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MS Nepal to
support civil society’s work for peace
- by Lene B. Olsen
 Nepal is a country in conflict. The conflict has consequences, not
only for the young men and women who everyday lose their lives in
the battlefield and their families who lose their beloved ones,
but also for all aspects of political, social and economic life in
Nepal.
The great number of NGOs and political parties that mushroomed up
after democracy was restored in 1991 was a result of the
democratic climate. However, with the past few years intensified
conflict the climate has changed significantly. Today the civil
society is caught between the conflicting parties – the security
forces on the on side and the Maoists on the other.
There is no doubt that the democratic space in which the civil
society organisations are working Nepal has shrunk radically.
However, MS Nepal has recently launched a thorough survey of how
the insurgency in Nepal influences the partnership programme. The
tendency is clear: The preliminary findings show that in spite of
critical situation the partners are able to run their programmes
relatively undisturbed as long as they are relevant and useful for
the poorest segment of the population.
But it has been realized that running development programme
business as usual does not change the fact that the context has
changed, and there is a big need to do something to address the
conflict efficiently and rapidly. It is the reason for a series of
initiatives has been taken by human rights and development
organisations, donors and diplomats to promote peace and human
rights.
One problem has so far been that much the initiatives have not
been able to coordinate the demands for peace and human rights.
That is the reason for MS Nepal together with one of Coalition for
Peaces partner organisations, Srijansil Samaj Nepal, will arrange
a seminar for a large group of the organisations in Nepal that
work for peace. The seminar will run for 3 days in Bhairahawa, and
focus on how civil society can play more active and vital role in
a peace process. The outcome will be formed into a list of
specific recommendations, roles and responsibilities for different
actors which will pave the way for a collective pressure for
peace.
Lene, who arrived two months before as Short-Term Info DW, has
been working to arrange a seminar on conflict in Nepal. She is
also feeding update regularly to Nepal in Crisis Group and other
stakeholders in DK with new and relevant stories and articles.
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