Prafulla M S Pradhan, UN Habitat Office in Nepal

“We are working on a proposal titled ‘Slum Upgrading and Investment Plan’,” says Prafulla M.S. Pradhan, the new Habitat Programme Manager of the recently established UN Habitat Office in Nepal. “We have received a $ 75000 fund for this project.”

The new office, located in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, will unfortunately not be directly involved in the project, or for that matter, in any other project as such. According to Pradhan, “Our activities will be mostly directed towards making proposals, networking for other bodies - including governmental; facilitating meetings and workshops, and generally, acting in an advisory capacity. We will be involved in issues like slum upgrading, urban government, urban poverty, etc…” Other roles of UN-Habitat, Nepal, will include participation in UN system activities, implementation of the Habitat Agenda (Housing For All) and advocating norms and principles of the UN-Habitat Global Campaign for Good Governance and Security of Tenure.

Additionally, identifying programmes related to the urban sector, good urban governance and urban management, shelter, slum upgrading, rural-urban linkages, urban environment and local development are also part of the office’s duties. As is information dissemination and liaison with Habitat partners besides representation in national, regional and international workshops / conferences hosted by the country. Pradhan is clear on the scope of activities of his newly found office. “UN Habitat, Nepal, is not a funding agency. We, however, will provide technical assistance and help in networking for others involved in this sector.”

The new Program Manager claims to be specially proficient in facilitating workshops, which, he believes, is important if such activities are to come to a fruitful conclusion. He cites the recently held seminar on National Shelter Policy as an example wherein, even though the Urban Policy appears to have been worked out well and, an outside consultant had been used for the first time, bad presentation and format contributed to making the issues somewhat confusing. He opines, “I think using outside consultation agencies is a good start and this should be given continuation.” About the policy, specifically, “The paper seems to be based on the old policy and I believe it would have been better to go for a totally new policy.”

He is also of the view that this year’s Habitat Day function (held in September 2007) was not organized well and discloses, “This prompted me to volunteer my help to Director General Sangachhe of DUDBC for future similar activities. In fact, recently I have trained twelve of his people in facilitation and presentation skills.” One can assume that his offer will be welcomed with a good deal of enthusiasm, specially because Pradhan has no lack of experience on the subject. He has been involved in a score and ten important seminars/workshops and conferences both nationally and internationally. According to him, the biggest project in which he has been involved till now in the capacity of workshop facilitator has been the National Workshop on Water Resource Development Strategy in Nepal. “Another important one was for the Centre for Applied Research and Development,” he adds.

Prafulla M S Pradhan began his professional career as an engineer at the Department of Housing and Physical Planning where he spent thirteen years (1967-1981) rising up the ranks to senior engineer, then senior planner. From October 1980 to December 1990 he worked for ten years as the Town Controller/Planner of Kathmandu Valley Town Development Committee. Then, for a short stint (January 1990 to April 1990) Pradhan became a Special Officer of the task force in the Investigation Centre Department of the Royal Palace during which time he was involved in the preparation of a five year development plan for Pashupati Development Area.

From May 1990 to May 1991, Pradhan was the Senior Planner/Coordinator-Task Project at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and shortly after, in June 1991, took over the responsibility of Deputy General Manager of Rural Housing Company, Lalitpur, a post he held till March 1992. This marked Pradhan’s final year as a government servant. Next, he became a part of the Urban Development through Local Efforts Project (udle/GTZ) as the Team Coordinator responsible for overall management of the Patan Conservation and Development as well as the Swoyambhu Infrastructure Improvement Programmes. In 1998, Pradhan was made the Senior Coordinator and Gender Coordinator of the same institution (udle/GTZ).

Then came the turning point in Pradhan’s career path and now it took him off to foreign shores. He spent twenty months (February 1999 – September 2000) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the Programme Manager for the Urban Governance Initiative (TUGI) – a project of UNOS/UNDP. The host of responsibilities also included the training of sixty local officials on facilitation skills and participatory project planning. As well as, identification of indicators, tools and methodologies that constitute good urban governance in order to build capacity and strengthen relationships directly with mayors/governors and city administrators.   

It is obvious from the above that Pradhan is a man who has garnered loads of experience in planning, developing networks and proposal making. It can also be assumed that he must have built up a lot of important contacts in his passage through his working life. However, Pradhan’s journey doesn’t end here. The period from September 2000 to February 2002 saw him as the Agency Project Manager for the UNCHS/UNDP sponsored Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Myanmar. For a brief period between March and April in 2002, he acted as a voluntary advisor to the Lalitpur Sub Metropolitan Office as well as to the NGO, Lumanti Support Group for Shelter in Nepal  Then come May 2002, and off he went to Kabul, Afghanistan, for ten months, in the capacity of first, Senior Technical Advisor, and later, Chief Technical Advisor, of the Rebuilding Community in Urban Afghanistan Project - a UN-Habitat programme.

A year later, that is in May 2003, Pradhan had the opportunity of spending almost four years again in Yangon, Myanmar, as the Agency Project Manager of the UNDP project – Integrated Community Development. He has some interesting observations about Myanmar – a country that is recently in the headlines. According to him, “Even though there is little democratic freedom in Myanmar, this has not stopped the country from moving ahead in infrastructure creation.” He also discloses, “The newly built capital, Nay Pyi Taw, is an excellent example of planned urban development. In addition to other facilities, it has good housing accommodations for almost 50,000 government employees.” 

To a query about what difference he has observed in the Nepalese capital on coming back after ten years abroad, he says, “There is immense population pressure but no coping mechanism in the way of an increase in infrastructural development. For example, although there is a big rise in the number of cars on the roads, there has been practically no widening of any roads. Also, in Yangon, I have observed flyovers being constructed almost overnight. Here, I hardly see any.” He further adds, “In my view, good governance is only possible through close participation of public, private and civil societies, which obviously is not the case here. In a place like Myanmar, what I have seen is that the laws applies to 90% of the population and not to the rest 10%. In Nepal, it is the opposite – the law only applies to 10% and does not, to 90% of the people.”

Pradhan reveals that he has worked with the present Director General of DUDBC (Ar. S.B. Sangachhe) in many projects in the past, including those on land pooling which he believes is a vital part of urban development. About this, he says, “I think now the government should act as a facilitator and encourage involvement of private developers.” His experience in government service also makes him say, “Although many plans have been made through the years, a lack of participatory approach has been their undoing.” He cites the example of his work in the Swoyambhu Infrastructure Improvement Project as one in which such an approach resulted in good results. “Initially, there were 22 different organizations active in works involving the Swoyambhu area and we found that they were all working at tandem to each other, and in a quite haphazard fashion. We (udle/GTZ) organized the various parties into a federation and hired a consultant.” As far as recent newer developments around this world heritage site are concerned, Pradhan is succinct, “Intentions may be good but results are bad.” Pradhan also believes that institutionalization of any programme is a very important factor to ensure its continuance.

As far as housing is concerned, which after all, is his prime concern now as Habitat Program Manager of UN-Habitat, Nepal, (since September 2007) he is of the opinion that to ensure housing for all, rental policies must be streamlined (transitory housing), access to land, utilities and finance must be ensured and thought must be given to making apartment building easier. However, he points out that UN-Habitat’s focus is directed more towards slum up-gradation and housing for the marginalized. How far he succeeds in this noble endeavour only time will tell. And, perhaps, he does have time in his favour for it is probable that his national stint will be for a substantial period of time. The knowledge gained through the years will certainly come in handy. Also, it can be presumed that at long last, Pradhan has found his niche in his own country and is in a position from where he can make things happen.

It has been a long ride since the time he received his civil engineering degree from the University of Rourkee, India, in 1967 after doing his B.Sc from Trichandra College and SLC from JP School, Kathmandu. Pradhan has an interesting aside about his educational career, “I started out badly, getting only a 3^rd division in SLC, but ended well, earning a distinction in my post graduate exams.” He is referring to the Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Development that he received in 1995 from the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies of Rotterdam. Pradhan also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Development Planning from University College, London (1973).

Pradhan laughs while confessing about his somewhat late blooming educational career, but then adds proudly, “My father, Prasanna MS Pradhan,  was the first person in Nepal to do Masters in Chemistry!”