persons including Nepali Congress district committee
presidents from the eastern, central and western development
regions and representatives of civil society, trade unions,
people's representatives and social workers participated
the seminar. The theme of the seminar included the political,
economic and social aspects of social democracy, evaluation
of Nepalese development policies based on social democratic
criteria and formulation of ways and means to resolve the
deviation occurring in the nation. Three papers were presented
by noted experts on the relevance of social democracy for
Nepal by Dr. Bharat Prasad Dhital, Dr. Narayan Narsingh
Khatri and ex-minister Narahari Acharya while Central Committee
Member of Nepali Congress party Bimlenda Nidhi and ex-ministers
Dip Kumar Upadhayay and Dhundi Raj Shastri offered comments.
The presentation of papers was followed by group discussion.
Participants unanimously viewed that "democratic socialism"
should be the guiding principles of Nepali Congress party
and government. The government should incorporate social
democratic principles in the public policies of the government
and must attune itself with the changes brought by socialist
international.
- Nepal Center for Contemporary Studies
(NCCS) organized its first a one-day seminar in Pokhara
on "Dialogue Between People and Leaders" on August
19. More than 50 participants representing all walks of
life took part in the meeting. Two leaders from Nepali Congress
and CPN-UML represented respectively by Narahari Acharya
and Jhal Nath Khanal both central committee members of their
parties, initiated the dialogue on the Maoist problem and
its solution and the provision of transparency for the constitutional
dignity of monarchy. Other issues were related to the democratization
of polity and reform measures undergoing in Nepal, such
as land reforms, abolition of untouchability, provision
of property rights to women and electoral reforms to make
polity both representative and democratic. NCCS organized
its second one-day seminar at Janakpur on December 5. Altogether
65 participants took part in the debate. Two central committee
members of NC (Arjun Narsingh KC) and UML (Bharat Mohan
Adhikari) respectively presented their views on "Current
Political Situation of Nepal and Future Direction."
The presentation was followed by critical discussion. While
the state of emergency was thought to be a short-term solution,
long-term measures for checks and balances among the constitutional
organs, effectiveness of governance especially in matters
of security, law and order, voice and participation and
inclusiveness in public welfare were strongly articulated
by the participants representing political parties, elected
representatives, academics, journalists, government officials
and representatives of civil society.
- Center for the Consolidation of Democracy
in Nepal (CCD) organized a one-day seminar on "Democracy
and Social Justice" in Kathmandu on November 29. Youth
wing of Nepali Congress party, political leaders and ideologue
of the party participated. The Chief Guest of the program,
Minister without Portfolio Rishikesh Gautam, argued that
there is a wave of social democracy worldwide. The Nepali
Congress government as a member of socialist International
must utilize the benefits from this wave. The Chairman of
the program Sushil Koirala, Secretary-General of NC explained
the contribution of Socialist International in promoting
the idea of global social justice referring in part the
Brandt Report and its relevance for developing countries
including Nepal. Central Committee members of NC Bimlendra
Nidhi, Prof. Narahari Acharya, Bhim Bahadur Tamang, MP Hom
Nath Dahal, etc presented their views on social justice
from different perspectives--social, economic, political
and international cooperation. Dr. Yagnya Adhikari, Director
of the Local Development Training Academy said that the
NC should push the structural transformation of public sphere
to make the state, market and civil society representative
of public needs. Participants argued that social justice
should take into account inter-generational, gender, ecological,
inter-caste, inter-region and inter-class justice and that
public policies should be made accordingly to address the
questions of poverty, inequality, exclusion, dependency
and alienation of people.
- CCD organized its second seminar on "Current
National Situation of Nepal and Bases for Forging Consensus"
on December 24 in Kathmandu. Altogether 65 Political leaders,
Members of Parliament, member of Human Rights Commission,
journalists and academicians participated the said meeting.
Minister for Planning and Physical Works Chirinjibi Wagle
was the chief guest while NC central Committee member Bhim
B. Tamang was the chairman of the meeting. Prof. Krishna
P. Khanal presented a discussion paper focusing on four
themes: reforms and consolidation of current political system,
question of socio-economic transformation, control of armed
rebellion and the management of emergency and the exist
of the state of emergency and the restoration of normalcy.
Participants argued that achieving political democracy itself
is not enough to make its functional. Its prerequisites
must be established for, example, political consensus on
the constitution, development policy, neutrality of public
institution, strong penal system and the autonomy of civil
society to articulate the diverse interests of the society.
A functional democracy properly manages "consent"
and "dissent" and brings the voice and participation
of people in the national mainstream. Former Speaker of
parliament Daman Nath Dhungana argued that there are three
attacks to democracy: armed attack of Maoists, corrupt political
class in power and opposition often consenting to government's
policy and restlessness to come to power by any means. The
opposition, which should have played role to protect citizens
rights and often, deviated. Others argued that there should
be a consensus among all the stakeholders of society to
correct political flaws plaguing all aspects of public life
and pull the country out of morass. They also noted that
political parties should put pressure on the Maoists for
dialogue and those victims of violence should be rehabilitated.
Education
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Nepal Foundation for Advanced
Studies (NEFAS) organized its first one-day training on "Civic
Education Program," at Tansen, Palpa on September 30. Fourty-five
school, higher secondary education and college teachers and
members of civil society participated. FES helped the higher
education board of His Majesty's Government of Nepal to introduce
the course on civic education and published book "Contemporary
Nepali Society" to be distributed free of cost. During
training four speakers presented different aspects of civic
education and the need to introduce civic education program
to train young generation about democracy.Some participants
asked about the modality of the implementation of program, availability
of the books, training of teachers and the problems in updating
the course in the future while others noted that one should
also provide knowledge about the merits and demerits of other
system and compare them with democracy so that students as citizens
develop critical thinking and be able to provide judgements
on matters of social and public interest. A few of them said
that our education on civic education should cater the needs
of rural society rather than just focus on urban areas. The
duration of training should also be enlarged. In the second
one-day training on "Civic Education Program," on
October 11 in Janakpur for schoolteachers there were 45 participants.Participants
made suggestions to improve the content of the book and discussed
the hurdles faced by them in implementing the newly prescribed
civic education syllabus by the curriculum development authority.
There were also voices that called for expanding the civic education
program outside the realm of the formal education system. In
the third one-day training on "Civic Education Program,"
for high school teachers organized on October 14 at Ilam, the
eastern town of Nepal, there were 48 participants representing
schools, colleges and civil society. The participants were particularly
enthusiastic about the subject, as they had recently introduced
it in their higher secondary curriculum. In this training participants
asked for enlarging the training course to include geography,
history, economy and ecology of Nepal and also the duration
so that each and every aspect of theme is discussed properly.
Women and
Development <Go to Contents>
- Padma Kanya Multiple Campus (PKMC) organized
a two-day seminar on "Improving Gender Balanced Political
Education of Elected Members of Selected Wards" of
Kathmandu metropolis on September 5-6 in Kathmandu. The
seminar aimed to provide an avenue for: sharing the experience
of elected women of Kathmandu metropolis with the faculties
of Women's Studies; highlighting their problems in working
with male members of ward assemblies with the civil society,
donors, teachers and students; and formulating strategies
to strengthen their role in the local self-governance through
education and collective action. Altogether 17 ward representatives
of Kathmandu metropolis presented their position papers
on their problems of collective action, a number of structural,
psychological and cultural barriers, taboos and obstacles
to their participation and the problems in involving in
key decision-making areas. Mayor of Kathmandu was the chief
guest while Registrar of Tribhuvan University chaired the
session. Congress MP Kamala Pant highlighted that the need
for sharing equal power, resource and authority by womenfolk
is the key to their empowerment. She also viewed that like
the mandatory provisions in the national and VDC/municipality
elections, the government should introduce laws for equal
representation of women at District level, which, at the
moment, seems almost nil.
- Legal Aid and Consultancy Center (LAAC)
organized two three-day training courses on "Gender
Mainstreaming of School Teachers." The first took place
on May 31-June 1 at Udaypur, Eastern Development Zone of
Nepal and second at Chitwan on September 3-5. These programs
are the continuation of program since last year and it is
intended to prepare enlightened opinion makers for social
change, democratization of the state and equal development
for both male and female. Three resource persons in each
training provided training to forty school teachers from
various schools about the importance of gender equality,
need for reforms in many discriminatory clauses of the Constitution
of the Kingdom of Nepal, process of higher level of women's
representation in governance, establishment of human rights
provisions, knowledge about many international conventions
endorsed by Nepal and the need to include gender-balanced
education in the schools. The course provided civic education
with a view to: restructure the existing gender discriminatory
system in Nepalese society which denies women of their rights
and deprives them of opportunities to develop as free human
beings and to introduce strategies where men and women work
together for similar objectives realizing the gender-differentiated
realities as well as pulling the threads together to weave
a more holistic vision of change that involves women and
men, young and old, poor and rich and all other sectors
of human society. House of Representative recently passed
11the Amendment to the Muluki Ain (Civil Code) which purports
to grant a semblance of property rights to daughters and
a commission has been constituted by the government to look
into discriminatory provisions in the laws.
Dalit Upliftment
<Go to Contents>
- Center for Economic and Technical Studies
(CETS) organized a two-day seminar on "Strategies for
Uplifting Dalits of Tarai in Nepal" on August 25-26
at Janakpur. Altogether 50 dalit and non-dalit representatives
of five districts--Saptari, Sirha, Dhanusha, Mahottari and
Sarlahi participated the meeting. Eleven concept papers
focusing on different categories of terai Dalits were represented.
The participants viewed that in the context of Prime Minister
Deuba's announcement of constituting a Commission to look
into Dalit matters, the seminar deserved special importance.
Many central level leaders of Dalit articulated the belief
that the recommendations of the seminar will be of great
help both to educate policy makers about the specific problems
of Dalits in Tarai and formulate strategies to overcome
their backwardness and suppression. At the end of seminar
Janakpur Declaration was drafted and issued that promised
the liberation of untouchable castes and advocate for their
entitlements and social opportunities in economic and political
life of the nation. FES also provided educational material
help to Dalit Welfare Youth Club of Sirha on June 20, to
purchase furniture, books, and other necessary instruments
to run a school by Dalits themselves.
International
Cooperation and Development Policy <Go
to Contents>
- Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) organized
a series of one-day seminar on "Nepal-India Open Border:
Positive and Negative Aspects." The first seminar took
place on April 11 at Nepalgunj, the biggest town of Far
Western region of Nepal, second on May 4 at Birgunj, the
central region, third at Biratnagar, the second largest
town of the country in Eastern Development Zone on May 18
and the last one in Kathmandu on July 25. Dr. Vidya Bir
Singh Kansakar, Chairman, Central Department of Geography,
Tribhuvan University, presented the working paper. Altogether
136 participants involving Members of Parliament, Chief
District Officers, lawyers, foreign ministry officials,
custom and revenue department officials, chief of Special
Police Force, Commander in Chief of the Army, Home Secretary,
political party representatives, university professors,
home secretary, planners and policy makers, officials of
Indian Embassy, etc took part. Two participants were invited
from the nearby bordering states of India for Kathmandu
seminar. The seminar sought to collect feed-backs on both
positive and negative aspects of open border and furnish
measures to control negative aspects, such as cross border
smuggling, drug peddling, girl trafficking, terrorism and
other irritating aspects while promoting mutuality of interests
as well as healthy social, economic and cultural cooperation
between the governments and peoples of Nepal and India.
- Among the three options, such as sealing
of border, regulating the border and maintaining status
quo, majority of participants favored the proper regulation
and management of border. They viewed that open border must
be regulated both for the promotion of democracy and development
in the country. Needs of people living in border areas should
be assessed, historical documents regulating the border
must be analyzed and viable options must be chosen to maintain
historical identity of the nation as an independent kingdom.
The open border has promoted underground trade affecting
the revenue of the nation, unrestricted flow of people and
goods, fake voters during elections and has even affected
the country in formulating policy to control price of goods
and commodities. Participants also viewed that before the
management of border, the problem of citizenship of the
people of Terai must be solved, Identity Card for all the
cross border visitors must be introduced including the registration
of their names and addresses, the purpose of their visit
and the location of their activities. Basic needs of the
people of border region for which they shuttle to and fro
should be solved and the number of entry points should be
mutually decided. Participants also raised the point that
due to uncooperative attitude of India, operation of dry-port
in Birgunj has become difficult. They noted the importance
of introducing identity card for Indians visiting Nepal
and the Nepalese visiting India for the short run and passport
in the long-run, proper management of border pillars, solution
of citizenship problems inside the country and regular dialogues
with Indian officials on solving cross-border problems.
The final Report will be submitted to the concerned Ministries
and departments of the Governments as inputs for policy
formulation and legislation.
- Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) organized
a one-day seminar on "Improvement of Social Charter
on SAARC and inclusion of Workers Rights" on May 2
in Kathmandu. Participants involved the representatives
of all three major trade unions-Nepal Trade Union Congress
(NTUC), Democratic Confederation of Nepalese Trade Unions
(DECONT) and General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions
(GEFONT), director of industrial relation forum, academicians,
government officials and representatives of civil society.
Altogether 25 participants took part in the seminar. Participants
viewed that a coalition of major trade unions in the country
and their consultation process with the regional trade unions
must be established to enforce workers' right in the SAARC
Social Charter. SAARC should not leave the issue of worker
while taking into account the interest of capital and the
state. They viewed that asymmetric decision-making and a
lack of social cooperation among the major actors of society
have rendered cooperation process unsustainable in the long
run.
- Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies
(NEFAS) organized a one-day national seminar on "Impact
of WTO and Globalization on Nepalese Agriculture" on
November 20 in Kathmandu. Altogether forty participants
representing WTO cell of Nepal, Ministry of Agriculture,
President of Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
trade union leaders, diplomats, academics and journalists
took part in the meeting. The discussion focused on: Nepal's
accession to WTO; costs and benefits for Nepal in taking
membership, how other countries are dealing the agriculture
issues under WTO and impact of WTO on Nepalese agriculture
focusing on environment, forestry, food security, labor,
food production and trading of agriculture products. Participants
identified a number of benefits upon entering WTO, for example,
freedom of transit, concession for least developed countries,
protection from dumping of goods from developed countries,
market access, increased price for food grains and the possibility
of foreign direct investments. Since there are no studies
focusing the impact of WTO on agriculture participants viewed
that from the instinctive feeling membership from WTO will
give Nepal better opportunities from non-membership, as
it is a rule-based system. Participants argued for more
intensive workshops on every aspects of agriculture as it
is regarded the most vital sector of Nepal's political economy.
- Coalition for Action on South Asian Cooperation
(CASAC) organized a one-day workshop on "Sub-Regional
Cooperation on Energy" on November 27 in Kathmandu.
Altogether 36 highest level of water resource, energy, ecology
and social science experts representing the government,
political parties and Ministry of Industry and Water Resources,
International Organizations and NGOs participated. Five
scientific papers were presented on Hydro-Energy for National
Development, Electric Power Trading in the SAARC Region,
Role of Nepalese Water Resources for Meeting Energy Needs
in South Asia, Economic Flows from Highland to Lowland and
Energy as a Security Issue. The debate that followed after
the paper presentation examined several policy options at
national, sub-regional and regional levels, articulated
the need to go beyond "consumer" approach in order
to take into account the needs of future generation to make
the development sustainable. Experts also noted that there
should be a broad framework to define our future agreements
on water resources with neighbors. This requires, they viewed,
"linkage" (backward and forward) as well as "continuous
process" approaches so that multiple use of water resources
makes the game of sharing it in the regional context a win-win
situation. Cooperation in water resources should capture
four principles: harmonization of regional states' policies,
sense of commonness among them, focus on human security
and comparative advantage. Regional dialogues, negotiations
among the stakeholders, creation of regional institutions
to support cooperation framework and sharing of experiences
should be continuous affairs to make cooperation meaningful
and sustainable.
Trade Union
Cooperation <Go to Contents>
- Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC) organized
its first two-day "Leadership Development Training
Program" on August 26-27 in Kaski-Pokhara. Congress
MP Sukra Raj Sharma was the chief guest. 32 workers from
Hotel Workers Union took part in the program. There were
three resource persons. The training contents involved:
FES contribution to international trade union movement,
current challenges to trade unions, information for trade
union activities, trade union education (registration process
of Union, group work, campaign organizing, operation process,
funds and functions, leadership, communication and solidarity
building process), Labour Act, Trade Union Act, Collective
Bargaining, etc and strategic plan for the future. One key
problem raised by the workers was poor enforcement and application
of ratified convention that created big problems for the
Nepalese workers. In the context of new industrial challenges
occurring at global and national levels, workers found the
program highly effective and relevant. NTUC organized its
second two-day "Leadership Development Training Program,"
on October 6-7 in Kathmandu. 35 workers related to health
field participated the training. There were 6 resource persons.
Congress Member of Parliament Krishna Prasad Sitaula was
the chief guest. The contents of the course involved introduction
of FES and NTUC, international trade union movement, emerging
global issues and challenges for trade unions, information
for trade union activities, trade union registration process,
Labor Act, Trade Union Act, Collective Bargaining, Strategic
Plan of Action for the Future with the management-proposed
by hotel owners recently, trade union education in Nepal
and the importance of campaigning, operational modalities
of trade unions, especially fund and organizational processes,
leadership, public speaking and communication, etc . The
feedback from the participants seemed very encouraging.
They found the program good, relevant and appropriate and
believed that it would be followed by refresher leadership
training in the future.
- Democratic Confederation of Nepalese
Trade Unions (DECONT) organized a series of two-day workshop
on "Leadership Training Program." The first workshop
took place on May 2-3 at Hetaunda, Makwanpur District, the
second on May 24-25 at Dubahi, Sunsari District and third
on July 1-2 in Kathmandu. Altogether 90, thirty in each
workshop, union representatives from various districts attended
the program. Each workshop was conducted by four resource
persons. They discussed about the role of FES in promoting
trade union activities, problems of unorganized sectors
especially those having the occupation of barbers, problems
in the expansion of membership, leadership communication
and motivation, roles and skill, financial management of
trade unions, trade union and cooperatives and Nepal Barber's
Association and its future programs, etc. Participatory
method was applied in the training and participants found
the program very useful and effective both in terms of learning
and establishing solidarity networks. The content of latter
two workshops involved the problems of unorganized sectors
especially those having the occupation of informal sectors,
problems in the expansion of membership, leadership development,
communication and motivation, role occupation, skill enhancement,
financial management of trade unions, cooperation between
informal and formal sector trade unions, establishment of
workers' cooperatives and political problems faced by trade
unions and their future programs, etc. These workshops also
reviewed the problems associated with trade union movement
in Nepal especially the trampling of labor laws by the government,
need for solidarity movement, the costs of too much partisan
type of mainstream trade unions and negative effects of
economic policies on poverty, unemployment and social disintegration,
etc.
- General Federation of Nepalese Trade
Unions (GEFONT) organized a three-day training program on
February 24-26 on "National Planning Workshop"
in Kathmandu. The workshop helped to formulate plan for
the year 2001 for GEFONT activities, make organizational
communication between national/zonal and enterprise level
unions effective, lobby for the enforcement of trade union
acts at those enterprise levels where laws are not implemented
and discuss about the trade union skills to organize membership
at both formal and informal sectors. The training program
also provided an opportunity for all the zonal and national
level treasurers, presidents and secretaries to discuss
on how office management and finance are handled properly,
effectively and honestly. Altogether 50 participants from
11 zone participated in the training. The method of training
was highly participatory. The second GEFONT training course
on "Core Leadership Training Program for Regional Level
Leaders" took place at Itahari on September 21-22 while
the third one was held at Hetaunda on September 20-21 where
70 executive members of the zonal committees from Jhapa,
Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birgunj and Makwanpur participated.
- Issues for both the workshops were: education
campaign, organizational expansion and mobilization, development
of unified trade union movement, involvement in the issues
of social concern, planned movement at basic level, social
security campaign, campaign for effective implementation
of labor laws, program for human resource development, workers'
cooperatives for collective welfare, program for financial
independence, campaign for organizing women workers, action
research and policy intervention, joining hands with political
parties for social transformation, foreign employment and
programs for migrant workers, development of international
relations and publications relating social development focusing
on target groups. Altogether 9 resource persons were involved
in conducting the training course for mid-career trade union
leaders who are involved in field level activities, coordination,
conflict resolution, monitoring and evaluation.
- Study Report on "Maoist
Problems in Nepal: Its Nature, Causes and Solutions"
submitted by Dr. Prakash S. Mahat on June 11.
- Material Help to Nepal South Asia
Center (NESAC) "Purchase of Library Books"
June 14, 2001.
- Material Help to DWYC "Material
Support for Dalit Training in Sirha" June 20, 2001.
- Material Help to Nepal Trade Union
Congress (NTUC) "Purchase of a Computer and Printer"
June.
- Reprint of NEFAS Publication on "Political
Economy of Small States" October, 2001.
- Reprint of NEFAS Publication on "
Civil Society and Democratization in Nepal" October
2001.
- Publication of GEFONT Handbook for
Trade Union Organizers, December 2001.
- Publication of GDS study on Good Governance
and Decentralization in Nepal,2001.
Other Activities
<Go to Contents>
- Provided inputs to Nepal Foundation for
Advanced Studies (NEFAS) publication on the second edition
of "Contemporary Nepali Society"
- Organized a series of meeting with NDI
and NEFAS to prepare a book and teaching manual on "Civics
Course. " Both the book and manual are printed and
distributed among schoolteachers and are included in the
government curriculum.
- Center for the Consolidation of Democracy
published a book on "Democracy in Nepal and a Question
of Socialist Transformation," July 22.
- Organization of FES and UNI APRO Sub-Regional
Educators Course on 17-23 September 2001, Kathmandu, Orchid
Hotel
- Provided inputs for country cooperation
frameworks for DANIDA, UNDP, DFID and The Asia Foundation.
- Provided inputs for the formulation of
course on Rural Development to Tribhuvan University and
on Social Sciences to Higher Education Board of HMGN.
- Inputs for His Majesty's Government (Conduct
of Governance) Bill, 2001.
- Organization of FES-ITGLWF-TWARO South
Asia Workshop on "Laws and Practices of Social Safety
Nets," December 13-15, Kathmandu.
Media Activities
<Go to Contents>
A brief summary of the various
media activities/programmes that took place with FES support
is as follows:
1. Partial financial support
was extended to 12 publishers/managers and editors of Nepalese
media who attended the International Press Institute's World
Congress from January 29 to 29 in the Indian capital of New
Delhi. The support was more or less equivalent to an airfare
to and from New Delhi. It was an extremely rare opportunity
for the Nepalese media-related people to take part in the IPI
meet which attracted media managers, publishers and editors
from all over the world. The cost-sharing experiment was highly
successful since there were quite a few others who wanted to
attend the New Delhi conference with partial support from FES
but FES decided to limit the number to 12. The goals and objectives
of IPI impressed the Nepalese participants. In fact, the Nepalese
members have submitted a formal request to IPI headquarters
to accord recognition to the Nepal Chapter of IPI, which was
formed by the participants of the New Delhi IPI conference.
The Nepal Chapter of IPI also
organised a FES-supported seminar on "Media Freedom"
(September 30). There were about 40 participants, including
some senior journalists. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba made
an inaugural address to the gathering, which emphasised the
need to exercise media freedom with a sense of social responsibility.
Support was also provided to
an IT expert to attend INET 2001 Conference on IT in Hong Kong
and Stockholm. The participant at the Stockholm subsequently
proved resourcesful in coordinating the FES-organised ICT Conference
in Kathmandu in November 2001.
FES also extended assistance
to Nepalese IT expert and journalists to attend WTO conference
(Qatar) in November and another conference on news reporting
in times of crisis ( Zeneva) in December.
2. Press Chautari organised day-long
interaction programmes on "Pre-requisites of an Informed
Society" in Pokhara ( March 18) and Kathmandu (April 27).
There were more than 45 participants in each programme. The
conference in Kathmandu attracted participants from various
districts. Discussions were held on various aspects of the overall
Nepalese media, including the strengths and shortcomings of
the media operating in Nepal.
Press Chautari also organised
a day-long seminar on "Information Flow and Professionalism"
in Kathmandu (December 28). About 40 participants attended the
programme and discussed ways and means of promoting timely flow
of information to the public in a professional manner so that
media credibility could be high. Leader of the main Opposition
party in parliament, Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal made the inaugural
address.
3. Federation of Nepalese Journalists,
the largest and most influential media organisation in Nepal,
organised four seminars of one day each on "Right to Information
and Good Governance", one of them in Kathmandu (June 20)
and the rest in other parts of the country-Ilam (March 20),
Baglung (April 18) and Dang (May 8). There were 35-40 participants
in the seminars, with the main focus on the significance of
access to information for good governance. The resource persons
and participants included not only journalists but also political
scientists and political figures. They also strongly called
for a Right to Information Act. The Minister of State for Information
and Communication, Mr. Pushkar Nath Ojha, made the inaugural
address in the Kathmandu seminar. The general consensus among
the participants was that access to information was essential
for good governance, and the media can serve as an important
component in promoting good governance and making the government
and public institutions in particular transparent and accountable
to the public. FNJ's Dang district unit was associated with
FES-supported half-day interaction programme (November) on "Channels
of Communication", with the focus being on community communication.
4. Nepal Press Union organised
a seminar on "Working Journalists' Act: A Review"
in Biratnagar (May 24), the country's second largest industrial
town. The Working Journalists' Act is about five years old and
yet it has hardly been implemented properly in almost all media
organisations. The review raised the issue in Biratnagar. The
Nepal Press Union also organised a conference on the same topic
in Kathmandu (November 12), during which the issue drew a lot
of attention for various quarters. Both the activities drew
about 40 participants each.
5. Nepal Association of Media
Educators organised two workshops on "Depth and Interpretive
Reporting" in Janakpur (February 9-10) and Chitwan (March
23-24). The proved very successful as they imparted skills on
reporting beyond the general news reporting. It was the first
time that such a topic was incorporated in a workshop and the
demand for similar workshop has come from other parts of the
country. About 35 journalists attended each workshop.
NAME also organised two conferences,
one on "Public Service Functioning of Radio" in Pokhara
(November 5) and the other on "TV and Its Impact on Nepali
Society" in Kathmandu (August 10). Both the programmes
attracted about 40 participants each. All the four FM radio
stations in Pokahara were represented in the Pokhara seminar
and the Kathmandu meeting also recorded not only representatives
from Nepal Television and Spacetime Television Network but also
from other sections of the media, including media academics.
The thrust of the discussion was on "the public service
role" of the broadcast media.
6. Nepal Institute of Mass Communication organised one-day workshop
on "News Editing" in Pokhara ( April 24). Various
aspects of editing, including use of words, word economy, headline
writing, news selection, page design, were among the topics
discussed and illustrated. About 30 senior journalists participated.
7. Editor's Guild of Nepal organised
a day-long seminar on "Prospects and Problems of Weekly
Papers" in Kathmandu (May 24). There are more than 100
weekly papers that come out regularly from various parts of
the country. Weekly papers, more than any other category of
news publication, played a very important role in championing
the cause of multiparty democracy during the now-defunct partyless
Panchayat days. The weeklies, however, face many constraints
and hence the various issues discussed at the seminar, which
attracted very senior journalists, mostly working in national
weeklies.
8. Department of Journalism and
Mass Communication (R.R. Campus, Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu)
was the beneficiary of FES material support in the form of books
on journalism and mass communication. R.R. Campus is Nepal's
only institute that offers Bachelor level course in journalism
and mass communication.
DJMC was supported to write a
book on professional journalism. The manuscript has been completed
and submitted to FES. It also organised seminars of one day
each in Kathmandu (August 15) and Dharan (December 28) on "Media
Education". Till the year 2001, only one university campus
offered a Bachelor's level course on journalism and mass communication.
Although the academic course of journalism and mass communication
at B.A. level was introduced in 1979, no campus offered any
course at the Master's level on journalism and mass communication.
In the course of the DJMC seminars, most speakers pressed for
introducing M.A. level courses on journalism and mass communication
but with adequate trained manpower, library and laboratory facilities.
Leading media educators were among the 40 participants in the
seminars and the suggestions from these programmes did have
a bearing on the academics concerned in that three campuses
in Kathmandu are introducing M.A. level courses on journalism
and mass communication from the first quarter of 2002. While
two of these campuses are in the private sector, one is a public
campus-Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus--affiliated to the kingdom's
premier university, Tribhuvan University.
9. Women and Development Communication
Centre organised two workshops of one day each on "Community
Radio: Opportunities and Challenges" in Kathmandu (December
19) and Hetauda (July 5). About 40 participants took part in
both the workshops, underlining the need for utilising all available
opportunities for promoting community radio in a country like
Nepal where literacy is low and radio constitutes the most effective
form of mass communication. Training for radio people is essential,
they said, adding that the government should offer incentives
to community radio in terms of reduced annual fee and permission
to broadcast news bulletins as well. The workshop in Kathmandu
drew representatives from all the eight FM stations in Kathmandu
Valley in addition to Radio Nepal.
10. Sancharika Samuha Nepal organised
a conference on "Role of Media in Empowerment of Women"
in Chitwan ( July 24). More than 35 participants took part in
the programme, which noted that the media focus on the need
for promoting empowerment of women had increased in the recent
years but they need to make greater efforts to highlight relevant
issues pertaining to women's empowerment.
11. People's Campus, which offers
journalism course at the Certificate (10+2 level), received
material help by way of books on journalism and mass communication.
The various titles of books have considerably improved the library
stock of books on journalism and mass communication. The campus
has been conducting journalism course since 15 years.
12. Media Point received FES
material help in the form of an overhead projector. The organisation,
a training institute offering basic journalism course, whose
products work in various media houses, is known to be utilising
the overhead projector in its training classes. It trains 25-30
persons during its ten-month course.
13. National Union of Journalists
was extended a modest support to meet the expenses of its resource
persons only for a seminar organised on "Media in Times
of Crisis" in Kathmandu (December 10). Prime Minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba and four other senior leaders of four major political
parties were among those who addressed the opening session of
the programme.
14. The Telegraph Weekly organised
a half-day seminar on "Role of Media in Enhancing Good
Governance" in Kathmandu (December 20). About 50 participants,
including some senior journalists and academics, took part in
the programme, which was described as timely and relevant at
a time when the cross-section of the Nepalese society has been
pressing for good governance.
15. Press Council Nepal organised
a half-day seminar on "Challenges of Professionalism in
Present Context" in Kathmandu (December 27), with special
focus on media functioning during the existing state of emergency
in Nepal whereby the media have been issued certain directives
by the government to ensure that they did not carry news or
comments that "boosted" the morale of the Maoist rebels
and "lowered" the morale of the army which has been
deployed to quell the rebels.
16. The National Forum of Environmental
Journalists (NEFEJ) organised a day-long seminar on "Documentary
and Development Film Making in Nepal" (November22). Leading
film makers were among the participants who emphasised the need
for more quality films and screening outlets in order to demonstrate
that development films can serve as effective catalyst for change
in society.
17. FES published a book containing
various papers submitted by experts from different parts of
the world in connection with the ICT conference that FES organised
in Kathmandu (November 29-30, 2001.)
Note: FES has also been associated with other media-related
activities such as counselling and providing media-related publications.
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