Village development committee (Nepal)

A Village Development Committee (VDC) (गाउँ विकास समिति; gāum̐ vikās samiti) in Nepal was the lower administrative part of its Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development. Each district had several VDCs, similar to municipalities but with greater public-government interaction and administration. There were 3,157 village development committees in Nepal. Each VDC was further divided into several wards (वडा) depending on the population of the district, the average being nine wards.

Purpose
The purpose of Village Development Committees (VDC) is to organise village people structurally at a local level and creating a partnership between the community and the public sector for improved service delivery system. A 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.

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.

Organization
In a VDC, there was one elected chief, usually elected with an over 80% majority. A chief was elected from each ward. With these, there were four members elected or nominated. To keep data and records, and to manage administrative works, there was one village secretary. The position was a permanent appointment by the government, from whom they received a salary. The ward members, ward chief, and VDC chiefs were not paid a salary, but they obtained money according to presence. VDCs were guided from the district development committee, headquarters, and the chief of DDC was a local development officer (LDO). Population and housing details of VDCs in Nepal were provided by the National Population and Housing Census, in 1991, 2001 and 2011.

Dissolution of VDC
The Village Development Committee (VDC) was dissolved on 10 March 2017 to be replaced by the Gaunpalika. Previously, the Panchayat was dissolved and turned into the VDC by the Constitution of Nepal 1990.

Wards and electoral divisions of Nepal
Previous Village development committees were either merged with existing municipalities or combined to creat a new rural council. Most of VDC turned into a ward of New municipality/existing municipality without any changes, some VDC splited and created two wards, some VDC splited in many pieces and merged to other VDCs to create new ward in different municipalities.