Congratulations to Bimala Khanal

Bimala explained that men and women participants held different values about the forest management and women were less satisfied than men with the aspects of representation, quality of discussion, decision-making procedures, the quality and diversity of information provided, level of trust among committee members, opportunities to learn new things, and the overall process. Bimala's results were similar to those found in 2004, suggesting that committees have not made significant changes to their structures or processes to address gender imbalance or to make the committee processes more welcoming to different perspectives. The FACs surveyed offered little opportunity for the both nominal and effective participation of women. Hence, Bimala suggested that it is necessary for FACs to structure new recruitment opportunities, address stereotypes about expertise and voice, and to establish mechanisms for women to be heard for their effective participation