Evaluation Report of Projects on Media Initiative for Civic...

Evaluation Report of Projects

on

Media Initiative for Civic Resistance against Corruption

And

Combating Corruption through Women’s

Empowerment and Development

A Study Report Submitted to

Danida HUGOU

PRAD Nepal

Jhamshikhel, Lalitpur

November 2007

F I N A L R E P O R T

Study Team

Mr. Shanker Man Singh, Governance Expert

Mr. Bhusan Das Shrestha, Institutional Expert

PRAD, Nepal

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACRONYMS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. i

1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Brief Description of the Projects ..................................................................................................... 2 1.2.1 ReMAC ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.2 SWATI ........................................................................................................................................................ 2

1.3 Objectives .......................................................................................................................................... 2

1.4 Scope of Work ................................................................................................................................... 3

1.5 Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 3 1.5.1 Desk Study .................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.5.2 Stakeholders‟ Perspective ........................................................................................................................... 4 1.5.3 SWOT Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 4 1.5.4 Sustainability Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 4 1.5.5 Tools for Evaluation .................................................................................................................................... 4 1.5.6 Analytical Approach ................................................................................................................................... 6

1.6 Limitations of the Study ................................................................................................................... 6

1.7 Organization of the Study Report ................................................................................................... 6

2. CIVIL SOCIETY INVOLVEMENT IN ANTICORRUPTION MOVEMENT IN NEPAL ... 7

2.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 7

2.2 The Role of Civil Society and Media against Corruption ............................................................. 8

3. PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT ......................................................................................... 11

3.1 Assessment of ReMAC Project ...................................................................................................... 11 3.1.1 Description of Log Frame Analysis .......................................................................................................... 11 3.1.2 Achievement and Non-achievement ......................................................................................................... 14 3.1.3 Stakeholders' Perspective .......................................................................................................................... 18

3.2 Assessment of SWATI Project ....................................................................................................... 18 3.2.1 Description of Log Frame Analysis .......................................................................................................... 18 3.2.2 Achievement and Non Achievement ......................................................................................................... 21 3.2.3 Stakeholders' Perspective .......................................................................................................................... 24

4. INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY ASSESSMENT .................................................................... 26

4.1 SWOT Analysis for ReMAC ......................................................................................................... 26

4.2 SWOT Analysis for SWATI .......................................................................................................... 28

5. FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................. 31

5.1 Findings and Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 31 5.1.1 ReMAC ..................................................................................................................................................... 31

5.1.2 SWATI ...................................................................................................................................................... 33

5.2 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 34 5.2.1 Related to Log Frame Analysis ................................................................................................................. 34 5.2.2 Related to Output and Activities ............................................................................................................... 35 5.2.3 Sustainability of ReMAC and SWATI ...................................................................................................... 37

5.3 DanidaHUGOU's Involvement: The Direction Ahead ................................................................ 38

BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................... 40

ANNEXURE................................................................................................................................. 41

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PRAD Nepal is highly privileged to have the opportunity to undertake this study on "Evaluation

of Civil Society Anticorruption projects.” PRAD Nepal wishes to place sincere thanks to the

steering committee members for support and guidance during the study. The study team

appreciates the untiring support extended by Dr. Narayan Manandhar, Advisor Danida/HUGOU,

Sangita Nirola, Executive Director SWATI, Krishna Bhandari, Executive Director, ReMAC

Bishal Shapkota and T.N Ghimire of ReMAC, Ashish Thapa, Transparency International Nepal

Chapter, Bigyan Pradhan, World Bank, Kathmandu, Ratna Kaji Bajracharya, Former CIAA staff,

Rudra Bashyal, National Vigilance Centre, and Shree Krishna Shrestha, Chairman, Pro Public.

The support provided by Mr. Murari Shivakoti, Acting Programme Co-ordinator,

Danida/HUGOU helped to shape up the study. PRAD Nepal acknowledges and thanks for his

advise, guidance and support during the course of the evaluation.

Naveen Shree Pradhan and Ajeeta Aryal, SWATI, Chintan Shapkota, Biratnagar Koshi FM,

Saroj Kafle, Sharada Rizal , Sagarmatha FM, Kathmandu, Sapana Rana Nepalgunj District

Coordinator of SWATI, Sangita Dahal, Biratnagar District Coordinator of SWATI, Tara

Khanal, Hemant B.K, Radio Bheri Awaj Nepalgunj, Khadga Rawat, Pro- Public Nepalgunj,

Jhalak Gaire, journalist , Nepal Samachar Patrika, Nepalgunj helped the team in clarifying

many of the issues. PRAD Nepal wishes to thank for their free and frank discussion and their

suggestions.

PRAD Nepal also acknowledges the suggestions provided by the donor community, government

officials and NGOs working in the anticorruption area.

PRAD Nepal believes that the analysis and the recommendations made in the study will be

useful to all those stakeholders who are associated and have keen interest in corruption issues in

Nepal.

November, 2007 PRAD Nepal

ACRONYMS

AC Anticorruption

CCN Conscious Citizen Nepal (Sachet Nagarik Nepal)

CEGG Centre for Education on Good Governance

CIAA Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority

COACT Action for Community Development, Nepal

CPN Communist Party of Nepal

CRWLG Corruption Reduction Women Lawyers Groups

CRWPG Corruption Reduction Women Pressure Groups

CSDG Centre for Study of Democracy and Governance

CSO Civil Society Organization

Danida/HUGOU Danish International Development Assistance Human Rights and Good

Governance Advisory Unit

DFID Department for International Development

FACT Forum against Corruption and Transparency

FNCCI Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry

IGD Institute of Governance and Development

LFA Log Frame Assessment

MIAC Motivation, Information, Application and Control

MICRaC Media Initiative for Civic Resistance against Corruption

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

NDI National Democratic Institute

NGO Non-Governmental Organizations

NTV Nepal Television

NVC National Vigilance Centre

OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

PRAD Policy Research and Development Nepal

PSC Project Steering Committee

ReMAC Research and Media Centre against Corruption

SAP South Asia Partnership

SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation

SWBIM Swatantra Bichar Manch

SWOT Strength Weakness Opportunity and Threats

TI Transparency International

WSG Women Support Group

ToT Training of Trainers

TU Tribhuvan University

UNCAC United Nations Conventions against Corruption

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

USAID United States Agency for International Development

WAC Women against Corruption

i

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background

In Nepal, corruption is a serious problem affecting whole sphere of government system. Corruption

is pervasive in Nepal. Almost all sectors throughout the nation are affected by corruption. The

debate is not on whether there is or is not corruption, but it is on the magnitude of corruption.

Anticorruption is one among the seven components of the Danish Human Rights and Good

Governance Programme in Nepal. In line with Anti-Corruption Component Description, from 2006

onwards Danida/HUGOU has been actively supporting Nepalese civil society organizations involved

in anticorruption activities. Among the Danida/HUGOU supported civil society based anti-

corruption projects, the two projects, one implemented by Research and Media Centre against

Corruption (ReMAC) has been completed at the end of September 2007, and the other implemented

by SWATI, was completed in June 2007.

The Research and Media Centre Against Corruption (ReMAC) project- Media Initiative for Civic

Resistance against Corruption is a project with the objectives of promoting good governance

culture by sensitizing the public sector, motivating the media persons to report good governance and

anticorruption, and mobilizing the students on research and advocacy task in relation to good

governance and anticorruption. In a nutshell, the ReMAC project is meant to support media to

combat corruption in Nepal.

SWATI- project – Combating Corruption through Women’s Empowerment and Development – is

the project with the objectives of creating a corruption free society through gender mainstreaming,

promoting women‟s leadership and building strategic alliances among women from various sectors

and empowering women to fight against corruption. The SWATI project seeks to mobilize women in

the fight against corruption.

Objectives of the Study

This study is envisioned to review the general context of the civil society anticorruption movement

in Nepal and to analyze the achievements and non-achievements of the projects objectives, outputs

and activities. The main objective of the study is to assess the capacity of ReMAC and SWATI to

carry out the projects and the sustainability initiatives taken by them. As mentioned in the Terms of

Reference (ToR) provided to PRAD, the objectives of the evaluation study were:

To briefly review the status of the civil society anticorruption movement in general in Nepal.

To assess achievements of the immediate objectives, outputs, and activities mentioned in the

respective Project Documents of ReMAC and SWATI.

ii

To evaluate the capacity of ReMAC and SWATI as partner organizations to carry out future

civil society based anticorruption initiatives in Nepal.

Methodology of the Study

The study is based on desk research, primary and secondary data, interactions and consultative

meetings. In the desk research, collection, screening, review and analysis of all the documents and

literatures as listed in the ToR was done. The reviewed documents included Project Documents,

MoUs, Bi- annual and Annual Progress Reports, seminar proceedings and other publications related

to project activities In the interaction procedure, the stakeholders connected with these two projects

like CIAA and National Vigilance Centre (NVC), Transparency International Nepal and its Support

Groups, other NGOs and INGOs working in the field of anticorruption were consulted. A rapid

appraisal of stakeholders is made to solicit their views on role and contribution of ReMAC and

SWATI projects. Similarly, in other to assess the institutional capacity of ReMAC and SWATI,

SWOT analysis was made and the study also looked into the sustainability of the two projects in

terms of further replication of these activities in other parts of the country.

The primary data were acquired from the field visits, interaction and consultative meetings whereas

the secondary data were collected from published and unpublished documents and records

maintained in SWATI and ReMAC.

The tools of evaluation were the checklists prepared and submitted to different groups. The list

included questions related to the relevance of the project activities as indicated in the Log Frame

such as usefulness of the materials provided during the workshops, and training program, views on

the effectiveness of the resource persons, general satisfaction level and ability to build networks in

the field.

Civil Society in Nepalese Anticorruption Movement

The organized civil society movement against corruption in Nepal started in mid 1990s with the

establishment of Transparency International Nepal. The establishment of TI-Nepal Chapter was

followed by the up-coming activities of another civil society based organization called Pro-Public in

1997. And now, the list of such organizations which are active in the national level with profound

activities extends to more than fifteen organizations. These civil society organizations are basically

involved in awareness building activities and corruption prevention.

While talking about the civil society involvement in anticorruption drive, some interesting

observations could be made from their general trend and activities area. First, there is proliferation of

anticorruption NGOs and secondly, these anticorruption NGOs are heavily involved in advocacy

programs like anticorruption awareness raising campaigns, media advocacy, training, workshops and

seminars on anticorruption issues, anticorruption and ethic education programs for youths and

students etc. There are few NGOs involved in corruption monitoring activities and still fewer in

organizing anticorruption research works. Heavy involvement of anticorruption NGOs focusing on

iii

advocacy programs may have helped to generate "demands" for good governance but in the absence

of supplying agencies, there is lopsided development in anticorruption and good governance

activities within Nepal. Thirdly, almost all NGOs are donor driven due to which, the sustainability of

the activities is highly questionable as the programs are implemented on an ad hoc basis

concentrating basically in Kathmandu and urban centers of the country. Fourthly, the role of media

in anticorruption drive is unique in Nepal. The journalists covering anticorruption news stories have,

so far, seen as the primary contributors in publishing books related to anticorruption in Nepal. The

journalists have published a number of books uncovering corruption stories. However, given the

political orientation of news media, there is a lack of media independency and subsequent covering

of corruption news stories.

Performance Assessment of ReMAC Project

The ReMAC project entitled "Media Initiative for Civic Resistance against Corruption" has one

development objective, two immediate objectives, four outputs and several activities under each

output. The output-wise distribution of budget was as follows: 42 percent for Output 1, 26 percent

for Output 2, 5 percent for Output 3 and 27 percent for Output 4. Obviously, Output 1, Output 2 and

Output 4 could be taken as priority level outputs for the ReMAC project.

The project has mentioned "promotion of culture of good governance through combating corruption"

as the development objective. The immediate objectives; outputs and activities mentioned in the

project document are to some extent consistent with the needs and priorities of the country.

Normally, development objectives tend to be ambitious and cannot be expected to achieve within

short span of time. Therefore, more reasonable approach to evaluate project will be on the basis of

immediate objectives, outputs and activities. Out of the three immediate objectives, two objectives,

namely, (1) sensitization of public and (2) motivation of media people are consistent with the

ReMAC missions and objectives. However, the third objective – mobilization of students for

anticorruption issues – does not seem to be compatible with ReMAC's area of operations and

specialization. Mere 5 percent allocation of the total budget for this immediate objective also

indicates a degree of inconsistency in the project outputs and activities.

The study team found that many stakeholders were familiar with ReMAC objectives and functions.

Stakeholders opined that there is need of involvement of organizations like ReMAC in creating

awareness against corruption. Some of the stakeholders also appreciated ReMAC project. However,

some stakeholder realized that there exists misunderstanding among the members. They suggested

that there should be harmonization and better relationships among them.

In general, the stakeholders opined that the efforts of the ReMAC are encouraging. They also opined

that similar project activities, with some adaptation in the content and coverage, should be

implemented in the days to come. As most of the activities planned under REMAC were urban-

centric, they suggested that the activities should be targeted in rural and semi-urban areas as well.

iv

As regards to the support to media, the stakeholders view that media people are seen interested in

investigating the corruption cases. They are good at attacking the issues rather than educating the

people on the need to abhor corruption in general. They also suggested for the continuation of

anticorruption activities through other civil society organizations and media based organizations.

Performance Assessment of SWATI Project

The SWATI project entitled "Combating Corruption through Women‟s Empowerment and

Development” has one development objective, two immediate objectives, three outputs and several

activities under each output. The output-wise distribution of budget was as follows: 17 percent for

Output 1, 57 percent for Output 2, and 26 percent for Output 3. A large portion of the budget was

allocated to launching anticorruption campaigns like media campaigns, ward-level interactions,

cultural programme and street drama.

It has mentioned "Creating a corruption-free society through gender mainstreaming” as the

development objective of the project. The objective of the project is limited, as corruption-free

society cannot be created only through gender mainstreaming. There are various components in

anticorruption drive like: civil society, the private sector, the government, NGOs and INGOs.

Two immediate objectives namely (1) promoting women leadership and creating alliance and (2)

empowering women to fight against corruption are consistent with SWATI's mission and objectives.

Mainstreaming community level women in anticorruption drive as one of the immediate objectives

will support to achieve the objective of the organization.

The Study team found that many stakeholders at district level are familiar with the main objective

and the activities of SWATI. There is a unanimous view of the various stakeholders on the need of

the organization like SWATI‟s involvement in anticorruption issues at the awareness, analysis and

lobbying level. Some of the stakeholders appreciated the role performed by the project under,”

Combating Corruption through Women’s empowerment and Development”. The study team found

that other income generating activities should also be simultaneously carried out in order to develop

network in grass root level.

Institutional Capacity Assessment of ReMAC

Strengths

Promoted by youths working in the field of media, law and research works

Focused area of operation, i.e., anticorruption and good governance

Good institutional linkages

Adequate office infrastructure

v

Weaknesses

Lack of institutional capacity in terms of knowledge, work experience and management

systems

Lack of financial independence

Lack of monitoring and evaluation

Frequent staff turnovers

Intra-organizational conflicts

Opportunities

Anticorruption as a national agenda of development

Increased donor support

Threats

Political instability

Growing competition in the operational area

Institutional Capacity Assessment of SWATI

Strengths

Proactive and committed members

Branch offices in Districts

Parallel activities

Dedicated and competent Staff

Government friendly

Weakness

Weak resource base

District office not well equipped

Opportunities

Donor‟s support on Anticorruption

Loose networking

Lead anticorruption organization from gender perspective

Threats


Competition

vi

Specific Findings for ReMAC

ReMAC has achieved the physical targets set forth in the project document and it has been

successful in carrying out the activities under different Output headings like sensitizing the people

on good governance, enhancing investigative skills of media persons, and enhancing organizational

capacity of ReMAC. However, it can be inferred that the involvement of the University students in

good governance and the anticorruption research and advocacy seems awkward in the context of

lobbying.

Based on the relevant documents and the observation from the field visit, the issue of sensitizing the

people through the use of different types of media activities like production and broadcasting of

programs through community radio, regular discussion program on good governance and

anticorruption, the study team would like to infer that the program activity has proved to have

created a long term impact.

Under Output two, the activity of the preparation of the reference books and the training manual

were not completed in the set deadlines, which also severely affected the scheduling for conducting

training program. The efficiency in producing the training manual is also questionable considering

the contents of the manual.

Under Output three, University students engaged in Good Governance and anticorruption research

and mobilized for advocacy task were carried out like awarding fellowship to training participants.

Judged from the relevance point of view, the activity cannot be said to be much in coherence with

the objective of the project. However, the impact and the effectiveness are significant.

Under Output four, in enhancing the organizational capacity of ReMAC as Anticorruption Resource

Centre by conducting various activities like establishment of ReMAC, the study team„s finding is

that the organizational capacity strengthening of ReMAC is not up to the mark. It is reflected by the

impact, efficiency and the sustainability aspects.

Specific Findings for SWATI

SWATI has been successful in carrying out the activities under different Output headings like

identification of impact of corruption on women, sensitizing the women group on the impact of

corruption, and revising the Social Reform Act 2033 B.S. Besides, SWATI was involved in

conducing workshops/seminar, interaction programs, media campaign, ward level interaction,

cultural programs, street drama, preparation of Draft Social Reform Bill etc. However, it can be

inferred that the lessons learned from similar situation in different neighboring countries have not

been studied for the formulation of the Draft Social Reform Act.

Under the Output three, Social Reform Act 2033 was revisited. Various programme like consultative

workshop were conducted to achieve the output. Since the Social Reform Act Draft Bill has been

vii

prepared and the effectiveness of the activity was achieved whereas the long term impact will be

observed only after lobbying for the implementation of the Social Reform Act 2033.

Lessons learned in the SWATI and the success stories of SWATI activities should be replicated in

other areas of the country to fight against corruption through creating awareness, sensitizing people

and analyzing and having promotional activities.

Conclusions (ReMAC)

Monitoring & Evaluation System during project period was missing.

Training was conducted without the knowledge and practices of Training for Trainers (ToT)

The need assessment of the training in the project was not carried out.

The project is donor dependent.

The individual project‟s visibility has not been observed in the general public.

The project period is short, and different political regime prevailed during the course of

project formulation, implementation and evaluation. The envisaged activities could not meet

the deadlines.

Four Project Steering Committees meeting were held with Danida/HUGOU and other

stakeholders,

On 4th August 2006, an extraordinary PSC meeting was held to settle the issues relating to

institutional governance viz the involvement of the Project Director in other donor-funded

activities and the involvement of the chairman as a consultant in the research component of

the project.

ReMAC has developed a pool of prospective media person to combat against corruption.

ReMAC has just prepared the Draft Report on last six month‟s progress of the project.

Conclusions (SWATI)

It is evident that the activities carried out under different heads were at the center of the

districts and very few programs were launched in semi-urban areas.

Civil societies are involved in awareness building, corruption analysis and prevention

activities and the government is involved in punitive action in anticorruption drive in Nepal.

viii

Combating corruption is long term activity needing the help and co-operation of all the

stakeholders.

The project visibility has not been observed in the general public. The project period is short,

and different political regime prevailed during the course of project formulation,

implementation and evaluation.

Not a single meeting of Project Steering Committee was held.

Monitoring & Evaluation System during project period was missing.

The project is donor dependent and short in duration covering very limited area.

General Recommendations

Based on the evaluation parameter of the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability,

the study team carried a detailed evaluation of the activities of the both projects and would like to

put the recommendations for consideration. The evaluation is based on the methodology mentioned

above.

In Nepal, corruption is deep rooted and institutionalized. It will take some time for combating

corruption, it is in this context, the study team would like to suggest for the extension of the

project for unfinished work and for further coverage to replicate the lessons learned and the

best practices of the project. While doing so, it is also suggested that among the two projects

the pros and cons and the effectiveness and efficiency of the output of the projects should be

properly taken into account.

In the particular milieu of Nepal, CSOs activities in combating corruption is in very nascent

stage, there is a need to do more in association, co-ordination and collaboration with

concerned stakeholders/donors.

In Nepal, demand side of corruption is strongly institutionalized and breaking it is arduous.

In order to accelerate combating corruption process, it is suggested that strategies and modus

operandi should be developed focusing supply side awareness building; advocacy, policy

lobbying and analysis of the cause of corruption.

Danida/HUGOU's Involvement: The Direction Ahead

In order to building the public awareness against the vices of corruption and analyzing the

corruption, the civil society and media organizations must be supported and it is recommended that

the already initiated Danida/HUGOU projects should be continued. These projects should be

expanded with wider coverage and special consideration should be given to adopting the good lesson

learned and vice versa.

ix

Professionally strong civil society organizations are needed for effective anticorruption drive. The

support to these organizations could be designed in two phases: immediate to short term and medium

to long term. The immediate to short-term package should contain at least the following:

- According to the realistic immediate objectives (such as laid down by SWATI), the special

consideration should be given to the calculation of the time frame. For example, the time

frame of one year for SWATI is short to achieve the desired goal.

- Based on the effectiveness of the past performance and lesson learned, the program should be

supported for the expansion in five development regions

In the medium to long term, it is suggested to provide assistance to increase the coverage areas of

SWATI in more districts. This can be achieved by using SWATI‟s existing networking in different

districts. The same project activities with some modifications could be implemented in other districts

considering the lessons learned. The purposed Social Welfare Bill 2033 has been drafted. But there

is still a need for advocacy and lobbying the Parliamentarians to get the bill passed in the parliament.

As women are always seen as the instigator of corruption, the addressing of the women from various

backgrounds against the corruption is a novel idea implemented by SWATI. Hence, such types of

activities needs further support from the Danida/HUGOU. Similarly, the network of Women against

Corruption (WAC) should be made active and functional to mobilize them in anticorruption

movement with the support from Danida/HUGOU.

At central level, media advocacy including audio, visual and print media is suggested to raise

awareness on anticorruption campaign. Similarly, the effective and efficient media persons and

academicians should be supported in order to analyze the nature, extent, existence, trends and overall

systematic analysis of the corruption in Nepal.

The youth mobilization program is also recommended as this project did not have youth focused

program.

1

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Anticorruption is one among the seven components1 of the Danish Human Rights and Good

Governance Programme (Danida/HUGOU) in Nepal. With an objective to improve the capacity

of the actors, state, government agencies, civil society, media and the private sector involved in

fight against corruption, Danida/HUGOU has identified three component outputs viz, (1)

building public awareness against the vices of corruption (2) analyzing corruption to take

preventive actions and (3) effective fighting corruption as a deterrence measure. The major focus

of the activities of Nepalese civil society were focused on building public awareness against

corruption and in analyzing corruption to take the preventive actions. In line with this

Anticorruption Component Description, Danida/HUGOU has been actively supporting Nepalese

civil society organizations involved in anticorruption activities, among these, Research and

Media Centre against Corruption (ReMAC) and SWATI were two projects. Mediating between

the state and the public, such civil society organizations can play an important role in

constraining corruption through generating public awareness against the vices of corruption and

in exerting pressures to government to introduce various reform measures to constrain

corruption.

In order to carry out an independent evaluation of these above mentioned two civil societies

based anticorruption projects supported by Danida/HUGOU, an agreement was signed between

Danida/HUGOU and Policy Research and Development (PRAD). The evaluation was carried out

by PRAD from mid August to September 2007. The duration of both of these projects coincided

with the most critical juncture in Nepalese politics – King's direct rule and Jana Andolan II. The

ReMAC project was launched during the period of direct rule of the King whereas; SWATI

project was launched after popular Jana Andolan II. Since, both of these projects were

implemented during politically sensitive period, the unfolding of political events have been

found to impart some impact on the implementation and achievements of these projects,

however, the evaluation showed that the projects have made “an important contribution in

fighting against corruption in Nepal.” These projects helped to identify the appropriate strategies

to fight corruption by mobilizing women and media persons. Both of these projects have enabled

themselves to be established as a vibrant anticorruption civil society based organizations. Saving

few activities in ReMAC, most of the activities laid down in the project documents were found

1 These seven components are (1) Human Rights Organizations (2) Social Inclusion (3) Media (4) Justice (5)

Anticorruption (6) Elections and Democratic Processes and (7) Local Governance.

2

to be implemented. The concerned stakeholders and the line agencies have appreciated the

activities carried out by these two projects.

1.2 Brief Description of the Projects

1.2.1 ReMAC

The Research and Media Centre Against Corruption (ReMAC) implemented the project- Media

Initiative for Civic Resistance Against Corruption. The project was signed on 27 December

2005 for a period of 18 months starting from January 2006 with the development objective of

promoting culture of good governance in Nepal through combating corruption. The project

contained three immediate objectives and four outputs. The immediate objectives of the project

were: (1) to sensitize the public on the vices of corruption, (2) to motivate media persons to

report good governance and anticorruption, and (3) to mobilize students on research and

advocacy task in relation to good governance and anticorruption. The outputs envisaged in the

project were: (1) people sensitized on good governance and anticorruption through the use of

different types of media, (2) enhancing the investigative skills of the media persons covering

anticorruption issues, (3) mobilizing university students engaged in good governance and

anticorruption research for advocacy, and (4) enhancing the organizational capacity of ReMAC.

In a nutshell, the ReMAC project was meant to support media to combat corruption in Nepal.

1.2.2 SWATI

SWATI implemented the project – Combating Corruption through Women’s Empowerment

and Development which was signed on 29 June 2006 for a period of 12 months starting from 1

July 2006. This project had the development objective of creating a corruption free society

through gender mainstreaming. Moreover, the project had two immediate objectives: (1) to

promote women‟s leadership and build strategic alliances among women from various sectors

and (2) to empower women to fight against corruption. The outputs envisaged in the project

were: (1) impact of corruption on women identified, (2) women sensitized on the impact of

corruption, and (3) Social Reform Act 2033 revisited. The SWATI project took initiatives in

mobilizing women to fight against corruption.

1.3 Objectives

As mentioned in the Terms of Reference (ToR) provided to PRAD, the objectives of the

evaluation study were:

3

To briefly review the status of the civil society anticorruption movement in general in

Nepal.

To assess achievements of the immediate objectives, outputs, and activities mentioned in

the respective Project Documents of ReMAC and SWATI.

To evaluate the capacity of ReMAC and SWATI as partner organizations to carry out

future civil society based anticorruption initiatives in Nepal.

1.4 Scope of Work

The scope of work of the evaluation were

To review the general context of the civil society anticorruption movement in Nepal.

To assess achievements and or non-achievements of the project objectives, outputs and

activities.

To assess the logic built within the projects in terms of project objectives, outputs and

activities.

To assess the capacity of ReMAC and SWATI to carry out the projects and the

sustainability of the initiatives.

To offer suggestions to Danida/HUGOU related to civil society based anticorruption

projects in Nepal.

1.5 Methodology

The methodology of the study was based on the primary as well as secondary data/information

from various sources. The secondary data/information was obtained from the published and

unpublished documents, annual and bi-annual reports and records maintained in SWATI and

ReMAC whereas the primary data/information were gathered from field visit and interactive

meetings. In this course of data/information collection, two field visits were carried out in

Biratnagar and Nepalgunj. The main purposes of these visits were to get the feedback from

ReMAC and SWATI participants who have attended field level programmes. The interviewees

were asked with the formatted checklists questions as mentioned in Annex 1. Similarly, the

interaction meetings and discussions were held with key stakeholders, office bearers and project

staff members from ReMAC and SWATI (given in Annex 1).

4

This evaluation study report is based on following approaches.

1.5.1 Desk Study

Desk study involved collection and screening of all the documents and literatures as listed in the

ToR. This included review of documents like Project Documents, MoUs, Bi- annual and Annual

Progress Reports. Besides, other reports such as seminar proceedings and publications related to

project activities were also reviewed.

1.5.2 Stakeholders’ Perspective

The projects have a number of stakeholders including Commission for Investigation of Abuse of

Authority (CIAA), National Vigilance Centre (NVC), Transparency International Nepal and its

Support Groups, other NGOs and INGOs working in the field of anticorruption movement. In the

course of evaluation, it was essential to understand the perspective of these stakeholders on the

role and contribution of SWATI and ReMAC. Hence, a rapid appraisal of stakeholders was made

to solicit their views on role and contribution of ReMAC and SWATI projects. The perspectives

of those stakeholders were collected by means of the checklist as mentioned in Annex 1.

1.5.3 SWOT Analysis

In order to assess the institutional capacity of ReMAC and SWATI, SWOT analysis was made

on the basis of their institutional strength, weakness, opportunities and threats.

1.5.4 Sustainability Analysis

The study also looked into the sustainability of the two projects in terms of further expansion and

or replication of those activities in other parts of the country.

1.5.5 Tools for Evaluation

Different sets of checklists were developed to facilitate the consultation meeting with the

different groups of stakeholders (See Annex 1). The list included questions related to the

relevance of the project activities as indicated in the Log Frame, usefulness of the materials

5

provided during the workshops, and training programme, views on the effectiveness of the

resource persons, general satisfaction level and ability to build networks in the field.

6

1.5.6 Analytical Approach

A Log Frame has been used as a starting point to assess the performance of SWATI and

ReMAC. In the course of the study, objectives, outputs, activities laid down in the Project

Documents of SWATI and ReMAC were first tabulated and then performance assessment was

made on its basis.

1.6 Limitations of the Study

The evaluation study is limited to the information collected from Kathmandu, Biratnagar and

Nepalgunj only. Due to time and budget constraints, the study is based on limited sample

surveys. Furthermore, the on-going political strike in Terai districts and bad weather conditions

(incessant rain) also affected the study, as the study team could not meet more participants,

particularly, in Nepalgunj and Biratnagar.

1.7 Organization of the Study Report

The study is organized in five chapters. Chapter one introduces the study objectives, scope of the

study and study methodology. Chapter two gives an overview of the Civil Society‟s involvement

in anticorruption drive in Nepal. The assessment of the Log Frame, including performance

assessment in terms of project objectives, outputs, and activities are made in Chapter three. In

chapter four the institutional capacity of ReMAC and SWATI are highlighted. And the last

chapter furnishes the major findings and recommendations.

7

2. CIVIL SOCIETY INVOLVEMENT IN ANTICORRUPTION

MOVEMENT IN NEPAL

2.1 Background

Corruption is a serious economic, social, political and administrative challenge worldwide. With

a view to control the epidemic of corruption, various specialized entities have been established to

fight corruption through research, education, monitoring and control. Working with non-

governmental actors is a crucial component of anticorruption drive. This is because fighting

corruption calls for collective actions on the part of different stakeholders like political parties,

media, business community and civil society. There is less chance of success if the responsibility

to fight corruption is left alone with the state actors like anticorruption agencies, oversight

agencies and the courts. Studies have found that in countries with poor-to-fair quality

governance, an anticorruption movement cannot make a dent without the support of Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the mass media.2 Even the United Nations Convention

Against Corruption (UNCAC) states that in order to prevent and eradicate corruption, it should

be the responsibility of all states and that they must co-operate with one another, with the support

and involvement of individuals and groups outside public sector, such as civil society, non

governmental organizations and community based organizations, if their efforts are going to

have any effect3. The press release by TI on the occasion of publishing Corruption Perception

Index 2007 highlights on the role of civil society in combating corruption in following words:

"Partnering with civil society and citizen is another essential strategy for developing countries

seeking to strengthen the accountability of the government. Civil society organizations play a

vital watchdog role, can help stimulate demands for reform and also bring in expertise on

technical issues."4

In Nepal, corruption is a serious problem affecting whole sphere of government system. There is

pervasive corruption in Nepal and it can be said that there are no sector in Nepal, which are not

affected by corruption. The debate on corruption and good governance is not on whether there is

or is not corruption but it is on the magnitude of corruption. A survey conducted by National

Democratic Institute (NDI) in July 2004 reports that 83 percent of the respondents reported

corruption is widespread in Nepal.

2 OECD and Transparency International, “Enhancing the role of Civil Society in Anticorruption Work” December

2004 3 UN, United Nations Convention on Anti Corruption, (UNCAC)

4 Transparency International, Press Release, 26 September 2007.

8

An independent media and women can simultaneously address three strategic components of

anticorruption drives, namely, prevention, analysis and combating corruption. Through an

investigative reporting, the media can expose prevailing and potential areas of corruption, invite

official investigations into the accused crimes, help in shaping the public opinion against

corruption, call public attention and thereby using the process of "naming and shaming", the

media can even enforce a kind of social sanction on the culprits. Hence, having only the good

governance is not enough in this regard. But the civil society and media have to continuously

function as watchdog agencies to monitor that governance.

There are many areas where the state can support civil society organizations in the fight against

corruption. These include: prioritizing the role of civil society, mobilizing them in mass

education programme, ensuring access to information by civil society organizations, actively

involving them in monitoring activities.

2.2 The Role of Civil Society and Media against Corruption

A mere existence of the law is not enough to control corruption. Neither corruption can be

controlled by law enforcement alone. The law has to be accepted by the society. and this calls for

wider participation by all parties related to anticorruption drive. It is, therefore, important to give

due recognition to the collective role of the civil society and the media in the fight against

corruption.

The organized civil society movement against corruption in Nepal started in the mid 1990s with

the establishment of Transparency International - Nepal Chapter, in 1995, which basically

focused on advocacy, awareness building and generating civic pressure. The establishment of TI-

Nepal Chapter was followed by the up-coming activities of another civil society based

organization called Pro-Public in 1997. Such civil society organizations are basically involved in

awareness building activities and corruption prevention. Initially, civil society anticorruption

activities in Nepal were at the support of Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). Later, other

donors like DFID and USAID were seen actively supporting anticorruption projects in Nepal.

Currently, DFID/Nepal is supporting civil society based anticorruption activities through Pro-

Public. Danida/HUGOU support to civil society anticorruption activities started from 2006 with

the initiation of projects by ReMAC and SWATI.

The list of civil society organizations involved in anticorruption movement in Nepal is given in

Table 1.

9

Table 1: Sample of Civil Society Anticorruption Organizations in Nepal

Name of the organization Year of

Establishment

Focus of activities

1. TI Nepal Chapter (TIN) 1995 Civil society coalition against

corruption.

2. Pro-Public 1996 Protection of consumer rights,

environment and good governance.

3. SWATI 2002 Promoting Good Governance through

women‟s empowerment

4. Research and Media Centre

against Corruption (ReMAC)

2003 Study, research, information and media

center for good governance and

anticorruption movement.

5. Anticorruption Project

Corporate Ethics Forum/

FNCCI

2003 Implementing Code of Conduct and

fighting corruption on behalf of

business community

6. Forum against Corruption and

Transparency (FACT)

2000 Research and Policy Analysis on Good

Governance and Corruption

7. Swatantra Bichar Manch

(SWBIM)

N/A Governance

8. Sachet Nagarik Nepal (CCN) N/A Good Governance through

sensitization

9. Bhrastachar Viruddha

Rashtriya Abhiyan, Nepal

2003 Good Governance through

mobilization of civil society

10. Sisnopani Nepal 2000 Mobilization of Comedian Actors for

Good Governance

11. South Asia Partnership (SAP)

Nepal

Community Development and Good

Governance

12. Action for Community

Development, Nepal (COACT)

2004 Empowerment of Disadvantaged

Group through Good Governance

13. Institute of Governance and

Development (IGD)

N/A Good Governance

14. Centre for study of Democracy

and Governance (CSDG)

2000 Promotion of Democratic Institutions,

and Good Governance

10

Couple of interesting observations could be made from the overview of civil society involvement

in anticorruption drive in Nepal. First, there is proliferation of anticorruption NGOs. If some

NGOs are specifically involved in anticorruption drive, other NGOs have taken up anticorruption

activities with the availability of donor funds. The list of names mentioned in Table 1 reflects

only those NGOs actively involved at the national level.

Second, the anticorruption NGOs are heavily involved in advocacy programmes. These include

anticorruption awareness raising campaigns, media advocacy, training, workshops and seminars

on anticorruption issues, anticorruption and ethic education programmes for youths and students.

There are less number of NGOs involved in corruption monitoring activities and still less number

in organizing anticorruption research works. Pro-Public may be the only organization involved in

anticorruption monitoring activities. Heavy involvement of anticorruption NGOs in advocacy

programmes may have helped to generate "demands" for good governance but in the absence of

supplying agencies, there is lopsided development in anticorruption and good governance

activities in Nepal.

Third, almost all NGOs have donor support in implementing anticorruption activities. Due to

donor dependency, the sustainability of the activities is highly questionable as the programmes

are implemented on an ad hoc basis concentrating basically in Kathmandu and some other urban

centers. Corruption problems are as much serious in rural areas in Nepal as in urban areas. It is

the rural poor who are affected by the corruption in the delivery of public services like health,

education, drinking water, electricity and other services. This has also led to the question of

institutionalizing anticorruption movement in Nepal.

Fourth, the role of media in anticorruption drive is unique in Nepal. The journalists covering

anticorruption news stories have, so far, seen as the primary contributors in publishing books

related to anticorruption in Nepal. The journalists have published a number of books uncovering

corruption stories. However, given the political orientation of news media, there is a lack of

media independency and subsequent covering of corruption news stories.

11

3. PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

In this chapter, attempts have been made to assess the log frame built into the project documents

and to analyze the achievement and/or non-achievements based on the log frame of the ReMAC

and SWATI. The logical frameworks prepared by these projects were taken as the basis for

evaluation of performance under this heading. Attempts have been made to correlate the

objectives and target taken by these organizations with the verifiable indicators and measurable

outputs.

3.1 Assessment of ReMAC Project

3.1.1 Description of Log Frame Analysis

The ReMAC project entitled "Media Initiative for Civic Resistance against

Corruption"(MICRaC) has one development objective, two immediate objectives, four outputs

and several activities under each output (Table 2). The output-wise distribution of budget was as

follows: 42 percent for Output 1, 26 percent for Output 2, 5 percent for Output 3 and 27 percent

for Output 4. Obviously, Output 1, Output 2 and Output 4 could be taken as priority level outputs

for the ReMAC project.

The "promotion of culture of good governance through combating corruption" has been

mentioned as the development objective of the project. The immediate objectives; outputs and

activities mentioned in the project document are to some extent consistent with the needs and

priorities of the country. Normally, development objectives tend to be ambitious and cannot be

expected to achieve within a short span of time. Therefore, more reasonable approach will be to

evaluate the project on the basis of immediate objectives, outputs and activities. Out of the three

immediate objectives (Table 2), two objectives, namely, (1) sensitization of public and (2)

motivation of media people are consistent with the ReMAC missions and objectives. However,

the third objective – mobilization of students for anticorruption issues – does not seem to be

compatible with ReMAC's area of operations and specialization. Mere allocation of 5 percent of

the total budget for this immediate objective (Output 3) also indicates a degree of inconsistency

in the project outputs and activities.

12

Table 2: LOGICAL FRAMEWORK OF ReMAC

Narrative Summary Objectively Verifiable

Indicators

Means of Verification

Development Objective

Promoting culture of good

governance in Nepal through

combating corruption.

Improvement in governance

system

Evaluation reports and

governance indicators

published by the World Bank

Immediate Objectives

To sensitize public on the

vices corruption.

Discussion and radio

programme on good

governance and anticorruption.

Radio listeners‟ survey

To motivate media persons to

report good governance issues

and anticorruption

Media persons engaged in

anticorruption reporting.

Corruption stories covered by

different print and electronic

media.

Regular follow-up of

anticorruption news stories.

Progress and completion

reports.

News-scan surveys

News-scan surveys

To mobilize students on

research and advocacy task in

relation to good governance

and anticorruption

University theses/dissertations

on good governance and anti-

corruption.

Issues of good governance and

anticorruption become the

subject matter for deliberations.


reports.

Research/dissertations reports

Seminar reports.

Outputs

Output No.1

People sensitized on good

governance and anticorruption

through the use of different

types of media.

Number of radio programmes

produced and broadcasted and

discussion forum held.


reports.

Output No.2

Investigative skills of media

persons covering

anticorruption enhanced.

Number of trained journalists

Number of investigative story

published.


reports.

Training reports

Published investigative

13


Indicators


stories

Output No.3

University students engaged

in good governance and

anticorruption research and

mobilized for the advocacy

task.

Number of research activities

Seminar in colleges.


reports.


Seminar reports

Output No.4

Organizational capacity of

ReMAC enhanced

Number of documents, research

on corruption.


report. Research report.

Activities under Output 1

1.1) Production and

broadcasting of radio

programme through

community radio

78 Radio programmes

produced and broadcasted

through 10 community radios.


reports.

1.2) Regulars discussion

forums on good

governance and

anticorruption organized.

18 Discussion programme held Progress and completion

reports.

Activities Under Output 2

2.1) Production and

distribution of training

manual and reference

books on investigative

reporting of corruption

cases.

200 Copies of training manuals

and 200 copies of reference

books distributed.


reports

2.2) Training/ workshops on

investigative reporting

against corruption

organized in different

parts of Nepal

3 Regional level training

programme held in Biratnagar,

Pokhara and Nepalgunj with a

total of 75 participants

Reports on training

programme

2.3) Awarding of fellowships

to 9 outstanding

participating journalists

9 Investigative stories based on

local issues of corruption will

be published as a book.

Book published

14


Indicators


(3 from each region) to

carry out investigative

reporting as follow-up of

training programme.


3.1) Awarding of fellowships

to research students from

5 different faculties of

local universities seeking

to conduct research on

good governance and

corruption.

5 Fellowships awarded to

university students


3.2) Organizing seminars for

college going students on

good governance and

corruption.

A minimum of 360 college

students participate in 12

seminars

Seminar reports.


4.1) Establishing ReMAC as

an Anticorruption

Resource Centre.

A number of corruption cased,

information on good

governance and anticorruption

available to the public.


reports.

Research reports, press

releases.

4.2) Conducting a research on

the effectiveness of

government‟s

anticorruption legislation,

policy and institutional

mechanism.

Number of people visiting

resources center.

Number of recommendations

made to the government

agencies on various issues

related to good governance and

anticorruption.

Research report

3.1.2 Achievement and Non-achievement

There are a total of four outputs and nine activities mentioned in the Project Document.

Achievement and/or non-achievement of these outputs and activities are described in this

section. Detail information on performance assessment is provided in Annex 2.

15

Output One: Sensitization of People on Good Governance and Anticorruption

Under this output, production and broadcasting of 78 radio programmes including re-

broadcasting of these programmes through 10 community based radios and organizing 18

discussion programs on good governance and anticorruption issues were planned over the project

period of 18 months.

The programmes were broadcasted in the morning prime time, indicating wide coverage. Most of

the broadcasting materials were developed out of the discussion programmes organized by

ReMAC. The issues covered were topical and were found to be well received by the listeners.

The listeners have found the technical quality of the programmes to be satisfactory. During the

field visits, the listeners interviewed by the study team, appreciated the content of the

programmes. The radio stations have given positive response to the programmes and suggested

the study team that the effectiveness of the programmes would have increased if the programmes

were produced and broadcasted in local languages. The study team also observed that all

programmes produced were not broadcasted, as there were some delays in signing of the

agreements with local FM stations.

A total of 18 discussion programmes were planned during the project period. Out of this,

seventeen programmes were organized at the time of project evaluation. The programmes

covered various topical issues related to anticorruption and good governance. A total of 708

participants participated in 17 discussion programmes giving an average of 41 participants per

programme. All these programmes were held in Kathmandu valley. Based on the proceedings of

the discussion programmes and the consultation held with the stakeholders and the participants,

the study team found that the programmes were in conformity with the stated objectives of the

project.

Output Two: Enhancing Investigative Skills of the Journalists

Under this output, two activities were performed. The first one was to produce 200 copies of

training manual and reference books and the second was to organize three regional-level

training-cum-workshops on investigative reporting against corruption to media personnel. The

first activity was planned for facilitating the second one because after designing and producing

the training manual and reference books, the training-cum-workshops were to be organized.

Hence, these two activities were supposed to be organized in a sequential manner. However,

there was delay in preparing the training material (manual and reference books) and

subsequently, the regional-level training programmes could not be held as per the schedule

thereby further affecting on awarding of fellowships and the publicizing of case material

16

prepared by the trainees. The delay in the preparation of the training manual and reference book

also affected on the implementation of the project itself because the project had to be extended

by three months starting from June to the end of September 2007.

The study team also found that the training manual and the reference book prepared by ReMAC

were not in conformity with the general training norms. Especially, the training materials were

found to be sub-standard in terms of curriculum, form and the format of training. The study team

revealed that ReMAC has gained some experience on such training held in September 2004 in

Kathmandu. The selection of consultant for preparing these valuable materials could not be

justifiable (regarding the eligibility, expertise and TOR etc).The published training manual was,

more or less, a replication of the reference book giving a room to speculate on the quality. The

lack of adequate system to select the consultants to prepare training manual and the reference

book might have affected on the quality of produced materials.

Three training programmes were organized in Pokhara, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar. A total of 78

journalists coming from print and electronic media sectors participated in the training

programmes. The study team had an opportunity to observe one of the training programmes

organized in Biratnagar. During the observation, the evaluation team found the training

programme was not organized in a professional manner. The time management for training and

use of training aids were found to be major limiting factors of that training. There are not

adequate training aids and available training aids were not fully utilized. The trainees too were

selected on an ad hoc basis because there were no definite criteria for selecting the trainees other

than personal contacts and recommendations from NFJ and the Press Council of Nepal.

One of the activities tied with the training program was to award three fellowships to the trainees

submitting best proposal and hence a total of nine fellowships had to be awarded in three training

programmes. Each fellowship carried a sum of NRs 10,000. By the time of evaluation study,

ReMAC has not collected final reports from the training fellows5. Since the training programmes

were started late and had remained incomplete to the date of evaluation, it is very difficult to pass

judgment on effectiveness of the activities.

Output Three: Mobilization of University Students

Under this output, a total of five fellowships were to be awarded to the university-level post

graduate level students in writing dissertation on anticorruption and good governance issues and

to organize 12 seminars on anticorruption and good governance to the college level students.

5 However during the finalization of this evaluation report, the ReMAC has commented that it has received all the

nine fellowships and it is in the way to publish these. ReMAC has already sent those publications to the press.

17

Five fellowships were awarded to the master-level students. The students were from law, public

administration, rural development, journalism and mass communications, sociology and

anthropology. The processes and decision of awarding fellowships were entirely left to the

concerned faculty heads. During the course of evaluation, the study team found that the response

from the students were very low. This could be either due to the lack of transparency in the

distribution of the fellowships or due to the lack of adequate incentives. However, the study team

found that a fellowship awarded for the corruption news scan study to have some positive

impacts.

ReMAC was able to organize all of the twelve college-level seminars. A total of 365 students

participated in these seminars. Since no records were made available to the evaluation team on

the seminar proceedings, it is difficult to pass judgment on the effectiveness of these college

level seminars. Furthermore, all of the seminars were organized in the colleges established

within the Kathmandu Valley.

Output Four: Organizational Capacity Development of ReMAC

Under this output, two activities were planned - establishment of Anticorruption Resource Centre

within ReMAC and a research study on evaluating the effectiveness of anticorruption laws,

policies and institution in Nepal.

ReMAC has established an Anticorruption Resource Centre. It has acquired over 200 books

relating to good governance, corruption and anticorruption. The inventories include Nepal

Gazette, Supreme Court Decisions on anticorruption cases, and in-house publications. However,

there was deficiency in the dissemination part. Similarly, ReMAC has maintained its web site but

it has not been updated till the time this report was prepared. The general public has not properly

utilized the Resource Center. About 50 visitors have, so far, visited the Resource Centre and

many of them are ReMAC members. Hence, it could be said that the Resource Center was not

properly utilized. Frequent shifting of ReMAC premise from one place to another has also

affected on the maintenance and accessibility of the Resource Centre.

A single research study was planned in the project which was to evaluate the effectiveness of

anticorruption legislation, policy and institutions in Nepal. There were considerable delays in

hiring the researcher and the frequent changes of the researchers also affected on the timely

completion and quality of the research output. The research study was more of a compilation of

documents rather than a serious research work. This activity was not in conformity with the

project output, i.e., developing institutional capacity of ReMAC.

18

3.1.3 Stakeholders' Perspective

The study team found that many stakeholders were familiar with ReMAC objectives and

functions. Stakeholders also opined the need for involvement of the organizations like ReMAC

in creating awareness against corruption. Some of the stakeholders also appreciated ReMAC

project. However, some stakeholder realized the presence of misunderstandings among the

members of ReMAC and suggested for harmonizing the relationships.

In general, the stakeholders opined the efforts of the ReMAC to be encouraging. They also

opined that similar project activities, with some adaptation in the content and coverage, should

be implemented in the days to come. As most of the activities planned under ReMAC were

urban-centric, they suggested that the activities should be extended to rural and semi-urban areas

as well.

As regards to the support to media, the stakeholders were of the view that media people were

mostly interested in investigating the corruption cases. They were more offenders rather than the

educator for abhorring the corruption in general. However, the effectiveness of the media people

in exposing the corrupt people among the public was found to be praiseworthy. The stakeholders

suggested for the continuation of anticorruption activities through other civil society

organizations too and media based organizations.

3.2 Assessment of SWATI Project

3.2.1 Description of Log Frame Analysis

The SWATI project entitled "Combating Corruption through Women’s Empowerment and

Development” has one development objective, two immediate objectives, three outputs and

several activities under each output. The output-wise distribution of budget was as follows: 17

percent for Output 1, 57 percent for Output 2, and 26 percent for Output 3. A large portion of the

budget was allocated to launching anticorruption campaigns like media campaigns, ward-level

interactions, cultural programmes and street drama.

"Creating a corruption-free society through gender mainstreaming” has been mentioned as the

development objective of the project. The development objective of the project is limited, as

corruption-free society can‟t be expected to be created alone through gender mainstreaming.

There are various components in anticorruption drive like: civil society, the private sector, the

government, media, NGOs, INGOs. etc

19

Two immediate objectives namely, (1) promoting women leadership and creating alliance and

(2) empowering women to fight against corruption are consistent with SWATI's mission and

objectives.

Inclusion of community level women in anticorruption drive as one of the immediate objective is

supportive in achieving the objective of the organization.

Table 3: LOGICAL FRAMEWORK OF SWATI


Indicators


Development Objective

Creating a corruption free

society through gender

mainstreaming.

Corruption reduced

Increased gender

mainstreaming

Corruption Perception Index

published by Transparency

International.

Gender Empowerment index

published by UNDP

Project Evaluation Report.

Immediate Objectives

To promote women

leadership and strategic

alliance among women from

various sectors

National level network of

women WAC established

Formation of Corruption

Reduction Women Pressure

Groups (CRWPGSs)

Increased membership of

CRWPGs

WAC name list

Workshop reports

Project Evaluation Report

To empower women to fight

against corruption

Number and variety of anti-

corruption awareness raising

program organized by

CRWPGSs)

Social campaign against

corruption launched by

CRWPGs and women‟s

network

Workshop report


Outputs

Output No.1

Impact of corruption on

Corruption related women‟s

issues identified

Progress Report

20


Indicators


women identified

Interaction programmes on the

impact of corruption on women

held.

Project Completion Report

Evaluation Report

Output No.2

Women sensitized on the

impact of corruption

Number of media campaign

launched

Number of ward level

interactions held

Number of anticorruption

culture programmes launched

Number of street dramas with

anticorruption theme launched


Information, Education and

Communication (IEC) material

and newsletters.

Output No.3

Social Reform Act 2033

(1977) revisited

Proposed draft bill on Social

Reform

Draft Social reform Bill


1.1) Organization of district

level workshops on

impact of corruption on

women.

Five district level workshops

organized and attended by 250

participants

Workshop report

Progress Report


1.2) Organization of

national level

workshops on impact

of corruption on

women.

Two day national level

workshop organized and

attended by 60 participants.

Network called Women against

corruption (WAC) formed

Workshop report

Progress Report



interaction programmes

with association of

housewives.

Three interaction programmes

organized with the associations

of housewives‟ attended by 180

participants

Workshop report

Progress Report



2.1) Organization of media

campaign

1000 Posters with

anticorruption theme produced

5000 Pamphlets/flyers with

anticorruption theme produced.

Poster, pamphlets/flyers,

newsletters

Progress Report


21


Indicators


500 Anticorruption newsletters

produced quarterly

2.2) Organization of ward

level interaction

programme

12 Ward level interaction

programmes organized in six

districts.

Progress Report

-Project Completion Report


anticorruption culture

programmes

18 Cultural programmes with

anticorruption theme organized

in six districts.

Progress Report


2.4) Organization of street

dramas with

anticorruption theme

18 Street dramas with

anticorruption theme organized

in six districts.

-Progress Report




consultative workshop

One consultative workshop

organized

Meeting minutes


CRWLG meetings on

draft Social Reform

Bill

Three CRWLG meetings held

on proposed draft Social

Reform Bill

Draft Social Reform Bill


advocacy meetings on

draft Social Reform

Bill

Five advocacy meetings

organized with the

stakeholders.

Meeting minutes

3.4) Awareness raising on

draft Social Reform

Bill

Ten transmission through two

TV Channels

Ten public messages published

in two daily broadsheets.

Progress Report

Media Clippings


3.2.2 Achievement and Non Achievement

SWATI has laid down three Outputs, and eleven activities to achieve the objectives. The

activities include the production of promotional material and distribution, workshops/seminar/

interaction, cultural progarm, advocacy meeting, discussion programme, training &seminars.

SWATI has performed all its stipulated activities in due course of time. Achievement of these

22

outputs and activities are described in this section. Detail information on performance

assessment is provided in Annex 2.

Output One: Impact of Corruption on Women identified

Under this output, 5 district level workshop, a national level workshop and 3 interaction

programmes were planned to achieve the stated objective.

Five district level workshops in respective district were conducted as targeted. The

targeted numbers of participants were 250 whereas the achievement figure shows 295

participants. These workshops were found effective in delivering and identifying the

issues relating to the message on impact of corruption on women. Being a quite new and

interesting thematic issue, people were interested to participate actively. It was also found

that the concerned line agencies and stakeholders participated due to interest in the

subject, social ethics and responsibility. The study team found that due to limited

logistics support and hall facilities in the districts, SWATI could not accommodate the

desired number of participants. At the district level workshops, the impacts of corruption

on women were discussed and issues were identified.

The study team found two-day national level workshop on impact of corruption on

women organized and attended by 60 participants per day as per the target set. A total of

200 participants out of the targeted 180 participants had participated in the Housewives‟

association like Engineers‟ Wives‟ Association, Doctors‟ Wives‟ Association, Armies‟

Wives‟ Association, etc. The project activity's impact was found to be positive in the

longer run period.

Initiation was taken to form a network called Women Against Corruption (WAC) after

the completion of five district level workshops, three interactions with House Wives

Associations and National level workshop.

Output Two: Women Sensitized on Impact of Corruption

Under this output, organization of media campaign, 12 ward level interaction program, 18

cultural programmes, and 18 street dramas were planned to be organized.

Anticorruption related posters (1000), pamphlets (5000) and newsletters (2000) published

and distributed. The contents of the message were catchy and informative. The posters

were distributed during the programmes like ward level interaction programme, district

level workshops, interaction programmes with Housewives‟ association, national

23

workshop, office visitors, concerned stakeholders and line agencies. Likewise, the

posters were pasted in the public places like government offices premises, banks, major

market centers etc. However, the evaluation team is of the view that the impact of this

activity could not remain for a longer-term because the posters were distributed and

pasted somewhere in public places which could not last for longer period. And there was

no monitoring, follow up and feed back mechanism adopted during and after the

distribution of such materials.

Twelve ward level interaction programmes were organized in six districts where, the total

number of participants reached up to 481. There was an active participation and the

participants shared their incidence and observations on corruption. The establishment of

SWATI in district level was found to be in nascent stage; hence, it was quite difficult to

convince and motivate the people regarding the programme and objectives of the

organization. During the field visit, participants expressed their view that such types of

interaction programmes were relevant, lively and effective. However, there was some

misunderstanding regarding the allowances provided to participants because some

participants coming from remote areas were found to be expecting transportation

allowance too.

Eighteen culture programme (Teej. Deusi and Bhailo) with anticorruption theme were

conducted in six districts as scheduled. The objective was to disseminate anticorruption

message through Teej, Deusi and Bhailo songs. The study team found that the addressing

of social issues in social events were very much effective and efficient. As the number of

events that occurred met the target and the message of the programme was relayed and

were well received, it could be inferred that it will have a positive impact in the long run.

The study team found the activity much efficient in achieving the objective of creating

awareness, which was proved by the replication of the activities during the Teej festival

this year without the outside support.

Eighteen Street dramas were organized with a view to disseminate the message of

anticorruption in six districts as per the stated target. The study team found the activity

much efficient in achieving the objective of creating awareness. The street drama has

been more effective in semi busy cities/urban area than busy market places.

24

Output Three: Social Reform Act 2033 Revisited

Under this output, 3 meetings of Corruption Reduction Women Legal Group (CRWLG) were

organized to revisit Social Reform Act 2033. Similarly, a consultative meeting, 5 advocacy

meetings, and transmission through TV channels were planned.

The Draft Social Reform Bill was prepared after the inputs from three CRWLG meetings.

A team of CRWLG also had a series of informal meetings on the proposed Draft Social

Reform Bill.

To update the proposed Draft Social Reform Bill, one-day consultative workshop was

organized in Kathmandu. The workshop was attended in by the stakeholders. However,

the evaluation team has the opinion that the draft would have been more effective if, in

addition to meetings and consultative workshop, the relevant studies on similar subjects

in neighboring countries were carried out.

Five advocacy meetings were held with stakeholders to discuss on how to advocate for

the implementation of the Draft Social Reform Bill. The advocacy meetings came up

with suggestions to submit the draft on Social Reform Bill to the Ministry of Women,

Children and Social Welfare. The meetings also decided for media advocacy. The

evaluation team, while going through the documents, found that the meetings were able

to provide inputs for further refinements in the Draft Social Reform Bill.

For the purpose of raising awareness in the Draft Social Reform Bill, ten transmissions

were telecasted through TV Channels as per the target. It was found that SWATI has

received a positive feedback from the public, stakeholders and the concerned government

authorities. On the basis of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency, this activity was

found effective and meaningful.

3.2.3 Stakeholders' Perspective

The Study team found that many stakeholders at district level like ProPublic, Government

Agencies, INGOs, and NGOs are familiar with the main objective and the activities of SWATI.

There was a unanimous view of the various stakeholders on the need of the organization like

SWATI and its involvement in anticorruption issues at the awareness, analysis and lobbying

level. The stakeholders appreciated the role performed by the project under,” Combating

Corruption through Women’s empowerment and Development”.

25

Even if the corruption cannot be eliminated, the magnitude of corruption could be decreased

drastically. For this to happen, preventive and promotional measures should be taken. In this

context, the role-played by SWATI was commendable with modest support from the donor and

the government. The study team found that the stakeholders raised question on sustainability of

such activities. In this regard, the government must be able to consolidate the activities of the

civil society, private sector and the government. In this context, Public Private Partnership

model could be more useful, effective and efficient.

The study team found that in order to develop network in grass root level, SWATI has initiated

the income generating activities like candle making training, beautician training, beads weaving,

Paper bags etc.

26

4. INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY ASSESSMENT

In order to appraise ReMAC and SWATI as the institution to carry out future programmes on

anticorruption, the assessment of institutional capacity of both organizations are made in this

chapter. SWOT analysis is taken as a tool for the assessment of institutional capacity of

organizations.

4.1 SWOT Analysis for ReMAC

The information for this SWOT analysis is based on the personal observation made by the

evaluation team, consultation meetings held with the stakeholders, meeting and interviewing

with the office bearers and the staff members of ReMAC. Summary of ReMAC SWOT analysis

is presented in Table 4.

Table 4: ReMAC SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Promoted by youths working in the field of

media, law and research works

Focused area of operation, i.e., anticorruption

and good governance

Good institutional linkages

Adequate office infrastructure

Weakness

Lack of institutional capacity in terms of

knowledge, work experience and

management systems

Lack of financial independence

Lack of monitoring and evaluation

Frequent staff turnovers

Intra-organizational conflicts

Opportunities

Anticorruption as a national agenda of

development

Increased donor support

Threats


Growing competition in the operational area

27

Strengths

ReMAC is promoted by the group of young journalists, lawyers, researchers and academicians.

At present, there are 50 members representing from different print and electronic media sectors.

The focused area of operation of ReMAC is to promote good governance through combating

corruption.

Weaknesses

Presently, the strengths of ReMAC are outweighed by it weaknesses. The organization lacks

proper management systems and procedures reflected by growing organizational conflicts

between the executive members and the project staff thereby hampering the smooth

implementation of project activities. During the course of the evaluation, the study team found

that there was less teamwork and coordination within ReMAC. There was lack of commitments

to meet deadlines. The frequent changes in the hiring and positioning of the consultants have also

hampered ReMAC operations. The study team also found that ReMAC did not have a proper

system of monitoring and evaluation of its activities. The self sustainability of the organization is

lacking and thus ReMAC is totally dependent on donor support for its existence.

Opportunities

Anticorruption and good governance are the area of operation of ReMAC. There are many

opportunities and potentialities to work in this area, as anticorruption and good governance have

recently become a big agenda of development both at global and national level. This is also

indicated by increasing donor support. ReMAC, being a civil society based media organization

dedicated to fight corruption, has immense opportunities to work in this field.

Threats

ReMAC is not lone organization to work on fighting against corruption; there are numbers of

organizations already established to take up activities relating to media and corruption. Hence,

the field of operation is getting more and more competitive. In the absence of proper business

planning, ReMAC could easily be wiped out by the new arrivals. Other equally potential threat

for ReMAC operations are the growing political instability within the country. As Nepal is in the

stage of political transition, anticorruption agenda has some how been sidelined by the politicians

other politically sensitive issues like state restructuring, social inclusion, democracy and human

rights are in prominence.

28

Conclusions

To sum up, ReMAC is not expected to tap opportunities now available in the field of

anticorruption and good governance due to lack of proper internal management systems and

procedures. The weaknesses of ReMAC particularly related to internal conflict and lack of

coordination outweighs its strengths. Since, Danida/HUGOU is the lone supporter for ReMAC,

with the closure of the support, ReMAC, as an institution, may collapse.

4.2 SWOT Analysis for SWATI

Strengths

Proactive and committed members

Branch offices in districts

Parallel income generating activities

Dedicated and competent staff

Government Friendly- Harmonious relationship

with government organizations and officials

Weakness

Weak resource base

District office not well equipped

Opportunities

Potentiality on carrying out various programs at

district as well as at central level.

Possibility of gaining various Donors' support for

anticorruption activities.

Strong networking of women from various

sectors.

Lead anticorruption organization working on

gender and corruption

Threats


Competition

Strengths

SWATI was established by pro-active and committed women activists fighting against the cause

of corruption. It has a central office in Kathmandu valley and five district level offices in

29

Nepalgunj, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Jhapa and Birgunj. It has a good networking developed from

district level to central level. The women groups (network) have heterogeneous members in

terms of caste, race, social status, education, religion and occupation. It's Kathmandu based

central office is well equipped with required official amenities. The members and staffs are

committed and dedicated to their assignment. It is engaged in a parallel way in other women

empowerment and income generating activities like training, counseling, study, workshops,

advocacy, lobby etc. Moreover, SWATI has a long-term sustainability program too. It is

mobilizing women pressure groups‟ to fight against corruption. It has also been involved in

various study/workshop/training/seminar encompassing the gender and corruption issues. The

main focal areas of SWATI are conducting research, training, awareness training, advocacy etc.

Weakness

The district level offices are not well equipped with required official facilities. Weak resource

base and inadequate financial resource mobilization are some of the weakness of SWATI.

Opportunities

As a leading organization from the gender perspective engaged in anticorruption, there is high

possibility of having different anticorruption projects from various donors. There is an

opportunity using WAC as a women force against corruption. There is a possibility of expansion

of nationwide network of women covering different sectors. It is one of the well- recognized as a

reputed leading national level organizations working in anticorruption activities. As SWATI is in

the process of mainstreaming women in corruption mitigation campaign, Government of Nepal

having policy to empower women in good governance and national development, may support

SWATI to develop platform to work on gender and anticorruption. NGOs from the region and

the nation are supportive to SWATI activities.

Threats

The political instability could be a threat. There is a possibility of facing financial problem if the

donor support is withdrawn. Team member‟s enthusiasm may decline due to lack of

anticorruption activities.

Conclusions

The comparative study of the strengths, opportunities, weakness and threat for SWATI reveals

that its network for conducting activities is good, and there is high possibility of sustaining. With

its committed staff and members, SWATI has potential in carrying out awareness raising

30

activities against corruption at different levels. Similarly, SWATI can mobilize its Women

Against Corruption (WAC) network for the expansion and active involvement on the

anticorruption activities. Women being the major player and victim of the corruption, SWATI

with its goal of mainstreaming women in anticorruption movement, has a greater possibility of

gaining support from many sectors. Therefore, support for SWATI need to be continued to see

the major impact in the society.

31

5. FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the analysis of logical framework and performance indicators of the projects and the

other sources of information like field visit, meeting with the stakeholders, office staffs,

executive members and training attendees, the major conclusions and the recommendations are

made in this chapter. It also will help to facilitate providing the suggestions.

5.1 Findings and Conclusions

The Civil Society movement against corruption started in Nepal from early nineties with the

establishment of Transparency International Nepal Chapter in 1996. The focus of the assistance

to the civil society was confined to awareness building and analysis of the corruption issues.

However, the media and the civil society working in the area of women empowerment have a

special role to play in curbing corruption. The media and the civil society have a role in

investigating and exposing corruption cases and it can play all three roles of anticorruption

strategy, viz. awareness raising, prevention and enforcement.

5.1.1 ReMAC

ReMAC was able to achieve the physical targets set forth in the project document with some

exceptions as shown in annex 2. It has been successful in carrying out the activities under

different output headings like sensitizing the people on good governance, enhancing

investigative skills of media persons, and enhancing organizational capacity of ReMAC.

However, for the research and advocacy task in good governance and the anticorruption, the

involvement of the university students seems awkward.

In overall, the performance activities of ReMAC were found to be satisfactory. These have been

successful in achieving the broader objectives i.e. promoting the culture of good governance in

Nepal through combating corruption. In the case of sensitizing the people through the use of

different types of media activities like production and broadcasting programmes through the

community radio, and regular discussion programme on good governance and anticorruption,

study team would like to infer that the programme activities have proven to create an impact.

This is evidenced by the field visit observations and their memoirs on the programme on

“SUSHASHAN”.

32

Under Output two, the activity of the preparation of the reference books and the training manual

were not completed in the set deadlines. The efficiency in producing the training manual was

also questionable considering the contents of the manual. The delay in the preparation of the

manual also affected the scheduling of training programme, thereby delaying the training

programme and other activities.

Under Output three, University students engaged in Good Governance and anticorruption

research and mobilization for advocacy tasks were carried out by awarding fellowship to training

participants. Judged from the relevance point of view, the activity could not be said to be much

in coherence with the objectives of the project.

Under Output four, in enhancing the organizational capacity of ReMAC as Anticorruption

Resource Centre by conducting various activities like establishment of ReMAC, the study team„s

findings are that the organizational capacity strengthening of ReMAC was not up to the mark

which was reflected by the impact, efficiency and the sustainability aspects.

Some specific findings are enumerated below:

Listeners, stakeholders and community appreciated the community radio program on

SHUSASAN.

Four Project steering committee meting were held between Danida/HUGOU and

ReMAC

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) System during the project period was missing.

Training was conducted without Training for Trainers (ToT)

The training need assessment was not carried out as an essential component of training

model.

The Project is donor dependent.

The individual project‟s visibility has not been observed in the general public.

The project period was short, and different political regime prevailed during the course of

project formulation, implementation and evaluation. The envisaged activities could not

meet the deadlines.

On 4th

August 2006, an extraordinary PSC meeting was held to settle the issues relating

to institutional governance, viz, the involvement of the Project Director in other donor-

33

funded activities plus the involvement of the chairman as a consultant in the research

component of the project.

5.1.2 SWATI

SWATI was able to achieve the physical targets set forth in the project document. It has been

successful in carrying out the activities under different output headings like identification of

impact of corruption on women, sensitizing the women groups on the impact of corruption, and

revising the Social Reform Act 2033 B.S. were carried out. Besides, SWATI was involved in

conducing workshops/seminar, interaction programme, media campaign, ward level interaction,

cultural programme, street drama, and preparation of Draft Social Reform Bill. However, it

could be inferred that during the formulation of the Draft Social Reform Bill, the lessons learned

in similar situation in different neighboring countries have not been taken as the reference and

studied in detail.

In overall, the performance activities of SWATI were significant in achieving the broader

objectives of creating a corruption free society through gender mainstreaming. Very few

activities and the content of the quality in some areas need more attention as in the case of Draft

Social Reform Bill.

Under the Output three, Social Reform Act 2033 was revisited. Various programme like

consultative workshop were conducted to achieve the output. Since the Social Reform Act Draft

Bill has been prepared and the effectiveness of the activity was achieved whereas the long-term

impact is still to be observed after the real implementation of amended Social Reform Act 2033.

Based on the performance, program coverage and effectiveness of the SWATI‟s program on

good governance and anticorruption, it could be concluded that the best practices of SWATI

activities should be replicated in other areas of the country. There needs broader coverage and

extension of SWATI or SWATI like projects in order to create awareness among general public

and to launch other sensitizing programs including the media campaigning.

Some specific findings for SWATI are enumerated below:

With in a short span of time SWATI has been recognized as one of the leading women

organization working in anticorruption activities

The media campaign especially posters wall pasting is not effective due to short life of

pasted posters.

34

Culture program seems very effective tools for public awareness campaign especially in

rural areas.

The Project is donor dependent.

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) System during the project period was missing.

Though whenever needed informal meetings were held with Danida/HUGOU Anti

Corruption Advisor, not a single meeting of Project Steering Committee could be held.

The project visibilities were observed in certain project areas and it needs to reach

maximum numbers of people by extension of those areas and the activities. The project

period was short, and different political regime prevailed during the course of project

formulation, implementation and evaluation.

5.2 Recommendations

Based on the evaluation parameter of the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and

sustainability of the both projects viz, ReMAC and SWATI, the evaluation team would like to

put the following general recommendations for both of these projects.

In Nepal, corruption is deep rooted and institutionalized. It will take some time for

combating corruption, it is in this context, the study team would like to suggest for the

extension of the project for unfinished work and for further coverage to replicate the

lessons learned and the best practices of the project. While doing so, it is also suggested

that among the two projects, the pros and cons and the effectiveness and efficiency of the

output of the projects should be properly taken into account.

In Nepal, demand side of corruption is strongly institutionalized and the task of breaking

it is arduous. In order to accelerate the combating corruption process, it is suggested to

develop strategies and modus operandi focusing supply side awareness building,

advocacy, policy lobbying and analysis of the cause of corruption

5.2.1 Related to Log Frame Analysis

Based on the available document review, consultations and interaction with the stakeholders, the

study team suggests the development objective could be similar in both projects (ReMAC and

SWATI). The development objective for both projects could be, “to create corruption free

35

society” Moreover, it could be taken as a national goal on anticorruption by civil society

organizations.

The development objective of the SWATI “Creating a corruption free society through gender

mainstreaming” seems specific which focuses on gender perspective alone. It is suggested that

the development objective should encompass the broader perspective not confined to the gender

perspective alone. And similarly, in the immediate objectives of SWATI too, it is suggested to

incorporate one additional immediate objective i.e. to mainstream women (from grass root to

central level) in anticorruption campaign. As the project envisages combating corruption through

the participation of the people at the grass root, the inclusion of the women from grass root to

national level is essential.

5.2.2 Related to Output and Activities

5.2.2.1 ReMAC

Output one: Sensitization of People on Good Governance and Anticorruption

In order to have more listeners‟ coverage, the production and broadcasting of programme

through community radio should be expanded by involving more FM stations for the

transmission. Similarly, the administrative works such as signing of the contract with

local FM stations should be carried out in advance so that the scheduled programs run

smoothly.

The field visit and the consultation meeting with the stakeholders have revealed that it

would have been better if the project activities had covered the local issues, issues

covering the views of corruption culprit and corruption victims.

While conducting regular Discussion Forum on Good Governance and anticorruption for

the purpose of standardization and consistency it is suggested that the venue should be

selected with due care to give better impression, visibility and standard of the activities

carried out.

Output Two: Enhancing Investigative Skills of the Media Person

In the context of production and distribution of training manual and reference book on

investigative reporting, it is recommended that major changes should be made in the

training manual following the Motivation, Information, Application and Control (MIAC)

36

and or similar other models for efficiency, standardization, impact, effectiveness and

relevance of the training activity.

The training should be followed by the learning methods, standard training norms and the

trainers must have Trainers of Training (ToT) and training skills. Adequate training

materials/ aides like whiteboard, flipchart, and hi-tech instruments should be used for

effectiveness and efficiency.

It is recommended that the training should be followed by the participatory teaching and

learning environment and techniques. More discussions and debates on the real cases and

from different studies should be incorporated for the effective training.

Output three: Mobilization of University Students

The evaluation team recommends that the awards should be provided to the person

involved in media or the media people involved in anticorruption drive. It is suggested

that the relevance of advocacy aspect should be judged while framing the output

objective and the envisaged activity.

Output Four: Organizational Capacity Development of ReMAC

In regards to the establishment of ReMAC as anticorruption Resource Centre, available

resources should be properly utilized without any misuse even after the termination of the

project. Website design should be modified and the contents should also be broadened.

Other

It is suggested that the Monitoring and Evaluation of the Project activities be

incorporated in the project period itself.

5.2.2.2 SWATI

Output one: Impact of Corruption Identified

A strong functional network of Women Against Corruption (WAC) is recommended

from ward level to national level to work as the watch dog for existing corrupt practices.

The WAC should be mobilized in awareness raising programs, pressure group activities,

completing the incomplete rules and regulations, restore inactive laws, implementing

reward and punishment system.

37

Output two: Women Sensitized on Impact of Corruption

In the context of the organization of media campaign, it is recommended that the longer lasting

media such as hoarding board, calendars should be developed. Likewise, captioned

advertisement through TV Channels is also advised.

Since the Ward Level interactions programme were highly appreciated and found

effective among the participants, it is suggested to conduct at least one ward level

interaction covering two wards. The frequency of activities should also be increased.

Likewise, it should be conducted in the concerned place not in a far away.

It is suggested that a fund raising campaign should also be conducted simultaneously

along with the anticorruption cultural programme in festivals like: Teej, Deusi and Bhailo

for the sustainability of the organization. This programme should be implemented in

specific area other than the main busy areas.

Output three: Social Reform Act 2033 Revisited

As the Draft Social Reform Bill has been prepared in consultation with different

stakeholders, experts in the field, it is strongly suggested that Draft Bill should be lobbied

to the parliamentarians. It is suggested that it would have been better if one-day

consultative workshop were conducted prior to the advocacy meeting for validating the

outcome of the advocacy meeting on the Draft Social Reform Bill.

Other

It is suggested that the Monitoring and Evaluation of the Project activities be

incorporated in the Project period itself.

5.2.3 Sustainability of ReMAC and SWATI

The sustainability issues for ReMAC and SWATI are of prime importance. Instead of relying

completely on the government for ensuring good governance, donors should have to work

towards creating vibrant civil society that is active and well established as well as does have a

clear Mission, Vision and Goal for combating corruption. However, the support, assistance,

cooperation from the donor community is suggested during the start up, growth and survival

stage of the organization.

38

5.3 Danida/HUGOU’s Involvement: The Direction Ahead

With the promulgation of the Interim Constitution, now, the country is heading towards making

new Nepal and Nepal is now in a crucial transition phase. A decade long armed conflict has

come to the settlement after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with

CPN (Maoists). Nevertheless, due to the existing scenario of transition phase of the country,

there have been sporadic anti-peace activities and hence the country has not come to the

sustainable peace. It is in this context, the continuation of the fight against the corruption through

civil society is of vital importance. In order to building the public awareness against the vices of

corruption and analyzing the corruption, the civil society and media organizations have to be

supported and it is recommended that the already initiated Danida/HUGOU projects should be

continued. These projects should be expanded with wider coverage and special consideration

should be taken to adopting the good lesson learned and vice versa.

The civil society organizations can play important roles in combating the corruption like

exposing the prevailing corruption, informing such issues to media and law enforcement

agencies, bringing the experts view, identifying the major corruption areas, tracing of corruption

and policy lobbying and advocacy against corruption. Hence, there is a need for a professionally

strong civil society organization. The support to these organizations could be designed in two

phases: immediate to short term and medium to long term. The immediate to short-term package

should contain at least the following:

- According to the realistic immediate objectives (such as laid down by SWATI), the

special consideration should be given to the calculation of the time frame. For example,

the time frame of one year for SWATI is short to achieve the desired goal.

- Based on the effectiveness of the past performances and good lessons learned, the

program should be supported to expand in five development regions

In the medium to long term, it is suggested to increase the project coverage areas of SWATI in

more districts. This can be achieved by using SWATI‟s networking in different districts. The

same project activities with some modifications could be implemented in more districts

incorporating the lessons learned. The proposed Social Welfare Bill 2033 has been drafted. But

there is still a strong need for the advocacy and lobbying with the Parliamentarians to get the bill

passed in the Parliament. Hence, in order to milk the efforts in making this bill, further work

should be prioritized and for that the support is needed for that organization.

39

In the case of the two organizations under review, as they have demonstrated the good record

during the initiation of the programme, the assistance to them will be instrumental in furthering

the cause of anticorruption drive in Nepal by institutionalizing the CSO.

As women are always seen as the instigator of corruption, the addressing of the women from

various backgrounds against the corruption is a novel idea implemented by SWATI. Hence, such

types of activities needs further support from the Danida/HUGOU. Similarly, the network of

Women Against Corruption (WAC) should be made active and functional to mobilize them in

anticorruption movement with the support from Danida/HUGOU.

In a nutshell, the project on "Combating corruption through women's empowerment and

development" is successful in achieving the goal and this was justified through the feedback and

input generated from six field based offices, women networks, GO, NGO, civil societies,

journalists, Dalits , indigenous and ethnic group and general public. Therefore we recommend

that all the district level activities of SWATI need to be continued as there is a huge demand to

conduct public awareness campaign including ward level interactions, door to door campaign,

street dramas, and cultural programs in all wards of five working districts.

At central level, support for media advocacy including audio, visual and print media is suggested

to raise awareness on anticorruption campaign. The professional media only does not create the

awareness but also can socially punish the culprit and it can reveal the nature and extent of the

corruption in different sectors. Hence, the media organizations should also be supported in the

central level thus creating its linkages down to grass root level for corruption awareness.

Similarly, the effective and efficient media persons and academicians should be supported in

order to analyze the nature, extent, existence, trends and overall systematic analysis of the

corruption in Nepal.

The youth mobilization program is also recommended as this project did not have youth focused

program. The youth can be instrumental in awareness raising and analyzing the corruption as

well as they can enforce the social punishment actions against the corrupt such as boycotting the

corrupt, no entry for corrupts, no participation of the corrupts etc. But special care and

management in mobilizing such youth programs is required for not promoting the anarchism.

40

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Proposal Details of ReMAC

2. Project Document of SWATI

3. Organizational profile for Prospective Partner Organizations

4. Human rights and Good Governance Programme Nepal

5. Simeon V Marcelo, “Enhancing the role of Civil society in Anticorruption work “, 9-10

September, 2004, Philippines

6. Transparency International, Firing Corruption, 2001

7. K.Puttaswaminathan,” Project Evaluation Criteria and the Cost Benefit analysis,

8. FNCCI Anticorruption Project commemorative Issue

9. IRIS Discussion papers on, “Institutional Development” A Corruption Primer: AN

overview of Concepts in the Corruption Literature.

10. www.u4.no

11. ReMAC Nepal in association with National Vigilance Centre,” Rashtriya Satarkata

Kendra: Bhoomika ra Chunauti: Chalphal Karykram

12. National Vigilance Centre,” Sachetana: A Biannual Publication” Magh, 2063

13. National Vigilance Centre,” Annual Report 2062/63, Kathmandu, Magh 2063

14. ,, ,, ,, , Brshatachar Niuyantan sanchipta Jaankari( Sushasan Pustika)

15. Stephen Lister: Mokoro, ”Evaluation of Danish Aid to Uanda1987-2005Volume 4

Thematic paper- “Accountability and Corruption”, September 2006

16. Lara Greaan, George Larbi, Micheal Hubbard, “Cooperating against Corruption: A

review of in-country donor Coordination in Africa against Corruption “Commissioned

by DFID policy Division Anticorruption Team, University of Birmingham February,

2005

17. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Danida,” Performance management framework

for Danish Development Cooperation 2006-2007,

18. Various research thesis conducted under the programme by the University students

19. Narayan Manandhar, “Corruption and Anticorruption( Further Readings)”, ,2006

20. ReMAC, “Training Manual and the Reference book on Corruotion”,2006

21. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, “Evaluation Guidelines”, 2006

22. Other relevant documents

http://www.u4.no/

41

ANNEXURE

42

Annex I

Checklists

Project Director/Staff

1. Why do you think the Civil society‟s and organization like your should be

involved in anticorruption movement in country like Nepal?

2. How do you think that there is coherence on development objective, immediate

objective, output and the Activities performed?

3. Do you think that all the activities were performed during the deadline or the

time set?

4. How many times the PSC meeting was held?

5. What is the output of your project?

6. What is the outcome of the project?

7. What is the SWOT of your organization in terms of:

Resource generation

Saving

Staffing capability

Institutional governance

Leadership factors

Infrastructure

Financial matters

Decision making

Transparency and accountability

43

Executive meeting frequency

8. Is there any delay in the activities to be carried out like publication on training

manual and research work? (For ReMAC)

9. Can you tell something about the extraordinary PSC meeting and the issue of

the Board member resignation? Did that hamper the overall project activities?

10. How many radios Prgramme were broadcasted? Do you receive any feed back

on the effectiveness of such prorammes? Do you take some random sampling to

test the efficacy of such programme?

11. Can you provide us the substantive document for the 78 programme that were

broadcasted through 10 community based FMs?

12. How effective were the discussion programme? Do you have the rating

mechanism after the discussion is over? Either through phone or through brief

evaluation sheet?

13. Could you provide us the details of the Discussion Programme report prepared

by yourself or through the Rapporteur?

14. How effective is the content of the training manual and training reference

books? Is it well designed? What is the process of hiring the Consultants to

prepare the manual?

15. How far the workshop/training has achieved the objective of Investigative

reporting?

16. What are the criteria for awarding the fellowship?

17. Do you think that the awarded fellowship meet the objective for lobbying for

the anticorruption drive. What is the quality of the assignment performed-

moderate, poor, outstanding?

18. How enthusiastic are the students to learn about the Good Governance

Seminar? Could you furnish the details?

44

19. ReMAC is supposed to be the Anticorruption Resource Centre in the Civil

Society‟s perspective- what are your observations? What hindered you to grow

to function as the full-fledged resource centre for the Anticorruption?

Checklist for the workshop participants

1. Do you find the workshop organized by the ReMAC useful and effective in

carrying out the objective of Investigative reporting in the context of

anticorruption?

2. Was the good governance Seminar fruitful and effective?(to be asked to the

participants in seminar Collage students) Activities under output 4

3. Are the materials provided in the workshop/seminar effective, easy to

understand?

4. How were the resource persons?

5. Was the discussion lively, topical and issue based? Or is vague and not focused

to the subject of the programme?

6. Are you satisfied with the overall performance?

7. Do the training/ workshop has covered the issue of Gender, Inclusive?

8. Do you find the Impact of Corruption on women(SWATI)

9. How effective and efficient the ward level meeting to deliver the message?

Checklists for the Anticorruption related agencies

1. Programme /Projects usefulness

2. Relevance in the particular context of Nepal in the drive against anticorruption.

To SWATI

1. Why do you think the Civil society‟s and organization like your should be

involved in anticorruption movement in country like Nepal?

45

2. How do you think that there is coherence on development objective, immediate

objective, output and the Activities performed?

3. Do you think that all the activities were performed during the deadline or the

time set?

4. How many times the PSC meeting was held?

5. What is the output of your project?

6. What is the outcome of the project?

7. What is the SWOT of your organization in terms of:

a. Resource generation

b. Saving

c. Staffing capability

d. Institutional governance

e. Leadership factors

f. Infrastructure

g. Financial matters

h. Decision making

i. Transparency and accountability

j. Executive meeting frequency

8. Do you find there is any impact of corruption on women? How effective and

efficient were the workshops and seminar?

9. Do you have a system of quick evaluation? Post workshop evaluation having a

short/quick questionnaire during and after the workshop?

46

10. What was the objective behind the national level workshop and in what extent

the workshop has been fruitful in delivering the message in terms of

participation from different groups?

11. How effective are the posters? What was the distribution system of the posters,

pamphlets/flyers and newsletters? Do you have any mailing list?

12. Is there a system to take the feed back on the content and message of the

newsletter and other promotional measures?

13. What are the findings from the workshops at districts level?

14. How do you rate your third output and activities?

15. Why the efforts could not be geared towards Social Reform Act 2033, apart

from the Conflict situation and non-prevalence of the parliament at that time?

16. What is the frequency and date of the publication of the messages in two daily

broadsheets?

17. What is the feedback, if any you have received from the ten transmissions

through TV on awareness rising on Draft Social Reform Bill?

18. With whom the advocacy meeting was held? And what was the outcome?

19. What are your general impressions on the ward level interaction programme/-

where it was held and the performance you would like to evaluate?

20. When, where and how many participants participated in the Corruption

education Women Pressure Group (CRWLG )meeting? What is the outcome?

Do you have any evidence on the advocacy role you have played?

21. What is the sustainability of WAC (Women Against Corruption)?

47

Annex 2

ReMAC

Log frame: Expected Outputs, Activities and Progress

Outputs S.No Activities Project Targets Achievement in

%age

Output Facilitating Factors Limiting factors

Output No.1

People sensitized

on good

governance and

anticorruption

through the use

of different types

of media

1.1 Production and

Broadcasting of

radio programme

through

community level

programme

program

produced and

broadcasted

through 10

community

radios

78 Programme from

10 FM broadcasting

stations.

100% 78

Programmes

were

developed and

broadcasted

through 11 FM

stations in

districts: total

Number of

Broadcast:

788,

Most of the issues raised were

of national level

Corruption culprit and

victim‟s views were not much

included.

More targets towards educated

people and less attention are

given to community level

grass root people.

1.2 Regular

discussion

forums on good

governance and

anticorruption

organized

18 Discussion

programme to be held

94% Only 17

discussion

programme

were held:

Total Number

of Participants:

708

Good networking among the

journalist and the concerned

stakeholders

The discussion venues were

not of equal standard.

Concerned person/Private

sector were ignored in some

discussion.

Output No2

Investigative

skills of media

persons covering

anticorruption

enhanced

2.1 Production and

distribution of

training manuals

and reference

books on

200 Copies of training

manuals and 200

copies of reference

books to be distributed

100% 200 Copies of

reference book

and 200 copies

of training

manual were

The reference book is

informative and relevant

materials as well as need

based

48


%age


investigative

reporting of

corruption cases

published and

180 copies

were

distributed

2.2 Training

/workshops on

investigative

reporting against

corruption

organized in

different parts of

Nepal

3 Regional level

training programme to

be held in Biratnagar,

Pokhara and

Nepalgunj with a total

of 75 participants

100% 3 Regional

level training

organized

Total

participants:

78

The resource persons were

qualified and competent in

their subject matter.

Since the reference book and

manual were not prepared in

time, this had delayed in

conducting training in time.

Training need assessment was

not done. The training norms

were not followed during the

training session in terms of

time management, session

deliberations, and use of

training aids.

The content of the training

curriculum is vague

Some of the resource person

lacks training skills. No

homogeneous participant‟s

level in terms of experience

and knowledge

2.3 Awarding of

fellowships to 9

outstanding

participating

Journalist (three

from each

region) to carry

out investigative

reporting as

follow-up of

training

9 Investigative stories

based on local issues

of corruption to be

written and to be

published in a book

form

Yet to receive

the outcome

report

Awarded to 9

journalists,

still to receive

the report and

yet to publish

in book form

The knowledge gained during

the training programme and

the incentives have enabled

the participants to appear for

the competition in getting the

award.

ReMAC has not collected the

final fellowship outcome

reports.

As a result the reports were

not published in book form.

49


%age


programme

Output No.3

University

students engaged

in good

governance and

anticorruption

research and

mobilized for the

advocacy task

3.1 Awarding of

fellowships to

research students

from 5 different

faculties of local

Universities

seeking to

conduct research

on good

governance and

corruption

5 Fellowships to be

awarded to University

students

100% 5 Research

dissertation

reports

Concerned campus authorities

facilitated to award and

approve the research

dissertations

The award to Political science

student was replaced by rural

development faculty student

due to unacceptable proposal

3.2 Organizing

seminars for

college going

students on good

governance and

corruption

A minimum of 360

college students

targeted to participate

in 12 seminars

100% Nepal law

capmpus-19

Central

Department,

Sociology/

anthropology

cantle campus,

TU-30,

Kantipur city

college, Putali

Sadak-36,

PadmaKanya

Collge-30,

Nepal

Commerce

campus -

30,Cetral

Department of

Rural

Development,

Student‟s took proactive role

in understanding the

corruption issues

Since the Student‟s Union

cannot work independently

without bias to certain

political party., the Union has

not shown desired co-

operation

50


%age


Kirtipur- 24

Output No.4

Organized

capacity of

ReMAC

enhanced

4.1 Establishing

ReMAC as an

Anticorruption

Resource Centre

A number of

corruption cases,

information on good

governance and

anticorruption to be

made available to the

public

100% Website

launched and

not updated

Internet access

in the office

was not

existent.

200 books

related to good

governance

and

anticorruption

purchased

Since such facility is not

available for Journalist in

Nepal, all the stakeholders are

generous to support.

The resource center is not

properly utilized by general

public

4.2 Conducting a

research on the

effectiveness of

government‟s

anticorruption

legislation,

policy and

institutional

mechanism

Number of

recommendations to

be made to the

government agencies

on various issues

related to good

governance

100% Research

report

published in a

book form and

submitted to

the related

government

agencies

Due to the non-availability of

such studies it was a felt need.

There was a considerable

delay in hiring the researcher,

frequent changes of the

researcher also delayed in the

outcome and the content also

needs serious revision.

51

SWATI

Log frame: Expected Outputs, Activities and Progress

Outputs S.No Activities Achievement Target Achievement in

% age


Output No.1

Impact of

corruption on

women identified

1.1 Organization of

district level

workshops on

impact of

corruption on

women

Five Districts level

workshops to be

organized consisting

of 250 participants

100% Organization

of five district

level

workshops on

impact of

corruption on

women and

attended by

295 (155 F

145 M)

participants

Being quite new and

interesting issues people are

interested to participate

actively.

Concerned line agencies and

stakeholders could not reject

to participate due to social

pressure.

SWATI has very good

relationship with various

concerned line agencies

The total number of

participants was more than

expected. As SWATI has six

districts already identified and

working as the networking

organizations, it helped to

achieve the objectives. It has a

good networking with

Sanchaarika Samuha, Didi

Bahini. Stri shakti etc.

Due to limited logistic support

and hall facilities in the

districts SWATI could not

invite desired numbers of

participants.

1.2 Organization of

national level

workshop on

impact of

Two day national

level workshop to be

organized and

expected to be

100% Workshop on

impact of

corruption and

attended by 28

The number of participants

were more than targeted

It is quite difficult for the

participants to devote two

working days.

52


% age


corruption on

women

attended by 60

participants

Network called WAC

(women Against

Corruption) to be

formed

Male

participant, 45

female

participants in

total 73.

In the second

day, 20 male

and 49 female

– total 69

participants

participated

1.3 Organization of

interaction

programmes

with association

housewives

Three interaction

programmes to be

organized with the

association of

housewives, attended

by 180 participants

100% Three The presentation was done by

renowned personnel and

concerned person.

The number of participants

were more than expected

Workshop being carried out

simultaneously without any

break between the two

programme

Some reluctance came from

the professional women‟s

wives organization and very

high ranking government

officials' wives have not

participate due to non

familiarization of the

objective of the program.

Output No. 2

Women sensitized

on the impact of

corruption

2.1 Organization of

media campaign

1000 Posters with


to be produced

5000 Pamphlets/flyers

with anticorruption

theme to be produced

2000 Anti- corruption

newsletters to be

produced quarterly

100% 1000 Posters

5000

pamphlets

2000

anticorruption

newsletter

Gender mainstreaming

has facilitated to perform the

activity

The message is catchy and the

quality of the print is of good

quality

As per posters are distributed

and pasted somewhere in

public places it could not last

for long period

No monitoring and follow is

done on pamphlets/flyers

distribution and feedback

collected.

53


% age


2.2 Organization of

ward level

interaction

programmes

12 Ward level

interaction

programmes to be

organized in six

districts (in Jhapa,

Nepalgunj,

Kathmandu,

Bhairahawa,

Biratnagar and

Birgunj

100% A total of 481

women

participants

from different

sectors

participated

The Corruption reduction

Women Pressure Groups

(CRWPG‟s) of Swati was

mobilized. The CRWPG took

the lead role

Grass root community people

actively participated in the

interaction programme and

shared their bitter experiences

on corruption. The social

mobilization supervisor of

various local NGOs also

actively participated in the

interaction programme. The

participants were energized to

fight against corruption.

The establishment of SWATI

in district level is in nascent

stage and due to it, its‟ quite

difficult to convince the

people regarding their

programme and objectives

Some participants coming

from remote areas expected

transportation allowance

2.3 Organization of

anticorruption

cultural

programmes

18 Cultural

programmes with


to be organized on six

districts ( Teej , Deusi

and Bahilo)

100% In the

involvement of

15 groups

various

programme

was organized.

Huge number

of participants

participated.

Using songs and dance as a

tool to communicate and

disseminate the anticorruption

message

SWATI has taken it as their

regular activities and

continuity is given without

donor‟s support.

Have limit musical

instruments, it would have

been more effective provided

there are various musical

instruments

2.4 Organization of

street dramas

with

anticorruption

theme

18 Street dramas with


to be organized in six

districts

100% 18 Street

drama in six

districts

The various street dramas

were contemporary and

interesting to educate the

people on anticorruption

Traffic congestion as well as

target groups are not matched

It could be better if street

drama is conducted in villages

and other areas, not in busy

main street of the district

54

Output No.3

Social reform Act

2033 ( 1977)

revisited

3.1 Organization of

CRWLG

meetings on the

draft Social

Reform Bill

Three CRWLG

meetings to be held

on the proposed Draft

Social reform Bill

100% First draft prepared on social

reform Act

3.2 Organization of

Consultative

workshop

One Consultative

workshop to be

organized

100% 53 Participants

32 female

21 male

With consultation and

feedback from various

stakeholders draft on SRA

was revised.

3.3 Organization of

advocacy

meetings on the

draft Social

reform Bill

Five advocacy

meetings to be

organized with the

stakeholders

100% Pragmatic final draft on SR

bill prepared and forwarded to

Ministry of women, children

and social welfare for review

and necessary action.

Necessary lobbying should be

done to give legal acceptance.

3.4 Awareness

raising on the

draft Social

Reform Bill

Transmission through

two TV channels to

be telecasted

Ten public messages

to be published in two

daily broadsheets.

100%

55

Annex 3

Places of field visit, organizations and contacted persons duration evaluation

S.N Name list Address Designation Date Outcome of

discussion

1. Naveen Shree Pradhan

Ajeeta Aryal

SWATI Kathmandu 19th

Aug 07 Information collected on

SWATI and the project

2. Shanker Chapagai

Indu Purbeli

Bharat Jargha Magar

Leela Balab Ghimire

Shahi Man Rai

Nirajan Bitas

Kalpana Mager

Alina Hingmony

And other

Participants of Training on

“Investigative Reporting

Against Corruption”

Biratnagar

20/21st Aug

07

Training observation and

feedback collection from

the participants

3. Sangeeta Subedi

Sangeeta Dahal

Bharati Timisina

Bimala Ghimire

Tara Niroula

Maiya parajuli

Renu Thapa

Neema Basnet

Jaya Bhattarai

Gita KC

Sunira Adhikari

Alpana Nepal

Biratnagar based Corruption


Group (CRWPG)

21st Aug 07 Information collection on

the project activities and

their experience sharing

along with discussion on

future potential activities.

4. Chintan Shapkota Biratnagar Koshi FM 21st Aug 07 Information collection on

impact of anticorruption

radio programme their

feedback

5. Sapana Rana

Mankumari Silwal

Laxmi Shrestha

Nanda Shrestha

Jyoti Shrestha

Meena Lama

Geeta Shrestha

Nepalgunj based Corruption


Group (CRWPG)

1st Sep 007 Information collection on

the project activities and

their experience sharing

along with discussion on

future potential activities.

56


discussion

6. T.N Ghimere

Bishal Shapkota

Krishna Bhandari

Training Facilitators

“Investigative Reporting

Against Corruption”

Biratnagar

22nd

Aug 07 Information collection on

pre training programme

activities

7. Sangeeta Niroula SWATI Kathmandu office 26th

Aug 07 Interaction on programme

activities and

documents/reports

collection.

8. Saroj Kafle

Sharada Rizal

Sagarmatha FM

Kathmandu

30th

Aug 07 Information collection on


radio programme their

feedback

9. Sapana Rana Nepalgunj Distict Coordinator

SWATI

31st Aug 007 Information collection on

SWATI activities

10. Mr.Tara khanal

Hemant B.K

Radio Bheri Awag,

Nepalgunj

1st Sep 007 Information collection on


radio programme, their

feedback

11. Khadga Rawat Pro- Public, Nepalgunj 1st Sept 007 Information collection on

effective anticorruption.

12. Jhalak Gaire Nepalgunj Training

participant / ReMAC Nepal

Samachar Patrika

2nd

Sept 007 Training information and

feedback collection from

the participants

13. Krishna Adhikari

Rameshwor Bohara

Nepalgunj Training

participant /ReMAC

1st Sept 007 Telephonic conversation on

training programme and

their feedback collection.

14. Mangali Maya Shrestha

Goma Regmi

Bashundara

Geeta Shrestha

And other (CRWPG)

Participants of 13 ward level

interaction

2nd

Sept 007 Collection of ward level

interaction programme

activities information and

its‟ impact on

anticorruption campaign

15. Bigyan Pradhan World Bank/ Kathmandu 5th

Sept 007 World bank collection on

anticorruption.

16. Ratna Kaji Bajracharya

Former CIAA staff

Women Development

Department

Lalitpur

6th

Sept 007 General discussion on

overall practices of

corruption

17. Rudra Bashyal National Vigilance Centre 6th

Sept 007 General discussion on


57


discussion

corruption and activities of

NVC

18. Shree Krishna Shrestha Pro Public / scholar 11th

Sept

2007

General discussion on


corruption

19. Ashish Thapa The Executive Director

Transparency International

13th

Sept.

2007

,, ,,

58

Annex 4

Terms of Reference (ToR)

1.0 Context

Anticorruption is one among the seven components of the Danish Human Rights and Good

Governance Programme in Nepal. DanidaHUGOU's corresponding Component Description sets

down the following objective: to improve the capacity of the actors, state and government

agencies, civil society, media and private sector, involved in the fight against corruption. In order

to achieve this objective, three component outputs have been identified: (1) building public

awareness against the vices of corruption, (2) analyzing corruption to take preventive actions,

and (3) effectively fighting corruption as a deterrence measure.

In line with the Anticorruption Component Description, from 2006 onwards DanidaHUGOU has

been actively supporting Nepalese civil society organizations involved in implementing various

anticorruption activities. Among these DanidaHUGOU-supported civil society anticorruption

projects, the two projects implemented by ReMAC and SWATI respectively are approaching the

end. DanidaHUGOU is, therefore, seeking the services of an independent consulting

firm/individual(s) to undertake an evaluation of these two projects.

The ReMAC project - Media Initiative for Civic Resistance against Corruption - was signed on

27 December 2005 for a period of 18 months starting from January 2006 with three immediate

objectives and four outputs identified. The immediate objectives are: (1) to sensitize the public

on the vices of corruption, (2) to motivate media persons to report good governance issues and

anticorruption, and (3) to mobilize students on research and advocacy task in relation to good

governance and anticorruption. The project outputs are: (1) people sensitized on good

governance and anticorruption through the use of different types of media, (2) investigative skills

of media persons covering anticorruption enhanced, (3) university students engaged in good

governance and anticorruption research mobilized for advocacy, and (4) organizational capacity

of ReMAC enhanced. In a nutshell, the ReMAC project is meant to support media to combat

corruption in Nepal.

The SWATI project - Combating Corruption through Women's Empowerment and Development

- was signed on 29 June 2006 for a period of 12 months starting from 1 July 2006. The project

has two immediate objectives and three outputs. The immediate objectives are: (1) to promote

women's leadership and build strategic alliances among women from various sectors, and (2) to

59

empower women to fight against corruption. The project outputs are: (1) impact of corruption on

women identified, (2) women sensitized on the impact of corruption, and (3) Social Reform Act

1977 revisited. Overall, the SWATI project seeks to mobilize women in the fight against

corruption.

2.0 Brief Profile of Partner Organizations

ReMAC

Established in 2003, ReMAC is a civil society watchdog organisation working against corruption

in Nepal. ReMAC has a total of 49 general members with a background in journalism, law,

research and on academy. Combating corruption through research and media is the technical

approach of ReMAC while promotion of good governance is the general strategy of ReMAC. In

the past, ReMAC has implemented several initiatives related to anticorruption and good

governance; however, the partnership with DanidaHUGOU is the first longer term project ever

implemented by ReMAC.

SWATI

Established in 2002, SWATI is a gender based non-governmental organisation. SWATI has the

mission to empower women through economic independence. The areas of interventions by

SWATI are research, training and awareness raising activities. In the past, SWATI has initiated a

number of gender related anticorruption initiatives. These include: (1) Study on women's role in

social campaign against corruption funded by DFID/ESP in 2004, (2) Study on impact of

corruption on women entrepreneurs funded by FNCCI in 2005, and (3) Project on mainstreaming

women in mitigation of corruption through social awareness campaign funded by USAID/ARD

Rule of Law Project in 2006.

SWATI has established six district-level women's pressure groups and one woman lawyers'

pressure group in Kathmandu. These pressure groups act as SWATI's outreach units plus district-

level and ward-level networking of women to combat corruption.

3.0 The Projects

The ReMAC project was signed for NRs 7.1 million and the SWATI project was signed for NRs

5.7 million to undertake various activities as identified in the respective Project Documents.

The major activities of the ReMAC project: (1) production and distribution of radio programmes

on good governance and anticorruption issues through community radios, (2) organisation of

60

regular discussion programmes on good governance and anticorruption issues, (3) production of

training manual and reference book on anticorruption and investigative journalism and, based on

these training materials, implementation of regional-level training workshops and awarding of

fellowships to the trainees, (4) fellowships awards to the students undertaking research in the

field of good governance and anticorruption, (5) organisation of college-level seminars, (6)

evaluation of research on anticorruption laws, policies and institutions, and (7) establishing an

anticorruption resource centre within ReMAC.

The major activities of the SWATI project: (1) organisation of a series of ward-level, district-

level and national-level workshops and interaction programmes with an anticorruption theme, (2)

organisation of media campaigns, cultural programmes and street dramas with anticorruption

messages in various parts of the country, and (3) reviewing of the Social Reform Act through

consultative meetings, drafting of a proposed bill and publicity campaigns.

Details on project activities, inputs and indicators are mentioned in the respective Project

Documents.

4.0 Objectives of Evaluation

The overall objective is to have an independent evaluation of the activities carried out by

ReMAC and SWATI.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are:

to briefly review the status of the civil society anticorruption movement in general in

Nepal

to assess achievements of the immediate objectives, outputs and activities mentioned in

the respective Project Documents

to evaluate the capacity of ReMAC and SWATI as partner organizations to carry out

future civil society based anticorruption initiatives in Nepal.

5.0 Scope of Work

The scope of work for the evaluation is:

to review the general context of the civil society anticorruption movement in Nepal

61

to assess achievements and/or non-achievements of project objectives, outputs and

activities

to assess the logic built within the projects in terms of project objectives, outputs,

activities and inputs

to assess the capacity of ReMAC and SWATI to carry out the projects and the

sustainability of the initiatives

to offer suggestions to DanidaHUGOU related to civil society based anticorruption

projects in Nepal

6.0 Outputs of Evaluation

The consulting firm/individuals will submit a draft report and, subsequently, a final report not

exceeding 30 pages in line with the areas outlined under Sections 4 and 5 above and after

considering comments and feedback from DanidaHUGOU, ReMAC and SWATI.

7.0 Methodology

The consulting firm/individuals will apply following methodology:

Review of documents: Please see list of documents mentioned in Section 11

Consultations and meetings with stakeholders:

- CIAA and NVC

- Transparency International Nepal and its support groups

- Other NGOs working in the field of anticorruption

- Relevant donor agencies

Field visits and local consultations:

- Consultations with a sample of participants who attended various activities organized by

the partner organizations,

Debriefing of key findings to DanidaHUGOU, ReMAC and SWATI

62

Submission of Draft Report

Considering of comments from DanidaHUGOU, ReMAC and SWATI

Submission of Final Report

8.0 Time Frame

The total assignment time will be a number of 35 days commencing from the signing of the

contract. The breakdown of time in terms of person days will be as follow:

Phases Person

days

Output

1. Review of documents 7 Inception Report prepared

2. Consultations in Kathmandu 8 Feedback received

3. Field visits to interview district- and

ward-level participants

12 Debriefing meeting conducted

on the basis of debriefing note

4. Preparation of Draft Report 5 Draft Report

5.Consideration of comments/inputs from

DanidaHUGOU, ReMAC and SWATI

3 Final Report

6. Submission of Final Report

Total 35

9.0 Process

The following process will be applied while conducting the evaluation:

Agreement on the ToR between ReMAC, SWATI and DanidaHUGOU

The Evaluation Coordination Team (see Section 10 below) will discuss the proposals

submitted by the approached consulting firms/individuals.

Selection of consulting firm/individuals by the Evaluation Coordination Team

63

DanidaHUGOU and the selected consulting firm/individuals will enter a contract to carry

out the task.

ReMAC and SWATI will provide relevant documents - project document/work plans and

budgets, periodic reports, audit reports etc. to the consulting firm/individuals for

reference.

The consulting firm/individuals will carry out the assignment as per the agreed work plan

and the contract.

Debriefing meetings will be held with DanidaHUGOU, ReMAC and SWATI. The

consulting firm/individuals will the make necessary presentations.

The consulting firm/individuals will produce a Draft Report and submit it to ReMAC,

SWATI and DanidaHUGOU for necessary comments.

The consulting firm/individuals will incorporate the comments received from ReMAC,

SWATI and DanidaHUGOU and submit the Final Report to DanidaHUGOU.

10.0 Evaluation Coordination Team

An evaluation coordination team will be constituted consisting of representatives from

DanidaHUGOU, ReMAC and SWATI. The primary task of the Evaluation Coordination Team

will be as follows:

Facilitate internalization of the assessment task and the process within the ReMAC,

SWATI and DanidaHUGOU

Become a focal point to interface with the consulting firm/individuals regarding the

assignment.

Provide, on demand, technical and professional inputs to the consulting firm/individuals

while designing evaluation methodology, process and preparing the work plan, including

field visits.

Provide relevant documents, information and logistics support to the consulting

firm/individuals both in Kathmandu and in the field.

Provide comments and feedbacks to the Draft Report.

64

Coordinate and facilitate the evaluation process, including ensuring quality of work done

by the consulting firm/individuals.

11.0 Background Documents

The consultant firm/individuals will study, but not necessarily limited, the following documents:

Main Documents

1. Project Documents and MoUs

2. Bi-Annual and Annual Progress Reports

3. Audit Report where relevant

4. Reports/proceedings and other publications related to project activities

Other Documents

1. Any other relevant materials and documents

Evaluation Report of Projects on Media Initiative for Civic...

Documents

Transcript of Evaluation Report of Projects on Media Initiative for Civic...