Participation and benefit sharing : gender dimensions of community forestry program in Nepal | |
| Author | Bastakoti, Geeta Bhatrai |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-08-15 |
| Subject(s) | Community forests--Nepal Women in forestry--Nepal |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. GD-08-15 |
| Abstract | Community forestry program in Nepal evolved as an important and innovative approach to governance through complete decentralization of forest management authority to local citizens dependent on the forest resources. Accordingly the CF program facilitates the forest users to participate in forest management and receive the benefits from participation. The research was done to explore the participation and benefit sharing from the gender perspectives in CFUG programs in Chitwan district of Nepal. Four CFUG; two CFUG under Buffer Zone and two CFUG from BISEP-ST were selected for exploring the gender rights, gender roles, gender responsibilities and gender benefit sharing in these CFUGs. Qualitative as well as quantitative data were collected using in-depth interview, focus group discussion and the structured questionnaire. The study revealed that role of the women in forest management is confined to plantation and silvi-cultural activities where as men are involved mostly in harvesting and distribution activities. Although women were able to get representation through reserve seats in the CFUG EC, the decision making was influenced by the men in mixed group CFUGs. Even though the policy aims to improve the participation of women in the decision making, still different factors affect the participation and decision making capacities of women in the forest management. The study also revealed that participation of women varied with ethnicity in the studied areas. The benefit from the CF programs is limited to membership, and the users (women and men) from the poor class are not able to get benefit equitably. Overall, it is seen that the CFUGs have contributed to the development at community level but still the CFUGs are not able to contribute effectively at the household level |
| Year | 2008 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. GD-08-15 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Resurreccion, Bernadette P.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | oneys, Philippe;Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2008 |