NATIONAL ADVOCACY FORUM NEPAL (NAFAN)
10,Kupandole,UN-Park,Lalitput District, Nepal
https://www.advocacyforum.org

The National Forum for Advocacy Nepal (NAFAN) is a non-governmental organization registered in the district administration office of Lalitpur district. It is a non-profit making organization working to uplift the socio–economic condition of marginalized communities by following rights-based approaches to development programming. NAFAN promotes volunteerism in the natural resource management sector Gender-friendly development, biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest and agriculture management, enterprise development, equitable access to natural resources, and mainstreaming unprivileged groups in development are some of the priorities of NAFAN.

NAFAN was founded in June 2004 by professionals trained in human rights, law, environment, and advocacy strategies. The organization was taken as an umbrella of such professionals so that they could share experiences, and lessons and enhance advocacy knowledge and skills of not only NAFAN members but also many other like-minded organizations in Nepal.

NAFAN works with community forest user groups in Nepal and helps build their capacity for accessing external resources and in policy dialogues with the government and international development agencies. An example is the Halkhoriya Collaborative Forest User Group (HCFUG), a forest user group registered under the forest Act (2019) and Forest Regulation (2022) in Division Forest Office (DFO) Bara district of Nepal. HCFUG’s main source of income is timber and non-timber forest products such as biomass, herbs and herbal, etc.As per the forest act and regulation, 70% of the timber and firewood from forest management activities goes to HCFUG to distribute to their members whereas 30% will be the share of the government. The income of HCFUG from sales of forest products are allocated as follows: 25% for different forest conservation and social development activities, 50% for community development, and rest for other purposes.

NAFAN established on 2004 and continuously working with the marginalized people. NAFAN has 25 member organizations in different parts of the country representing forest user groups, indigenous community, federations, NGOs, and cooperatives. NAFAN has 11 members in its governing body where as 15 staff members (full time and part time) are working in different projects.