INTRODUCTION

United Mission to Rural Area (UNMIRA), Nepal is a non-profit, non-political, and non-government organization established in 2007. It is registered at the District Administration Office, Kathmandu and has affiliation with the Social Welfare Council of Nepal. The organization is a value – based organization committed to human centered and ecofriendly sustainable development.

There is a growing realization now that development is a human and internal process and has its roots on peoples’ initiatives and preparedness for change. Past experiences from different sectors have proved that no development can sustain if people do not own the process and that even with prohibitively high cost of implementation, government efforts alone may not yield any fruitful results if people do not participate in the process.

Since people are both the means and the end of development, any development to have a lasting impact on peoples’ lives must be demand-driven, responsive to local needs and sustainable through local knowledge and resources. In the present context of Nepal, the above argument would mean that development efforts must be directed towards mobilizing and empowering the local community. This will enable the community to demand for better services and improve the government delivery system. This assumes the need for more effective partnership between the people and the government in the process of development. Eventually, this will lead to mutual empowerment, that is, people are empowered and the government becomes efficient and responsive to the needs of the people.