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   Nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, 100 kilometers from Kathmandu, the Nepalese village of Kusha Devi is shaping its own future and Ram Prasad Bajgain is one of the driving forces.A member of the Village Development Committee, Ram meets in their new community hall every week with 38 other members to discuss their development plans. Ram, a 35-year-old farmer, is proud of his community organization's role. The organization mobilized 166,000 Nepalese Rupees, out of which it recently spent 100,000 (US$ 1,400) to construct a rural electrification network to bring power to the community. They had to find an innovative way to procure the wires and poles, as the District Electricity Authority takes a long time to deliver and the estimated costs were high. The organization initiated its own procurement process, and, together with the Village Development Committee they were able to purchase, transport and install the network at an affordable rate. "There is a lot that communities can do to help themselves," said Ram, who is the father of two. "All they need are the resources and the ability to make the right decisions." Ram makes his living growing produce on his small plots of land. He mainly grows rice and wheat, but has recently planted orange and persimmon trees that he hopes will produce enough fruit to sell in the local market. The United Nations Capital Development Fund and the UN Development Programme are working with local governments throughout Nepal to find local solutions to local development challenges. UNCDF and UNDP work to strengthen district-level governments to plan, manage, finance and monitor decentralized development activities. This decentralized approach to rural development transfers decisions from central government to the local government, believing that local government is in a better position to respond to local needs. As a result, community organizations in Nepal are able to mobilize community participation through User Committees to identify, prioritize and select development projects for funding. The User Committees are directly responsible for implementation, operations and maintenance, including financial management. Ram's community organization recently identified the need for a community drinking water project. The project, which is included in the village and district development plans, will be partially financed by the UNCDF programme together with contributions and labour from the community and local government. "We thought that electricity was the most important, so that is what came first," Ram said. "Now, we need a reliable source of freshwater. The entire community is behind this decision because we are the ones who made it, not someone who lives in a district far away." Even the community hall where they meet was initiated, planned and built locally. The village provided funds for the roof, and the local people provided the raw materials and labour. UNCDF's offers support to local governance and especially to the long-term sustainability of the activities and local government programmes. The actual funding of the small-scale infrastructure that is identified through the local planning process is meant to test the model, and show that decentralized planning is a viable approach to reducing poverty in rural areas. One important element is the technical assistance it provides to local governments, like that of Kavre District in Nepal. From 14 to 20 May, the United Nations is convening a global conference in Brussels, Belgium, to contend with poverty, underdevelopment and instability in these countries, collectively known as the "least developed countries" (LDCs). The conference is expected to be results-oriented and to reach agreement on concrete steps whereby LDCs can reverse their slide into marginalization and extreme poverty. FIND OUT MORE about about how the UN supports projects and programmes that give people like Ram a chance to build more prosperous lives for themselves, their families and their communities. Click on the links next to Ram. ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT STORIES: Norma saves her time Sarah enjoys clean water | Mamadou wants to market globally Thérèse has a business plan | Armando makes a choice |
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