UCLG Best Practices Nepal 2018

Empowering Local Governments in Nepal to Promote Sanitation in their Communities

Sanitation in Nepal

UCLG ASPAC in close collaboration with its partners, under the framework of “Municipalities Network Advocacy in Sanitation in South Asia�, has identified five municipalities in Nepal for the implementation of the Sanitation programme.

After years of conflict, Nepal promulgated a new Constitution in 2015, of which greater roles and authority will be provided to local governments. Following this political development, challenges remain on how the newly granted autonomy to local authorities can be best utilized for the development of marginalized communities. The country now has seven provinces (all yet to be formally named), which are further divided into 293 urban municipalities and 460 rural municipalities. Both local and provincial level elections were successfully conducted in 2017. However, the major goal is to fulfill the aspirations

of the people brought about the political reform, order to make local governments more responsive to the needs of the people.

Even when five pilot municipalities had to be chosen under “Municipalities Network Advocacy in Sanitation in South Asia” in Nepal, the major challenge dwelled on how to choose the ones United Cities Local Governance (UCLG) is going to work in.

In the consideration to select five pilot locations for the “Municipalities Network Advocacy in Sanitation in South Asia” in Nepal, Kalanidhi Devkota, Executive Secretary of Municipal Association of Nepal (MuAN), explained that “First, our underlining agreement was to make the process very transparent and scientific. We believed we should be accountable and be able to answer to each municipality why they did not get chosen.” MuAN is UCLG’s implementing partner in Nepal. Kalanidhi Devkota further added that “After all, MuAN is an institution belonging to all municipalities and the need to keep everyone happy is very essential.”

UCLG ASPAC led the coordination in the selection process conducted through MuAN with the support from the project’s technical partner, the Environment & Public Health Organization (ENPHO). The municipalities that did not have similar funding support were selected to avoid duplication. “However, we also ensured that the selected municipalities do have some sort of their own funding commitment towards the project,” says Buddha Bajracharya, ENPHO’s Technical Coordinator whose organization has over 25 years of experience creating eco-friendly societies.

According to ENPHO, the selection prioritized Open Defecation Free (ODF) attainment as primary criteria for the selection of municipality for project implementation. ODF attainment has been the national primary goal of Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan 2011 and is expected to be achieved by 2018, a year later than the target. Furthermore, the survey took into account that the selected municipalities were fecal sludge management (FSM) applicable such as being non-mountainous (due to cold weather), had to be urban, and were emerging cities with genuine need for such a technology.

The number was finally shortlisted to 42 from 293 where a Rapid Sanitation Assessment was conducted from August to October 2018 using KOBOCollect Application for data collection. A structured questionnaire was developed using an online tool – KoBoToolbox and the eliminators contacted respective Sanitation Focal Person/representatives from the municipalities using a mobile application.

The following criteria was then used to rank the surveyed municipalities: 1.

2.

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5.

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Willingness of the municipalities/Commitment for Funding: 30 Realization for the need of FSM: 10 Sanitation section/Current sanitation initiatives: 21 Types of Containment: 12 Existence of fecal sludge transportation service: 10 Additional: a) ODF attainment: 7; b) Desires for FSM service: 5; and c) Regulatory Provision: 5

When the top ten ranking list was finally created, the final five municipalities UCLG ASPAC is going to work in were finally proposed to make the selection as inclusive as possible. The finalists were: 1) Province 2 - Lahan Municipality; 2) Province 3 – Dhulikhel Municipality; 3) Province 4 – Waling Municipality; 4) Province 5 – Lamahi Municipality; 5) Province 7 – Bhimdatta Municipality.

Buddha Bajracharya of ENPHO shared a valuable lesson from this process that “Our experiences tell us we have to constantly change our targets and plan by listening to local voices of the communities. Sometimes, solutions come from deep within.”

UCLG ASPAC will continuously update all members and partners on the works it has done with its partners.