Local ownership, which means that development strategies, if they are to be sustainable, must be developed by recipient countries – their governments and people – and they must reflect their priorities, rather than the priorities of donors.

Improved donor coordination, with recipient countries bearing the main responsibilities for coordinating their development cooperation with other countries and institutions.

Stronger partnerships, through the development of compacts that would identify the responsibilities of developing countries and their external partners, as well as those shared by all.

A result-based approach, with improved monitoring and evaluation of development program and,

Good governance. Governance provides the broad setting for development and its quality has a profound effect on development success and aid effectiveness. A number of studies, including the World Bank’s Assessing Aid (1998) and the Role and Effectiveness of Development Assistance (2002) provide compelling evidence that good governance and a sound policy environment are the most important determination of aid effectiveness and development progress.

Building capacity. Enhanced capacity – public and private sectors – is also critical to sustainable development. It is necessary for developing countries to engage effectively in international trade and in the development of multilateral environmental agreements. Past aid programming often failed because it focused on resource transfers and did not provide enough support for local capacity development efforts to sustain these investments once donor countries had withdrawn support.

Engaging civil society. Participatory process, particularly those engaging civil society and the people expected to benefit, are essential to establishing clear, locally owned priorities for development cooperation. They are also critical to ensuring that aid investments help meet the needs of the poorest and most marginalized people in a society.

CIDA recognises that community-based approaches and self-governance have limitations. While operating at the community level, the program will support the strengthening of linkages between CBOs and relevant district and national organisations, including government where feasible. CIDA also may, through multi-donor approaches, support capacity building of government institutions where there is an obvious tie-in to our program objectives. Opportunities to do this, however, are expected to be limited during the next 18 months given the ongoing conflict and lack of elected local government representatives.

Policy feedback and sharing of experience will ensure the impact of CIDA's program is broadened beyond the communities in which we work. Priority will be given to participating in government and donor working groups on health, agriculture, decentralization, conflict & security, gender, and environment. Through these groups, CIDA will strive to influence HMGN and donors to ensure their policies and programs are inclusive and sensitive to the needs and interests of poor rural communities, women and marginalised groups. Efforts and resources will be devoted to increasing the quality of CIDA's participation in these fora, through strengthened knowledge and analytical capabilities in the program's sectors of focus.

Synergy will be pursued with multilateral and partnership programs operating in Nepal. Of particular importance will be to engage the peacebuilding and humanitarian assistance programs, as well as DFA, in ensuring an appropriate Canadian response to the conflict.

Following are the key findings of the study:

Limited access of marginalized, remote areas to development projects

Relationships with CPN-Maoists

Community responses to the conflict

promoting equitable socio-economic growth through integrated rural development, rural health, and food security in mid-western region;

further developing and strengthening energy planning and implementation capabilities including environmentally sustainable energy and

Supporting Nepal’s rural transportation strategy by improving domestic civil aviation infrastructure, management capability, and enhanced airport safety and security.

In integrated rural development, the greatest achievement was building the socio-economic infrastructure and confidence of farmers in the most remote districts.

A key learning from past projects is that communities and community groups can bring about social transformation, economic development, and effective and equitable governance if they are: