Jai Nepal!

According to Dr. Shah of Conflict, Peace and Development Studies at the University and Dr. Netra Timsina of the NGO Federation of Nepal, there are 34,000+ NGOs working in Nepal. We met with Dr. Timsina earlier this week and he said there is no one body or governmental office that has oversight authority. Only 4,000 of these groups have joined his organization.

NGO Federation of Nepal has offices in all of the districts. They provide training for their members and are focusing on developming the elements of a civil society. Many of their workshops focus on how to participate in the newly formed government. The topics include: Rule of Law; Inclusivity; Participation; Accountability; Transparency; Gender Justice; and Separation of Power.

They have also published a book entitled: Whose Goals? Civil Society Perspectives on the MDGs (United Nations' Millenium Development Goals). I have read the Executive Summary and it notes how challenging it is to make progress towards the MDGs in the Nepali context of civil unrest and poor governance.