Locus and Focus of Third Sector in Development of Nepal

After state and market, NGO regards as third sector in the field of development. NGO produce positive impact on all dimension in marginalized society of developing country like Nepal. To assess the status of non-governmental organization of Nepal in provincial and district level and to identify their prospects and challenges, this article is prepared as the title “locus and focus of third sector in development of Nepal”. It is mainly based on the secondary data of social welfare council, Nepal. Information regarding objectives was collected through various search engines by simple literature review. The status of I/NGO is found unequal at provincial and district level in Nepal. Bagmati province is in top-most position in terms of number of NGO followed by province-2 and province-1. Karnali province is lowest position in terms of number of NGO followed by Sudur Paschim province and Gandaki province. Federalism requires balance development in intra-province and inter-provinces. Being a vehicle of foreign donors to channel their help to the marginalized communities, I/NGO must play effective roles to solve the problem of people neglected by state and market. The joint efforts of all development partners including I/NGO are mandatory to meet financial sustainability and balanced development in Nepal. The governance system transformed from unitary to federal structure in Nepal. Local, provincial, and federal level governments are facing huge resource gaps to perform their roles and responsibilities. The role and responsibility of development partner including I/NGO are vital to fulfilling these gaps. Easy registration process and weak monitoring system of government as well as lack of transparency in I/NGO are the notable issues to address without delay. To meet national commitment “Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali” and to fulfill the target of sustainable development goals, joint efforts of all sector like state, market ,I/NGO, cooperative , private sector, international community are mandatory with the visionary and coordinating leadership of federal government of Nepal. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/wjssr World Journal of Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1, 2021 5 Published by SCHOLINK INC.


Introduction
In development field, state and market competes with each other to make dominant role. Socialism fosters the role of state to regulate development intervention. Capitalism fosters the role of market to lead development from commanding height. By realizing status, authority, investment capacity, and responsibility, state and market are labeling as first and second sectors in development. There is also third sectors in development field, i.e., non-governmental organizations, which are voluntary by nature.
They exist and operate with flexible organizational forms between states and markets mechanism. State is welfare oriented. Market is profit oriented. NGO are service oriented. Through development, state aims to create welfare society. Through development, market aims to create materialistic society.
Although state and market have appreciable motto, they excluded different section of society from their circle. To fulfill the gap created by state and market, NGO emerged in development field during 1980s to offer services for needy people, who are bypassed from state and market mechanism. NGO aims to create egalitarian society through development. NGO is defined as "self-governing, private, not-for-profit organizations that are geared to improving the quality of life for disadvantaged people" (vakil, 1997). Emergence of alternative development practices and growth of neo liberal policies created favorable environment to flourish NGO in the field of development. The appreciative roles of NGO in development activities are catalyst to change, partner of development agencies, and effective implementer of development programs. Private character, unaccountable nature, and untrustworthy result in poverty alleviation are highly pointed critics associated with NGO worldwide. People praise NGO in the field of development due to its flexible nature, cost-effective operation, and innovative character.
NGO performs the role of implementers, catalysts and partners in the field of development. The implementer role concerned for mobilizing resources to offer goods and services to needy people. A catalyst role concerned for inspiring people to become change agent in society. The role of partner reflects to work with government, donors and the private sector on joint activities (Lewis, 2007). Nepal has long history of self help organization to fulfill needs and demands of people. They were religious, social, legal and financial in nature. Nepal's dhikuri rotating credit groups are age-old institutions in which households pool resources into a central fund and then take turns in borrowing and repaying (Chhetri, 1995

Objectives
This study has twin goals: a) to analyze the status of third sector in development of Nepal, and b) to explore role as well as strength and weakness of third sector in development of Nepal.

Method
This study is mainly based on the secondary data. Data of social welfare council is the source of this study. Other necessary information collected through various search engines by simple literature review.
Analysis of data is performing through using tables and figures in descriptive way.

Evolution of NGO
NGOs have a philosophy that recognizes centrality of people in development policies. They foster local participation and gave them certain 'comparative advantages' over government and public sector elites (Cernea, 1988

Role of NGO in the Context of Development Theory
The agenda of development for upgrading pre-capitalist society into modern capitalist society promoted by Modernization theory during 1960s rarely mentioned the role of NGO for the march of progress and prosperity. The agenda of development for peripheral countries to become free and independent from colonized core countries advocated by dependency theory during 1970s realized important of social movements but not NGO for liberation and freedom. Modernization theory and dependency theory rarely acknowledged the role of NGO in development.
The agenda of development for establishing and reforming institution promoted by institutionalism realized the prominent role of NGO for providing services to people. NGO related institution performs better role than State related institution and market related institution in development field due to its non-profit motive and dedicated nature of work done.
Neo-liberalism focused to place market mechanism on commanding height to regulate economy and  destroy local civilization and sustenance. NGO and development are considering as dynamite for progress and prosperity in terms of local perspectives.

Provincial status of NGO
Nepal is declared as a federal democratic republic in 2015 officially. It has 7 powerful autonomous provinces and 77 districts. There is unequal status in provinces in terms of various aspects. Karnali province is the largest and province-2 is the smallest in area. Bagmati province scores the highest HDI value (0.66) in 2020 AD, followed by Gandaki province (0.62), province-1 (0.58), lumbini province (0.563), sudur paschim province (0.547), Karnali province (0.538), and Province-2 (0.51). This score proves that there is uneven distribution of development in Nepal.

Status of NGO in province-2
The capital of province 2, the smallest province in terms of area, is Janakpur. It occupies hardly 7%   followed by Mahottari (15.3%) and Rauthat (15%). Siraha district has lowest number of NGOs (6.7%), followed by Sarlahi (11.4%) and Bara (11.5%). A bitter truth is that the number of NGOs is low in Siraha district, where large number of schedule caste reside.

Status of NGO in Bagmati province
The capital of Bagmati province, the largest province in population, is Hetauda. It occupies nearly 14% (20,300 sq KM) of the total area of Nepal. Around 21% (55, 29,452) population of Nepal resided in this province. It has 13 districts, 3 metropolitan cities, 1 sub-metropolitan city, 41 municipalities, and 74 rural municipalities. In this province, Kathmandu district has largest number of NGOs (61.5%) followed by Lalitpur (11.6%) and Chitwan (5.4%).Rasuwa district has lowest number of NGOs (0.5%), followed by Dolakha (1.39%) and Sindhuli (1.5%). Figure 4; prove that the number of NGOs and degree of accessibility is directly proportionate in this province.

Status of NGO in Gandaki province
The capital of Gandaki province, popular province for tourism, is Pokhara. It occupies nearly 14.6% (21,504 sq KM) of the total area of Nepal. Just over 9% (24, 13,907) population of Nepal resided in this province. It has 11 districts, 1 metropolitan city, 26 municipalities, and 58 rural municipalities.

Figure 5. Distribution of NGOs by Districts in Gandaki Province
Data source: social welfare council Figure 5 reveals that Gandaki province has altogether 3834 NGOs operated under the affiliation of social welfare council. Except Nawalpur, All districts of this province cover hill and mountain regions.
In this province, Kaski district has largest number of NGOs (33.3%) followed by Gorkha (14.3%) and Tanahun (12%).Manang district has lowest number of NGOs (0.5%), followed by Mustang (1.2%) and Myagdi (2.2%). Fig-5, prove that the number of NGOs is low in northern belt district, where people have hardship in their livelihood.

Status of NGO in Lumbini province
The capital of lumbini province, birth place of Gautam Buddha, is Bhalubang. It occupies nearly 15% (22,228 sq KM) of the total area of Nepal. Around 18.5% (48, 91,025) population of Nepal resided in this province. It has 12 districts, 4 sub-metropolitan cities, 32 municipalities, and 73 rural municipalities. Palpa (4.4%). Fig-6, prove that the number of NGOs is high in industrial area.

Status of NGO in Karnali province
The capital of Karnali province, the largest province in area and the smallest province in population is Surkhet .It occupies 19 % (27,984 sq KM) of the total area of Nepal. Only 4.4 % (11,68,515) population of Nepal resided in this province. It has 10 districts, 25 municipalities, and 54 rural municipalities.

Figure 7. Distribution of NGOs by Districts in Karnali Province
Data source: social welfare council Figure 7 reveals that Karnali province has altogether 2108 NGOs operated under the affiliation of social welfare council. All districts of this province have homogeneous status in terms of socio-economic and geographical condition. In this province, Surkhet district has largest number of NGOs (19.4%) followed by Kalikot (11.6%) and Mugu (11.1%).Western Rukum district has lowest number of NGOs (4.5%), followed by Dolpa (5.6%) and Jajarkot (8.5%).

Figure 8. Distribution of NGOs by Districts in Sudur Paschim Province
Data Source: Social Welfare Council Germany (6.9%).

Figure 9. Distribution of INGO by Country in Nepal
Data source: social welfare council 4.3.10 Annual growth of NGO in Nepal Figure 10 shows the growth of NGO in Nepal during 1977 to 2019 AD. After the restoration of democracy in 1990 the growth rate of NGO increases rapidly.NGO favored policies adopted by democratic government was responsible to rapid increase of NGOs in Nepal.

Strength and weakness of I/NGO
The World Bank defines NGOs as "private organizations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services or undertake community development" (Malena, 1995). NGO is a developmental organization to play catalytic role for fostering people's participation and empowering them with the motives of non-profitable and non-lost basis. NGO is a broad term to indicate a wide scope of diverse organizations. The most commonly identified strength of NGO sectors are: strong grassroots links; field-based development expertise; the ability to innovate and adapt; process-oriented approach to development; participatory methodologies and tools; long-term commitment and emphasis on sustainability; cost-effectiveness. The most commonly identified weaknesses of the NGO sector include: limited financial and management expertise; limited institutional capacity; low levels of self-sustainability; isolation/lack of inter-organizational communication and/or coordination; small scale interventions; lack of understanding of the broader social or economic context (Clark, 1991).
In Nepalese context, there is blame of people for NGO as just focusing on propaganda events. Some NGO plays role to deteriorate harmonious relationship among the people of different castes, ethnic groups, gender, religion, and region by initiating hatred against one another. Nepalese people are blaming that INGOs come here with their own agenda for promoting market policy and religious policy.
They are blaming as the agent of imperialism. NGOs are accused for being misused as the source of income of a particular family under the guise of volunteer service and involved in dollar earning.
The central government can mobilize foreign aid received from multilateral/bilateral development agencies as well as I/NGO as provisioned in Article 59(6) and Schedule 5(5) of the new constitution.
There is provision at schedule 6(2) on the constitution for provincial government to get foreign grants and other form of help through various development agencies with the consent of central government.
Provincial and local governments have no right to receive foreign grants directly.
The new set-up may bring challenges in the form of registration and approval of I/NGO between federal and provincial governments. The support of local governments may be challenging considering the clash in priorities of local governments and I/NGOs. I/NGOs have a fixed mandate and specific objective on their areas of work. The flexibility is negligible for I/NGOs while implementing projects.
This may create conflict between local governments and I/NGOs. Aid scattered in many smaller projects has caused fragmentation with high transaction costs and additional burden for both the government and development partners (Joshi, 2018).

Conclusion
The roles of I/NGO are vital for solving enormous problems in developing countries like Nepal.
Although NGO lead strategy considers as piece meal approach of development, its contribution is meaningful than state and market in marginalized communities of remote rural area. I/NGO contribute to fulfill the gaps created by state and market during the march of development.