Balkrishna Raya
Judicial Committee Member,
Bhimeshwor Municipality, Dolakha
The conflict over water source use between the Charikot Drinking Water Committee and the Sushpa Community Forest had escalated to the point that any attempt by drinking water committee members to enter the community forest area could have led to physical confrontation.
There were incidents of pipeline removal, police intervention, and repeated discussions at ward, municipal, and Judicial Committee levels, yet no meaningful progress was achieved. The conflict had become so entrenched that even the Mayor and Deputy Mayor could not bring the parties together.
When NRCTC-Nepal initiated the Spider-Web conflict transformation process, I was initially skeptical. Having witnessed numerous unsuccessful attempts to resolve the conflict, I doubted that a community-based facilitation approach could succeed where formal mechanisms had failed. However, as facilitators and spider group members patiently engaged with communities through a series of community-level dialogues, listening to every stakeholder and building trust step by step, I began to witness a remarkable change. The process encouraged meaningful participation, gradually transformed attitudes, and created a shared understanding among all concerned parties.
Looking back, I now realize that sustainable solutions are achieved when the conflicting parties take ownership of the process. The facilitators guided the process, while the community itself reached the solution.
What distinguishes this approach is its strong follow-up mechanism. As a member of the Judicial Committee, I have been involved in resolving hundreds of cases, but we rarely have the opportunity to monitor whether agreements are actually implemented. In contrast, this process continues well beyond the signing of agreements, ensuring that commitments are translated into action. A conflict that had once reached district-level seriousness has now been genuinely transformed. Agreements are being implemented, relationships have been restored, and people who once refused to speak to one another now greet each other warmly and sit together in harmony. This experience demonstrated that what we lacked was not commitment, but the right process for sustainable conflict transformation.
