July to September 2011 | VOLUME 62

Japan InternationalCooperation Agency

Quarterly Newsletter from

JICA Nepal Office

‘One Nation, A Culture of Cultures and One Economy’:Designing New Federal Republic of Nepal

Nepal was reborn as a new republic three-and-a-half years ago, and since

then the political parties and social groups have been struggling with the question of how to restructure the state to satisfy aspirations of the people.

Since 2009, JICA sponsored and organized a number of seminars and workshops for Constituent Assembly members as well as government officials, in Tokyo, Hanoi and Kathmandu, for deepening the discussions of the economic and social development strategy for the new Nepal and of the state structure that should underpin Nepal’s development. In the process, the issue of federalism has emerged as a most immediate and important theme, which all those concerned agreed should be further pursued not only among the political leaders but also among political and intellectual leaders nationwide. Consequently, JICA sponsored, in conjunction with the Center for Professional Journalism Studies (Kathmandu) that acted as organizer, a number of workshops on federalism in Godavari, Butwal, Pokhara, Dhadeldhura, Nepalgunj, Biratnagar and Janakpur.

There is a consensus that the new state structure should be a federal state. The concept was embodied in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2006, and Article 138 (1A), Part 17 of the Interim Constitution of 2007 (with the Fifth Amendment of 2008), states that “Nepal

shall be a Federal Democratic Republic. ….while maintaining the sovereignty, unity and integrity of Nepal”. However, a consensus does not seem to have been reached among the Constituent Assembly members charged with the task of writing the new constitution as to the substantive aspects of a federal state to be created.

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One Economy”. Our starting point was that federalism is nothing but an expression of the peoples’ aspirations for genuine, broad-based democracy and economic and social development. Beyond that, there are a number of essential considerations in designing the federalist structure for Nepal.

Firstly, we must ensure the integrity of Nepal as a nation. A nation literally means “---people of mainly common descent, language and history, etc. usually inhabiting in a territory bounded by defined limits and forming a society under one government” (Concise Oxford Dictionary). Because of the Western European experience, people often emphasize the common ethnic identity as a basis of a nation, but shared history and the people’s perception are equally important. It is in this sense that political scientists describe a nation as “an imagined community”. Nepal may have started as the Shah Kingdom of Gorkha, an empire, but, over the past two and a half centuries, Nepal as a nation has been robustly formed, as attested by the fact that today there are hardly any secessionist movements to speak of.

- Shinji Asanuma

Economic growth and development are also important as a means of generating fiscal resources for social policies and programs of provincial and local governments

The reason for the failure in reaching a consensus appears to be the absence of a vision of the new state acceptable to the people(s) of Nepal. What vision we conceive for the new Nepal is essential, as, without it, it is hardly possible to design the state structure that would suit Nepal’s unique circumstances.

The vision for the new Nepal, which we discussed in these seminars and workshops, is the one that might be summarized as “One Nation, A Culture of Cultures and

INsIDEnNews in Brief Page 3-4nFrom the Field Page 5n Interview Page 6-7

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Nepal may be a “nation of nationalities”, but it is a nation and its integrity must be preserved at all costs. This is the meaning of “One Nation”.

Secondly, the new state structure must ensure that political power is shared among Nepal’s constituent social or geographic or ethnic groups, as a way of redressing the discontent of the people(s) that the Kathmandu Valley elite class had monopolized political power through much of Nepal’s statehood of two and a half centuries. The Panchayat slogan of “Ek bhasha, ek bhesh, ek desh (One language, one style of dress, one country)” well encapsulated the monopoly of power by the Kathmandu valley elite, together with the institution of monarchy. For this reason, in the new Nepal, a high degree of autonomy must be vested in the peoples at the provincial and local levels in managing their social life and community activities. There is the need for nurturing a national culture for celebrating and enhancing the diverse cultures of Nepal. The federal structure should be a means for ensuring the fullest possible expressions of these diverse cultures in the peoples’ cultural, social and political life, and also to ensure equality, inclusion and rights of all the peoples of Nepal. This is the meaning of “A Culture of Cultures”.

Thirdly, the other important consideration is economic and social development of Nepal as a whole. For Nepal’s economic growth and development, it is absolutely essential to maintain the economic union in the country. Some economists call the economic union “internal common markets”, that is, the national market institutions for free movements of goods and services, and of capital and workers, unencumbered by any artificial barriers, political or otherwise, between political units. For example, if local governments should adopt a policy of ring-fencing resources, including natural resources, within their respective jurisdictions, then it would lead to varying degrees of fragmentation of the Nepalese economy as a whole. This is the meaning of “One Economy”.

Economic growth and development are also important as a means of generating fiscal resources for social policies and programs of provincial and local governments. By nature, the pace and pattern of economic development differ from one region to another within the country, depending on resource endowment and geographic circumstances. This means that some slow-growing provinces would find themselves lacking fiscal resources to fund their social programs, creating inequality

and disparity among provinces. The central government should ensure that the provincial and local governments are provided adequately with fiscal resources for their social programs. This should be the basis of Nepal’s fiscal federalism.

From these considerations, then, a broad framework of the federalist structure emerges:

n The economic and fiscal spheres are essentially and primarily the responsibilities of the central government, while provincial and local governments may be engaged in the provision and administration of certain activities as central government agents.

n The social and cultural spheres are the responsibilities of provincial and local governments, including, for example, the language policy and community development. In these spheres, the role of central government may be that of the provider of technical and technocratic supports, that is, the enabler rather than the policymaker.

These two premises are probably the most important for the designs of a federalist state structure for Nepal.

The kind of a federalist structure sketched out here needs to be safeguarded by a number of constitutionally–mandated institutions. The need for a politically independent Constitutional Court is obvious. In addition, the House of Regional Representatives might be established to safeguard provincial autonomy and interests in the center. The Finance Commission is also often formed for fair and equitable allocation of fiscal resources to provinces and local governments, so that the central government in power might not exercise undue political influences on provincial governments and thus erode their autonomy. Intergovernmental transfers should not be handouts but should be true constitutionally guaranteed entitlements of the provincial governments.

Prof Shinji Asanuma (first from left) during a policy dialogue on Nepal’s State Building: Economic Growth and Development Strategy in Kathmandu.

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Participants at the fourth meeting of Joint Coordinating Committee of the GeMSIP Project at the Ministry of Local Development on September 23.

MoLD Secretary Sushil Ghimire (left) and Senior Representative of JICA Nepal Toru Take exchange the minutes of meeting at the MoLD on September 26.

NEWS IN BRIEFGeMSIP holds fourth JCC meeting

MTR report of GeMSIP signed

The fourth meeting of Joint Coordinating Committee of the

Gender Mainstreaming and Social Inclusion Project (GeMSIP) was held at the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) in Lalitpur on September 23. GeMSIP, which is in its fourth year of implementation, is a technical cooperation project between the Government of Nepal and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) launched in February 2009 to develop and implement gender and social inclusion responsive programmes in Nepal.

Inaugurating the meeting, Secretary of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Anand Raj Pokharel, said the project was nicely designed by JICA and it has been helping for the empowerment of women as well as ensuring representation of socially excluded groups. He also said that the MoLD should take responsibility to continue the project once it will complete in 2014.

A high level meeting on Mid-Term Review (MTR) of Gender Mainstreaming and Social Inclusion Project (GeMSIP) was

held at the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) on September 26. High ranking officers of the Government of Nepal led by MoLD Secretary Sushil Ghimire, officials from JICA Nepal office and Mid-Term Review Team members as well as GeMSIP project team members attended the meeting. After a short discussion, both sides endorsed the MTR report, decided to approve the revised version of Project Matrix Design and Plan of Operation and agreed on rescheduling of the activities under pilot project. On the occasion, Secretary Ghimire and Senior Representative of JICA Nepal and Team Leader for Mid-Term Review, Toru Take, signed the Minutes of Meeting, including Joint Mid-Term Review Report, Project Design Matrix (Version 3), Plan of Operation (Version 2) and Pilot Project Rescheduling Plan and exchanged the documents.

Joint Secretary of MoLD Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya hoped that the project will be completed on time and noted that GeMSIP has set good lessons in grass root level.

On the occasion, JICA Nepal Senior Representative Toru Take said that implementation, suggestions and reflections from the Joint Mid Term Review are very crucial for further shaping up the activities and success of GeMSIP in the

remaining period. “Thus, I would like to request for your active participation to enhance practical GESI (gender and social inclusion) responsive programmes and projects in the field levels.”

LDOs from Syangja and Morang districts, where the project is being implemented, and officials from several ministries, JICA as well as GeMSIP were also present in the programme.

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3rd JCC meet of MeP Project

3rd JICA-EoJ-ADB consultation meeting

Phase II cooperation on SMES

The third Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) meeting of the

Project for Promoting Peace Building and Democratization through the Capacity Development of the Media Sector (MeP Project) in Nepal was held at the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) in Singha Durbar on September 26.

The meeting endorsed the planned activities of 2nd Project Year and finalized working group members to discuss on the suitable structure of public broadcasting institutions. Presentations were made in the meeting on the study visit to Japan by Chuda Raj Neupane, an officer of MoIC; on the report of the study visit in Japan “Capacity Development in Media” by Executive Director of Radio Nepal Tapanath Shukla; and on the planned activities for the second year.

JICA, Embassy of Japan (EoJ) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have been

organizing consultation meetings with the aim of exchanging development assistances to Nepal, sharing implementation learning, and exploring potential areas of collaborations to realize the synergy effects. Third Consultation meeting was organized on September 22. The meeting

A Record of Discussions was signed between the Government of Nepal,

National Planning Commission, and JICA on July 18 defining the overall outline of the Project for Strengthening the Monitoring and Evaluation System (SMES) in Nepal Phase II.

The three-and-a-half-year project, expected to commence by November-end this year, aims at strengthening the capacity of the key agencies to enable the Ministries and NPC to formulate plans based on the results of monitoring and evaluation. The project will be targeting the five ministries—Ministry of Physical Planning and Works,

A Memorandum of the Third JCC Meeting for the MeP Project was signed among MoIC Secretary Shreedhar Gautam, Executive Director of Radio Nepal Tapa Nath Shukla and Team Leader of MeP Project Naoaki Nambu.

Speaking at the function, Secretary Gautam said the existing broadcasting organizations in Nepal should work for public and development. Present on the occasion were officials from MoIC, Nepal Television, Radio Nepal, Press Council Nepal, JICA Nepal and JICA Expert Team.

was attended by the officials concerned from JICA, EoJ and ADB, including Tomohide Ichiguchi, Director of the South Asia Division 4 from JICA Headquarters.

Similarly, there was participation from ADB Headquarters in the meeting both in persons as well as through a video conference. During the meeting, progress made on the actions agreed during the second consultation meeting was reviewed, JICA’s Analytical Work in Nepal was shared, and small group meetings were organized

for priority sectors/themes. Sharing and discussions on three cross-cutting areas—Public Procurement, Managing for Development Results and M&E, and Risk Management—were made in the plenary session. The group works were conducted for six themes—Energy, Urban Water, Agriculture/Irrigation/Rural Development, Transport (Strategic Road, Airport)/Tourism, Education, and Governance/Gender/Social Inclusion. Progress of the actions agreed in this meeting will be reviewed in the next meeting.

Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ministry of Local Development, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, and Ministry of Education.

Utilizing the lessons learned from the past cooperation, the project will also target the key departments of these ministries, regional directorates and district level offices of selected districts to implement the policies in the field level and provide feedbacks to policymakers. To materialize JICA’s approach of integrated assistance, the targeted districts will be from the Sindhuli Road Corridor, where projects such as

Sindhuli Road, Community Access, High Value Agriculture, Community Mediation, are being implemented. Moreover, the project will be emphasizing the horizontal strengthening among the M&E and Planning Divisions/Sections for realizing the planning based on M&E feedbacks.

The third Joint Coordinating Committee meeting of the MeP Project underway at the MoIC on September 26.

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- Santosh Chhetri

FIELDFROM THE

Passenger satisfaction is her life’s work and a badge of success. That is why

Kumiko Kodama has been slogging away to make a difference at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA)—Nepal’s only major gateway to the world. The 63-year-old JICA Senior Volunteer presses herself into service from handling information desks to bringing smiles on the faces of passengers at TIA, which operates both domestic and international flights.

A veteran in the field of passenger service in Japan, Kodama was dispatched to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal on a request from Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism, and Civil Aviation one-and-a-half years ago. Since then, she has been working for overhauling TIA with her more than three

success comes from passenger satisfaction

decades of passenger service experience in modern Japanese airports. A Bachelor’s degree from Waseda University and the title of certified general travel service expert speak to her.

well-known face among airport officials. She is a smart lady, says Devendra KC, Director of Airport Operation and Facilitation Department, TIA, who is also the counterpart of Kodama. “Of course all the stakeholders are responsible for improving facilities and services at TIA. But Kodama, despite being a foreigner and unfamiliarized with Nepali conditions, worked her fingers to bone to improve the services and facilities in the airport.”

Recounting her most memorable moment in the TIA, she says, “I was shocked to find four Nepali style ladies toilets without doors at the domestic terminal. Those had fallen into disuse there for 30 years. I had appealed for upgradation, but my voice went unheard citing budget shortage.” However, things changed shortly afterwards. “New General Manager Suman decided to remove the old ones and construct new toilets with doors in February this year.” So far Kodama is satisfied with what she has done in the airport and is trying her best to use her skills and expertise for the betterment of TIA.

Besides an expert, she is also a mentor. She teaches the hows and whats of airport facilities and services as well as the know-how of customer satisfaction to trainee students of Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM). Within her assignment period, she wants to visit as many as places in Nepal. “So far I have visited four UNESCO World Heritage sites, Kathmandu Valley, Lumbini, Sagarmatha National Park, Chitwan National Park and Pokhara, Poon Hill and Jomsom,” she says. Besides Nepal, Kodama has also volunteered in the United States and Vietnam. After the completion of her Nepal assignment by the end of 2012, she wants to work in Bhutan. The only thing in Nepal that irritates her is the trend of gossiping at offices without doing a stroke of work.

Besides an expert, Kodama is also a mentor.

She teaches the hows and whats of airport

facilities and services to students of NATHM

To any stranger’s query that why she chose to work in Nepal’s TIA, she offers a plain answer: “Because I love this country”. She is among 29 JICA senior volunteers working in Nepal besides 61 JOCVs. During the last two years the airport, handling more than 2.3 million passengers annually, has undergone major changes. Renovation of toilets, establishment of passenger service help desks, upgradation of the 26-inch flight information displays to 42 inches, increasing the number of seats in the domestic terminal from 320 to 420 and installation of security machines are some of the major improvements. Kodama is not only an eyewitness to these much-needed changes, she is also a contributor to this development. She believes all the stakeholders have to knuckle down to their work to improve TIA.

Her ability to work, design and implement airport services meeting customer needs and expectations has made Kodama a

(Chhetri is Public Relations Officer of JICA Nepal)

JICA Senior Volunteer Kumiko Kodama with Director of Airport Operation and Facilitation Department of TIA, Devendra KC.

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Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki is Nepal chief of Japan International Cooperation

Agency (JICA), one of the largest bilateral government aid agencies in the world. He took charge of the JICA Nepal office in August last year. Kawasaki has rigorous working experiences in South Asian countries with specialization in public administration. In an interview with Santosh Chhetri and Sanjeeb Phuyal, Kawasaki spoke about JICA’s activities in Nepal .

must have déjà vu experiences. This means we can easily share with Nepali people our experience and knowledge, including tacit one being accumulated through the past after the World War II.

Could you tell us about the present roles of JICA in Nepal, mainly in this post-conflict and transitional phase?

As an intimate Asian friend, JICA has been continuously supporting Nepal government and its people. Nepal is now at a historical juncture. I think it is more important for JICA to concentrate its resources on “democratic development”. JICA supports peace building and democratization, especially through capacity development of individuals and communities/organizations.

How do you review JICA’s past investment and track records in Nepal?

JICA has maintained a major position as a bilateral donor for nearly half a century and contributed to the socio-economic development in Nepal. Regarding our major financial assistance, I can pick up Sindhuli Road (60 km), Kathmandu-Bhaktapur Six-Lane Road, hydropower projects contributing one-third of total power supply in Nepal, 15 water treatment plants etc. In case of our technical cooperation, many Japanese techniques and know-how are being introduced in Nepal—agricultural technologies for vegetables (such as mushroom) and fruits (such as tangerine), freshwater aquaculture (such as rainbow trout), watershed and forestry management, disaster preparedness, tuberculosis countermeasures etc.

What are the distinctive characteristics of Japan’s ODA loans and grants? How do developing countries evaluate ODA loans?

There is huge demand for ODA loan (Yen loan) and grant in Nepal. So far grant aid has been extended constantly every year in considerable scale and utilized mainly in the social sector such as education, health and water supply, agriculture and roads.

Nepal has more opportunity to utilize Japanese aid

DEVELOPMENT INTERVIEW

JICA has maintained a major position as a bilateral donor for nearly half a century and contributed to the socio-economic development in Nepal

Almost a year has passed since you arrived in Nepal. What experiences have you gained within this period?

Déjà vu! Lifestyle in rural villages of Nepal reminds me of my own childhood days. I was grown up in a remote area of Japan in 1960s. There were cows and chickens at my house, no piped-water facilities but a shallow well. Especially, senior Japanese n a t i o n a l s living in N e p a l

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(Published in The Kathmandu Post on October 10)

On the other hand, in the case of ODA loan, there have not been any new projects since the Melamchi water supply project commenced in 2001 due to the political instability. I’m expecting very much that new loan project will be resumed soon. Like Nepal, developing countries show strong interests in grant aid and loan aid. In the South Asian region, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh enjoy loan to a large extent. Nepal and Afghanistan have much more opportunity to utilize grant and technical cooperation.

Nepal is among a few developing countries receiving all the three strands of Japanese ODA (yen loan, grant aid and technical cooperation). What is the future ODA plan?

As you pointed it out, JICA will extend all three schemes in more effective way. In spite of budget constraints, we shall step forward by “select and concentrate approach”. For example, JICA plans to make the Kathmandu valley metropolitan area and the Sindhuli road area its focus region. We cooperate with the Nepali side for improvement of livelihood through economic growth.

Many development partners have stopped investing in infrastructure development in Nepal, but JICA is still pumping money into this sector. Any specific reason behind this?

Yes, the infrastructure sector is most vital. It is an engine for economic growth. JICA puts higher priority on transport infrastructure development, power generation/transmission and distribution capacity improvement and urban environment improvement programs in the medium term.

Many people say capacity building of people and transfer of technology is Japan’s main development mantra. How this concept is being programmed in the Nepali context?

During the past half century, more than 1,100 JICA volunteers and nearly 1,800 JICA experts have interacted with Nepali colleagues, including counterparts. With patience, selfless mind and hope, each of them tried to share their expertise and knowledge with Nepali friends.

In the first question, I mentioned déjà vu experience. During interactions in individual level, JICA volunteers/experts have been coping with problems as if those are their own. Therefore, they are tackling the problems together with the counterparts by using their knowledge and experience. In return, JICA volunteers/experts could learn something important from the counterparts.

What are the development opportunities, potential and constraints in Nepal?

“One country, a culture of cultures and one economy”. This is a vision proposed by JICA’s resource person, Prof Asanuma of Hitostubashi University of Japan. It’s already been shared with some Constituent Assembly members. Nepali people are standing at the crossroads. JICA shall not be a bystander, and at the same time it has to avoid interference into Nepal’s internal affairs. As Prof Asanuma did, what JICA can do is to share with Nepali friends our own experiences and knowledge.

It depends on the Nepali side whether they could be utilized in the Nepali context. Without unity as one nation, much potential in water resources, agriculture and tourism may not be fully realized. “One economic union” is very important to avoid fragmentation of economy due to ring-fencing of resources by local governments.

We face a truly intractable difficulty in designing the federalist structure for Nepal. Nepal consists of a number of what may be called “marble societies”, not a “mosaic” society. Ethnic groups do not coincide with any specific geographic areas. If one cuts out a geographic area out of Nepal’s map, one doesn’t see a homogenous society of one color. In whatever way one slices it, one finds a marble slab with streaks of many colors mingled together. That is why we need a “culture of cultures” even at the level of provinces or municipalities. Provincial and local polity must take the responsibility for managing essentially multicultural society, politically, socially and culturally. All the groups must learn – maybe in a hard way and taking time – the ways of multicultural co-existence and cooperation and the ways of competitive and coalition politics.

Finding a formula that works under Nepal’s unique circumstances – not only for the present generation of Nepal but also for the generations to come – is an arduous task, wrought with all kinds of political and technical difficulties and pitfalls. But it is the political leaders’ collective duty to find the one, acceptable to the people and peoples of Nepal.

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(Asanuma is a visiting professor at School of International and Public Policy of Hitotsubashi

University, and concurrently a visiting senior adviser of JICA)

Government officials sent to Japan for JICA training from July to September 2011Field of Training Duration Number of ParticipantsDisaster Mitigation, Preparedness and Restoration for Infrastructure

4 July-3 September 2

Empowerment of Export through Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises in SAARC Region

10 July-30 July 2

Animal Agriculture for Sustainable Rural Development

18 July-17 September 2

Capacity Development in Media 31 July-13 August 7

Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh Building, Hariharbhavan, LalitpurP.O. Box 450, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: 977-1-5010310 Fax: 977-1-5010284 Website: www.jica.go.jp/nepal/englishEmail: np_oso_rep@jica.go.jp

Japan International Cooperation Agency Nepal Office

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