Background

The Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED) is a non-profit, non-political, and non-government organization established in April 23, 1991. It is registered at the District Administration Office, Lalitpur and has affiliation with the Social Welfare Council and the NGO Federation of Nepal. The Center is a value based organization committed to promote human centered sustainable development.

Sustainable development is now a shared global objective and its attainment should be striven for by the people themselves in the communities. For this, empowering people becomes the key to a sustainable development strategy.

A sustainable development strategy must focus peoples' empowerment so that they develop the ability to identify unsustainable actions and initiate measures to correct them at the local level. There is a growing realization now that development is a human and internal process and has its roots on peoples' initiatives and preparedness for change. Past experiences from different sectors have proved that no development can sustain if people do not own the process and that even with prohibitively high cost of implementation; government efforts alone may not yield any fruitful results if people do not participate in the process. Since people are both the means and the end of development, any development to have a lasting impact on peoples' lives must be demand-driven, responsive to local needs and sustainable through local resources. In the present context of underdevelopment, the above argument would mean that development efforts must be directed towards mobilizing and empowering the local community. This will enable the community to demand for better services and also to contribute to improve the government delivery system. This assumes the need for more effective partnership between the people and the government in the process of development. Eventually, this will lead to mutual empowerment, that is, people are empowered and the government becomes efficient and responsive to the needs of the people.

GOAL
Develop and institutionalize the concept of participatory economic development in Nepal by mobilizing and empowering local community in rural income generating enterprises.

VISION
High, inclusive and sustainable rural and agricultural growth contributing to poverty alleviation and livelihood improvement of the poor in Nepal

MISSION
Widen improved, sustainable livelihood options for poor and disadvantaged communities in a gender-sensitive and environment-friendly manner

OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of CEAPRED is to reduce poverty, enhance food security, and empower women, deprived and disadvantaged communities of Nepal. The specific objectives are:

• To promote commercial high-value agriculture, livestock and agro-processing activities based on local comparative advantages,
• To introduce production technologies that safeguard human health and environment,
• To design and deliver specialized package of development services to ensure active participation, decision-making and benefit sharing by the deprived and disadvantaged groups, and
• To organize, train and institutionalize local community groups so that development is locally owned, managed and sustained.

TARGET BENIFICARIES
Primary beneficiaries include disadvantaged and marginalized communities, especially women, dalits and minority ethnic groups. The secondary beneficiaries consist of private sector organizations and business communities engaged in value chain; and local NGOs, CBOs, cooperatives and other types of community groups that can serve as conduits for development service delivery at the local level.

PROGRAM STATEGY
The poor are often unorganized and do not possess the capacity, skills and confidence to benefit from the project as much as the non-poor. The poor would need to be mobilized, capacitated and organized in order to realize and sustain the expected positive impacts of the project. In order to address this issue, CEAPRED adopts a three-pronged program strategy consisting of (i) social mobilization (ii) capacity development, and (iii) local institution building as the elements.

Social mobilization helps generate confidence and collective strength among the poor to identify their development problems, potentials and priorities, and this sets the ground for planning and implementing the project activities as part of their development priorities. The second element- capacity development –is about raising their skills and capacities to actually implement those priorities. Finally, the third element- local institution building – will help establish their organization at the local level through which they can sustain, and even expand, the project activities and impacts after the external support is phased out.

PROGRAM AREAS

1. Sustainable Livelihood Improvement
Poverty, especially in rural Nepal, is both extreme and wide spread. This has manifested into a number of problems leading to poor quality of life and environment. Thus, income generation has become a necessary first step towards preparing the people for development, in a sustainable and holistic way. The vast ecological and biophysical diversities existing in Nepal provide the natural comparative advantage to produce a range of commercial high value crops/commodities such as off-season vegetables, vegetable seeds, livestock, fisheries and non-timber forest products that can increase household incomes and contribute to poverty reduction and livelihood improvement. The focus has been on identification and implementation of crops/commodities that are responsive to local conditions and natural potentials. Promotion of commercial off-season fresh vegetables in accessible areas and vegetable seeds in remote areas are some of the pioneering initiatives taken by CEAPRED towards livelihood improvement.

CEAPRED has always been sensitive to gender and social exclusion and has consistently considered these issues in selecting target groups and in designing and implementing programs in the field.

2. Microenterprise Development
Market-led, demand-driven and value-chain based micro- enterprise development has proved to be an important strategy for improving the livelihood of the landless poor and disadvantaged communities. Land-based activities such as production and marketing of off-season vegetables and vegetable seeds benefit those who possess cultivable land. But the most poor and vulnerable communities who possess marginal or no lands need non-land development services and support to improve their livelihood. CEAPRED provides the necessary technical, financial and managerial support to initiate microenterprises that are suitable to local market conditions.

3. Environmental Action Program
In the spirit of human-centered development, the Center, since its inception, has been launching various environmental action programs in partnership with community organizations. Community-based solid waste management is one of the earliest programs launched in Lalitpur sub-metropolis in 1991.

In recent years, climate change has become a serious threat to food security and livelihoods; and accordingly, adaptation to climate change has become a priority program area for CEAPRED. The main focus has been on promotion of local innovation, dissemination of traditional knowledge and technologies, sustainable natural resource management applying integrated pest management and sustainable soil management practices, raising mass awareness, organic farming, and varietal and cropping system improvement, including identification and popularization of local crop species and cultivars are some of the strategies adopted by CEAPRED to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change. Efforts are underway to promote “climate change schools” at the local level.

4. Action/Policy Research
iCEAPRED has conducted a number of action/policy researches in different aspects of agriculture and environment with support from international organizations. Some of the early research works that have been published in international journals and books include Rice Research Priorities for Nepal, Property Rights and Collective Action in Natural Resource Management, Identification of Rice Recommendation Domains and Implications for Rice Biotechnology. The Center also engages in assessment and evaluation of various policies and programs as part of its regular activities which help design and develop new initiatives and projects for external support.