Nepal's government, constitutional bodies, and political parties have faced many challenges in performing their roles since the reintroduction of multiparty democracy in 1990. Associated problems, including institutional failings and a failure of institutions to represent all sectors of society, have seriously hindered Nepal's development.
RDIF is an initiative of the UK, Swiss, Australian and Danish governments for the sustainable reform of political governance in Nepal. Norwegian Embassy was a donor partner in the first phase of the Fund, which was launched in February 2006. The second phase of RDIF was re-launched in June 2009 and is managed by the Enabling State Programme (ESP) as its secretariat. The fund aims to bring about a strengthened and more sustainable system of democratic governance characterised by more respect for rights, democratic norms, and the political inclusion of all major population groups.
In the second phase, RDIF is opening regional units in Nepalgunj, Biratnagar, Pokhara and Dhangadhi in order to increase the access of local organisations.
Major areas of support
The fund will encourage and support Nepali ideas to help the sustainability of democracy. It will support Nepali civil society organisations, academic institutions and other organisations working legally in Nepal.
The fund is focused on sustaining accountable political governance. It will therefore support work that has a lasting medium to long-term impact.
The fund will support promising ideas in the following areas:
- Intra-party democracy and inclusion
- Provide awareness and training to leaders and cadres of political parties on intra-party democracy and inclusion and monitor the corresponding role and function to reinforce democratic and accountable behaviour
- Support political parties in developing need-based mechanisms and processes for being more democratic and inclusive
- Facilitate parties to monitor their progress towards adopting more inclusive and democratic practices and adherence to their constitution, statutes and manifestos and to proactively dialogue with other parties and CSOs
- Awareness and capacity among women, youth and other marginalized and excluded groups in constitution making
- Design and conduct awareness programmes on advocacy, inclusion, constitution building, etc. for various marginalized and excluded groups and organize them for collective voice and action
- Design and implement training programmes based on specific needs (leadership, public speaking, etc.) of various groups
- Establish linkages with political parties and advocate for constructive representation and engagement of marginalized and excluded groups to address issues affecting these groups
- Disseminate regularly success stories of involvement of women, youth and marginalized groups in political processes (including constitution making)
- Facilitate dialogues between the marginalized groups and political decision makers on issues affecting the former using existing networks and organizations
- Constructive engagement of civil society for protection of civil, political & cultural rights
- Provide awareness/training on human rights to human rights defenders, and organizations of marginalized and excluded groups
- Support joint and coordinated actions by CSOs for promotion and protection of civil, political and cultural rights of people
- Facilitate regular dialogue between CSOs and political decision makers using existing networks and organizations
- Increased capacity of partner organizations (POs)
- Identify organizational and HRD needs assessment of POs
- Facilitate to implement programmes for OD and HRD of POs
- Provide support to POs for implementation of various "projects"
- Support POs to establish links with national and international organizations working on democracy, inclusion and human rights
- Define and monitor the capacity building plan of Pos
Proposals can be submitted by national organisations legally operating in Nepal including NGOs, professional associations, academic institutions, government and constitutional bodies, alliances and federations. Proposals from INGOs with local national partners may be considered if it entails the management of consortia, capacity building of local partners and cost-sharing in project management. Their proposals may be considered in those areas where they have comparative advantage over local organisations.
The fund will not provide support directly to political parties, and will operate in a completely non-partisan manner. Those organisations that receive funding must abide by the donors' Basic Operating Guidelines (BOGs).
An important consideration in assessing whether to fund proposals will be innovativeness of the project idea, concrete and convincing milestones against clear baseline facts, sufficient evidences of institutional good governance, organisations' track records in improving the sustainability of democracy and their credibility in the eyes of project stakeholders.
Organisations funded by RDIF must produce evidence of sound management practices, including financial transparency and accountability arrangements. Organisations that receive funds must produce a copy of their organisation's complete independently audited accounts each year in the same form as those submitted to the organisations' own management, including any notes from the auditor.
If two or more organisations submit a joint proposal, the proposal needs to state which will be the lead agency responsible for administration and implemention.
Proposal screening process
All proposals submitted in the proper format to ESP or to regional units will be initially reviewed by ESP, then thematic subcommittees (Human Rights, Democracy and Inclusion) and the RDIF Steering Committee. These committees are made up of representatives from DFID, SDC, British Embassy, AusAID, DanidaHUGOU, Danish Embasy and ESP.
The committees may ask for clarification or additional information from submitting organisations. Applicant organisations will be informed through the RDIF secretariat, whether or not their proposals have been accepted for funding.
