Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 1 Senior Programme Officer, LI-BIRD 2 Senior Research Officer, LI-BIRD 3 Chairperson, CDAFN 4 Science Officer, CCAFS 5 Consultant, NRM Expert Citation: Bhusal A., L. Khatri, S. Neupane, N. Yadav, A. Khatri Chettri and Y. Malla. 2019. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders: Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal: Assessment Report. LI-BIRD/CCAFS. Publisher Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD) PO Box No.: 324, Pokhara, Kaski, Nepal Copyright Publisher Published Date November 2019 Authors Aastha Bhusal1, Laxman Khatri1, Santosh Neupane2, Nagdev Yadav3, Arun Khatri Chhetri4, and Yam Malla5 Photos Hem GC, LI-BIRD and LI-BIRD Photo Bank Design & Print Production www.growinnova.com COMMUNICATING CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE TO THE STAKEHOLDERS IMPACT OF LI-BIRD/CCAFS TRAVELLING SEMINARS IN CLIMATE SMART VILLAGES OF NEPAL ASSESSMENT REPORT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The financial support for this assessment was provided by CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), South Asia, and the study was executed by Local Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development (LI-BIRD) – an organization committed to diversifying choices and securing livelihoods of smallholder farmers through innovative approaches to research and development in agriculture, biodiversity, climate change and natural resources. The study team would like to acknowledge the assistance and support of the following individuals: » Dr. Balaram Thapa (LI-BIRD’s Executive Director) for overall guidance and intellectual inputs on the impact assessment work, » Mr Beni Bahadur Basnet, Executive Secretary of the LI-BIRD Board, for supporting toorganize FGD meeting in Pokhara, and » Ms Deepa Gurung, Ms Mira Dhakal and Ms Laxmi Gurung (LI-BIRD Administration & Finance Section) for administrative, finance and logistic support. This report would not have materialised without the cooperation and active participation of the people, who attended the FGD meetings in Bardibas, Kawasoti and Pokhara. The study team sincerely thanks them all for accepting our request to come to the meetings, and extends special appreciation to the members of the Federal House of Representatives, Gandaki and Province 2 Assemblies as well as representatives of Bardibas, Gaushala, Mithila, Madhyabindu and Devchuli Municipalities of Mahottari, Dhanusha and Nawalpur districts. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report presents findings of an assessment of the impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS travelling seminars on the topic of Climate Smart Village (CSV) approach and Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) technologies and practices. The study was conducted during 10-17 September 2019 in Bardibas (Mahottari district), Kawasoti (Nawalpur district) and Pokhara (Kaski district). Over the past few years, climate change and gender issues have received attention of all quarters, including the government of Nepal (GoN), as evidenced by various policies and plans formulated in response by government and other concerned stakeholders. Agriculture is reported to be among the most affected sectors and, in the context of Nepal, the high rate of out-migration of male members to cities and overseas countries for jobs has led to increased feminization of agriculture activities. LI-BIRD, with support from a CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), has been implementing climate and gender related projects. These are Climate Smart Village (CSV) and Gender, Agriculture and Climate Change (GACC) projects. It has set up a number of pilot CSVs in Mahottari, Dhanusha and Nawalpur districts for testing and demonstrating a range of CSA technologies and practices for scaling. LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminar LI-BIRD/CCAFS travelling seminar refers to ‘on-site field visit to pilot CSV demonstration sites, direct observation and interaction with local farmers, on-site assessment of climate smart technologies and practices tested and adapted by farmers, on-site interactive dialogue and exchange of ideas among the participants’ (Sherpa and Thapa, 2019). In April and November 2018, LI-BIRD/CCAFS organized a series of travelling seminars, designed and targeted for the newly elected local and provincial leaders, especially women leaders. The main objective was to enhance awareness and knowledge of the participants about the impact of climate change on the livelihoods of farmers/villagers by providing them with an opportunity to directly observe and learn from climate smart actions undertaken in pilot CSV sites. More specific aims were to provide an overview of national (and global) climate change scenario and gender dimensions in agriculture,and to introduce the CSV approach by showcasing various climate smart technologies and practices that are successfully tested and adapted by farmers, and which the seminar participants could potentially replicate in their constituencies. Boots on the ground – Honorable Members of Gandaki Province and local government representatives visiting CSV site in Hardiya Village, Madhyabindu Municipality during travelling seminar Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 2 Travelling Seminar Impact Assessment The overall objective was to assess the effectiveness of travelling seminars and the extent to which the participants, especially the municipal and provincial level women leaders, were able to internalize and apply the seminar learning to advocate and influence municipal and provincial level policies, plans and programmes. More specifically, the study focused on the following aspects: » Assess the extent to which the travelling seminar participants, especially the municipal level leaders, were able to incorporate seminar learning (e.g., climate smart actions, technologies and approaches) into the local development plans. » Assess the extent to which the seminar participants, especially the Members of Provincial Assembly, were able to apply the seminar learning to influence agriculture programme of their province – such as the Chief Minister’s Environment Friendly Model Agriculture Village Programme (CMEFMAVP) of Gandaki Province, and make them gender and climate sensitive. » Linked to objective 2 above, assess the extent to which participants were able to apply the seminar learning to actively advocate for and influence climate and gender issues in other relevant sectoral policies, plans and programmes at the municipal and provincial level. » Assess the extent to which the seminar learning was helpful and adequate to address such specific objective, and what additional or complementary knowledge and skills could be a further help, and » Identify major constraints and challenges that the travelling seminar participants encountered in applying the learning to influence policy processes, and how they might be addressed in future. The assessment methodology involved a combination of approaches, methods and tools. These included the briefings on the need and objective of the impact assessment by LI-BIRD’s Executive Director and staffs responsible for the CSV and GACC projects, the review of relevant documents and reports, the planning and conducting focus group discussion (FGD) with the selected seminar participants and a reflection on each FGD session by the study team. FGDs were conducted in Bardibas (Mahottari district), Kawasoti (Nawalpur district) and Pokhara (Kaski district). Altogether, thirty two people participated in the FGD meetings. Major Findings of the Impact Assessment Awareness of challenges presented by climate change to agriculture and gender development, and the availability of CSA technologies and practices Almost all the FGD participants expressed positively about the travelling seminar usefulness in raising their awareness level on the agriculture and gender related challenges induced by climate change. While almost all of the climate smart technologies/ practices demonstrated in the pilot CSV sites were interesting, some technologies/practices appeared to be more relevant and appropriate to address the challenges facing by Nepal’s farming communities. Some of the repeatedly mentioned technologies/ practices were: » the harvesting and lifting under-ground seepage water for irrigation, » the solar based irrigation, » the rain water harvesting, » the home garden, » the drip irrigation, » the hand corn sheller, and » the watershed protection measures. Building seminar learning into local (ward & municipal) development plans All local leaders participating in the FGD meeting confirmed that their municipalities have completed the 12-step local development planning process and approved their local development plans and budgets for Fiscal Year 2019/20. When asked about their involvement in local development plan and budget, all of them had participated in the preparation of their municipality’s annual development plan and budget. In addition to ensure that their municipality’s agricultural programme was climate and gender sensitive, they also reported to have stressed the need to aim towards developing their entire municipality to be ‘climate smart municipality’. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 3 Applying seminar learning to influence provincial agriculture development policy and programmes Provincial governments are in the process of developing different sectoral policies, programmes and guidelines. For example, Gandaki Province has developed and implemented ‘Chief Minister’s Environment Friendly Model Agriculture Village Programme (CMEFMAVP)’. Apparently, the Gandaki provincial government has selected 36 electoral sites for field implementation of the CMEFMAVP and has plans for doubling and tripling the number of field implementation sites in the second and third year, respectively. For the first year, a total of 160 million rupees has been allocated and is expected to increase with increases in the number of field sites in subsequent years. The Province 2 government did not seem to have initiated such special agriculture programme. In the Gandaki Province, on the question of the extent to which the FGD participants were able to use the seminar learning in influencing the government decisions, there was a mixed response. For example, all, except one, provincial assembly members, who participated in the Pokhara FGD, said that they were aware of the CMEFMAVP, and were involved in the discussion while formulating the programme. During the discussion, they used the seminar learning and stressed the need to make such programme both climate and gender sensitive. Applying seminar learning to influence other sectoral policies and programmes On the question of engaging in the formulation of policies, plans and programmes for sectors other than agriculture, all the FGD participants - especially the provincial assembly members, said that it is their main role and responsibility. They were all involved in almost all of the sectoral policies and plans of the Gandaki Province. The travelling seminar learning was helpful for them to stress on the need to work towards developing climate smart villages. Applying seminar learning on climate and gender issues to advocate in public policy forums The FGD participants, especially members of the federal lower house of representatives and provincial assemblies, have often been invited to speak at the various public policy forums, including ones on climate change and gender related forums. They confirmed that whenever invited to such policy forums, they have taken the opportunity to use the knowledge gained from the travelling seminars, and give examples of climate smart and women friendly agricultural technologies used in Rajabas and Madhyabindu areas. They even suggested the people to visit the LI-BIRD/CCAFS CSV sites. Example of the seminar participants’ influence on government decisions The FGD participants were asked to give examples of the provincial and/or local government’s decisions, which they were able to influence, and which are climate and gender sensitive. Most local elected leaders, especially the Deputy Mayors, said that they were able to use the seminar learning to draw attention of the Mayors and other elected leaders as well as concerned ministry officials, to allocate more resources on agricultural programmes and to make them climate and gender sensitive. Apparently, it is generally the women leaders, who hold Deputy Mayors’ positions of their municipalities, and it is often the Deputy Mayors, who are responsible to lead the development programmes planning of their respective municipalities. They also said to have advised their Mayors to visit the LI-BIRD/CCAFS CSV sites in Bardibas and Madhyabindu municipalities. Constraints/challenges faced in applying seminar learning to influence government decisions The FGD participants have also faced many constraints and challenges when attempting to use the seminar learning and influence their government’s decisions/actions. In the FGD meetings, two challenges surfaced repeatedly. One is that not all the elected leaders hold decision-making positions, or have ready access to people who hold key positions in the governments and make major decisions. For example, at the provincial level, it is the provincial government officials, Chief Minister’s secretariat, line ministries and the policy and planning commission, who play major role in programme and budget planning. Similarly, at the local level, it is the Mayors and Executive Officers, who decide on the municipal programme and budget. The other major challenge faced by the FGD participants is “how to ensure their voice is heard, and their suggestions are included in the government’s plan and budget”. The seminars, no doubt, raised the participants’ awareness level of the climate change problems and their solutions and they stressed the need to include climate smart programmes; but when the plan was developed and released, they find their suggestions are not included in the plan. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 4 The FGD meetings in all three places also reflected some communication/coordination gaps between provincial and local level actions. For example, in the Kawasoti FGD meeting, when asked about the coordination between provincial and local governments about developing the CMEFMAVP, the one participant made the following statement. “... though I have heard about the CMEFMAVP and even heard about a site being selected for its field implementation in nearby area, I had no role, whatsoever, in the discussion related to this programme...” (Mr Bishnu Prasad Acharya, Ward Chairperson, Devchuli Municipality, Nawalpur). “... I do not know about the CMEFMAVP objective, programme and activities, and how and when those activities will be planned and implemented, and who will do it...” (Mr Surya Prasad Neupane, Ward Chairperson, Madhyabindu Municipality, Nawalpur). Issues on the gap between provincial and local level planning of programmes and budget was also raised at the Bardibas FGD meeting, which is reflected from the following exchanges between the FGD participants. “... the provincial government tends to act independently, without consulting the local governments; they have the budget, but cannot come up with a programme..., as a result, money gets frozen... (Mrs Tara Basnet Lama, Deputy Mayor, Mithila Municipality, Dhanusha). “...well, most budgets have been transferred to local, municipal governments... they are the ones who have budget ... provincial government has very limited development budgets... how could the provincial government control the budget and get it frozen...” (Honorable Jainul Rain, Member, Provincial Assembly). Appropriateness of travelling seminars for scaling CSA technologies and practices When asked about the appropriateness of the LI-BIRD/CCAFS travelling seminar to strengthen their knowledge on climate smart agricultural technology/practice, the FGD participants had many positive things to say. For example: “... as I had expressed in the reflection, after the travelling seminar, I would like to say that again in this meeting…, I was unaware of the Chure conservation work done in Rajabas village, so close to my own home district, and LI-BIRD/CCAFS travelling seminar made it possible for me to learn. The work, which the CDAFN has done with support from LI-BIRD and other organizations, shows what can be done to conserve and develop Chure region and how... I think such work should be expanded to other parts of the Chure region... from Mechi to Mahakali… LI-BIRD could organize similar seminars for other concerned people and organizations... I have advised other members of the Lower House to visit Rajabas village...” (Honorable Indu Kumari Sharma, Member, Federal Lower House of Representatives). “... although I had heard about climate change and gender issues, but I did not know what actions to take and how to go about doing that... but when I attended the travelling seminar and saw various technologies and practices used on the ground; then I knew what it is that I should be talking and stressing about... at least from the agriculture development perspective...; with the knowledge gained from the travelling seminar, I was able to contribute to the debate in the provincial assembly and other public meetings” (Honorable Gayatri Gurung, Assembly Member, Gandaki Province). Suggestions for future actions and addressing challenges faced in using seminar learning effectively The FGD participants were then asked whether they have suggestions for improving the future seminars, and also how we could address the constraints/challenges faced by them in using the learning to influence policies/programmes. The participants pointed to a number of areas for improvement, and how some challenges/constraints might be addressed. These included the need for (i) reconsidering the selection criteria of seminar participants to include other people who hold key positions in the government, (ii) using the seminar time more effectively, (iii) including some additional topics, (iv) considering some social/ communication skills, especially how to use the seminar learning to influence government’s decisions, and (v) addressing the gaps between local and provincial governments planning. Suggestions for Strategic Action Strategic action 1: The travelling seminar seems to be appropriate concept and tool for engaging elected provincial and local leaders/representatives and facilitate learning on critical topics such as climate change. LI-BIRD/CCAFS should continue to organize travelling seminars, though in modified forms, and use it to scale-up the proven CSA technologies and practices across Nepal. Strategic action 2: LI-BIRD/CCAFS should reconsider its criteria of selecting target audience. The present focus on few elected women leaders, though important, has had limited effect. There is a need to target some other people too - especially those holding Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 5 key decision-making positions, such as Ministers and Secretaries of the concerned line ministries, Mayors and Executive Officers of the municipal governments, as well as representatives of the Policy and Planning Commission. Strategic action 3: In addition to knowledge on CSA technologies and practices, LI-BIRD should consider including additional knowledge/skills, especially social and communication skills, with focus on how to go about using the seminar learning effectively to influence government’s decisions. Strategic action 4: There is also a need for LI-BIRD/CCAFS to consider categorizing (grouping) technologies based on effort and resources required to scale-up their uses – i.e. technologies that require low inputs and those that require greater inputs to scale up (rather than using the same strategy for all types of technologies). Strategic action 5: LI-BIRD should also consider other similar challenging natural resource fields where it could use the travelling seminar concept/approach for scaling up the tested technologies. For example, with the proven technology and working modality already in place, it should be possible for LI-BIRD to move to other parts of the Chure – the rapidly deteriorating ecological region that stretches from the East to the West. Not only has this region been included in the government’s national priority programmes, there is willingness of some development organizations to provide financial and technical assistance. Strategic action 6: LI-BIRD should find a way to change people’s mindset - from the current tendency of relying on outside agencies for almost all work and support related to capacity building to one where the local/provincial governments mobilize own financial and other resources, and use LI-BIRD and other similar organizations as providers of technical know-how, for such work. Strategic action 7: And finally, given that scaling-up/ mainstreaming CSA technologies and practices beyond the pilot sites is increasingly becoming a major concern for Nepal government and development organizations, LI-BIRD should take this as an opportunity to set up a dedicated “CSA technologies Scaling Unit within LI-BIRD” to promote CSA technologies and practices in a more organized manner, and build partnership with interested development organizations. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 6 ABBREVIATIONS ADS Agriculture Development Strategy CCAFS Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security CDAFN Community Development and Advocacy Forum Nepal CDO Community Development Organization CGIAR Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research CMEFMAVP Chief Minister Environment Friendly Model Agriculture Village Programme CS Climate Smart CSA Climate Smart Agriculture CSO Civil Society Organization CSV Climate Smart Village DCC District Coordination Committee FGD Focus Group Discussion GACC Gender, Agriculture and Climate Change GoN Government of Nepal KII Key Informant Interview LI-BIRD Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development NGO Non-Government Organization Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement Executive Summary 1 Abbreviations 6 1. INTRODUCTION 9 2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 10 2.1 The Context: Nepal’s Agriculture Sector, Climate Change and Gender Issues 10 2.2 Federal System of Governance and Women Leaders 10 2.3 LI-BIRD/CCAFS’ CSV and GACC Projects 10 3. LIBIRD/CCAFS’ TRAVELLING SEMINAR: RATIONALE, TARGET AUDIENCE, PURPOSE AND THE PROCESS 12 4. TRAVELLING SEMINAR IMPACT ASSESSMENT 14 4.1 Objective and Focus of Impact Assessment 14 4.2 Impact Assessment Methodology 14 4.3 Findings of the Impact Assessment 15 4.3.1 Raising awareness level on climate change challenges to agriculture and gender development, and on the availability of CSA technologies and practices 15 4.3.2 Building seminar learning into local (ward & municipal) development plans 15 4.3.3 Applying seminar learning to influence provincial agriculture development policy and programme 16 4.3.4 Applying seminar learning to influence other sectoral policies and programmes 17 4.3.5 Applying seminar learning to advocate in climate and gender related public policy forums 17 4.3.6 Example of the travelling seminar participants’ influence on government decisions 18 4.3.7 Constraints/challenges faced in applying seminar learning to influence government decisions 19 Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 8 4.3.8 Appropriateness of travelling seminar for promoting CSA technologies and practices 19 4.3.9 Suggestions for future action and addressing the challenges/constraints faced in using seminar learning 20 5. DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STRATEGIC ACTION 22 5.1 Discussion 22 5.2 Suggestions for Strategic Action 24 References 26 Appendices 27 List of Tables Table 1: Climate smart technologies/practices/approaches 11 Table 2: Travelling seminars’ participants in the three travelling seminars 12 Table 3: Process for preparing Municipality annual integrated development plan 16 Table 4: Budget estimate for FY 2019/20 approved by municipalities of the FGD participants 18 Table 5: Expenses of travelling seminars organized in 2018 (NPRs) 24 List of Appendices Annex 1: Check-list of Questions for Focus Group Discussion 27 Annex 2: Names and Positions of Focus Group Discussion Participants 29 Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 9 1. INTRODUCTION This report presents findings of an assessment on the impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS travelling seminars on the topic of Climate Smart Villages (CSV) and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices. The study was conducted during 10-17 September 2019. The actual seminars were organized in April and November 2018 in pilot CSV sites of Mahottari, Dhanusha and Nawalpur districts, and were designed and targeted for newly elected local and provincial level women leaders from Province 2 and Gandaki Province as well as some representatives of District Coordination Committees (DCCs), NGOs, Civil Society and Community Development Organizations (CSOs/CDOs). The report begins with a background information, providing the context of Nepal’s agriculture sector and Nepal’s federal system of governance with provisions for women leadership. This is followed by a brief description of the climate Smart Village (CSV) and Gender, Agriculture and Climate Change (GACC) projects that LI-BIRD has been implementing over the past few years. It then describes aspects of the travelling seminars, including the rationale/purpose, topics/subjects covered and the seminar participants. The next section presents information on the impact assessment of the travelling seminars, including the objectives, methodology used and the findings. The report concludes with discussion and suggestions for future action. Travelling seminar impact assessment in action – Honorable Members and local government representatives taking part in focus group discussion Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 10 2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 2.1 The Context: Nepal’s Agriculture Sector, Climate Change and Gender Issues Over the past few years, climate change and gender issues have received attention of all quarters, including the government of Nepal (GoN), as evidenced by various policies, strategies, plans and programmes formulated in response by government and other concerned stakeholders. Agriculture is reported to be among the most affected sectors and in the context of Nepal, the high rate of out-migration of male members to cities and overseas countries for jobs has led to increased feminization of agriculture activities (GoN, 2010; 2015). Nepal government’s Agriculture Development Strategy released in 2015 places emphasis on the need to make the nation’s agriculture programmes and activities both climate and gender sensitive. However, such national policies and programmes often lack inter-sectoral coherence, and there is hardly any reflection and integration of these into local government policies and plans. 2.2 Federal System of Governance and Women Leaders In the context of Nepal’s newly enacted federal governance system, with provisions for three tiers of governments (federal/ central, provincial and local levels), the provincial and local elected representatives and governments now have authority, responsibility as well as resources to develop and implement their own policies and programmes that address local development needs and priorities. The new system also allows them to take necessary, appropriate measures to improve. Two years have passed since the local (municipal) level elections were completed, and over 18 months since the federal and provincial level elections were conducted. Over this period, the federal government has developed and enacted a number of laws, acts and regulations to implement Nepal’s Constitution 2072 and support the development policies, plans and programmes. The Constitution has a provision for women to have at least one-third of the total memberships of the federal and provincial assemblies. Likewise, at least one of the top two positions (i.e. Mayor or Deputy Mayor) at the municipal government should be held by a woman. These policies were implemented in the subsequent general elections held for all three levels of federal, provincial and municipal assemblies. 2.3 LI-BIRD/CCAFS CSV and GACC Projects LI-BIRD, with support from CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), has been implementing two climate and gender related projects. These are Climate Smart Village (CSV) and Gender, Agriculture and Climate Change (GACC) projects. The goal of the CSV Project is to help develop villages where people adapt technologies and practices that are climate resilient and minimize the impact of climate change on climate vulnerable households and communities. Such CSVs are used as places for participatory testing/assessment of potential climate smart technologies and practices, together with the local farmers/residents. The goal of the GACC project is to enhance awareness, knowledge and capacity of newly elected leaders, especially women leaders, on gender, agriculture and climate change, so that they are informed and able to actively advocate for climate and gender sensitive agriculture policies, plans and programmes in their constituencies. In partnership with selected local NGOs and User Groups, LI-BIRD has set up a number of pilot CSVs in Mahottari, Dhanusha and Nawalpur districts for testing and demonstrating a range of CSA and natural resource management technologies and practices. The LI-BIRD/CCAFS project develops a pool of major CSA technologies and practices using such ‘smart’ criteria as weather/climate smart, water smart, seed/breed smart, carbon/nutrient smart, energy smart and institutional/market smart. More detail information on these can be found in various reports (see, for example, LI-BIRD nd.; Paudel et. al. 2017 for a list of CSA champion technologies and practices for high-hills, mid-hills and Terai regions of Nepal, and Rasaily 2019a & 2019b for some CSA technologies and approaches used in Mahottari and Dhanusha districts). From these pools, the concerned LI-BIRD staffs and villagers/stakeholders jointly discuss technologies and practices that might be relevant to the areas and which should/could, potentially, be tested and demonstrated in the selected CSV sites. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 11 Table 1 includes information on some of the climate smart technologies and practices that have been tested and demonstrated in the LI-BIRD pilot CSV sites Table 1: Climate smart technologies and practices Climate Smart Technology Options/Choices Water related technology/practice Protection of up-stream water sources, lifting water from underneath the dry river beds and using canals to supply water to villages; solar energy to lift ground water, rainwater harvesting ponds, drip irrigation etc. Agriculture/livestock related technology/practice Varieties of seeds/breeds of crops/livestock (e.g. drought tolerant crop variety seeds) and livestock breeds, home gardens, all year-round vegetable production, community seed banks, riverbed farming, intercropping/mixed cropping (with legumes), drudgery reducing agricultural machineries/tools (e.g., paddy/wheat/millet threshing machines, corn seed separating hand tools, seed planters etc), improved cattle-shed and FYM. Bio-technology/practice Green manure, organic/bio-pesticides, bio-gas (energy) Bio-engineering technology/practice Planting vegetative material (trees, shrubs, grasses) to protect riverbanks, gullies, roadsides; constructing check-dams using local material (bamboos/trees/shrubs, gabion walls etc). Farmers livelihood security schemes Cooperative-led saving/credit schemes, community seed banks, crop/livestock insurance and ICT/agro-advisory services, producing surplus for market and developing market linkage Source: Adapted from LI-BIRD (nd.), Paudel et. al. (2017), Rasaily (2019a & 2019b). Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 12 3. LIBIRD/CCAFS TRAVELLING SEMINAR: RATIONALE, TARGET AUDIENCE, PURPOSE AND THE PROCESS Travelling seminar refers to ‘on-site field visit to pilot CSV demonstration sites, direct observation and interaction with local farmers, on-site assessment of climate smart technologies and practices tested and adapted by farmers, on-site interactive dialogue and exchange of ideas among the participants (Sherpa and Thapa, 2019). The rationale is that instead of in-house seminars that rely on presentations/lectures to audiences and questions/answer sessions, the travelling seminars rely on “direct field observations and interactions”. In this approach, lies the idea that “learning by seeing and observing with your own eyes and interacting directly with people, with the first hand experiences of the said technology and practice, would be relatively more effective than the usual, in-house seminars and workshops”. The LI-BIRD/CCAFS travelling seminars, in the case of Bardibas and Kawasoti, were designed and targeted for the elected leaders, especially the women leaders, although a few male members also participated. The idea behind engaging the elected leaders, especially women leaders, was that not only might they help influence to make the agricultural policies and programmes climate sensitive, but also gender sensitive. Furthermore, as they hold positions with access to power and resources, such seminars could potentially influence government actions towards scaling-up and mainstreaming of the adoption of climate smart technologies and practices in their provinces and municipalities. The overall objective was to enhance awareness and knowledge of the newly elected women leaders about the impact of climate change on the livelihoods of farmers/villagers by providing them with an opportunity to directly observe and learn from climate smart actions undertaken in pilot CSV sites. This would make the participants better informed and they could use the learning for influencing public policy processes. More specific aims were to provide (i) an overview of national (and global) climate change scenario and gender dimensions in agriculture, and (ii) to introduce the CSV approach by showcasing various climate smart technologies and practices that are successfully tested and adapted by farmers, and which the seminar participants could potentially replicate in their areas/constituencies (Sherpa and Thapa, 2019). Table 2 provides the number of people and their associate institutions/organizations who participated in the LI-BIRD/CCAFS travelling seminars in Bardibas (Mahottari & Dhanusha) and Kawasoti (Nawalpur). Table 2: Participants’ category in travelling seminar impact assessment Participant Category Participant Number Province 2 Gandaki Province Total Bardibas Kawasoti Pokhara Member, House of Representative (Federal Assembly) 1 - - 1 Member, Provincial Assembly 4 - 6 10 District Coordination Committee (DCC) 2 - - 2 Deputy Mayer 2 2 - 4 Ward Chair 2 2 - 4 Ward member - 3 - 3 Head of Agriculture Section (municipality) - 1 - 1 NGO/CSO Representatives 1 - - 1 Journalists/Media Group Representatives 2 - - 2 Invited Guests/Observers 1 - 3 4 Total 15 8 9 32 Source: LI-BIRD, 2019 Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 13 When selecting and inviting elected leaders, LI-BIRD management was conscious of the various political parties and their local and provincial leaders/representatives. They tried to ensure that not only the majority of the leaders invited should be women, but they should also represent the major political parties (Dr. Balaram Thapa, pers. comm., April, 2019) And, on the process, each travelling seminar involved three specifically planned sessions, as follows: » Opening and orientation session: This session is used to welcome and introduce the participants and to explain objectives and plans and arrangements made for field visits, types of technologies and practices selected for demonstrations and observation by participants, arrangements for direct interactions with villagers/farmers (the actual beneficiaries) as well as information on time and logistics (Sherpa and Thapa, 2019). » The opening and orientation session is followed by what is referred to as ‘field visit and interaction with local farmers and communities’. This session involves a series of guided tours to various field sites and locations where the climate smart technologies and practices have been tested and demonstrated. See Sherpa and Thapa (2019) for information on the sites and technologies and practices observed by the travelling seminar participants in the Bardibas area. Essentially, the travelling seminar allows the participants to observe the technology and practice in use and at the same time to interact with the users/beneficiaries (i.e. the farmers/communities). As for arranging tours to field demonstration sites, the local farmers/communities of the concerned sites/areas are informed in advance, with a request to meet with seminar participants and time and location, share their experiences of using CSA technologies and practices and respond to queries the participants might have. » The third and final session - referred to as ‘reflection and closing session’ - brings the seminar participants back to the same place used for the morning session for “opening/ orientation”. Here, the session provides the participants with an opportunity to reflect on the ‘field visit and interaction session’, share the key learning, and provide feedback (both positive and areas for improvement) to the seminar organizers (Sherpa and Thapa, 2019). Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 14 4. TRAVELLING SEMINAR IMPACT ASSESSMENT 4.1 Objective and Focus of Impact Assessment The overall objective of the impact study is to assess the effectiveness of travelling seminars and the extent to which the participants, especially the municipal and provincial level women leaders, were able to internalize and apply the seminar learning to advocate and influence municipal and provincial level policies, plans and programmes. More specifically, the study focused on the following aspects: » The government 7-step local planning and budgeting process for the FY 2019/20 is now over and they are now in the process of field implementation. In this regard, assess the extent to which the travelling seminar participants, especially the municipal level leaders, were able to incorporate seminar learning (e.g., climate smart actions, technologies and approaches) into the local development plans. » Currently, provincial governments are at the midst of developing new policies, programmes and operational guidelines (Karyabidhi) for different sectors. For example, Gandaki Province has developed and implemented ‘Chief Minister’s Environmental Friendly Model Agriculture Village Programme (CMEFMAVP)’ in 36 electoral sites. So, assess the extent to which the seminar participants, especially the Members of Provincial Assembly, were able to apply the seminar learning to influence such Chief Minister’s programme and make them gender and climate sensitive. » Linked to objective 2 above, assess the extent to which participants were able to apply the seminar learning to actively advocate for and influence climate and gender issues in relevant sectoral policies, plans and programmes at the municipal and provincial level. » One of the main objectives of the travelling seminar was to enhance awareness and knowledge of newly elected women leaders about the impact of climate change on people’s livelihoods, so that they are better informed and able to apply the learning to influence relevant public policy processes. So, assess the extent to which the seminar learning was helpful and adequate to address such specific objective, and what additional or complementary knowledge and skills could be a further help, and » Identify major constraints and challenges that the seminar participants encountered in applying the learning to influence policy processes, and how they might be addressed in future. 4.2 Impact Assessment Methodology The assessment methodology involved a combination of approaches, methods and tools. These included the briefings on the need and objective of the impact assessment by LI-BIRD’s Executive Director and staffs responsible for the CSV and GACC projects, the review of relevant documents and reports, the planning and conducting focus group discussions with the selected seminar participants and a reflection on each FGD session by the study team. FGDs were conducted in Bardibas (Mahottari district), Kawasoti (Nawalpur district) and Pokhara (Kaski district) separately. Each FGD session lasted for two and half to three hours. Prior to the actual FGDs, the study team, with support from the Executive Director and Ms Lakpa Sherpa, prepared a draft check-list of questions for guiding the FGDs. Similarly, a list of potential participants, using the lists of the earlier travelling seminar participants, prepared for inviting them to the FGD meetings. Annex 1 provides the check-list of questions used for FGDs. Altogether, 15, 8 and 9 people participated in the FGD meetings of Bardibas, Kawasoti and Pokhara, respectively. Annex 2 includes the names and other details of the FGD participants. The Bardibas FGD involved mixed group of women and men representing the Federal House of Representatives, Province 2 Assembly, three Municipalities, as well as representatives of Mahottari District Coordination Committee (DCC) and two Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). The Kawasoti FGD involved eight people (4 women and 4 men) representing Devchuli and Madhyabindu Municipalities. The Pokhara FGD involved nine people (8 women & 1 man) representing the Gandaki Provincial Assembly. For conducting and managing the FGD meetings, one study team member facilitated the discussion and the other two members recorded the information. The FGD sessions were organized using informal, open environment where the participants were able to express freely. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 15 In addition to the FGDs, the study team also used the opportunity to meet some people separately for discussion in greater detail. In Bardibas and Pokhara, the team met key associates of LI-BIRD, such as Mr Nagdev Yadav (Chairperson, CDAFN) and Mr Beni Bahadur Basnet (Executive Secretary of LI-BIRD Board) respectively and gained their insights on the travelling seminars. Upon completing the FGDs in all three places, the study team used the afternoon of 16 September 2019 for an overall review in terms of the work achieved, the methodology used, the FGD participants’ engagement and the information obtained. The team also discussed about the remaining work, including analysis of the information and writing report. After the field visits, a de-brief meeting with the Executive Director and other staff responsible for CSV projects was held at LI-BIRD office in Kathmandu. 4.3 Findings of the Impact Assessment 4.3.1 Raising awareness level on climate change challenges to agriculture and gender development, and on the availability of CSA technologies and practices Almost all the FGD participants expressed positively about the travelling seminar usefulness in raising their awareness level on the agriculture and gender related challenges presented by climate change. While almost all of the climate smart technologies and practices demonstrated in the pilot CSV sites were interesting, some technologies and practices appeared to be more relevant and appropriate to address the problems and challenges facing by the farming communities. Some of the repeatedly mentioned technologies and practices are as follows: » the under-ground seepage water harvesting – a technology which is used to harvest and lift the water that has been seeping through underneath the dry riverbed, for irrigation and household use, » the solar based irrigation – a technology which uses the solar energy to harvest/lift the underground water for farm irrigation and for household use, » the rain water harvesting – a technology that is designed to collect and store rain water to use for irrigation of farmland during dry season » the home garden – an approach/practice that aims at producing all-season vegetables, using mostly compost/green manure, with almost no chemical fertilizers/pesticides, for own home consumption and for supply to nearby market, » the drip irrigation – a technology aimed at efficient use of the scarce water and generally used for home garden irrigation, » the hand corn sheller – a tool which is used to separate seeds from corn-cobs, and » the watershed protection – a combination of biological and engineering measures which is used to protect spring water sources and control floods, especially during the monsoon, and to prevent stream/riverbanks from being washed away, and also to reclaim the previously swept and deserted farmlands by gradually reverting the river course to its original position. These involve such measures as planting trees and grasses along the stream banks and gullies and constructing drainage system, check dams and gabion walls using local material - bamboos, tree branches, stones etc. 4.3.2 Building seminar learning into local (ward and municipal) development plans All local elected leaders participating in the FGD meeting confirmed that their municipalities have completed the 12-step local development planning process and approved their local development plans and budgets for Fiscal Year 2019/20. Table 3 provides information on these steps. The Table shows clearly that the process and approach proposed for use by municipalities to prepare their local development plan and budget is truly ‘bottom- up’ with provisions to involve all concerned stakeholders. The guidelines also specify the steps in the process when local leaders/ representatives are expected to join and provide inputs. Of the 12 steps, municipal assembly members are required to involve themselves in at least seven steps (steps 4 to 10). When asked about their involvement in local development plan and budget, all of the local leaders, who participated in the FGD meetings, said that they had participated in the preparation of their municipality’s 2019/20 development plan and budget. Not only were they able to ensure their municipality’s agricultural programme was both climate and gender sensitive, but also to stress the need to aim towards developing their entire municipality to be ‘climate and gender smart municipality’. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 16 Table 3: Process for preparing Municipality annual integrated development plan Step Activity Timeline Participants Responsibility 1 – 3 Data/information collection/ analysis, resource/revenue/ budget estimation. Push-Baishak Municipality, concerned stakeholders M & E Officer, Rural Budget Committees 4 Local level pre-planning preparation meeting Jestha 1st week Municipal members, DCC Reps, concerned stakeholders Local stakeholders 5 Coordination with CSOs, NGO, private & development organizations Prior to Jestha 25 Community, NGO, private & other development partner organizations Municipality 6 Ward Committee meeting Jestha week 3 Members of Ward Committee Ward Committee 7 Settlement/Tole level discussion Reps of tole’s women/children/youth clubs, senior citizens, disabled/ disadvantage groups NGOs & local professional/organizations. 8 Ward level planning Jest 25 Same as above Same as above 9 Budget & planning committee meeting for preparation of the integrated municipal development Plan Asar 15 Local economic, social, institutional & physical infrastructure development, environment, disaster management organizations, environment, disaster management, service delivery, finance & governance organizations Municipality 10 Municipality meeting and budget & programme approval Asar 15 Municipality Assembly members Same as above 11 Municipality assembly meeting and budget & plan approval Asar 15 Same as above Same as above 12 Budget & plan implementation, M&E Post Asar 15 Municipality Same as above Source: GoN 2074. Guidelines for Preparing Local Level Development Plan and Budget 4.3.3 Applying seminar learning to influence provincial agriculture development policy and programme Provincial governments are in the process of developing policies, programmes and guidelines (Karyabidhi) for different sectors. For example, Gandaki Province has developed and implemented CMEFMAVP. Apparently, the Gandaki provincial government has also selected 36 electoral sites for field implementation of the CMEFMAVP with a total budget of 160 million rupees, and has plans for doubling and tripling the number of field implementation sites and budget in subsequent years. In Province 2, it did not seem like the government had initiated such special agriculture programme. In the Gandaki Province, on the question of the extent to which the FGD participants were able to use the seminar learning in influencing the government decisions, there was a mixed response. For example, all, except one, provincial assembly members, who participated in the Pokhara FGD, said that they Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 17 were aware of the CMEFMAVP, and were involved in the discussion while formulating the programme. During the discussion, they used the seminar learning and stressed the need to make such programme both climate and gender sensitive. The one participant, who claimed having no role in the CMEFMAVP design and field implementation site selection, said, “I have had no role in the discussion of such special programme development, nor had a chance to review the programme document... I have no idea how the sites for field implementation were determined...” (Honorable Sarita Gurung, Member, Gandaki Provincial Assembly). 4.3.4 Applying seminar learning to influence other sectoral policies and programmes On the question of engaging in the formulation of policies, plans and programmes for sectors other than agriculture, all the FGD participants - especially the provincial assembly members, said that it is their main role and responsibility. They also described how the provincial policies, plans and programmes for different sectors formulated and approved. According to the Pokhara FGD participants, in general, the following process was followed: » Provincial Government Assembly and the Chief Minister’s Secretariat make decision on formulating specific policy/plan/ programme, and give instruction/direction to the concerned line ministry/agency to take necessary actions required to develop such document, » The concerned ministry/agency sets up a task team, headed by the Secretary him/herself to oversee the task team’s day to day operation. The task team may consist of other staff members of the ministry and some outside subject matter specialists hired to support the policy/plan preparation work, » The task team is responsible for collecting relevant information and data and for consultations and seeking opinion of various concerned stakeholders. In Gandaki Province, for example, for formulation of agriculture policy and plan, they involved subject matter specialists to prepare working paper (Karyapatra) on identified topics/themes and presented it to the assembly members and other concerned people for consideration and building into the provincial policy and plan (pers. Comm., September 2019 Mr Beni Bahadur Basnet, the former Regional Director of the Agriculture Directorate, Western Development Region), » Based on the Karyapatra and discussion, prepare and share draft report within the concerned ministry for review and feedback, » Share the draft report with rest of the provincial assembly members for review and feedback, » Finalize the document (after incorporating the assembly members’ comments/suggestions), » Table the document at the provincial assembly meeting for final discussion and approval, and » Assembly members formally approve the policy/plan. Looking at the above process, steps 1, 5 and 7 seem critical and it is where the provincial assembly members’ inputs would be helpful and should involve themselves. The Pokhara FGD participants said that they were all involved in almost all of the sectoral policies and plans of the Gandaki Province. The travelling seminar learning was helpful for them to stress on the need to work towards developing climate smart villages. With regard to Province 2, the Bardibas FGD participants, especially the provincial members, did not quite describe the process (steps) used for formulating their province’s policies and programmes but, presumably, they followed more or less similar process and approach. Indeed, all the Provincial 2 assembly members, who participated in the FGD, indicated that they contributed to the state’s various sectoral policies and plans, and advised the government and concerned agricultural ministry to make the plans both climate and gender sensitive. 4.3.5 Applying seminar learning to advocate in climate and gender related public policy forums The FGD participants, especially members of the federal lower house of representatives and provincial assemblies, have often been invited to speak at the various public policy forums, including ones on climate change and gender related forums. They confirmed that whenever invited to such policy forums, they have taken the opportunity to use the knowledge gained from the travelling seminars, and give examples of climate smart and women friendly agricultural technologies used in Rajabas and Madhyabindu areas. They even go on to suggest the people to visit the LI-BIRD/CCAFS’CSV sites in Bardibas and Madhyabindu Municipalities. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 18 4.3.6 Example of the travelling seminar participants’ influence on government decisions The FGD participants were asked to give examples of the provincial and/or local government’s decisions, which they were able to influenced, and which are climate and gender sensitive. Most local elected leaders, especially the Deputy Mayors, who participated in the FGD, said that they were able to use the seminar learning to draw attention of the Mayors and other elected leaders as well as concerned ministry officials, to allocate more resources on agricultural programmes and to make them climate and gender sensitive. Apparently, it is generally the women leaders, who hold Deputy Mayors’ positions of their municipalities, and it is often the Deputy Mayors, who are responsible to lead the development programmes planning of their respective municipalities. They also said to have advised their Mayors to visit the LI-BIRD’s CSV sites in Bardibas and Madhyabindu. Table 4 provides total budget estimate of the municipalities represented by the FGD participants and the amounts earmarked for agriculture and women related sectors. Annual budget of the concerned municipalities for FY 2019/20 ranged from around 497 million to 1.02 billion rupees, of which approximately 50 percent is reported to be used for social sectors (e.g. to support education, health, social welfare, women and children programmes as well as to cover the general administrative costs and staff salaries). The remaining budget is available to support the Palika’s development programmes and plans, including agriculture programmes. Table 4: Budget estimate for FY 2019/20 approved by municipalities of the FGD participants Municipality & District FY 2018/19 FY 2019/20 Total Budget Agriculture % Total Budget Agriculture % Bardibas, Mahottari 82,70,15,000 1,13,00,000 1.37 1,02,14,00,000 5,00,00,000 4.90 Gaushala, Mahottari 66, 20,10,000 20,00,000 0.30 71,33, 21,000 45,00,000 0.63 Mithila, Dhanusha 52,34,11,000 22,34,938 0.43 62,10,90,000 37,13,900 0.60 Devchuli, Nawalpur 52,65,48,000 12,00,000 0.23 49,78,10,000 81,50,000 1.64 Madhyabindu, Nawalpur 27,68,40,819 93,55,000 3.38 67,41,95,000 1,71,89,000 2.55 Source: Devchuli, Madhyabindu, Bardibas, Gaushala, Ganeshman Charnath and Mithila Municipalities Apart from the municipal budget, the FGD participants indicated that each Ward under the Devchuli Municipality also has additional budget to support agriculture programme. As is evident from Table 4, budget allocation for agricultural programme ranges from 0.6 to 4.9 percent of the municipality’s total annual budget. This figure may be slightly higher if additional budget to support Ward level agriculture activities is considered. Nevertheless, in overall, the amount allocated for agricultural programme by municipalities is relatively quite low, compared to the amount allocated for other sectors. Although Table 4 does not show the figure, most municipalities seemed to have given high priority to physical infrastructure development programmes, such as motor roads, bridges, office buildings etc. The FGD also revealed that apart from the own dedicated budget for agriculture, some municipalities may have access to additional fund. Such funds could be available through programmes and projects funded by provincial and/or federal (central) governments, such as the Gandaki Province’s CMEFMAVP, which has plan to invest around 160 million rupees in 36 electoral sites. Similarly, there is a provision to allocate annually 30 million rupees to each provincial assembly member and 59 million rupees to each federal assembly member, which they could mobilise to support specific development work in their respective constituencies. However, whether or not, such fund could be used to support agricultural activities remains at the discretion of the concerned provincial member(s). Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 19 4.3.7 Constraints/challenges faced in applying seminar learning to influence government decisions The FGD participants have also faced many constraints and challenges when attempting to use the seminar learning and influence their government’s decisions/actions. In the FGD meetings, two challenges surfaced repeatedly. One is that not all the elected leaders hold decision-making positions, or have ready access to people who hold key positions in the governments and make major decisions. For example, at the provincial level, it is the provincial government officials, Chief Minister’s secretariat, line ministries and the Policy and Planning Commission, who play major role in programme and budget planning. Similarly, at the local level, it is the Mayors and Executive Officers, who decide on the municipal programme and budget. The other major challenge faced by the FGD participants is “how to ensure their voice is heard, and suggestions made by them are included in the government’s plan and budget. While the travelling seminar could make elected leaders aware of the climate change problems and their solutions, and they may have access to assembly meetings where they speak and make recommendations, but when the plan is put together and released, they find their suggestions are not included in the plan. One Bardibas FGD participant said that “... although the travelling seminar was useful in raising my awareness on climate change issues in agriculture, and I have also spoken at the provincial assembly and stressed the need to promote climate smart agriculture technologies..., but the government people, who put together annual plan and budget, include what they like, not what we suggest...” (Honorable Manju Kumari Yadav, Member, Provincial Assembly). Similarly, another Bardibas FGD participant expressed challenge she faced with her municipal government. “... in fact, it is the senior position holding people such as the Mayors and Executive Officers, who make decisions on what activity to prioritize and how much resource to allocate, but they have not attended the travelling seminar... so, either we are unable to convince them or they do not understand...” (Mrs Tara Basnet Lama, Deputy Mayor, Mithila Municipality, Dhanusha). The FGD meetings in all three places also reflected some communication/coordination gaps between provincial and local level actions. For example, in the Kawasoti FGD meeting, when asked about the coordination between provincial and local governments about developing the CMEFMAVP, the participants made the following statements “... though I have heard about the CMEFMAVP and even heard about a site being selected for its field implementation in nearby area, I had no role, whatsoever, in the discussion related to this programme...” (Mr Bishnu Prasad Acharya, Ward Chairperson, Devchuli Municipality, Nawalpur). The FGD participants also indicated to be unaware of their municipal governments being involved in the CMEFMAVP and in the selection of field implementation site. “... I do not know about the CMEFMAVP objective, programme and activities, and how and when those activities will be planned and implemented, and who will do it...” (Mr Surya Prasad Neupane, Ward Chairperson, Madhyabindu Municipality, Nawalpur). Issues on the gap between provincial and local level planning of programmes and budget were also raised at the Bardibas FGD meeting, which is reflected from the following exchanges between the FGD participants. “... the provincial government tends to act independently, without consulting the local governments; they have the budget, but cannot come up with a programme..., as a result, money gets frozen... (Mrs Tara Basnet Lama, Deputy Mayor, Mithila Municipality, Dhanusha). How such issues, challenges and constraints may be addressed are discussed in Section 4.3.9 below. 4.3.8 Appropriateness of travelling seminar for scaling CSA technologies and practices When asked about the appropriateness of the LI-BIRD’s travelling seminar to strengthen their knowledge on climate smart agricultural technology and practice, to promote the use of such technology widely, we found that the FGD participants had many positive things to say about the seminar. “.. as I had expressed in the reflection, after the travelling seminar, I would like to say that again in this meeting…, I was unaware of the Chure conservation work done in Rajabas village, so close to my own home district, and LI-BIRD travelling seminar made it possible for me to learn. The work, which the CDAFN has done with support from LI-BIRD and other organizations, shows what can be done to conserve and develop Chure region and how... I think such work should be expanded to other parts of the Chure region...from Mechi to Mahakali… LI-BIRD could organize Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 20 similar seminars for other concerned people and organizations... I have advised other members of the Lower House to visit Rajabas village...” (Honorable Indu Kumari Sharma, Member, Federal Lower House of Representatives). “... although I had heard about climate change and gender issues, but I did not know what actions to take and how to go about doing that... but when I attended the LI-BIRD travelling seminar and saw various technologies and practices used on the ground; then I knew what it is that I should be talking and stressing about... at least from the agriculture development perspective...; with the knowledge gained from the travelling seminar, I was able to contribute to the debate in the provincial assembly and other public meetings” (Honorable Gayatri Gurung, Assembly Member, Gandaki Province). “… what I liked about the LI-BIRD travelling seminar is the kind of climate smart technologies they are demonstrating in the pilot CSV sites. The technologies are simple and easy to understand, and more importantly local farmers are using these technologies to improve their livelihoods. …; in particular, I liked the drip irrigation technique used in home gardens and hand corn shellers used by women in Madhyabindu Municipality. Not only are these technologies simple, but also women friendly….; I even saw some men joining their wives and using the hand corn sellers…whereas, in the past, men would generally leave their wives with the harvested corn cobs to deal alone…”. (Honorable, Prabha Koirala, Member, Gandaki Pradesh Assembly). 4.3.9 Suggestions for future action and addressing the challenges/constraints faced in using seminar learning The FGD participants were then asked whether they have suggestions for improving the future seminars and also how the constraints and challenges faced by them, when using the seminar learning to influence policies, could be addressed. The participants pointed to a number of areas where improvement could be made and indicated how some challenges/constraints faced in using the seminar learning, might be addressed. The following paragraphs summarise the responses of the FGD participants. Seminar audience/participants: All three FGD participants almost unanimously expressed the need to involve additional people in such travelling seminars, especially the people who hold key positions in the government, such as the Chief Ministers, Ministers, Secretaries, Mayors and Executive Officers. For example, “...some assembly members asked why only you, why not us? Some asked why only women, why not men” (Mrs Tara Basnet Lama, Deputy Mayor, Mithila Municipality, Dhanusha). “...I also realized that it is important to involve some government people, especially the Vice-Chairman or a representative of the Provincial Policy and Planning Commission, some advisors of the Chief Minister and representatives of the concerned line ministries, such as agriculture...” (Mr Nagdev Yadav, Chairman, CDAFN) Organization of seminar activities and use of the time: LI-BIRD may need to consider how best to organize seminar activities and use the time, especially the time allocated for field trips and interaction. For example, “... the seminar group was a bit too large; ... participants were scattered and distracted; ... some were using mobiles and facebook...; may be the participants could be divided into smaller, more manageable groups...” (Honorable Sarita Gurung, Member, Gandaki Provincial Assembly). Some participants also suggested to allow a more time for the third and final session. “...in Madhyabindu seminar, time allocated for reflection and closing session was too short...it was rushed...;only a couple of people were allowed to speak, many other participants wanted to share their experiences...” (Honorable Sabitri Gurung, Member, Gandaki Province Assembly). Topics/subject matter of seminar focus: Most seminar topics/subject matter seemed to be relevant for the FGD participants. However, some participants pointed to some other topics/ subject areas, which future travelling seminar could consider. For example: “...there is a need to include tool/ mechanism of early warning to avoid disaster and human and property loss..., I am saying this because of the recent flooding damage, experience by people of Mahottari district..,; if it was not for CDAF Nepal who gave us all advance warning of the flooding, Mahottari district would have lost hundreds of human lives...” (Honorable Manju Kumari Yadav, Member Province Two Assembly). “... we have been talking about saving water and harvesting rain and underground water, ... we all know most Province 2 districts have serious drinking and irrigation water problem...we should be planting tree that help to protect water resources, not trees like eucalypts that help to lower water table...” (Mrs Tara Basnet Lama, Deputy Mayor, Mithila Municipality). Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 21 Additional knowledge and skills: From the difficulty faced by the FGD participants to use the seminar learning and convince their government, future seminars may need to consider including some social and communication knowledge/skills. For example, when asked how this challenge of convincing the governments could be addressed, one Bardibas FGD participant suggested, “...one way to address this, may be, by also sharing some knowledge and skills on ‘how to lobby with the concerned agencies and government bodies...” (Mr Suresh Prasad Singh, District Coordination Committee, Mahottari). Gaps between provincial and local governments and perceived roles of elected members: It was evident from the FGD meetings that, at present, coordination between provincial and local governments is seriously lacking. The provincial governments tend to design policies and programmes independently without consulting the local governments and local representatives. For effectively scaling-up climate smart agricultural technologies and practices, coordination between provincial and local governments is essential. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 22 5. DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STRATEGIC ACTION technologies and practices). There is an assumption that local and provincial elected leaders need to be aware of climate change and gender problems to agriculture and the availability of CSA technologies and practices, so that they can use their positions and access to government decisions on policies and programmes. However, as is evident from the FGD meetings, involving few elected leaders might be only partly effective to influence government actions in real life. Some other people also need to be involved, especially those who hold key positions in the provincial and municipal governments – such as Ministers and Secretaries of the concerned line ministries, representatives of the Policy and Planning Commission and Mayors and Executive Officers. These people also need to become aware of the climate and gender challenges facing the agriculture sector and about the knowledge and availability of the CSA technologies and practices. Seminar time and its use: In the present format of the travelling seminar, the one-day timeframe seems to be reasonable. However, if additional knowledge and skills were to be considered – e.g. social and communication skills – then more time will be required. With regard to using the time efficiently, some adjustment could be made in some sessions, especially the sessions for field visit/interactions and for reflections/closing. For example, for field visits, rather than using one, large group, the seminar participants could be grouped into smaller, manageable groups, which could visit demonstration sites at different times, using rotation and different routes. Similarly, the reflection and closing session could be allocated additional time, so that there is sufficient time for the participants to reflect on their experiences and also provide feedback/suggestions on the seminar. Topics/subject matter of focus: Most seminar topics/subject matter found to be relevant by the FGD participants. However, some participants pointed to some additional topics that could be considered in the future travelling seminars. For example, tool/ mechanism of early warning to avoid disaster and human/property loss, promoting to plant trees that help to protect water resources, not eucalypt trees that help to lower ground water table, and introducing seed planters that will help to address labour shortage problem. Focus on process as well as technology: The travelling seminars, at present, seem to place emphasis on the ‘technology’ This final section attempts to summarise the major points arising from the study findings and make some sense about the impact of the travelling seminars. As the travelling seminar was designed and targeted for the elected leaders, especially women leaders, with a view to promote and scale-up the adoption of CSA technologies and practices, the discussion focuses on two aspects: one relates to the travelling seminar itself - as a concept and facilitating tool for learning, target audience, timeframe and use of the time. The other relates to the requirement for scaling up the CSA technologies and practices – especially “the process” and kinds of “demands” on resources that different technologies place. This is followed by suggestions for some strategic action. 5.1 Discussion Travelling seminar as a concept, approach and tool: Unlike normal, conventional seminar, which is usually organized in a room, the travelling seminar involves both in-house and outside activities. The travelling seminar, as the title implies, takes audience to actual field sites, where the technology is in use, and where the participants use most of the seminar time seeing/observing with their own eyes the technology and its field application. The travelling seminar brings both the seminar audience and the technology beneficiaries, together in one place, and allows the former to interact directly with the latter, get first-hand information on the users’ experience. Unlike the normal seminar which may last for an hour or two, the travelling seminar uses much longer period, often whole day or even two or more days (when time for travel from home to/from seminar place is considered), and may require overnight stay away from home. The travelling seminar can also be used as a tool to facilitate learning and sharing knowledge on topical issues, such as climate change related challenges and solutions. As a tool, it captures and builds on the positives of a number of learning tools and methods, including seminars, workshops, training/courses and study tours. Indeed, all the FGD participants seemed to be quite positive about the way LI-BIRD used travelling seminar as a tool to facilitate learning and sharing knowledge on CSA technologies and practices. Target audience (participants): One key objective of the LI-BIRD/CCAFS travelling seminar is to support scaling-up of the use of proven ideas (in this case proven climate smart agricultural Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 23 being tested/demonstrated (i.e. on what); hardly any time used for ‘the processes (on how). Nevertheless, while knowledge/ information on specific technologies is important, and if scaling up of the use of technology is also one of the objectives, then additional information on the process would also be useful for the participants – for example, how did CDAFN and LI-BIRD do it? In other words, if one wishes to have such technology in his/her own farm or village, how they should go about doing it; what it will take for them to do so, particularly from the perspective of organization, effort, time and finance. Some information about these aspects would be useful for the seminar participants, especially people who wish to adopt these proven technologies/practices in their place. Additional knowledge/skills: Linked to the 5.1.5 above, with knowledge on technical aspects alone, though crucial, is not sufficient. As reflected in the FGD meetings, the participants found it difficult to use the seminar learning to convince their government. LI-BIRD may need to consider some social and communication knowledge/skills as well. These include such “soft” knowledge/skills as advocacy, lobbying, ways for presenting ideas in meetings, dealing with counter-arguments etc. With the knowledge on both technical and social aspects of the technology, the travelling seminar may go some way towards helping the elected leaders in convincing their governments to promote and scale-up CSA technologies and practices in their constituencies. Categorizing CSA technologies and practices: Linked to 5.1.5 and 5.1.6 above, and for purposes of scaling-up, consideration should be given on categorizing or grouping technologies based on resources and effort needed to adopt and scale them. Indeed, LI-BIRD has attempted to categorize CSA technologies and practices either by smart types – e.g. weather/ climate smart, carbon/nutrient smart, water smart, energy smart, GESI smart and market/institutional smart, or by ecological regions – e.g. high-hills, middle-hills, or lowland Terai (Paudel et al., 2017 and LI-BIRD nd). However, useful as these category types are, one may also be interested in information relating to cost and other resources associated with adoption of a technology and its adoption. For example, some technologies, such as hand corn sellers, are relatively cheap, simple and easy to adopt, whereas technologies, such as drip irrigation is much costlier and complex. Some technologies, such as the solar power irrigation system and the harvesting and lifting of the seepage water from underneath the riverbed, would be even more complex and expensive. Similarly, some technologies, such as hand corn sellers, may involve decision on individual basis, whereas some other technologies may require decision at the household level (e.g. crop seeds, livestock breeds, drip irrigation etc). On the other hand, some more complex and expensive technologies - such as solar pumped irrigation, harvesting and lifting seepage water from underneath the riverbed etc – require decision involving multiple households or groups of households. These later types of technologies demand for much greater resources (finance, time, effort, organization of the interested households, leadership, technical assistance, collaboration/partnership etc). Using travelling seminars in other similar challenging fields: Although the travelling seminar was designed by LI-BIRD/ CCAFS initially to promote CSA technologies and practices by involving elected leaders with access and positions to influence policy processes. However, it is the concept and approach, which could be used in other natural resource fields and sectors to apply the tested ideas with potential for much greater impact on the people who depend on the resources for livelihoods. One place of intervention, where LI-BIRD may want to consider using travelling seminars, is the Chure region, the rapid degradation of which has become a national issue and which has now been included in the Government’s list of national priority programmes. The combination of social and technical approach used to protect Ratu watershed, to reclaim the flooded area and to harvest and lift the seepage water from underneath the riverbed, is something that could be applied to most parts of the Chure region that stretches from Mechi to Mahakali regions. Environment for such a move is conducive. For example, there is political and government commitment; there is a willingness of the development organizations to support Chure conservation programme; and there is strong desire and interest of local people residing in and around the Chure region, to collaborate in the effort - as it relates to the security of their own and families’ livelihoods. What now needed is an organization/institution, which can facilitate and take “the technologies and approaches” out of the Rajabas village, and apply them to conserve rest of the Chure region. Mindset of depending on outside agencies to do all work related to capacity building: As was evident in all the three FGD meetings, the participants repeatedly suggested LI-BIRD and CDAFN continue to organize travelling seminars in the future, and expand geographical coverage by involving additional municipalities and other parts of the Chure region. Thus, there is a general tendency of elected leaders to take LI-BIRD and similar organizations initiatives for granted. They tend to assume that the role of NGOs is to design capacity building programmes and activities and their own role is to participate in them, instead of Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 24 taking such innovative, successful initiatives as examples and encouraging their government institutions build into their regular development programmes. Therefore, a key challenge is how to make the local, municipal and provincial governments responsible and play a lead role in organizing capacity strengthening activities such as travelling seminars. There is a need for complete reorientation of people’s mindset. The new orientation should be for the municipal and provincial governments to take lead role in planning and mobilizing own resources to support travelling seminars and other similar development work. They mobilize their resources to use organizations, such as LI-BIRD and CDAFN, to provide technical assistance. Now that both the local and provincial governments have their own finance and other means and resources, it should be possible for them to support development initiatives, including the travelling seminars. Financing travelling seminars: Provided the rationale presented in Section 5.1.9 above is acceptable for municipal governments, then what is the tentative amount that a local, municipal government would require to organize and support a travelling seminar? Here, LI-BIRD’s initial experience of organizing travelling seminars in 2018 could be a useful guide. LI-BIRD reported to spend, on an average, around a total of 635,262 rupees when organizing a travelling seminar for 49 participants. Nevertheless, the expenses may vary depending on the location of travelling seminar. Table 5 illustrates the detail breakdown of the expenses of traveling seminar. With a total average annual budget of 705 million rupees or average total agriculture budget of 16 million rupees (see Table 4) and assuming that a municipality organizes three travelling seminars per year, this will represent merely 0.9 percent of the total annual budget or 3.8 percent of the total annual agricultural budget. Thus, the amount, which is required to organize and support a travelling seminar, is not all that great (compared to what they will help to achieve) and, therefore, should be possible for municipal governments to invest on 2-3 travelling seminars a year. Table 5: Expenses of travelling seminars organized in 2018 (NPR) Expense Item Bardibas Madhyabindu Average No. of participants 60 37 49 Food & lodging 209,760.40 282,833.76 246297.08 Transport services 191,600.00 221,393.65 206496.83 Stationary 36,993.75 22,410.00 29701.875 Technical assistance/support 204,429.00 101,103.68 152766.34 Total 642,783.15 627,741.09 635,262.12 Source: LI-BIRD, 2019 5.2 Suggestions for Strategic Action LI-BIRD/CCAFS strategy to use travelling seminar as a concept and tool to strengthen elected leaders’ awareness, knowledge and capacity on climate and gender related agricultural problems and use CSA technologies and practices and scale them up through the seminar participants, seems to be a step in the right direction. The initial couple of such seminars should be seen as a successful experiment as not only have those seminars been found to be very useful by the participants, the experiment also provides useful insight on how LI-BIRD/CCAFS might go about making future seminars more effective. Some of the strategic actions, which LI-BIRD/CCAFS may want to consider for future travelling seminars, are as follows: Strategic action 1: The travelling seminar seems to be appropriate concept and tool for engaging elected provincial and local leaders/representatives and facilitate learning on critical topics such as climate change. LI-BIRD/CCAFS should continue to organize travelling seminars, though in modified forms, and use it to scale-up the adoption of proven CSA technologies and practices widely across Nepal. Strategic action 2: LI-BIRD/CCAFS should reconsider its criteria of selecting target audience. The present focus on few elected women leaders, though important, has had limited effect. There is a need to target some other people too - especially those holding key decision-making positions. These additional people are both Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 25 elected leaders and representatives of government agencies, and include people holding such positions as Ministers and Secretaries of the concerned line ministries, Mayors and Executive Officers of the municipal governments, as well as representatives of the Policy and Planning Commission. Strategic action 3: In addition to knowledge on the technologies, LI-BIRD should consider including additional knowledge/skills, especially social and communication skills, with focus on how to go about using the seminar learning effectively to influence government’s decisions. After all, one of the main objectives of the travelling seminars is to scale up the adoption of proven CSA technologies and practices. Strategic action 4: There is also a need for LI-BIRD/CCAFS to consider categorizing (grouping) technologies based on effort and resources required to scale-up their uses – i.e. technologies that require low inputs and those that require greater inputs to scale up (rather than using the same approach/strategy to scale up all types of technologies. Strategic action 5: LI-BIRD should also consider other similar challenging natural resource fields where it could use the travelling seminar concept/ approach for scaling up the tested technologies. For example, with the proven technology and working modality already in place, it should be possible for LI-BIRD to move to other parts of the Chure – the rapidly deteriorating ecological region that stretches from the East to the West. Not only has this region been included in the government’s national priority programmes, there is willingness of some development organizations to provide financial and technical assistance. Strategic action 6: LI-BIRD should find a way to change people’s mindset - from the current tendency of relying on outside agencies for almost all work and support related to capacity building to one where the local/provincial governments mobilize own financial and other resources, and use LI-BIRD and other similar organizations as providers of technical know-how, for such work. Strategic action 7: And finally, given that scaling-up/ mainstreaming proven CSA technologies and practices beyond the pilot sites is increasingly becoming a major concern for Nepal government and development organizations, LI-BIRD should take this as an opportunity to set up a dedicated “CSA Scaling Unit” within LI-BIRD to promote climate smart technologies in a more organized manner, and build partnership with interested development organizations. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 26 REFERENCES Adhikari, L. D., Paudel, B., Awale, P., Rasaili, S., Shrestha, D. K. and Bhusal, A. n.d.: Climate Smart Villages in Nepal: Baseline Report. LI-BIRD/CGIAR-CCSFS. Local Initiative for Biodiversity Research and Development, Pokhara/Kathmandu. GoN 2010 BS: National Adaptation Programme to Action to Climate Change, Ministry of Environment, Government of Nepal, Singha darbar, Kathmandu. GoN 2011 BS: Climate Change Policy, Ministry of Environment, Government of Nepal, Singha Darbar, Kathmandu. GoN 2072 BS: Constitution of Nepal 2072. Government of Nepal, Singha Darbar, Kathmandu. GoN 2015 BS: Agriculture Development Strategy, Ministry of Agriculture Development, Singha Darbar, Kathmandu. GoN 2074 BS: Guidelines for Preparing Local Level Development Plan and Budget. Government of Nepal. Lamsal, K., Chaudhary, P., Sthapit, S. and Bhandari, K. H. (eds) 2013: Linking Global and Grassroots Issues on Climate Change: A Nepalese Perspective, LI-BIRD, Pokhara, Nepal. LI-BIRD n.d. Gender Considerations in Climate Change Policy and Adaptation Frameworks in Nepal, LI- BIRD, Pokhara, Nepal. LI-BIRD n.d.: Agriculture Research for Development (AR4D) for Extension and Development of Climate Smart Villages (in Nepali), LI-BIRD/CGIAR/CCAFS, LI-BIRD, Pokhara, Nepal. Malla, Y, 2019: Appropriateness of the CAV Approach/CSA Technologies and Scaling Up: Some Thoughts on LI-BIRD supported Organizations’ Presentations at a Parallel Session on “How Can CSOs Collaborate with Local Governments for Promoting Climate Adaptive/ Smart Villages (CAVs/CSVs), the National Workshop on the Role and Space for Civil Society Under the New Federal System – With Focus on Inclusive Good Governance Tools. 18 January 2019, Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur, Nepal. Paudel, B., Khanal, R. C., KC, A., Bhatta, K. and Chaudhary, P. 2017: Climate Smart Agriculture in Nepal: Champion Technologies and Their Pathways for Scaling Up. LI-BIRD/CGIAR/CCAFS, LI-BIRD, Pokhara, May 2017. Rasaily, S. 2019a: Best Practices: Strengthening Community Resilience in Mahottari and Dhanusha. Community Development and Advocacy Forum Nepal/CARITAS, Nepal. Rasaily, S. 2019b: Stories of Change: Strengthening Community Resilience. Community Development and Advocacy Forum Nepal/CARITAS, Nepal. Sherpa, L. and Thapa, B. 2019: Travelling Seminar: Action for Strengthening Elected Women’s Leadership in Local Government for Scaling Up Climate Smart Village Approach in Nepal. LI-BIRD/ CGIAR/CCAFS, LI-BIRD, Pokhara, January 2019. Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 27 APPENDICES Annex 1: Check-list of Questions for Focus Group Discussion General start up questions Q 1: What specific topics did the travelling seminar cover? Q 2: Had you heard about these topics before participating in the seminar? Q 3: If yes, which specific topics you had heard about – when and where? Incorporating the travelling seminar knowledge (climate smart and gender related activities) into local development plans Q 4: We understand local planning and budgetary process for FY 2019/20 is over. Were you able to use knowledge gained at the seminar to incorporate in the plan? Q 5: If yes, in what ways? (NB: Need to probe questions to reflect types of work/activity, place where it will be executed, when, allocation of resources, etc. Also, here need to probe questions planning process) Q 6: If no, why not? (NB: specify reasons, constraints/challenges faced) FGD III: Application of travelling seminar learning to influence the state agriculture development policy, programme and Karyabidhi to make them gender and climate sensitive Q 7: We understand that, at present, state government are in the process of finalizing a number of policies, programmes and Karyabidhi for agriculture sector. Were you able to use the seminar learning to influence such policy, programme and Karyabidhi? Q 8: If yes, in what ways? (NB: Need probing questions for detail information) Q 9: If no, why not? (NB: specify reasons, constraints/challenges faced) FGD IV: Besides the municipality and state agriculture sector policy, plan and programme, application of the seminar learning to influence other sectoral policies/plans/programmes so that they considered climate & gender issues Q 10: Apart from the agriculture development policy, programme and Karyabidhi of your municipality and state, did you also attempt to advocate for and influence other sectoral policies and programmes so that they also considered climate and gender issues? Q 11: If yes, which sector(s) and in what ways (NB: probe for detail information) FGD V: Use and adequacy of the travelling seminar learning to influence public policy making processes/forums Q 12: Did you also have chance to use the travelling seminar learning to influence any public policy making processes/forums? Q 13: If yes, which public policies – and in what ways? (NB: Probe for detail) Q 14: How helpful were the seminar learning for you – and which specific seminar knowledge? (NB: Probe for detail) Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 28 Q 15: What additional knowledge, skills and tools would have been a further help for you? (NB: list typed of additional support) FGD VI: Example/evidence of municipal/state government decisions (re: policies, programmes, Karyabidhi, finance & other resource allocation etc) where participants use the seminar knowledge to influence government actions Q 16: Could you give us examples of specific municipal and/or state government actions in which you have contributed by using the travelling seminar learning? (NB: List the examples) FGD VII: Appropriateness of travelling seminar as an approach/tool/technique for learning/sharing climate and gender knowledge, and other knowledge generally Q 17: Now, could you tell us a little about the travelling seminar itself? That is how appropriate did you find the travelling seminar for people like yourself who hold political positions – and why? (NB: List the points/reasons) FGD VIII: Concluding question Q 18: We have asked most questions that we wanted to. Now, do you have any questions to ask us, or add anything to what we have discussed? (NB: Jot down the question(s)/suggestions) Communicating Climate Smart Agriculture to the Stakeholders Impact of LI-BIRD/CCAFS Travelling Seminars in Climate Smart Villages of Nepal ASSESSMENT REPORT 29 Annex 2: Names and Positions of Focus Group Discussion Participants Place Date Participants name & position Bardibas 11 Sep 2019 Honourable Ms Indu Kumari Sharma, Member, House of Representative, Kathmandu Honourable Ms Sarada Thapa, Member, Provincial Assembly, Province 2 Honourable Ms Anita Yadav, Member, Provincial Assembly, Province 2 Honourable Ms Manju Yadav, Member, Provincial Assembly, Province 2 Honourable Mr Jainul Rain, President, Women and Children Committee, Province 2 Mr Suresh Prasad Singh, Chief, District Coordination Committee, Mahottari Ms Aasha Lama, Deputy Mayor, Gaushala Municipality, Mahottari Ms Tara Basnet Lama, Deputy Mayor, Mithila Municipality, Dhanusha Mr Chudamani Pokharel, Ward Chair, Bardibas Municipality-1, Mahottari Mr Rajan Dhungana, Ward Chair, Bardibas Municipality-3, Mahottari Mr Dhirendra Bahadur Singh, Chair, NGO Federation, Mahottari Mr Kedar Koirala, Nagrik Samaj, Bardibas, Mahottari Mr Lal Babu Yadav, Member, DCC, Mahottari Mr Som Bahadur Karki, Nagrik Samaj, Bardibas, Mahottari Mr Nagdev Yadav, Chairman, CDAFN Kawasoti 13 Sep 2019 Ms Om Kmari Mahato, Deputy Mayor, Madhyabindu Municipality, Nawalpur Ms Parbata Tiwari, Deputy Mayor, Devchuli Municipality, Nawalpur Mr Surya Prasad Neupane, Ward Chair, Madhyabindu Municipality-6, Nawalpur Mr Bishnu Prasad Acharya, Ward Chair, Devchuli Municipality-17, Nawalpur Ms Gita Kumari Kumal, Ward Member, Madhyabindu Municipality-6, Nawalpur Ms Nawa Kumari Sharma, Ward Member, Devchuli Municipality-6, Nawalpur Ms Chija B.K, Ward Member, Devchuli Municipality-17, Nawalpur Mr Namakanta Pathak, Ward Chair, Madhyabindu Municipality-5, Nawalpur Mr Ram Bahadur Yadav, Agriculture Officer, Agriculture Section, Madhyabindu Municipality, Nawalpur Pokhara 15 Sep 2019 Honourable Ms Prabha Koirala, Member, Provincial Assembly, Gandaki Province Pokhara 16 Sep 2019 Honourable Ms Gayatri Gurung, Member, Provincial Assembly, Gandaki Province Honourable Ms Dil Maya Rokaya, Provincial Assembly, Gandaki Province Honourable Ms Dhan Maya Lama, Member, Provincial Assembly, Gandaki Province Honourable Ms Sarita Gurung, Member, Provincial Assembly, Gandaki Province Honourable Ms Piyari Thapa, Member, Provincial Assembly, Gandaki Province Mr Beni Bahadur Basnet, Executive Secretary, LI-BIRD Board Ms Mira Dhakal, LI-BIRD Ms Laxmi Gurung, LI-BIRD For More Information Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD) Programme Coordination Office Sanepa, Lalitpur, Nepal Phone +977 5540330 Email info@libird.org Web www.libird.org Head Office Pokhara, Kaski, Nepal Phone +977 526834, 535357 Email info@libird.org Web www.libird.org