Claiming the Land: Grassroots Advocacy in Nepal

Ramesh Khadka, Country Director ActionAid Nepal

This article was first published in the August 1999 edition of Action Aid’s IA Exchanges Newsletter.

For many years now Action Aid Nepal (AAN) has been in involved in advocacy initiatives and working with partners and local grassroots organisations on issues ranging from land tenure to children’s rights. However, very little of this work has been shared across organisations.

The following article highlights some of the key lessons from AAN’s experience of working on land tenure in Nepal.

Content

Background

The Campaign – Raising Awareness of Legal Rights

Lessons Learned:

	Capacity Building of Civil Society
	Impact on the Landlords
	Impact on Public Awareness
	Impact on Development Agencies

Further Information

Background

The issue of tenancy rights as a priority advocacy issue was first identified through a series of participatory rural appraisal exercises conducted in 1994 (repeated in 1997) with the seven Village Development Committees of Sindhupalchowk District. The exercises revealed that of the 5,232 households in the district (of which about 40 percent were tenants), only 5 percent had formal tenancy rights; the remaining 95 percent of tenants had no such rights and lacked any document or proof to claim such a right. The most productive land in the area is owned by a handful of landlords who have a large number of tenants working for them. The number of such tenants per landlord varies from a few to as many as 150. The average landlord to tenant ratio is 1:20.

Most tenancy arrangements are informal: tenants do not have legal tenancy rights over the land they cultivate, despite the fact that they are legally entitled to have such rights. There are even tenants who have farmed land for 30 years who don’t have formal tenure. Landlords are in a position of power. They are free to revise the rent and shift farming responsibility from one tenant to another. This has resulted in poor land productivity and increased poverty, as understandably farmers have no incentive to develop the land and plan long term.

The Campaign – Raising Awareness of Legal Rights

In 1995 two community based organisations (CSRC and JBSC) with the support of Action Aid Nepal, organised a legal awareness-raising workshop for a group of tenants from seven of the Village Development Committees in the district. A series of workshops were facilitated by lawyers from Chautara, during which the tenant farmers were made aware of the national legislation and rights related to land and tenancy issues. At the end of this training programme, the tenant farmers formed a tenancy awareness committee called Mohi Jagaran Samiti (MJS). With ongoing support the committee were able to approach the District Land Reform Office (DRLO) to claim their tenancy rights.

Since then there have been numerous rallies, follow-up awareness-raising workshops, press conferences, etc., organised by the farmers. The campaign has generated wide media coverage in Nepal drawing in many supporters, including some government ministries.

Since the campaign started, 258 tenants have filed claims with the district court and more than 163 cases have already been decided in favour of the tenants. The rest are also under consideration. This is a tremendous achievement for the tenants as they are now legally entitled to half of the land they have been cultivating. Tenants are now also aware that they should get proof of their payments to the landlord.

Some landlords have volunteered to give land to the tenants. However, some have put up strong resistance. Some landlords, for instance, have even set up their own committee to safeguard their interests.

In the middle of the campaign the government amended the land tenancy act in such a way that future claims may not be able to be processed by the DLRO. Although the amendments do not affect the cases that are already filed at the DLRO, they could potentially have a negative affect on the ones that are being considered.

Lessons Learned:

There were both positive and negative impacts of the campaign, which are listed as follows. The campaign did a lot to help build the capacity of civil groups to take action. It also increased the democratic space within which groups can act in Nepal.

Capacity Building of Civil Society

The tenancy committee (MJS) has remained very strong and committed throughout the campaign and has helped form other committees at various levels to fight their case as well as other injustices that occur in their area. They have also learned to approach and influence policy makers. In the process they have acquired a good knowledge of legal rights and the procedures of legal discourse. More importantly there is now an awareness that solidarity can bring about change.

This campaign has had major impact on communities. The campaign has increased people’s awareness of the structural causes of inequality and poverty. Obtaining their legal right to land they cultivate has ensured a much greater sense of security for their future livelihoods and future food security than any previous technological assistance would have done.

As part of their campaign strategy, tenants enlisted the support of political leaders. Some local level leaders helped them but the ones at the central level paid very little attention. The leaders who paid little attention, however, paid a price during the recent elections where the tenants were able to alter the election results through mobilising voters.

The landlords routinely threatened their tenants during the campaign. They even tried to break their solidarity by promising some returns. In some cases they were able to influence the tenants to break away from the campaign. This created some friction among the tenants.

Impact on the Landlords

Most of the landlords blamed the two local community-based organisations (CSRC and JBSC) and even AAN for the upraising of tenants in their areas. They complained at various levels against the above organisations blaming them for creating tensions in the community. Subsequently, the landlords feel very antagonistic towards the development agencies.

Many of the landlords were also ignorant of the tenancy rights granted by law – claiming they were simply following tradition. As a result many voluntarily offered the rightful portion of the land back to the tenants. This also helped the cause of the campaign by putting pressure on the rest of the landlords.

They also united to fight for their cause by forming a committee. They used their power to withhold decisions and may have even played a role in changing the land tenancy act in their favour.

Impact on Public Awareness

This was the first campaign of its kind I Nepal. Many other agencies wanted to learn from it and start similar campaigns in various parts of the country. The MJS and CSRC received requests from other non-governmental organisations to provide them with assistance.

AAN appointed two journalists to study the case and report it in the media. This was very successful. The two journalists subsequently started taking an interest in development issues and are now more involved in media advocacy. Their efforts, and the press conferences in Kathmandu, helped to raise the profile of CSRC and raise awareness amongst other journalists on development issues.

Two academics have also studied the case and have visited the area and talked to the tenants. They have promoted the campaign at various levels and forums thereby raising the profile of the issue

Impact on Development Agencies

For CSRC and AAN this was both a learning and capacity building experience on advocacy work. It made staff realise that advocacy is possible at the grassroots level and that policy can be changed in favour of the poorest.

It also provided a good example of how rights, when properly secured, can help alleviate poverty and provide security to people more than technological interventions.

Further Information

For further information on ActionAid’s work contact the Impact Assessment and Learning Department, ActionAid UK, Hamlyn House, Macdonald Road, Archway, London N19 5PG, England, UK. (Tel: 0171 561 7561 or E-mail: rdavid@actionaid.org.uk ) or Ramesh Khadka, Country Director, ActionAid Nepal, PO box 6257, Kathmandu, Nepal (E-mail: rameshjk@actionaidnepal.org)