| Reference No.: 114 Biodiversity Support Program BSP 1997 |
| How Ban Udyam Works |
| Project Context |
| Contact Information |
BAN UDYAM is a five-year project, initiated in 1997 to support development of community based forest enterprises in Nepal's Mid-west Development Region (MWDR). Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and implemented by the Biodiversity Support Program (BSP) and New ERA, Ban Udyam supports communities to develop enterprises dependent on maintaining or improving their forests. The project's twin goals are enhanced livelihoods and improved forest management.
Ban Udyam spans a variety of terrain - terai, inner terai, mid-hills, and up to the remote mountain landscapes of Dolpa. Each of these diverse ecoregions is a source of unique plant species with traditional or newly-discovered uses as wood products, medicines, spices, fibers, and other non-timber forest products (NTFPs). With sound management and informed marketing, these plants have the potential to generate sustainable incomes for local communities.
Ban Udyam is based on the following premise:
If rural incomes from community-based forest enterprises are increased, and if communities are assisted in developing monitoring systems for adaptive management, then local communities will manage their forest resources more sustainably.
Ban Udyam accomplishes its mission through:
Pilot Community-based Forest Enterprises
Monitoring and Evaluation
Training
Outreach
Ban Udyam provides support to several forest enterprises operated by local communities in the MWDR. Each of these activities is designed to:
test and demonstrate the potential for community-based forest enterprises to increase incomes;
encourage communities to manage their forest resources more sustainably; and
- foster participation of women and disadvantaged groups.
In support of pilot enterprises, Ban Udyam generated critical information on market trends and prices, trade channels, policies and regulations, resource management practices, cultivation, harvesting and processing technologies, social factors and ecological constraints. This information is applied to select high prospect enterprise options and sites for development as pilots and to assist participating communities to plan and set up enterprises that are commercially viable, ecologically sustainable and socially equitable.
Ban Udyam also supports local groups to undertake applied research projects that test new cultivation, harvesting, processing and trading approaches that will assist the development of community enterprises and conservation of forest resources.
Ban Udyam assists local communities and other enterprise participants in developing monitoring systems for forest-based enterprises and subsistence products, such as fuelwood and fodder. This ensures that forests are not overexploited and that products are harvested sustainably and equitably. This monitoring also generates information to identify policy issues in community enterprise development and supports "bottom-up" dialogue for policy reform. Ban Udyam is also facilitating the development of monitoring systems to be used by other project partners.
Ban Udyam supports training activities that transfer business planning and forest resource management skills to community forest user groups. Ban Udyam also transfers skills to project partners to expand enterprise development and community-based monitoring activities. The project supports promising Nepali foresters to obtain Masters Degrees in forestry at US and Asian universities in order to strengthen the future capacity of Nepal's Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation.
Ban Udyam outreach activities are designed to pass on knowledge gained from pilot activities and technical studies to forest user groups and local traders. The project disseminates information to local community members through Nepali language publications, farmer-to-farmer study tours and seminars, and by collaborating with user-group networks, local extension services and other USAID-funded projects in the MWDR.
Ban Udyam is one of four components of the USAID-funded Environment and Forest Enterprise Activity (EFEA). EFEA's purpose is greater local control and management of natural resources in the MWDR in order to improve forest productivity and sustain the environment. Ban Udyam provides EFEA project partners with technical support for monitoring and policy reform and assists USAID in assessing and integrating project interventions
Other EFEA Project Partners and Areas of Work
CARE -- community and private forestry
World Wildlife Fund -- conservation management
GreenCOM -- policy dialogue and communications
Government of Nepal -- collaboration on all project activities
The Biodiversity Support Program (BSP) is a consortium of World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and World Resources Institute funded by the US Agency for International Development. BSP conserves biodiversity by integrating conservation with social and economic development, conducting applied research and analysis of conservation approaches, and by supporting information exchange and outreach.
New ERA is an employee-owned company in Nepal that specializes in policy-driven research, technical assistance, technology transfer and training for development. New ERA's mission is to provide an independent Nepali perspective on the construction, implementation and assessment of development policy and programs.
New ERA Ltd
Development Research & Training for ChangeProject Office
Ban Udyam, BSP/New ERA
EFEA Project Coordinator's Office
Tulsipur, Dang, NEPAL
Tel: (977-082) 20518
Fax: (977-082) 20597
E-mail: info@banudyam.wlink.com.npLiaison Office
New ERA
Post Box 722
Kathmandu, NEPAL
Tel: (977-1) 413603/423176
Fax: (977-1) 419562
E-mail: info@newera.wlink.com.np
Biodiversity Support Program
United States Office
Biodiversity Support Program
c/o World Wildlife Fund
1250 24th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Tel: (202) 861-8313
Fax: (202) 293-9341
E-mail: janis.alcorn@wwfus.org