Development of community infrastructure through community forestry funds: what infrastructure gets priority?

Abstract

Community forestry is a well established management form in Nepal. The success ofcommunity forestry in improving the forest condition encouraged the government to initiatesome developmental works beyond the fulfillment of only basic forestry needs. This paperseeks to explore the investment made by CFUGs in community infrastructures and theirpriorities as well. Primary data from three mid-hill districts of Nepal were collected fromquestionnaire survey of 100 CFUGs. The results suggested that community infrastructurewas the largest category of expenditures of CFUG funds wherein the majority of theCFUG accorded investment priority to schools. This paper concludes that higher CFUGincome has led to a proportionately higher investment in community infrastructures andsuggests that it was necessary to increase CFUG income to promote investment incommunity infrastructures. Investing CFUG funds on schools is a good harbinger of localdevelopment that contributes to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal ofuniversal primary education.Key words: CFUG; CFUG funds; community forestry; community infrastructuresDOI: 10.3126/banko.v20i1.3508Banko Janakari, Vol. 20, No. 1 pp.44-50