Crisis Opens Doors: Restoring Faith in the Face of Maoist Insurgency

The Maoists changed tactics recently and continue to target infrastructure that serves the very basic needs of the general public, including the poor. This is tragic for its immediate effect on people. But, it also creates an important opportunity for the government.

When the Maoist insurgency was on its ascent, many Nepalis, while not agreeing with use of violence and disregard for democratic processes, seemed to have felt a measure of sympathy with the Maoists, as they seemed to be upstaging the poorly functioning government in many remote areas. This sentiment probably reflected more than anything else frustration with the poor public services and a perception of widespread corruption in the government. It was a crisis of confidence in the government.

I for one hoped that such a sentiment would prompt people in positions of leadership and responsibility into action. They would surely try to improve public service delivery to the poor, they would curb corruption, and they would make the government institutions more responsive and accountable to the people. Unfortunately, not much has changed.

The escalation in the Maoist violence since November 2001 has convinced many that lasting peace will require not just a military response but improvement in the government's ability to serve the public and especially the poor. At the same time, the deterioration in the security situation has if anything rendered the government all but nonexistent in many remote areas. The recent attacks by the Maoists on basic infrastructure has further deepened fear and despair in the general public and a feeling of helplessness in the government. However, the growing disenchantment with the Maoist approach gives the opportunity to turn the table around. Now is the time for the establishment to recapture the space occupied by the insurgents with a strategically focused development plan that is actually implemented.

Restoring credibility to the state

As early as July last year, Prime Minister Deuba said that there was an urgent need to improve service delivery to the poor. This is exactly what is needed. Obviously this must be easier said than done. This has been the stated objective of all recent Five-Year Plans, and focus of donor assistance, without much success. But, there are no short-cuts or magic formulas. It simply has to be won by leadership, commitment, and hard work.

We do not have the time, one might say. Absolutely right. But, if people collectively acted with such a sense of urgency, I would contend that the change could come faster than one may imagine, even in the face of insecurity in many areas.

Despite business as usual at the political level, I have seen some people, both within and without the government, who understand what is at stake and are willing to act. They are fighting hard to avert the crisis of confidence in the government and serve the people. They may see, rightly, a new opening created by the failure of the Maoists. They know this is the time for the government to get its act together and demonstrate to the poor that it cares about them and is able to reach out to them.

The reform-minded leaders in the government seem to be focusing on a few important areas where the quality of public service delivery could be improved rapidly. In many cases, Nepalis need only to look back on their own rich community traditions and development experiences and reinstate delivery mechanisms or reapply elements that contributed to performance that was better than what exists today. For example, in primary education, support is growing for an idea to hand over management of public schools to school management committees. The government will continue to allocate the budgetary funds to those schools but the money will be directly controlled by the school management committees, i.e., by the communities, including the recruitment of teachers. Nepal has a history of very successful community schools. Until 1972, they were the backbone of the basic education system. Given this experience, this seems like an eminently workable idea. The impact could be quick and profound.

In primary health care, the emerging concept also emphasizes greater community involvement. In this case, the idea is to make health workers at the sub-health post level accountable to the VDCs concerned. The workers may be required to have their actual attendance verified by VDCs before they can get paid. Such a mechanism could give the communities a strong tool to get services out of health workers.

Decentralization, more broadly, has been high on Nepal's development agenda for many years now. And for many years, Nepal has experimented, to various degrees of success, in "bottom-up" planning. However, I am often reminded of what Mr. Krishna Prasad Sapkota, President of the Kavre District Devlopment Committee and also President of the Association of District Development Committees, once told me. After having engaged citizens in a prescribed, fourteen-step participatory process, DDCs produce a prioritized and consensus backed District Development Plan. This is then sent to Kathmandu for approval and funding. What comes back from Kathmandu, however, is a plan mauled to the point that even the DDC President has difficulty recognizing it. "What's the point if all the decisions are to be made in Kathmandu," asked Mr Sapkota. "We raise expectations and then we crush them. Is it any surprise then that the insurgency is raging in my district?"

The Baise-Chaubise Rajyas are often associated with Nepal's fragmentation in the past. But I think there are important lessons in integration and stability for modern Nepal to emulate from the past in its present efforts at decentralization. History tells us that upon conquest of these principalities, King Prithivi Narayan Shah, in his wisdom, deliberately chose not to plant his courtiers and cronies as proxy rulers, despite strong pressures from the family. Rather he invested time and effort in cultivating personal relationships with the local leadership and gradually won them over. Reaching out and making the local leadership feel heard and included, Prithivi Narayan Shah ensured peace and stability by creating entities that were self-governing but deeply loyal to Gorkha and later Nepal. The political context may have changed in twenty first century Nepal and the districts today have locally elected leaders. All the better. But the socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural dimensions in many of these remote areas have hardly changed since the times of King Prithivi Narayan Shah. Like Shah, Kathmandu must learn to confide in the local leadership, win their trust and constantly act as their agents at the center and not the other way around.

None of these reform ideas are new. For instance, the last budget proposed decentralization measures in education, health, and agricultural services that are very similar. Good ideas and reform plans have never been in short supply in Nepal. The problem has been implementation. What is different now is there seems to be a growing recognition that this must be done, and done now. External donors have become tired of funding "promises of reform." At the Nepal Development Forum in February, where the government invited donors to discuss pressing development issues, the message from the donors was very clear. We will support you, but only if wonderful plans are actually implemented. It is about time that Nepali citizens also demand urgent action from the government. The government already has very good plans, just two of which have been noted above. There are many others. They simply need to be implemented.

In its modern history, the direction of Nepal has been too often defined by failures rather than successes. Failure of the Rana regime, failure of Panchayat system, failure of development, failure of public service delivery. This vicious circle must be broken, and the future of Nepal defined with a success. This government, blessed with some reform-minded leaders, has the means to do so, if the political leaders give this effort their full support. Should additional help be needed from donors, it will then have all the support it might need from them.