24 April 2019, Kathmandu
Civic-Political Dialogue on Four Years of Post-Quake Reconstruction: Socio-Cultural Perspective was organized on 24 April, 2019 in Kathmandu collaboratively by National Alliance for Human Rights and Social Justice–Nepal (Human Rights Alliance), Humanitarian Accountability Monitoring Initiative (HAMI), NGO Federation of Nepal, Right to Food Network Nepal (RtFN), Food-first Information and Action Network (FIAN) Nepal. Hon’ble Min Bahadur Shahi, member of National Planning Commission; Dr. Chandra Bahadur Shrestha, Executive Committee Member of National Reconstruction Authority; Bed Prasad Bhattarai, Secretary of National Human Rights Commission Nepal; Sita Sundas, President of the Association of District Coordination Committee of Nepal (ADCCN); Gauri Pradhan, Former Spokesperson of NHRC and Civil Society Activist; Ram Prasad Subedi, Secretary General of NGO Federation Nepal were guests in the program. The program was chaired by Pom Narayan Poudel, Vice-Chairperson of Human Rights Alliance. The program was moderated by Bidur Subedi, HAMI.
In the program, papers were presented by the experts on concerning areas associated with post-quake reconstruction. Dr. Padma Prasad Khatiwada, Human Rights Alliance; Manohar Thapa, Deputy Spokesperson of NRA; Dr. Netra Prasad Timsina SAAPE; Lily Thapa, Women for Human Rights (WHR); Nirmal Upreti, Forum for Nation Building (FNB) Nepal. In the program, Min Bahadur Shahi, guest of the program viewed that overall reconstruction progress has been satisfactory. Learning from the earthquake, upcoming 15th Plan has prioritized DRR area aiming ensure effective preparedness in all aspects (policy, institutions, resource, execution and monitoring). Chandra Bahadur Shrestha, guest of the program addressed the issues raised in the program. He stated that reconstruction has made 80% progress in four years and NRA is determined to complete individual housing reconstruction in a year from now; whereas, other sectors’ reconstruction will also be completed in near future. Representatives from governments, federations, different organizations that are working in reconstruction, media also shared their views on reconstruction that has not been up to the progress that people have been expecting. Meanwhile, they asserted that government has to ensure social justice based reconstruction by prioritizing the vulnerable families at first.
