Government efforts alone are not enough to cope with the problems of pervasive poverty, mass illiteracy and backwardness of women. Hence they need to work together with NGOs and civil society to achieve these goals. In this regard, NGOs are playing a pivotal role in social transformation, people’s empowerment, rural development activities by supporting lobbies and advocacy groups working for the welfare of the needy people. Restoration of democracy has put a sense of emancipation into people. The 1990 people’s movement guaranteed the freedom to form professional organisations and assemble under the umbrella of larger bodies.

Traditionally, the NGOs were seen as social organisations working towards delivering services to the poor, disabled, socio-economically backward and exploited segments of our society. But the NGOs now are also working directly to end poverty, inequality and discrimination in the society. We can see a clear shift from their ‘welfare approach’ to ‘development approach’. In a third-world country like Nepal, NGOs are akin to the government’s appendages in development initiatives. In Nepal’s context, NGOs are synonymous with development and social transformation. The dearth of resources ties down the government’s hands in development. Hence programmes like poverty reduction and regional balance, also the prime objectives of the Fifth Plan, must be launched in cooperation with the NGOs and civil society. Towards this end, resources of both governmental and non-governmental sectors must be optimally used through a creative and result-oriented approach.

Development initiatives will remain a myth if the government tries to go at it alone. The NGOs’ catalytic role in the development of backward societies and poor people should not be forgotten. The present scenario provides the perfect background for uniting the efforts of the Non-governmental Organisations and the government for local development but it depends upon the collective effort of the governmental and non-governmental sectors.

The role of local government bodies cannot be undermined if we are to take a viable, people-centred development approach. For this purpose, local line agencies and NGOs need to work together. Duplication of work and failure to disseminate information on development activities hinder progress in poor regions. This has also resulted in unequal distribution of vital resources. How can we ensure proper mobilisation of resources in order to reduce poverty? Clearly, a proper mechanism to bring together the efforts of local line agencies, non-governmental actors and other concerned stakeholders is called for.

The priority of any developmental effort should be: developing means to coordinate between Non-govermental Organisations and local authorities in terms of mobilisation of local resources as provided for by the local government Act; dissemination of information about the ways to create an amicable environment for working together with the district level line agencies; mainstreaming local development initiatives of NGOs and GO sector within a clear framework; and planning on the part of the government line agencies to utilise local resources and alleviate poverty through people-cantered activities.