Oxfam Novib

Oxfam together with Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC), and with research by Dr. Navin Rai, examined the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) and FMO’s (Dutch Development Bank) implementation of its Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) commitment at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydroelectric project at Rasuwa Nepal. IFC is the lead arranger of the debt package for the UT-1 hydroelectric project involving eight other lenders among them the Dutch Development Bank, FMO. The financing is provided to the privately-owned Nepal Water and Energy Development Company (NWEDC) that is majority owned by the Korean Southeast Power Corporation. The research assessed and compared the extent to which the NWEDC’s interpretation of FPIC aligns with best practice andthe Oxfam definition of FPIC,and whether NWEDC behavior and process aligns with FPIC requirements as defined in IFC’s performance standards 7 on indigenous peoples. IFC’s performance standards 7 on indigenous peoples will be the primary standard againstwhich FPIC implementation will be evaluated, since FMO has adopted IFC’s performance standards. This research provided communities with the opportunity to express their views on how agreement-making with communities has taken place, how consent has beenreached, and how FPIC has been implemented. Documenting and sharing lessons learned with stakeholders nationally and globally is key in improving the situation for the affected communities of the Trishuli dam, as well as FPIC practices in Nepal, and around the world. This report follows and builds on research, carried out by LAHURNIP in 2017, in Rasuwa District. This research highlighted key concerns from communities related to inadequate consultation and engagement in decision making. In 2018 in a three-month period, an FPIC process took place, even though we can challenge the fact that the Free and Prior components were already violated, as land was acquired already back in 2011 and 2012. The need for Phase IV of the Advocacy Program (April 2025 –March 2026) stems from the notable progress achieved during Phases I, II, and III. These phases led to significant outcomes, including the inclusion of three additional villages in the IPP, raising the total number of beneficiary villages to 13. They alsoresulted in the development and endorsement of comprehensive IPP guidelines and the establishment of strong, cooperative relationships between the company, project team, and community members. Additionally, each village demonstrated their commitment by designing their own IPP programs and budgets based on their real needs, and the implementation of IPPs began in real field settings in 2024. Despite these accomplishments, there remain critical areas that require further intervention and strengthening. Onepressing issue is the need to increase the overall IPP budget to align with the specific needs of each of the 13 villages, ensuring it effectively reflects the priorities of the communities. Another crucial area is the expansion of the IPP's scope and budget to address the communities' requirements for additional land purchase for relocation support to seven vulnerable communities. Phase IV of the advocacy program will focus on tackling these challenges, further fortifying the program to meet the evolvingneeds of the communities and ensure its continued success.

Nepal will utilize two pronged approaches: (i) Deepening and diversifying the ongoing work of SDHS in two districts of SudurpaschimProvince as a core impact site; and (ii) Expanding in a new district in Karnali Province as a scaling out/up site. The project will benefit a total of 15,000 beneficiaries (2,500 direct and an additional 12,500 indirect beneficiaries) through partnerships with governments (local to national), CSOs and networks, and development partners with similar priorities active in the regions. In 2024, the project will establish partnerships with government, National Federation of Farmers Group (NFGF), Community Seed Bank Association of Nepal (CSBAN), Land Rights and Right to Food Networks, and value chain actors and private sectors. Global Partners and Allies will include (1) Agroecology Coalition: The program partner (LI-BIRD) will join the Agroecology coalition and contribute to the Agroecology Campaign by sharing the ground evidence and documentation and forge collaboration to strengthen the Agroecology movement in Nepal. (2) Farmer Managed Systems Group led by Oxfam Novib and CRS: The program will actively contribute on issues related to farmer-managed seed systems by sharing Nepal learnings in Farmer's Variety Registration and Source Maintenance Forum. The program will actively participate and engage in organising workshops and side events in relevant international forums such as CBD and ITPGRFA. (3) International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): IFAD is supporting Nepalgovernment in developing a project based on agroecology entitled ‘Resilient High-Value Agriculture Project (R-HVAP)’ to be implemented in Sudurpaschim, Karnali and Lumbini Provinces. LI-BIRD contributed significantly to the design of this project, and expects to collaborate during the implementation phase.

Mahakali Basin in general, and select local governments situating in Darchula, Baitadi, Dadeldhura and Kanchanpur districts of Sudurpashim province will be the main geographical areas for the research activities to be implemented by IWMI Nepal. Agriculture —growing wheat, paddy rice, barley, maize, vegetables, potato and garlic in small scale, rearing livestock, collecting and crushing sandsand mines from the Mahakali river and its tributaries, seasonal migration, mostly India, small-scale enterprises,and salaried jobs are the main sources of livelihoods of communities in the areas. Men are involved as fishers; men and women also gather sand and stones from the river and crush them to produce construction materials (Oxfam Nepal). Most of the trade forthe marginalized communities is from Nepal to neighboring country India, where they sell sand and gravel, fish and vegetables to the larger markets. o Historical background, Impact, outcomes up to now and their limits (brief about TROSA previous phase work- if applicable). o Existing capacities (Oxfam and partners) Data from a scoping study conducted in May 2022 at Federal level through the NEXUS Gains Initiative of CGIAR, suggests that conceptual understandings to address challenges posed by climatechange in the Water-Energy-Food and Environment (WEFE) are currently limited among WEFE sector actors in Nepal (Buchy et al 2022). Hence, the starting point to develop awareness andthe tools to encourage WEFE actors to work together at the basin scale butalso at Federal, Provincial and Local levels will be to strengthen the capacity of actors. In addition to knowledge gaps, key informant indicated organisational, attitudinal, and human resource-related challenges. These challenges vary in levels of acuteness across types of actors and issues. To develop and implement aWEFE nexus approach in the Mahakali, capacity building efforts must address each of these key challenges as they pertain to diversegroups and contexts. Interviews with women professionals in WEFE sectors in Nepal at federal level also show that women working for the GoN continue to be side-lined and overlooked. Although the women interviewed were confident about their own knowledge and skill sets, irrespective of their age and level of seniority, they felt that they needed to constantly prove themselves. Women across all stakeholder groups feel they need confidence building to navigate patriarchal work environments as much as they need to further their knowledge and skills in nexus sciences. They also expressed the need to develop a reflexive understanding of how social norms impede men and women in their work, and how these norms are (often subconsciously) perpetuated. In addition to capacity issues, respondents at federal level also pointed out the institutional and policy bottlenecks accentuated by the implementation of federalism. Provinces and local governments are responsible for developing some natural resource management policies, but they can’t take leadership in transboundaryissues. Building on the community mobilization done during TROSA 1 we propose to strengthen the capacity of elected representatives and local administrative staff in understanding the challenges posed by the climate crisis especially for women. It is therefore important to map out in parallel to mapping the upstream/downstream conditions within the basin the institutional context along the riparian municipalities of the Mahakali River to assess knowledge, skills, and policy gaps. We propose for year 1and2 to implement our activity on the Nepal side of the basin but could explore if additional funding was secured and the work in Nepal proved useful to undertake work on the India side with the help of IWMI India in subsequent years. The insights generatedfrom the institutional analysis, and knowledge generated during TROSA 1, will support the curriculum development of leadership training in line with TROSA’s interest in developing women and youth leadership. IWMI will roll out a leadership trainingcycle at the federal level in 2023 and lessons from this pilot will also be integrated within this proposed training cycle at Municipality level starting most likely towards the end of 2023.

o Basin-level context analysis: ICIMOD contributes T2:3R by employing a multiscale approach. At the sub-basin level, our efforts will be focused on the Mahakali and Teesta rivers, where we will be addressing the water-energy-food-ecosystem (WEFE) nexus.It is noteworthy that in Phase 1 of the Third Pole Environment (TROSA) program, we have identified the sub-basin level as an appropriate scalefor conducting case studies and identifying opportunities and challenges in nexus implementation. At the basin level, our efforts will be directed towards the Brahmaputra basin. ICIMOD has a wealth of experience in supporting basin-scale knowledge networks. Furthermore, we recognize the advantages of cross-learning opportunities between basins, such as the Ganges,Brahmaputra, and Meghna. The IRBM capacity strengthening will also take a multi-scale approach. o Historical background, Impact, outcomes up to now and their limits ICIMOD played an important role in Phase 1 of the project by providing technical support to the Community Based Flood Early Warning System (CBFEWS), as well as developing a framework for the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) nexus in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. Additionally, ICIMOD contributed significantly to the gender discussion and promoted regional cooperation. CBFEWS is one of ICIMOD's most successful endeavors, having been piloted with ICIMOD's technical support in the Rangoon river in Mahakali. CBFEWS has since been scaled out to numerous locations in Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and has even been replicated in Malawi with ICIMOD's assistance. But, but in the context of South Asia the coverage of CBFEWS is minimal.

Oxfam in Nepal conducts preparatory activities to build a strong foundation for implementation of four-year TROSA phase 2. These foundations lead for ready to implementation of TROSA phase II year I activities upon the receival of approval. The key preparatory activities include development of OPAL system , Risk assessment and due diligence of the existing partners, recruitment of human resources, development of detail project plan of year I. The inception activities further include direct support/technical contribution to PMU for the co-production of gender strategy, communications and knowledge management strategy, youth engagement strategy, policy advocacy and influencing strategy. One inception workshop is planned among transboundary water governancestakeholders of Mahakali basin to share Oxfam’s four-year plan and also seek potential feedback from the stakeholders. In addition to that, Oxfam will organizecapacity development workshop for partners that helps partners to understand the project strategies, challenges and opportunities and develop joint action plan through the consultation of stakeholders of Mahakali basin. It helps in smooth management of TROSA project which further ensures basin level results improving transboundary water cooperationto strengthen resilience of riparian communities to the impacts of climate change. It further builds the capacity of partner to ensure five principles (consistency, timeliness, justification, documentation, and certification) of financial management whichhelps in aligning compliances of Oxfam and donor.

Oxfam in Nepal will be the overall coordinator: fund management in Nepal; sub-granting to partners according to joint planning; contribution with knowledge of various aspects of a landscape approach (participative water management, Agro-biodiversity, disaster risk reduction, Women’s Economic Empowerment) and on engagement of other actors like governments and private sector. Four local partners (CSRC, ICIMOD, LI-BIRD and NEEDS) will implement the project in Nepal. CSRC: Contribution on land rights of landless and land-poorfamilies, disaster risk reduction, risk sensitive land use planning, participatory landuse mapping, engagement with local authorities, advocacy and campaigning based on action research, link to Land rigths’ Forum. ICIMOD: research andknowledge generation on and network in relation to (transboundary) Landscape Approach in the region; cooperation with national governments; diversification of livelihoods, ecosystem services (like REDD+), agro-biodiversity, policy influencing, LI-BIRD: engagement with local institutions, governments and private sector actors; knowledge on agro-biodiversity and agro-ecological production; diversification of livelihoods; payment for ecosystem services; NEEDS: contribution on water governance, women’s economic empowerment, advocacy and engagement with local authorities and private sector actors.