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Nepali politics has been paralyzed by the dynamics of tradition and personality rather than issue based agendas. A political leader has immense leverage within his party and so it is very difficult for new and young leaders to emerge in the political scenario if they differ from the line of thinking of the senior leaders. Calling someone who is over 50 year’s old a youth leader is walking the line a bit too far. Times change and policies and leaders themselves need to change accordingly and make way for the younger generation. Not naming names, I heard one prominent youth leader say on television that they have no platform to voice their demands about the Constituent Assembly. But without the participation of the youth in such a vital structure as the Constituent Assembly, it would by no means represent the thoughts, beliefs, ideals, demands and aspirations of the youth of Nepal. In order to overcome this paralysis, it will be necessary to encourage, strengthen, mobilize and nurture individuals and communities, especially the students and youth, across the country to be able to actively resist the spread of violence, to transform conflicts constructively, to regenerate community in areas devastated by war, and to build a concrete vision of what they want through democratic beliefs and practices.
Mariya Petrova (MP): How and why did you get involved with the Alliance for Peace in Nepal?
Dipendra Tamang (DT): Initially, after completing my studies, I started working for an American NGO called the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). While there, I was in charge of the Civic Education program. Working in the field of civic education made me realize that a country is only as good as its citizens. It also gave me a chance to work with the Higher Secondary (10+2) students. Concurrently, the socio-political and security situation in Nepal started to deteriorate rapidly. It was at this time that I met with some young student leaders who had just started an organization entitled the Alliance for Peace and was working to inculcate a culture of peace amongst the students and youth in Nepal. I became really interested in their work and started to become involved by generating ideas for their programs and also acting in an advisory capacity.
After seeing the work being done by the Alliance for Peace for over two years, I felt that if I actually joined full time with the organization, then I could be more useful in helping them implement the programs more effectively. I could work to better realize the full potential of the organization to implement different programs and also at the same time, work to enable and empower the students and youth in Nepal. With this in mind, I took over the programs section of AfP from 2005.
I realized that the students and youth in Nepal were actively participating and felt that if they kept going forward in this direction they could become able leaders to run the country. So, I felt that if we at the AfP could help enable and empower them to become more efficient then we would be helping the country move forward in the right direction. With this objective in mind, we changed our focus from just working for peace and stability towards working to enable and empower the youth in Nepal.
MP: How have the young people in Nepal responded to the work of your organization?
DT: The political parties here in Nepal haven't really done much to give proper kind of trainings to the student and youth leaders on how to fulfill their responsibilities even though the youth have to bear major responsibilities borne down on them by their respective political parties. Therefore, since the Alliance for Peace (AfP) has been conducting forums for and among the youth and students leaders to enable and empower them through capacity building, awareness raising and sensitization programs - which the political parties have neglected - the students and youth have responded really well and positively.
We have had a tremendous response to the work that we have been doing here in Nepal. One of the programs that we are conducting right now is called "Loktantrik Bahas (Democratic Discussions): A forum for Democracy". In this program, we invite a speaker and allow him to hold a discourse for about an hour and thereafter, the floor is open to the participating students for a Q&A session during which they can raise questions on any issues that they don't understand or on which they don't agree. Education in Nepal suffers from narration sickness, so we are conducting this program to inculcate a culture of dialogue amongst the youth. To enable them and give them the confidence to stand up for what they believe in or voice their thoughts on issues that they believe in. Looking at the response from the youth, this program has been hugely successful, as we have received requests from students from various different districts all across the nation to conduct this program in their hometowns.
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Mariya Petrova
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