EMPOWERING WARD CITIZEN FORUMS FOR LOCAL SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN NEPAL

Abstract [English]

The Local Governance and Community Development Program (LGCD) has been found to be adopted a transformational approach to social mobilization, aiming to address the absence of elected political representatives at the community level. Central to this approach has been identified as the Community Ward Citizen Forum (WCF) and the Awareness Centre (CAC), which play crucial roles in enhancing local governance through community engagement.
The WCF has been explored to serve as a collective of community representatives’ tasks with bridging the gap between the community and local decision-making processes, thereby improving local governance. Complementing this, it has been focused that the CAC operates on a REFLECT process basis, bringing together marginalized and vulnerable community members weekly to discuss pertinent issues affecting their lives. Through facilitated discussions, participants have been found to identify key issues, devise actionable plans to address these concerns, and establish links with local service providers and Village Development Committees (VDCs) to mobilize necessary resources.
Numerous studies and evaluations have been found to have highlighted the effectiveness of WCFs and CACs in initiating community transformation. The research has aimed to underscore the significance of community-based organizations in driving social transformation. It has been known that it provides an analytical overview of the initial successes achieved by WCFs and CACs in fostering social change, explores strategies to expand these successes across broader contexts, and identifies essential prerequisites for the sustained success of the transformational approach to social mobilization. It has been identified that Empowering Ward Citizen Forums (WCFs) for local social transformation involves various approaches aimed at enhancing community participation, decision-making, and overall impact. They have been presented pointwise as the findings of the research. the different approaches have been explored like capacity building, inclusive participation, access to information, collaborative partnerships, supportive policy environment, monitoring and evaluation, sustainable community projects, civic education and awareness, conflict resolution mechanisms, and celebrating successes and learning from challenges have been explored as the best approaches for the empowering the ward citizen forums.
It has also been found that Empowering Ward Citizen Forums (WCFs) for local social transformation involves a strategic and inclusive approach that engages community members in meaningful ways. The strategies like establishing clear objectives, inclusive participation, capacity building, access to information, supportive environment, partnerships and collaboration, community-driven initiatives, policy advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, communication and outreach and celebrating successes have been found to be employed. By implementing these strategies, WCFs can effectively empower local communities, drive social transformation, and create positive changes that enhance quality of life and well-being for residents. Each step contributes to building a resilient and engaged community that works together towards common goals and shared aspirations.