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PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 28, 2008

Switzerland and Germany support Forum’s work in Nepal

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) are providing the Forum of Federations with a total of $500,000 to fund the Forum’s Federalism capacity-building work in Nepal.

The overall goal of the program is to support the restructuring of the state of Nepal along federal lines by:

• Enhancing knowledge of federalism among political party leaders as a constitutional tool to accommodate Nepal’s diversity.
• Building the capacity of the Constituent Assembly members, and members of a thematic committee mandated to deal with federalism - to participate meaningfully in drafting a new constitution.
• Increasing public understanding about federalism, its principles and mechanisms by demystifying this form of governance.
• Enhancing knowledge of federalism and its teaching within institutions of higher education in Nepal.

Nepal has opted for a federal system because it is expected to help alleviate poverty, promote development and curb discrimination against oppressed minorities.

As a result, other questions to be addressed are the:

• nature and extent of powers to be allocated to the future constituent units, which may be called provinces, states or federal units,
• degree of flexibility in the distribution and redistribution of powers,
• taxing powers and spending responsibilities of each order of government

Deciding these issues will involve difficult negotiations between the 25 political parties that are represented in Nepal’s 601-member assembly.

To implement its program the Forum is assisted by Mr Sanjeev Pokharel who works out of the Forum’s office in Kathmandu.

Thus far in Nepal, Forum officials have given presentations explaining the tenets of federalism to a variety of groups. The Forum also co-hosted a three-day workshop to review and fine-tune a draft English-Nepali glossary of federalism terms prepared by a team of national experts.

In the coming months the Forum will produce learning materials and hold workshops on federalism and governance for key players in the federalism debate and arrange for a three-week training on India’s federal system in New Delhi for Nepali officials and opinion makers.

The SDC’s financial support extends until March 31 2011, while GTZ’s runs until 2009.

For further information, contact Forum staff at 1-613-244-3360:
Roderick Macdonell, Director of Communications, ext. 203 (macdonell@forumfed.org)
Carl Stieren, Program Manager, ext. 207 (stieren@forumfed.org)
Rita Champagne, Administrative Assistant, ext. 215 (champagne@forumfed.org)