| Author | Shrestha, Basan |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-02-11 |
| Subject(s) | Watershed management Nepal
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | support is withdrawn. Taking this fact into consideration, a study was carried out to
identify the factors differentiating active and passive user groups induced by JICNHMG
Community Development and Forest I Watershed Conservation Project first phase that was
implemented from 1994/95 to 1998/99 in three Village Development Committees of Kaski
district in the Western Development Region of Nepal. The factors were categorized into
four dimensions viz. organizational structure, functional system, internal resource and
support system, and external support and linkage system. A total of 17 user groups formed
for community plantation, landslide control, water source protection and trail improvement
were purposively surveyed at first stage. Of which 8 and 9 groups were respectively,
designated as active and passive in a participatory discussion, on the basis of regular
operation and maintenance, supported by holding of meeting and group fund. A total of
172 user households, 86 from active groups and 86 from passive groups were surveyed by
using simple random technique at the second stage. All qualitative variables under
consideration were indexed and T-test was employed to compare the significance of
indices between active and passive groups.
The active groups were better than the passive groups in terms of members'
perception on need and of objectives of user groups, roles and responsibilities and feeling
of collective actions. The users' feeling of collective actions was the most important factor
among them. Active groups had better operated and maintained the activities supported by
the project, because of accruing considerable benefits both at the personal and community
levels. Forest resources and reclamation of cultivated land formed the major benefits
accrued by the users. The users deep sense of collective actions and level benefit accrued
were directly associated with level of dependency on the conserved resources and interlinkage
between public and private lands. The members of active groups perceived to have
better linkage with external organizations and opportunities of attending training and visit.
Benefit was the most important factor differentiating active and passive user groups among
all factors. Among all active user groups, gully and landslide control user groups were best
in terms of all the dimensions under consideration. Moreover, the members of those
groups had accrued the highest level of benefits both at personal and community levels.
The study confirms that the status of a user group (active vs. passive) largely
depends on how far its members benefit personally and directly from collections. This
issue is highly persistent in rural subsistence economy. Hence, it is concluded that the
collective actions that cannot provide direct benefits to the users are not going to be
regularly operated and maintained after the withdrawal of the project. The landslide and
gully control activities have greater potential to sustain if users accrue benefits at personal
and communal levels from collective actions.
The awareness creation, encouraging the users for sharing the cost of
implementation and maintenance, providing users' right would be instrumental to enhance
users' feeling on collective actions and the level of benefits. These would fmther be
fortified through the efforts in adding economic value to community plantation. Linking
the user groups with local government, formation of broad-based I multi-purpose
community organisations and providing training and visit opportunities to the users could
enhance the local level institutional development initiatives, so that the groups could
pursue regular operation and maintenance of the activities supported by the project even
after the withdrawal of the external support. |
| Year | 2002 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Thapa, Gopal B.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Soparth Pongquan;Shivakoti, Ganesh P. ; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
(NORAD); |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2002 |