Over the course of the week in Kathmandu, COCAP slowly unveiled its expectations for their Advocacy Project Fellows. Essentially I am to concentrate on three major tasks. My top priority is to develop and write a collective grant proposal involving all of the 11 COCAP members in Nepal’s Mid-Western Development Region. Secondly I will offer to do trainings about writing proposals and reports in English if it is desired. My third responsibility is to provide any support that the COCAP member organizations might require of me, which basically will involve editing and writing in English.

Without going into the specifics of these tasks (and how they are relevant to the goals of the Advocacy Project), the most basic thing they all require is for me to build a relationship with each of the 11 member organizations. This has not proven to be an easy task. Simple geography dictates that I cannot physically go to the offices of five of the 11 members, those offices are located six to ten hours from Nepalgunj. I plan on meeting representatives from those five offices at various summits that will be held during the summer.

So this week my goal was to have the six possible meetings, but for a variety of reasons (two bandas, an electricity and phone outage, and a funeral attended by my COCAP colleague Krishna) I have only managed to have meetings with two organizations in my first week of work. Both groups were responsive to me and what I am trying to do, and both meetings were very interesting. Unfortunately two good meetings falls far short of what I require before I can really start putting together a proposal that is actually collective.

My first meeting was at AFHA (Active Forum for Human Rights Awareness.) AFHA is a group that works through children’s and youth groups to promote human rights. They help make the kids into advocates for human rights by forming clubs or kids from different ethnic and social backgrounds, teaching them about human rights, and also often doing youth journalism programs. I met with the AFHA staff, and then immediately afterwards I met with an affiliated NGO called Suhayatra Nepal. Suhayatra is a youth activist network staffed by high school students who do a weekly radio show and monthly magazine about politics in Nepal. I had a lively discussion with some of the Suhayatra volunteers about the state of the Nepali youth and what role they can play in the constituent assembly elections.

My second meeting was at ENRUDEC (Environment and Rural Development Center.) ENRUDEC is a small organization that works mainly on income generating projects among the rural poor. Whereas the atmosphere at AFHA was active and energetic and the meeting was conducted in a room with bright posters plastering every wall, ENRUDEC’s office was two small, poorly lit rooms and a single chair where a single receptionist sits. Everything in the office looks aged, with even the posters on the wall having changed from white to an aged yellow. ENRUDEC is suffering from a financial crisis typical of a small NGO’s and because of that they spend most of their money and time in the field, leaving the office sorely neglected. At ENRUDEC I had an animated discussion with a program manager about what NGOs should be doing during this transitional period of Nepal’s political formation. Everyday I feel more confident debating Nepali politics and this discussion marked my first attempt at disagreeing with a Nepali about Nepali politics. It went over well and I left the meeting more confident about my ideas about how to approach writing a collective proposal.

Each meeting was very valuable and I did not only learn about the specific NGOs, but I also learned about COCAP the network. COCAP in Kathmandu is a very clear and established entity that can mobilize its network and resources quickly and effectively. Out here the network is looser and the relationships less clearly defined. Both NGOs struggled to give me clear ways in which they have benefited from their joining of COCAP. I think they all recognize the potential benefits, but until the regional network is strengthened they will not be realized. That is why creating a collective proposal is so important. Just the simple process of having meetings and discussing collective action will bring the network closer together. In that sense perhaps my greatest use will not result from what I do, but rather from my being here. I provide a great excuse to start this dialogue and to build these relationships. So despite the early setbacks I will keep pushing for meetings and just keep trying to make my presence known.