Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him to fish and he will eat for a life time.”

This motto conveys a message of building self-help and ultimately autonomy in third world countries. Probably the development community in Nepal agrees with the spirit of this motto, but is development happening this way?

Nepal, a landlocked country of many ethnic backgrounds, joined the Colombo Plan for Cooperative, Economic, and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific in 1952. Currently, it is torn between those who applaud the accomplishments of development and those who believe that situation is not as good as expected.

Some professionals working in donor agencies believe that the assistance provided to help the target sector become independent has ironically contributed to increasing dependency instead. It would be wrong to say insignificant improvement has been seen, but it would be fair to say not all inputs have made improvements. Development work has slowly emerged to be a business where foreign policies drive decision-making, rather than economic needs and decisions of the people.

Donors and government would point out that Nepal has made improvements in the fields of health, agriculture, infrastructure, education, and technology. However, some question whether the degree of improvement fits with the amount of outside funds invested in Nepal. Compared to countries like China and India, which have leapt ahead, Nepal has only distinctly improved in some sectors.

When asked about the reason behind the slow progress of Nepal, NGOs working with donor agencies complain about the donors’ rigorous and complicated paper work requirements. Some donors complain about the money not reaching their target due to complicated processes. On the other hand, locals complain of bad project management that spends money on project administration than actually helping the country. It may be that Nepal has justly been branded as a modern feudalistic country with a tradition of corruption

engraved in the system and that addition of money by donor agencies has increased the level of that corruption.

Nepal is still fighting to create its place on the map. It is important to listen to what the people want, rather than telling them what they should have.