Project Goal
To contribute to poverty reduction in the remote areas of Nepal through the development, application and dissemination of effective strategies at local and national level.The project aims not only to make a difference in the livelihood security of Achham residents, but also to share its learning from project experiences so as to have an even greater impact on poverty reduction, influencing policy makers and implementers at a range of levels.

The project will generate the following benefits:

• provision of an environment for livelihood diversification and asset accumulation thereby improving long-term livelihoods of poor families;
• enhancing institutional capacity among district authorities (including VDCs, DDC and district line agencies) to identify, plan, manage and monitor development activities in a participatory way thereby promoting greater accountability and transparency;
• enabling poor people to better mobilise local resources and gain better access to government services;
• providing poor people with the organisational capacity to solve their problems themselves using locally generated and therefore sustainable resources.

Expected Outputs :

• District, national and donor's policy framework and programmes become more responsive to poverty reduction in remote areas.
• Increased capacity of local government in Achham to support sustainable development activities.
• Increased and diversified farm production at the household level with more equitable consumption for Women and children.
• People understand and practice improved health and reproductive health, nutrition and sanitation behaviour.
• Explore opportunities for economic development in Achham, addressing options for skill development, employment, marketing and value added production.
  Specific Areas:

Good Governance:
· Experiences with public auditing as a means to achieve greater government transparency and accountability.
· Approaches to strengthening women's effective political participation.
· Capacity assessment tools.
· Participatory planning and monitoring processes.
· Understanding of the ways in which, and who makes decisions at village level.

Health and Reproductive Health:
· Experiences using different approaches to support the construction and rehabilitation of drinking water supply systems.
· Community based management of Protein-Energy Malnutrition.
· Experiences sensitising community to nutritional needs of pregnant/lactating women and children.
· Experiences and effects of training traditional faith healers in referral and appropriate health practices.
· Experiences with alternative drug schemes in Nepal for better supply and distribution at the community level.
· Experiences with alternative supervision, monitoring and training strategies to support Female Community Health Volunteers.

Agriculture:
· Irrigation schemes for small holder (land poor) farmers.
· Community-based water harvesting technologies.
· Implementation of farmer field schools in remote areas.
· Promotion of high-value crops, including non-timber forest products.
· Best practices in kitchen gardening and bio-intensive gardening.