Cross-Cutting Objectives and Sustainability
The LACC Project is built on the systematic integration of five official cross-cutting objectives:
1) Gender Equality
2) Non-discrimination with an emphasis on disability inclusion
3) Climate Resilience
4) Low-Emission Development
5) Protection of the environment with an emphasis on safeguarding biodiversity
These objectives are not treated as separate components but are woven into every technical result area to ensure that the project’s impacts are inclusive, sustainable, and equitable.
The challenge
Sudurpashchim and Karnali Provinces of Nepal face a critical gap in development where geographical remoteness, deep-rooted social exclusion, and climate vulnerability collide. Communities struggle with the dual threats of “too much or too little” water: intense monsoons trigger destructive landslides and floods, while declining winter rains lead to drying spring sources and chronic dry-season scarcity. Socially, women, Dalits, and persons with disabilities are frequently marginalized from local decision-making, while harmful cultural practices continue to endanger the health and dignity of women and girls. These interconnected crises perpetuate a cycle of poverty and outmigration, leaving the poorest populations at the highest risk.
Our Work
The LACC Project addresses these complex crises through an integrated landscape approach that harmonizes environmental conservation with inclusive livelihood development. At its core, the project adopts a Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA), empowering community members as “rights-holders” to claim their entitlements and strengthening governments as “duty-bearers” to meet their obligations. We apply a twin-track GEDSI strategy that combines systematic mainstreaming across all sectors with targeted actions, such as constructing tailored disability-friendly toilets and promoting energy-efficient technologies to reduce women's time poverty. By focusing on nature-based solutions, we stabilize vulnerable slopes and protect watersheds to reduce disaster risks while improving agricultural productivity through climate-smart techniques. Our work shifts away from siloed planning toward integrated catchment management, ensuring that land, forest, and water resources are governed through participatory processes that value both indigenous knowledge and scientific data. This solution pairs technical support with behavior change communication to challenge entrenched social norms and build a more resilient, equitable society.
Putting Our Objectives Into Practice
Centering Human Rights and Inclusion
We operate using a Human Rights-Based Approach, where communities are empowered to claim their rights and local governments are equipped to meet them. To guarantee marginalized voices are heard, we mandate that all User Committees have a minimum of 50% female representation and proportional leadership for Dalits and Janajatis. We run behavior change campaigns to end harmful practices like Chhaupadi and promote Dignified Menstrual Management. We also install Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS) and water mills to drastically reduce women’s daily labor, and we conduct household-level assessments to build custom, universally accessible infrastructure for persons with disabilities.
Building Climate Resilience
Resilience starts at the settlement level. We utilize grassroot “toll-level” planning to capture the priorities of remote households. Before any physical investment is made, we conduct rigorous climate and environmental risk screenings to ensure our infrastructure is climate-proofed and safe for the ecosystem. We implement low-cost, nature-based bioengineering, like planting native bamboo, to stabilize slopes and prevent landslides. We also build recharge ponds to revive drying springs and provide training in climate-smart agriculture, introducing drought-resistant seeds and greenhouses for off-season farming.
Low-Emission Development
Instead of working in isolated silos, we use a comprehensive Landscape Approach. This means we recognize that the health of upstream forests is directly tied to the downstream resilience of agriculture and water supplies. We help Community Forest User Groups use digital mapping to sustainably manage harvests and protect carbon sinks. By promoting improved cooking stoves and agroforestry, we help households cut fuelwood consumption by up to 40%, lowering indoor air pollution, reducing carbon emissions, and restoring soil fertility all at once.
Enabling Inclusive Governance
Infrastructure only lasts if the system supports it. We provide targeted technical assistance to local governments, helping them institutionalize Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) and Climate Responsive Budget coding so that inclusive, climate-smart planning becomes the permanent local standard.
How we ensure the most vulnerable voices are heard and included
Mandatory Inclusion Quotas
Ensuring that women hold 50% of leadership positions in User Committees and that marginalized groups are represented based on their proportion in the community.
Participatory Toll-level Planning
Within the official 7-step government cycle to capture the priorities of the most remote and underserved households.
Disability Needs Assessments
At the household level to identify and remove specific physical and social barriers to participation.
How we ensure the long-term sustainability and impact of our work
Capacity Building
We continuously train local leaders, farmers, and water user committees to manage their own resources.
Knowledge Sharing
We believe in open-source development. We have published comprehensive manuals and guidelines across all our project targets and areas, ensuring that best practices are documented, accessible, and easily replicable by local actors.
Governance Strengthening
By routing our implementation directly through the financial and planning systems of local governments, we build enduring institutional muscle.
Policy Empowerment
LACC assists local governments in promulgating Acts and Regulations to institutionalize environmental standards and inclusive governance practices into local law.
