Hvorfor er det sådan? FN-bureauet IRIN analyserer den dybt rodfæstede fattigdom i afsides egne af det uvejsomme Himalaya-land – måske er penge og strategiske planer mindre vigtige end lokale initiativer og bedre fordeling, der når ud til alle.
CHESKAM, 11 February 2014 (IRIN): Despite six decades of development interventions and nearly a billion dollars in annual foreign assistance, Nepal is still struggling to combat rural poverty.
Some experts and local leaders say improving the lives of the rural poor requires patient community-driven initiatives and proper management of the resources communities already have, rather than large-scale strategies.
According to 2010 data from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations, there are approximately 8,5 million rural poor in Nepal.
In the Human Development Index of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Nepal is ranked at 157. Two-thirds of citizens rely on agriculture for their economic well-being, and the World Bank notes that the sector contributes 40 percent of the country’s GDP (bruttonational-produkt).
The “last mile gap”
Part of the problem is geographical.
Reaching rural communities in this landlocked nation of 30 million is difficult because, in a country more than half the size of the United Kingdom, there are few roads and they are often in poor condition.
Experts point to a misalignment of (misforhold mellem) development approaches with what the target beneficiaries need as another part of the problem.
“Many of the development interventions we see in Nepal today do not bridge what we call the ‘last mile gap’, so many services do not make it to the last village on the path – the one farthest from a road – including basic information about what kinds of improvements are available in the area,” said Dhrupad Choudhury.
He is regional programme manager of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in Kathmandu, the capital.
“Rural mountain communities, for example, struggle to benefit from development interventions designed for the rest of the country. It is important that programmes be tailored to the local specificities, the climate, the inaccessibility, and how these communities experience change,” Choudhury said,
He pointed to ICIMOD’s 2011 report, “Understanding Mountain Poverty in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas”.
A shift toward valuing local contributions, stretching engagements over longer periods of time, and recognizing the potential of remittances (hvad udlands-nepalesere sender hjem) to contribute to development are needed to affect change.
Valuing local contributions
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