A two-day “District Visioning Workshop” held in Bardiya district, from 8 to 10 March 2010, produced “District Vision for Kailali 2030”, a nine-member committee with a mandate to devise strategies and action plans in coordination with district government line agencies for the fulfilment of the vision.

Around 30 representatives from district government line agencies, municipalities, local chambers of commerce and industry (CCIs), civil society and political parties gathered and discussed plans and hopes for the district of Kailali in the two-day workshop.

Mr. Nibedan Baidya, GIZ/INCLUDE Senior Programme Officer, presented the opening paper on the concept of Local and Regional Economic Development (LRED). The workshop was moderated by consultant Dr. Binod Bhatta who started the workshop by dividing participants into three groups to discuss positive happenings and success stories of different sectors in Kailali. The same groups were then asked to come up with a single vision statement from the pool of vision statements each participant had contributed. Thus, the final vision was stated as such:

“Rich in agriculture, tourism, bio- and cultural diversity;
country’s pioneer in commerce and quality of life.”

Once the vision was defined, the participants were then divided in two groups to work on the opportunities and challenges of the areas prioritised by the vision statement – Agriculture, Industry, Tourism, Natural Resources, Social Justice, Culture, Education, Health and Infrastructure.

The afore-mentioned committee will have organisational representation(s) from different institutions such as the Kailali CCI, Local Development Office, Dhangadhi Municipality, Tikapur Municipality, Tikapur Municipal CCI, Ilum Plus, Nepal Indigenous & Ethnic Federation, and Kailali CCI. Representatives from political parties will act as advisors to the committee. The secretariat of the committee will be established at the Kailali Chamber of Commerce and Industry.