The Potential of Intergovernmental Dialogue for Sustainable Development ›

by Dr. Willington Ortiz, WISIONS & Mats Schniotalle, WISIONS

Local governments in Nepal play a crucial role in making sustainability a reality! Therefore, building trust and alliances with local governments is one of the key strategies we are following in running our Innovation Lab (IL) in Nepal.

In the current phase of the WISIONS Innovation Lab Nepal we aim to demonstrate how to scale up a combination of energy and landscape management solutions with high potential to improve the livelihoods of mountain communities, such as:

Supporting community-based MHP committees to transition to sustainable business models that include selling their surplus electricity to the national grid.
Promoting the adoption of electric cooking solutions for productive uses such as hotels, restaurants and tea shops, as well as schools, where LPG is currently the main cooking fuel and a significant part of their operating costs.
Expanding the use of bioengineering techniques to reduce vulnerability to landslides and floods that regularly affect MHPs and other critical infrastructure.

Local governments have a crucial role to play in promoting the uptake of these solutions in their communities. For example, by ensuring that local regulations, policies and programmes are well aligned to encourage investment in these types of businesses, technologies and techniques. In this way, our efforts to demonstrate the application of these solutions can be multiplied in a more coordinated way.

This high political relevance of the municipal level is one of the major characteristics of the ongoing federalization process, which is widely recognized as a cornerstone for fostering the country’s social and political stability, driving economic growth, and delivering improved governance.

The federalization initiated with the adoption of Nepal’s new constitution in 2015. One of the most significant changes has been the increased autonomy granted to local municipalities, which is intended to promote democratic governance from the grassroots level. However, this shift also brings a substantial increase in responsibilities for municipal governments, underscoring the critical need for robust capacity-building initiatives at local levels. The complexities of the federalization process can be well illustrated by the case of forest management:

Forests cover nearly half the country and hold immense economic, environmental, and cultural value. New legislation has introduced concurrent powers among federal, provincial, and local governments, leading to a diffusion of responsibilities and, at times, administrative overlaps. Simultaneously, a growing public debate around the economic utilization of forests has eroded the legitimacy of community forest groups—an organizational structure with long tradition in Nepal that have played a vital role in forest conservation efforts for the past 40 years. Questions regarding forest ownership further complicate the situation. Additionally, uncoordinated infrastructure projects, particularly road construction at the local level, increasingly encroach on forested areas and in some cases have led to increased vulnerability to landslides, exacerbating environmental challenges.

This example of forest management highlights the critical importance of interregional governmental coordination and exchange. Such collaboration is essential to unlocking the full potential of federalist structures for advancing Nepal’s sustainable development agenda. For us, this has two significant implications. First, it reaffirms our belief that holistic solutions—those that integrate diverse sectors and bridge multiple disciplines and professions—are indispensable. Second, it highlights the need to deepen our engagement with municipal authorities and local leaders as well as the importance tio actively facilitate exchanges among them and with representatives at higher levels of governance, such as
provincial and national levels.

In November 2024 our partners from Winrock Nepal organized an exchange with representatives of six local municipalities: Nisi Kohla, Badigad, Galkot, Tara Kohla, Taman Kohla and Musikot. This group of governments has been meeting informally for some time to coordinate efforts on common issues.

While most of the activities of the IL take place in the Nisi Kohla and Badigad municipalities, we see great opportunities to collaborate with the whole group of governments: This forum can become a platform for facilitating dialogue – not only with our own project – but also with other national programmes and projects. In this way, we (and other programmes) can better target our resources to provide support that is relevant to them. And on the other hand, we can secure the institutional support
needed to scale up our impact.

The meeting in November was a first official exchange. All the governments are very supportive of the idea to consolidate this platform for mutual learning and exchange. We are very grateful to all the representatives that participated for their active engagement during the meeting. Special thanks to Gandaki Thapa Adhikari, Chairperson of the Badigad Rural Municipality, for her continued support in making this exchange possible.

We are very much looking forward to concretising a productive collaboration in the coming months.

Photos: Winrock International Nepal, 2024