| Community forestry (CF) has been considered a successful program in Nepal in terms of improving forest condition and increasing supply of forest products. Studies have shown that CF program has had exclusionary outcomes. Although some scholars have studied the impact of external actors, power relations, institutions and structures on exclusion, not much attention has been paid to how secondary level organization address (or do not) exclusion in CF. The study looks at how Federation of Community Forestry Users, Nepal (FECOFUN) sees itself in relation to exclusion in CF. It provides an analysis of various perceptions of exclusion within FECOFUN, and how these perceptions shape FECOFUN's role. It argues that because of the dominant understanding of exclusion in CF and because of FECOFUN's dependence on powerful actors like donors and forestry sector, it is unable to challenge the role these actors play in sustaining exclusion. |
