Community Score Card: Training Manual launched at Nepal Police Headquarters

Published September 2021

The Community Score Card training manual, a social accountability tool published by International Alert Nepal with funding from UKAID as part of the SAHAJ project, has been launched in collaboration with Nepal Police.

Nepal police officers hold up a training manual at an event — The Community Score Card training manual was jointly inaugurated by IGP Shailesh Thapa Kshetri, FCDO Development Director Nathanael Bevan, additional Inspector Generals of Police, and Alert Nepal Director Rabina Shrestha © Nepal Police

The Community Score Card (CSC) has improved community-police relations and access to security and justice services across 33 municipalities of 14 districts (Province Two and Lumbhini Province).

Launching the manual at Kathmandu Police Headquarters this week, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shailesh Thapa Kshetri said the CSC proved an effective tool in evaluating the state of police-community relations.

“I am confident that this tool will help in strengthening the police relationship with the community,” IGP Thapa said.

Nathanael Bevan, director of development for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, told the audience that UKAID was very proud to be releasing the CSC training manual.

“In the security services, the role of community members and the police is as important, and it is equally important what happens afterwards. Therefore, I would like to recognise that the Community Score Card is an important tool in strengthening police services. It helps more police officers to engage with the community and there will be more trust in policing which leads to effective policing,” the FCDO Development Director said.

Nepal Police plans to include the CSC approach at the local level with the aim of strengthening the community-police partnership, a key part of its strategy to build collaboration between communities and the police and strengthen mutual accountability of both demand and supply sides, for increased safety and security.

International Alert Nepal director Rabina Shrestha acknowledged the work of Nepal Police, UKAID, Integrated Programme for Strengthening Security and Justice (IPSSJ) partners, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the partners in the SAHAJ project to strengthen community-police partnerships.

“Having this manual owned, released, and incorporated in Nepal police’s training and action plan highlights the usefulness and the impact of the approach,” she said.

The CSC is a key approach for Alert to engage with service providers and service seekers to strengthen mutual accountability for greater public trust in the governance processes in Nepal. Alert’s research and analysis has identified that public trust in the governance process in the newly-federalised Nepal is key to the peacebuilding agenda. If the governance processes are strengthened, Nepal would be able to address underlying drivers of conflict and reduce conflict risks.

UKAID has been collaborating with Nepal Police for the past five years to integrate the CSC approach through various projects, leading to adaptions made within the SAHAJ project which yielded results. This highlights the impactful implementation of the SAHAJ project, which aimed to tackle the root causes of gender-based violence (GBV) and improve the capacity of the security and justice system to provide protection and services to the most at-risk women and girls in Nepal through family-centred, school-centred and grassroots-based accountability approaches.

The Community Score Card is adaptable to other areas, such as strengthening local governance, community development agendas and programming to reduce sexual and gender-based violence, so the development of the manual itself is significant for Alert’s future programming.

About the project

The Strengthening Access to Holistic, Gender Responsive and Accountable Justice (SAHAJ) project addresses a key challenge to gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and reduction – the limited understanding of the harmful effects of social norms and practices.

The SAHAJ project aims to tackle the root causes of GBV and improve the capacity of the security and justice system to provide protection and services to the most at-risk women and girls in Nepal, through family-centred, school-centred, and grassroots-based accountability approaches.

The project has designed a strong operational research component to provide lessons and evidence on what works in changing harmful social norms.