Building Capacity for Sustainable Rural Development: Lessons from Nepal

Abstract

Rural development has been a buzzword in recent years among international development professionals. Numerous programs and policies have been implemented worldwide to bring about positive development in rural areas. Consistent with such efforts, we have introduced a series of projects to promote sustainable livelihoods in the village of Hamsapur, Nepal, such as developing a system to supply clean drinking water, a storage system for potatoes, and a computer lab to improve education quality. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the need for building human capacity to sustain benefits from development projects. Qualitative data derived from observation and key informant interviews were used to assess impacts. Findings indicate that these projects did not meet our expectations of improving livelihoods in a sustainable way. Some changes resulting from the projects did not last long, and others could not be continued after external support was withdrawn. The main reason for lack of long-term sustainability was the lack of local capacity, specifically, a lack of knowledge and skills by locals that are critical to planning and implementing development projects and associated activities. The beneficiaries were unable to maintain the projects locally.