NEMAF
Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) in its one and a half decades of working in the region has focused on the issues of governance, inclusion and access to services. The focus was given on bridging the gap between state and the communities by creating critical masses of the youths and producing knowledge.
In the pre-federalism phase NEMAF essentially worked on accountability of the local units and creating awareness to the citizens about their rights and responsibilities.
NEMAF organized debates and discussion programs in different parts of Nepal on the different issues of the constitution drafting related to federalism, inclusion, proportional representation, citizenship, language policy among others.
In the post-federal Nepal NEMAF facilitated many programs through multi-stakeholder dialogue group aiming to strengthen federalism. NEMAF advocated, lobbied and assisted in drafting many bills and assisting for their implementations by closely working with the provincial assembly members, provincial & local governments.
Strengthening Governance
NEMAF works to make accountable to the local and provincial governments in Madhesh Province.
Immersion Course
NEMAF organizes series of immersion courses to create critical mass in youths of MADHESH.
Research & Publication
NEMAF conducts various kinds of researches and publish journals, books, and survey reports.
Discussion and Policy Intervention
NEMAF facilitates multi-stake holders dialogue and policy discussions.
The quest of improving the relationship between the rural society and the state
The local government is the most connected government entity with citizens in their daily life. The very idea of local government is to provide the basic services to its constituent in easy and accessible manner in order to improve the quality of life of these people. This is only possible when the local government performs its duties with full responsibility. However, according to various studies conducted on the effectiveness of the services delivery it appears that local governments in Madhesh Province experience many complications in the operations of their responsibilities. The major problems that lead to these complications are the lack of transparency, officials not adhering to office hours and frequent absenteeism, delays in service delivery and bribes.
Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) since its inception has been conducting programs to improve the relationship between the government agencies responsible to provide services and the ordinary citizens. NEMAF in collaboration with DANIDA HUGOU and Governance Facility Nepal from 2011 to 2018 have conducted various projects to improve the relationship between service providers such as village development committees, wards, schools, health posts and police stations and local citizens spread across Madhesh province.
Creating Critical Mass through Immersion Courses
Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) was established to serve the Nepali society, in general, and Madheshi community, in particular, through varieties of interventions. One of the core interventions NEMAF pursues is organizing immersion courses in order to create a critical mass. It is expected that this critical mass eventually gives rise to a vibrant civil society which strives for a pleasant and cohesive relationship between the society and the state. At the core of this pursuit (creating the critical mass) is the assumption that a well-informed and proactive civil society is instrumental in creating a state that is accountable towards its citizens and overseeing the relationship of politics and the market from being rent-seeking.
It is believed that the asking questions to the state and the government of the day requires a common man to understand the functioning mechanism of society, state, politics and market and some basic understanding of how the laws are made. This is why a well-informed citizen is considered the gem of democracy. With the dream of creating an active civil society, NEMAF from the day of its foundation has been running a course entitled ‘Immersion Course’. In this immersion course the youths from the bottom the society of Madhesh province are participated. Youths from Dalit and Muslim communities are preferred while selecting the participants. In every course 25 youths are participated of which half of them are ensured to be women. This course is a week-long residential course and has successfully completed eight batches so far.
Research and Publications
Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) has focused on studying and researching the various aspects of social, political and contentious dimensions of Nepal, in general, and Madhesh in particular. From its inception one and half decade ago NEMAF has been conducting researches on various topics such as: politics of representation in Nepal; the functioning of local governments and good governance; fault lines of armed movement in Madhesh; various dimensions of the Madhesh movement; and conditions and reasons for marginalization and exclusion. These researches were conducted by adopting the established methods of research methodology and have also been published in different shapes and forms.
NEMAF embarked on to understand the landscape of electoral politics by analyzing the statistics of all the elections held in Nepal and produced a booklet titled “Politics of Representation in Nepal.” Similarly, NEMAF conducts an annual household survey and produces a series of reports on the state of local governance in Madhesh. In addition, NEMAF publishes a regular journal, Madhesh Adhyayan (in Nepali language), that has long-form writings by reputed Nepali academics and other intellectuals. Likewise, several issues of the book ‘Madhesh Manthan’ which is a collection of opinions expressed in different thematic discussions have been published. These collections of writings essentially delve about the conditions of the society, state and politics of Madhesh. In addition to the above stated publications NEMAF translates articles/books from other languages and publishes that reflect on the aspects of Madhesh’s society, politics and economy.
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Dialogue, Discussion and Policy Research
Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) has been conducting discussions on topical issues at various levels since its inception. From 2007 to 2015, there were many social and political movements in Nepal. NEMAF conducted series of discussions and debates about the agendas and issues raised by various movements. Currently NEMAF, in collaboration with Martin Chautari, organizes a monthly ‘Madhesh Discussion Series’. NEMAF continues to organize a provincial dialogue group formed to create a conducive environment for policy making in Madhesh province. In addition, a Policy Outreach Center has been opened in collaboration with KUSOM Policy Lab under Kathmandu University.