This article explores the role of multi-level governance and power structures in local water security through a case study of the Nawalparasi district in Nepal. It focuses on economic sustainability as a measure to address water security, placing this thematic in the context of a complicated power structure consisting of local, district and national administration as well as external development cooperation actors. The study aims to find out whether efforts to improve the economic sustainability of water schemes have contributed to water security at the local level. In addition, it will consider the interactions between water security, power structures and local equality and justice. The research builds upon survey data from the Nepalese districts of Nawalparasi and Palpa, and a case study based on interviews and observation in Nawalparasi. The survey was performed in water schemes built within a Finnish development cooperation programme spanning from 1990 to 2004, allowing a consideration of the long-term sustainability of water management projects. This adds a crucial external influence into the intra-state power structures shaping water management in Nepal. The article thus provides an alternative perspective to cross-regional water security through a discussion combining transnational involvement with national and local points of view.Key words: Water security; Nepal; environmental governance; environmental justice; economic sustainability. ResumenEste artículo explora el papel de la gobernanza multinivel y las estructuras de poder en la seguridad del agua local a través de un estudio de caso del distrito de Nawalparasi en Nepal. Se centra en la sostenibilidad económica como una medida para abordar la seguridad del agua, colocando esta temática en el contexto de una estructura de poder complicada que consiste en la administración local, distrital y nacional, así como en actores externos de cooperación para el desarrollo. El estudio pretende explorar si los esfuerzos para mejorar la sostenibilidad económica de los sistemas de agua han contribuido a la seguridad del agua a nivel local. Además, considerará las interacciones entre la seguridad del agua, las estructuras de poder y la igualdad y justicia locales. La investigación se basa en datos de encuestas de los distritos nepalíes de Nawalparasi y Palpa, y un estudio de caso basado en entrevistas y observación en Nawalparasi. La encuesta se realizó en esquemas de agua construidos dentro de un programa finlandés de cooperación para el desarrollo que abarca desde 1990 hasta 2004, lo que permite considerar la sostenibilidad a largo plazo artículos originales Economic sustainability, water security and multi-level governance of local water schemes in Nepal 88 de los proyectos de gestión del agua. Esto añade una influencia externa crucial en las estructuras de poder intra-estatales que configuran la gestión del agua en Nepal. Por lo tanto, el artículo ofrece una perspectiva alternativa a la seguridad transregional del agua mediante una discusión que combina...

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Comprehensive institutional assessment tool helps to appraise performance of an organization and adopt appropriate strategies for enhancing performance. Different organizations demand different indicators and standards for appraising performance. Different tools such as PEARLS and CAMEL have been prescribed measure performance of financial institutions. These tools were developed in different contexts and are not adopted in Nepali cooperative sector. The objective of this paper is to identify and recommend different indicators for measuring performance of financial cooperatives in Nepal. Expert interviews and focus group discussions were applied to explore the indicators for performance assessment. The identified indicators were piloted with randomly selected 210 cooperatives. The findings showed that 32 financial ratios under eight performance measurement dimensions and 25 self-governance related indicators are needed to assess the performance of financial cooperatives in Nepal and elsewhere. Implications of the findings are discussed and limitations of the study are highlighted,

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