Civic Engagement Through Critical Action Research: Reflections on Ten Years of Forestaction Nepal Experience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53037/na.v2i1.34Keywords:
NAAbstract
This paper describes a mode of ‘doing civic action’. It is based on the experience of a large NGO in Nepal, ForestAction. It details the method that was developed, termed ‘Critical Action Research’ (CAR). CAR "emphasises learning from practice, collating and communicating critical evidence for transforming policy dialogue while also empowering right holder citizens and their alliances through sharing knowledge counteracting the dominant system". The paper also details the historical and political economic context in which CAR developed, provides examples of how CAR operated at different levels of forest and natural resources governance and outlines the challenges faced by CAR innovators. It suggests ways forward for NGOs wishing to bridge the divide of academic/research, advocacy, and service delivery.
References
Banjade, M. and Ojha, H. 2005. Facilitating deliberative governance: innovations from Nepal's community forestry - a case of karmapunaya. The Forestry Chronicle, 81(3), pp.403-408.
Banjade, M. R., 2012. Learning to improve livelihoods: applying adaptive collaborative approach to forest governance in Nepal. Adaptive collaborative approaches in natural resource governance. London: Routledge.
Bourdieu, P., 1998. Practical reason: on the theory of action. Cambridge: Polity.
Bourdieu, P., Chamboredon, J. C. and Passeron J. C., 1991. The craft of sociology: epistemological preliminaries, de Gruyter.
Cameron, J., 1998. Development thought and discourse analysis: a case study of Nepal. In: K. Bahadur and M. L. Lama, eds. New perspectives on India-Nepal relations. New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications.
Dhital, N., Paudel, K. P. and Ojha, H., 2002. Inventory of community forests in Nepal: problems and opportunities. Kathmandu: ForestAction and LFP.
Eckholm, E. P., 1976. Losing ground: environmental stress and world food prospects. New York: W W Norton.
Escobar, A., 1995. Encountering development: the making and unmaking of the third world. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
ForestAction, 2012. Ban Chautari: a multi-stakeholder dialogue on forest policy issues. Annual review meeting note 30th December, 2011. Indreni complex, Kathmandu. Kathmandu: ForestAction Nepal.
Giri, K., Uprety, D., Ojha, H. and Banjade, M. R., 2011. What does research into use actually mean: a view from the reality of practice. Draft Discussion Paper. Kathmandu: ForestAction.
Gramsci, A., 1990. Culture and ideological hegemony. In: J. C. Alexander and S. Seidman, eds. 1995. Culture and society: contemporary debates. Cambridge: Cambrdige University Press. pp.47-54.
Gurung, N., 2011. Critical action research at ForestAction - some notes and reflections. Kathmandu: ForestAction Nepal.
Habermas, J., 1970. On systematically distorted communication. Inquiry, 13(1-4), pp.205-218.
Heaton Shrestha, C. & Adhikari, R., 2010. Antipolitics, Politics and counterpolitics in Nepal’s civil society – the case of Nepal’s citizens’ movement, Voluntas, 21(3), pp.293-316.
Hull, J., Ojha, H. and Paudel, K. P., 2010. Forest inventory in Nepal – technical power or social empowerment?
Karna, B. K., Shivakoti, G. P. and Webb, E. L., 2010. Resilience of community forestry under conditions of armed conflict in Nepal. Environmental Conservation, 37(02), pp.201-209.
Khatri, D. B., BK, D. and Poudel, N. S., 2012. Consolidating multistakeholder process in forest policy decisions through Ban Chautari (forest dialouge) in Nepal, final report. Kathmandu: ForestAction.
Lama, M. S., 2011. A decade of ForestAction Nepal (2001-2010): a review report. Kathmandu: ForestAction Nepal.
Lewin, K., 1951. Field theory in social science: selected theoretical papers (Edited by Dorwin Cartwright.).
Metz, J., 1995. Development in Nepal: Investment in the status quo. GeoJournal, 35, pp.75-184.
McDougall, C., Ojha, H., Pandey, R. K., Banjade, M. R. and Pandit, B. H., 2007. Enhancing adaptiveness and collaboration in community forestry in Nepal: reflections from participatory action research. In: R.J. Fisher, ed. 2007. Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia.: 52. Bogor: CIFOR and RFF.
McDougall, C., Pandit, B. H., Banjade, M. R., Paudel, K. P., Ojha, H., Maharjan, M., Rana, S., Bhattarai, T. and Dangol, S. 2009. Facilitating forests of learning: enabling an adaptive collaborative approach in community forest user groups, a guidebook. Bogor: CIFOR.
Ojha, H. 2002. A critical assessment of scientific and political aspects of the issue of community forest inventory in Nepal. Kathmandu: ForestAction.
Ojha, H., 2006. Techno-bureuacratic doxa and the challenges of deliebrative governance - the case of community forestry policy and practice in Nepal. Policy and Society, 25(2), pp.131-175.
Ojha, H., Timsina, N. and Khanal, D., 2007. How are forest policy decisions made in Nepal? Journal of Forest and Livelihood, 6(1), pp.1-16.
Ojha, H. R., 2008. Reframing governance: understanding deliberative politics in Nepal's Tarai forestry. New Delhi: Adroit Publishers.
Ojha, H. R., Paudel N. S., Banjade, M. R., McDougall, C. and Cameron, J., 2010. The deliberative scientist: integrating science and politics in forest resource governance in Nepal. In: L. German,
J. J. Ramisch and R. Verma, eds. Beyond the biophysical: knowledge, culture, and politics in agriculture and natural resource management. London: Springer. pp.167-191.
Ojha, H. R., Timsina, N., Kumar, C., Belcher, B. and Banjade, M., 2008. Communities, forests and governance: policy and institutional innovations from Nepal. New Delhi: Adroit Publishers.
Paudel, K. P. and Ojha, H. R., 2008. Contested knowledge and reconciliation in Nepal’s community forestry: a case of forest inventory policy. In: H. R. Ojha, N. P. Timsina, R. B. Chhetri and K. P. Paudel, eds. Knoweldge systems and natural resouces: management, institutions and policy in Nepal. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Limited and IDRC.
Paudel, N. S. and Dhungana, H., 2009. Linking research and policy: emerging issues and innovations in South Asia. South Asia Regional Workshop, 6-7th August 2009. Kathmandu: Nepal.
Tarrow, S. 1996. States and opportunities: the political structuring of social movements. Comparative perspectives on social movements, pp.41-61.
