Village development committee

A village development committee (VDC)  Gāun Bikās Samiti) in Nepal is the lower administrative part of its local development ministry. Each district has several VDCs, similar to municipalities but with greater public-government interaction and administration. There are 3913 village development committees in Nepal.^[1] A VDC is further divided into wards  the number depending on the population of the district, the average is nine wards.

Purpose

The purpose of village development committees is to organise village people structurally at a local level and to create a partnership between the community and the public sector for improved service delivery system. VDC has a status as an autonomous institution and authority for interacting with the more centralised institutions of governance in Nepal. In doing so, the VDC gives village people an element of control and responsibility in development, and also ensures proper utilization and distribution of state funds and a greater interaction between government officials, NGOs and agencies. The village development committees within a given area will discuss education, water supply, basic health, sanitation and income and will also monitor and record progress which is displayed in census data.

Organization

In VDCs, there is one elected chief, usually elected with over an 80% majority. From each ward, there is also a chief that is elected along with these there are also four members elected or nominated.

To keep data, records and to manage administrative works, there is one village secretary. It is appointed by the government permanently, from whom they receive a salary. The ward members, ward chief, and VDC chiefs are not paid a salary but they obtain money according to presence.