Country:

Nepal

Region:

Asia

Date:

2014

Implementor:

Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN)

Funding Amount:

$34,297

Details:

This project enabled NEFIN to raise the Indigenous Peoples’ perspective in support of several key forestry-related policies at a critical juncture in Nepali politics.  NEFIN is the umbrella organization of 56 Indigenous Peoples organizations and network of 71 District Coordination Councils. According to NEFIN, Indigenous Peoples comprise 35% of the Nepali population. This SRM-supported project added new voices for forest reform, in addition to those of FECOFUN—the Nepali association of forest users groups and RRI Partner—which has been the main constituency group actively advocating forest policy reforms up to now. FECOFUN and NEFIN successfully collaborated on the three-day workshop that occurred when the Government of Nepal finalized the Forestry Sector Master Plan for the next 25 years. The policies and strategies developed during the workshop will be instrumental in furthering the rights of Indigenous Peoples in these forest policy reforms.