Collective commitment against corruption 

• 2017-10-13

Citizen campaign to make Makwanpur an ideal district against corruption has been set in motion. With the slogan of "I will not take bribe nor will I let others", the citizens pledged their commitment for anti-corruption movement by signing on a banner after the rally around Hetauda Bazaar, which was led by civil society on 8th September 2017.

The rally and signing program was organized in joint collaboration of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Makwanpur Chapter, Federation of Non-government organizations, Community forest consumer association and Dalit women association. Development Communication Society (SODEC) Nepal also actively participated in the program.

Other attendees of the program were chief or representatives from various government agencies, newly elected local representatives, civil society leaders, students, security personnel, human rights activists, journalists and media persons. A total of 150 people participated in the rally against corruption. The participants agreed that the rampant culture of giving and receiving bribe is to blame for the overall corruption increment.

While the rally was organized in the morning, the same day in the afternoon, SODEC-Nepal organized a district civic interaction where the participants emphasized on the importance of such discussions. The interaction program was focused on citizen engagement to promote good governance and anti-corruption.

During the interaction program Makwanpur Chief District Officer (CDO) Mr Chakra Bahadur Budha expressed his commitment to word towards fostering the environment of good governance and anti-corruption in the district. "Apart from delays due to policy or while following due process, if the service providers seem hesitant towards their job the citizens may directly contact me. I promise that I will take action against such irregularities." He added that the public should take interest in the activities of government agencies regarding their transparency and accountability while media's role also remains significant.

Adding to the CDO's points, CIAA Investigation Officer Mr Tirtha Upadhyay also stated that citizen engagement is the key to discourage corruption and irregularities. "CIAA is people's friend and it needs support from the people as well," he said.

Mr Hari Humagain, Chaiperson of FNJ Makwanpur Chapter emphasized that media has also playing a significant role in exposing cases of corruption and irregularities in the district. According to him, the journalists have been exclusively covering the cases of public interest and the local media has been promoting such stories to create awareness amongst the public and influence the public discourse.

The interaction program was attended by more than 50 participants, which included representatives from district state agencies, representatives from NGOs, local businesspersons, transporters, health personnel, security personnel, lawyers, students and journalists. All the participants unanimously agreed that active public participation is the core to the fight against corruption and promotion of good governance. They also praised the effort made by SODEC-Nepal for initiating the dialogue and discussion on citizen engagement.

Encouraging citizen engagement for promotion of good governance 

• 2017-10-13

The need of citizen engagement for promoting good governance and anti-corruption issues has been emphasized by the stakeholders at Doti district. Amidst the district civic interaction organized by Development Communication Society Nepal at district headquarter Silgadhi on governance and anti-corruption related issues, various state agencies expressed their commitment to continue and contribute assertive action. The interaction program held on 13th October 2017 was organized in collaboration with Tribeni FM, Shaileswori FM and Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Doti Chapter.

Chief District Officer (CDO) for Doti Mr Kumar Bahadur Khadka emphasized the importance of citizen engagement for promotion of good governance and anti-corruption issues for which the concerned state agencies have been directed to follow the government directives on governance. As transparency and accountability are the two pillar for good governance, he said that it is important for state agencies to strictly adhere to citizen charter, implementation of right to information, elimination of irregularities in state agencies, improvement in service delivery, functioning complaint box, and easy access to information officers. The chiefs of all government service delivery offices are provided with public cell phones whose number will be available to everyone to facilitate the easy access to service seekers. In addition, all government offices will hold a press conference in every three months period to inform the citizens of the works accomplished by them. He also encouraged Commission on Investigation for Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Doti to organize similar interactions such as the one organized by SODEC-Nepal in future, expressing his full commitment to cooperate with CIAA.

CIAA Chief Amar Raj Joshi also informed the participants of the condition of governance in Doti district. He laid out the facts on number and types of complaints received by CIAA and number of solved cases during the previous fiscal year all over the district. According to him, the most of number of complaints were on education field. Apart from these, he also shed light on the promotional activities of CIAA including awareness programs for college students on how to register complaints with CIAA, pick news stories from mass media as preliminary evidence to pursue corruption cases and so on. He also emphasized on citizen engagement to face the challenge of promoting good governance and anti-corruption as CIAA relies on the citizens to register complaints.

FNJ Doti Chapter Chairperson Mr Yogendra Balayar informed the participants of the interaction program that a loose citizen network named "Civil Society Campaign Network against Anti-Corruption" under the coordination of FNJ has been formed to promote constant public discourse on anti-corruption and good governance. Various professional organizations such as District Bar Association, Federation of Non-government organizations, forest consumer association are part of the citizen network. He also anticipated more involvement, participation and assistance from all sectors in the future. Apart from that, Mr Balayar also emphasized on the necessity of journalist training on covering issues of governance and anti-corruption as it consists of various legal and highly technical issues.

A total of 50 participants consisting of chiefs of various state agencies, civil society leaders, journalists and various professionals were present during the district interaction. All participants agreed that citizen engagement is the most important factor in order to promote issues of governance and anti-corruption and initiatives from all fronts is necessary to have a meaningful impact. They unanimously concurred that interactions like such should continue in the district to increase the public discourse on such essential issues.

सुशासन र संचार सम्बन्धी कार्यशाला सम्पन्न 

• 2017-06-30

काठमाण्डौ, असार १६ ।

भ्रष्टाचार न्यूनिकरण र सुशासन प्रबद्र्धनका लागि मिडियाको भूमिकाको बारेमा राजधानीमा आयोजित  दुई दिवसीय कार्यशाला असार १६ गते सम्पन्न भएको छ । कार्यक्रममा राष्ट्रिय सुचना आयोगमा प्रमुख आयुक्त कृष्णहरी बास्कोटाले नेपाली मिडियाले सुचनाको अधिकार प्रयोग गरेर भ्रष्टाचार र सुशासन सम्बन्धी महत्वपूर्ण विषय उठान गर्न सक्ने ताउनु भयो । उहाँले राष्ट्रिय सूचना आयोग स्थापना भएयता केवल २ हजार ४ सय मात्र सूचनाको माग भएको रेकर्ड आयोगसंग रहेको बताउँदै मिडिया आफैले पनि सूचना माग गर्नु पर्ने र आम नागरिकलाई पनि यसको बारेमा बुझाउँनु पर्ने आवश्यकता रहेको बताउनु भयो । बरिष्ठ पत्रकार ध्रुबहरी अधिकारीले आम नागरिकले सुशासन र भ्रष्टाचारका विषयवस्तुहरु मिडियाबाट अपेक्षा गरेको तर यस्ता मुद्दाहरुले मिडियामा त्यति सजिलै प्रवेश नपाएको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय अनुभव समेत रहेको बताउँदै यसले गर्दा मिडियाको विश्वसनीयतामा प्रश्न उठ्ने गरेको धारणा राख्नु भयो । उहाँले भारतबाट पठाइएको मोसान्टोको समाचार अमेरिकाको सिकागो ट्रिब्यूनले समेत विज्ञापनदाताबाट प्रभावित भएर  किल गरेको तथ्य अघि सार्दै भन्नु भयो : यस किसिमका व्यवधानहरु भए पनि मिडियामा भ्रष्टाचार र सुशासनका सवालहरु निरन्तर उठ्नु पर्ने बताउनु भयो । विकास संचार समाजका अध्यक्ष वरिष्ठ संचारविद् लालदेउसा राईले विभिन्न जिल्लामा सुशासन र भ्रष्टाचारका फरक फरक  किसिमका अनुभवहरु भएकाले यस किसिमको छलफलबाट सुशासनका बारेमा मिडियाले गर्नु पर्ने र सिक्नु पर्ने साझा एजेण्डाहरु तय गर्न सहयोग पुग्ने धारणा राख्नु भयो । उहाँले यी मुद्दाहरु मिडियामा उठान गर्न अति आवश्यक रहेको भन्दै  यसमा पत्रकारको अध्ययन,ज्ञान र सीप विकासको पनि जरुरी रहेको धारणा राख्नु भयो ।  वरिष्ठ संचारविद् रामकृष्ण रेग्मीले मिडिया, सुशासन र नागरिक संलग्नता सम्बन्धीको कार्यपत्र प्रस्तुत गर्दै सुशासन र भ्रष्टाचारका विषवस्तु उठानमा  नेपाली मिडियाको हालको अवस्था, भएका प्रयास र आगामी दिनमा गर्नु पर्ने कामहरुको बारेमा विश्लेषण गर्नु भयो । उहाँले यस सम्बन्धमा प्रयासलाई सन्तोषजनक मान्न सकिए पनि पर्याप्त नभएको बताउनु भयो ।  

संचारविद् एवं विकास संचार समाजका कार्यकारी निर्देशक डा. पीयूषराज मिश्रले प्रसारण माध्यमहरुले सुशासन र भ्रष्टाचारका सवालाई प्राथमिकता दिने क्रम बढेको तर उनिहरुको क्षमता विकासका लागि अझै काम गर्न आवश्यक रहेको धारणा राख्नुभयो । पत्रकार बिमल गौतमले नेपाली मिडियाको विश्वसनीयताको स्तर खस्किएको भन्दै आम नागरिकले विश्वास गर्ने संचार माध्यम बनाउन हामीले पत्रकारहरुले धेरै मेहनत गर्नुपर्ने बताउनु भयो । यसका लागि खासगरी सम्पादकहरु विवेशकशील र जिम्मेवार हुनु पर्ने उहाँको जोड थियो ।

उक्त कार्यशालामा धनकुटा, मकवानपुर, पोखरा, मोरंग, सुर्खेत र काठमाण्डौका गरी २६ जना रेडियो तथा टेलिभिजन पत्रकारहरु सहभागि थिए । उनिहरुले आफ्नो ठाउमा र संचार माध्यममा सुशासनका विषयवस्तु उठान गर्दाको अनुभव र यस्ता विषय उठान गर्दा समाजमा परेको प्रभावको बारेमा धारणा राखेका थिए । उनिहरुले सुशासनको विषय आम नागरिकका लागि प्रत्यक्ष सरोकारको विषय भएको तर मोफसलका पत्रकारका लागि यो विषयको पर्याप्त ज्ञान र विषय उठानको सीप नभएकाले यस्तो विषयको प्राथमिकता र प्रभावकारीता कार बारेमा जान्न यस्ता कार्यशालाहरु उपयोगी हुने बताएका थिए । साझेदार संस्थाहरु सेन्टर फर मिडिया फ्रिडम र एनसिसिआरका साथ विकास संचार समाज नेपालले उक्त कार्यशाला आयोजना गरेको थियो ।

नेपालगञ्जमा सुशासन तथा भ्रष्टाचारको खोजी सम्बन्धी तालिम सम्पन्न 

• 2017-06-21

पत्रकारहरुलाई सुशासन तथा भ्रष्टाचार सम्बन्धी विषयवस्तुको बुझाई तथा खोजी दक्षता बढाउन नेपालगञ्जमा दुई दिन तालिम सञ्चालन गरिएको छ ।

डोटी, कैलाली, बाँके, सुर्खेत र दाङ जिल्लाका १८ जना संचारकर्मीको सहभागिता रहेको उक्त तालिम सैद्धान्तिक र प्रयोगात्मक विधिमा आधारित थियो ।

तालिमको पहिलो दिन अधिकार सम्पन्न स्थानीय सरकार र सुशासन, भ्रष्टाचार न्यूनिकरणमा संचार माध्यमको पहरेदारी भूमिका, सुशासनका लागि नागरिक संलग्नता बढाउन संचारकर्मीले खेल्न सक्ने भूमिकाको विषयमा विज्ञहरुमार्फत् प्रस्तुतिसहितका छलफलहरु भएका थिए ।

दोस्रो दिन सहभागिहरुलाई समूहमा विभाजन गरी सुशासनका विषयमा सामूहिक समाचार तयार गर्ने र त्यसमाथि विज्ञहरुमार्फत सुधारका लागि सुझावहरु दिने प्रयोगात्मक कार्यक्रम संचालन गरिएको थियो ।

प्रयोगात्मक सेसनको टीप्पणी गर्नेहरुमा रेडियो पत्रकार तुला अधिकारी, खोज पत्रकार कलेन्द्र सेजुवाल र विकास संचार विज्ञ डा. पीयुषराज मिश्र रहेका थिए ।

सुशासन बारेमा तीन वर्ष भन्दा बढी सयम देखि रिर्पोटिङ गर्दै आएका पत्रकारहरुको संलग्नता रहेको उक्त तालिम विषय वस्तुको ज्ञान बढाउने र खोजी सीप तथा लेखन सीपको दक्षता बढाउनका लागि उपयोगी भएको सहभागिहरुले बताए ।

विषयवस्तुको दृष्टिले स्थानीय तह पुनर्संरचना पछिको स्थानीय सुशासनलाई कसरी बढाउन सकिन्छ भन्ने बारेमा तालिम मूलरुपमा केन्द्रित थियो । यो विषय स्थानीय तह पुनर्संरचना आयोगका पूर्व अध्यक्ष बालानन्द पौडेलले प्रस्तुती राख्नुभएको थियो । मध्यपश्चिम क्षेत्रमा अख्तियार दुरुपयोग अनुसन्धान आयोग ले गरेका भ्रष्टाचार निवारण सम्बन्धीका काम र त्यस प्रक्रियामा संचार क्षेत्रले खेलेको भूमिकाको विषयमा अख्तियार दुरुपयोग अनुसन्धान आयोग कोहोलपुर कार्यालयका प्रमुख कुबेर कठायतको प्रस्तुतिपश्चात गहन छलफल गरिएको थियो ।

गभर्नेन्स फेसिलिटीको सहयोगमा विकास संचार समाज नेपाल, सेन्टर फर मिडिया फ्रिडम र एनसिसिआर मार्फत संचालित सुशासन लागि नागरिक संलग्नता सुदृढिकरण परियोजना अन्तर्गत विकास संचार समाज नेपालले कार्यक्रम आयोजना गरेको थियो ।

तालिमको उदेश्य सहभागि सञ्चारकर्मीलाई निरन्तररुपमा सुशासनको विषयहरु उठाउन प्रेरित गर्ने र यो विषयमा उनीहरुको दक्षता बढाउने रहेको छ ।

यसका लागि सहभागि सम्पूर्ण संचारकर्मीलाई विभिन्न किसिमको लेखनवृत्ति तथा परामर्श सेवा सहयोगमार्फत् यो विषयमा काम गर्न उनिहरुलाई प्रेरित गरीने तालिम संयोजक प्रकाश घिमिरेले बताए ।

आइतवार, आषाढ ४, २०७४ मा लोकान्तर डट् कममा प्रकाशित

Interaction programme on local level restructuring and media organized 

• 2017-02-03

Local level and local bodies are the key to addressing balanced and equal distribution of rights and authority to all diverse groups of people as acknowledged by the Constitution of Nepal. The strengthening of local level is parallel to ensuring basic democratic rights of the citizens of the federal democratic nation and to respect and preserve Nepal's ethnic and cultural diversity.

To address this vital issue, on 3rd February 2017, Development Communication Society (SODEC) Nepal organized an interaction programme on Local Level Restructuring and Media in Kathmandu. The interaction was focused on the issues, process and challenges of determining special, protected and autonomous area under local level restructuring process. This programme was organized to sensitize the journalists to develop public discourse and awareness regarding the local level restructuring that is proceeding by the local level restructuring commission

The Commission which was formed on 14th March 2016, in accordance with Article 295 (3) of the constitution, was tasked by the government to determine the number and border of the Village Bodies, Municipalities, and Special, Protected and Autonomous Areas. The commission has already submitted its report to the government by determining the numbers and borders of Local units. Now, the commission is working for special, protected and autonomous territory which is supposed to be completed within a month.

During the interaction programme, chairperson of the Commission Mr Balananda Poudel shed light on the functionality and work progress of the Commission and also emphasizing on the important role of media in generating the public discourse. “We have not been able to hold as much discussions as we originally intended but due to very short time period of the Commission to deliver a concrete output in such complex and contentious issue, we had our hands tied,” said Mr Poudel during his Power Point presentation.

The Commission also asked for support from the government, political leader, experts and especially from media to help them derive the definitions and denotation of the vocabulary used in the constitution. “There is a lack of definition of most of the sensitive issues that needs to be addressed by the Commission and it is only through people’s support that we can achieved it as envisioned by the Constituion of Nepal,” Mr Poudel said.

Similarly, Mr Krishna Prasad Sapkota, founder Chair at Association of District Development Committees of Nepal (ADDCN) and expert of local governance, provided his inputs through a historical analysis on revision of discriminatory approach against marginalized, aboriginal and indigenous peoples throughout the world. “Looking through the world history, we should take note that Nepal’s issue is unique and should be treated likewise. Rather than following certain design, we should formulate one that caters to the native issues the country is facing,” he said.

The interaction programme was attended by 50 media personnel from various national dailies, online, television and radio stations. They also actively participated in the discussion and presented many critical and important questions before the chairperson Mr Paudel and issue expert Mr Sapkota. Amongst the participants, the representatives of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) also provided their views, presenting the floor with diverse opinions.

The interaction concluded that following are the issues of public discourse that needs to promoted by media:

• Rigorous follow up from media regarding the concept, need and issues to make the special, protected and autonomous area more participatory;
• The concepts regarding Special, protected and autonomous areas should be a key issue of local level restructuring;
• Since right of the people of Special, protected and autonomous area will be determined by the law; it requires thorough public discussion;
• There is a lack of sufficient national authentic information to analyze the indicators of special, protected and autonomous area;
• Since Government of Nepal is delaying public dissemination of the report, it has posed challenges to the LLRC to further its undertaking

Dr Pius Raj Mishra, Executive Director at SODEC- Nepal thanked all the participants on their enthusiastic participation and their passion to ensure full and factual dissemination of information to the general public. He also thanked Commission Chief Mr Poudel for his honest and informative presentation and Mr Sapkota for his enriching insight on historical context and his analysis according to the native dilemma.

Professor Rai heading the new SODEC executive committee 

• 2016-10-22

The seventh annual general meeting (AGM) of Development Communication Society (SODEC) Nepal was successfully held on 22nd October 2016, at the office premises of the organization. During the AGM, a seven member executive committee was appointed to be led by Professor Lal Deusa Rai as Chairperson. The other members of the team consist of Mr Ballav Mani Dahal as Vice-chairperson, Ms Chandra Kumari Rimal as Secretary and Tirtha Ghimire as Treasurer of the executive board. Likewise, Ms Labli Subedi, Mr Prakash Giri and Mr Santosh Kumar Subedi were appointed as executive members.

Professor Rai, who is accredited as being the pioneer of media education in Nepal as well as a senior media practitioner, said during the meeting that development communication has not been able to flourish in Nepal as much as it needs to. “With the help of the strong team in the organization, I would like to work towards collection of bibliography in development communication for advancement in academia and research,” said Professor Rai during his short speech.

Echoing with Professor Rai, Dr Pius Raj Mishra, development communications expert and former chairperson of SODEC-Nepal expressed that there needs to be a big leap in Nepal in regard to development communication. “Although SODEC-Nepal is moving ahead in bridging such gaps, there is immense opportunity SODEC-Nepal can grasp as we have diverse work-force in our team,” he said.

There was an enthusiastic attendance from the members of the organization. The tenure for the newly formed board is for two-years according to the institutional constitution.

National Workshop on Media for Civic Engagement on Anti-corruption Issues 

• 2016-06-26

On 24-25th June 2016, a two day National Workshop was held on Media for Civic Engagement on Anti-Corruption Issues. Organized by Development Communication Society (SODEC-Nepal) at SAP Falcha, Babarmahal, Kathmandu, the national workshop was attended by journalists from all five working districts under the Strengthening Citizen Engagement in Anti-Corruption Efforts (STREAC) project. The national workshop was organized as a part of the project activities for the STREAC. The main purpose of the workshop was to bring together media producers and presenters to discuss the lessons and challenges of media mobilization while disseminating anti-corruption information.

Facilitated by veteran media professionals, legal and research experts, the participating journalists also took part in group work to identify the issues of corruption in district and central levels. The sessions were designed to be more interactive, excluding the usage of PowerPoint presentations as much as possible to foster the environment of experience sharing and learning with the facilitator as well as amongst the participants.

The speakers and facilitators for the national workshop were Laxman Humagain, General Manager at Nepal Television, Dhurba Hari Adhikari, Senior Journalist and Chairperson at CMF, Namrata Sharma , Chairperson at Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ), Madhav Poudel , Legal Expert and Anti-Corruption Expert Advisory Committee member for STREAC, Dr Bishnu Raj Upreti , Research Expert and Executive Director at NCCR, Tara Nath Dahal, Chairperson at Freedom Forum and Dr Pius Raj Mishra, Project Director at SODEC-Nepal.

The participants concluded that the national workshop was very fruitful to discuss and develop a minimum common understanding on the issues of governance and media. It benefitted the journalists to share the diverse issues related to governance, anti-corruption and media, to draft a tentative plan of action for media engagement in governance and anti-corruption issues and to facilitate discussions through media content in increasing citizen engagement on governance and anti-corruption issues.

Anti-corruption training for journalists 

• 2016-06-19

Lalitpur, 19 June – Three day training on anti-corruption for journalists has started in Lalitpur today. The training has been organised for enhancing skills of new and seasoned journalists working in print, broadcast and online media to write investigative news. The organiser has hoped that since many investigative news items are related to corruption, such kind of training on anti-corruption will inform journalists about new norms and dimensions in anti-corruption.

The training conducted under the project Strengthening Citizen Engagement in Anti-corruption Efforts has been organised by Organisation Development Centre (ODC), one of the consortium partners in the project. Development Communication Society-Nepal (SODEC), Centre for Media Freedom (CMF) and Nepal Centre for Contemporary Research (NCCR) are other partners in the project.

Prof. Dr. Rama Krishna Regmee, senior journalist DhrubaHari Adhikary, ex-registrar of the Supreme Court Dr. Ramkrishna Timilsina, former minister and law secretary Madhav Paudel, journalists Binod Dhungel and Om Sharma will train journalists on different issues in corruption control and promotion of governance. Around 15 journalists across the country are participating in the training.

Originally published at: http://lokaantar.com/en/governance/anti-corruption-training-journalists-begins/#sthash.1dyNFJGz.dpuf

STREAC launched amidst concerned stakeholders 

• 2016-03-25

On 25 March 2016, Friday, Project Launch for Strengthening Citizen Engagement in Anti-Corruption Efforts (STREAC), was organized by Development Communication Society (SODEC) Nepal at The Malla Hotel, Lainchour, Kathmandu.

The launch program was attended by representatives from various government offices working against corruption such as Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DMLI), Special Court; as well as concerned non government agencies, independent experts, media, students and all consortium partner organizations.

Strengthening Citizen Engagement in Anti-Corruption Efforts (STREAC) is a project that is designed to work in partnership with four different organizations SODEC-Nepal, Centre for Media Freedom (CMF), Nepal Centre for Contemporary Research (NCCR), and Organization Development Centre (ODC) as well as with the CIAA. The project is built around the analysis of causes and effects of limited civic engagement in combating corruption in Nepal.

To introduce the project, Project Director Dr Pius Raj Mishra delivered a presentation summarizing the overall objectives, impact, outcome and output of the project. He detailed the importance of all consortium partners and their respective organizational strength for the implementation of the project activities. This presentation served as a foundation for further discussions and reviews during the program.

The presentation on project overview was followed by remarks and reviews by various attendees. Niranjan Baral, Investigation Expert at CIAA began the conversation about the project, its implications and significance by discussing on the components of the project outcome, outputs and activities. He expressed his enthusiasm to get engaged in the project and take as much as benefits by CIAA from the project goals.

“It is the youth that has the ability to change the social dynamics and the components of this project to target students and young journalists will serve the purpose of transformation,” said Baral.

Agreeing with Baral’s analysis, Chabbi Bhattarai, Investigation Officer at Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DMLI) also expressed the willingness to be part of the project.

During the discussion, Bhadrakali Pokharel, Registrar at Special Court emphasized on public hearing and public audits. “These are the best practices in terms of research and citizen engagement to undertake steps to image building and effective execution to anti-corruption efforts,” he said adding that not everything can be accomplished at once regarding anti-corruption; it is a continuous and dynamic process.

Likewise, Narayan Manandhar, an independent expert for anti-corruption highlighted that corruption isn’t just a custom of government bureaucracy; rather it is rampant in all sectors such as mainstream politics, student unions, media, education and other non-governmental organizations.

“I think there should be an extra focus on literature review,” said Manandhar emphasizing that STREAC project can have higher chance of success if a proper review of such past projects is done to determine the reasons behind their failure to achieve the desired outcome.

On the other hand, Hari Tiwari, Deputy Director for NGO Coordination Section at Social Welfare Council, expressed his concern on good governance and corruption issues in non-government organizations and advised that all partner organizations for the project also to comply with the SWC guidelines.

After all the discussions and reviews, Dhruba Hari Adhikari, senior journalist and chairperson at CMF welcomed all the suggestions shared during the project launch program and added that STREAC project just a stepping stone towards contributing to anti-corruption efforts by various government as well as non government cluster.

Dr Mishra also commented that the project launch program has been very fruitful and a learning process for all involved in the project implementation. Likewise, Dr Ken Afful from ODC and Suman Paudel from NCCR echoed with Dr Mishra and also expressed their sincere thanks to all the attendees of the launch program.