Nepal

About UNDP in Nepal

UNDP is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.

World leaders have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the overarching goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015. UNDP's network links and coordinates global and national efforts to reach these Goals. Our focus is helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges of:

• Democratic Governance
• Poverty Reduction
• Crisis Prevention and Recovery
• Energy and Environment
• HIV/AIDS

UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women.

The annual Human Development Report, commissioned by UNDP, focuses the global debate on key development issues, providing new measurement tools, innovative analysis and often controversial policy proposals. The global Report's analytical framework and inclusive approach carry over into regional, national and local Human Development Reports, also supported by UNDP.

In each country office, the UNDP Resident Representative normally also serves as the Resident Coordinator of development activities for the United Nations system as a whole. Through such coordination, UNDP seeks to ensure the most effective use of UN and international aid resources.


UNDP in Nepal
UNDP first established its office in Nepal in 1963 to support the Nepalese in their struggle against poverty. Since 1963, UNDP has worked at building linkages that address effective design and implementation of 'poverty alleviation' programmes in Nepal.


Current Programme priorities

• Transitional Governance
• Inclusive Growth & Sustainable Livelihood
• Peace Building and Recovery
• Energy, Environment and Natural Disaster Management
• HIV/AIDS

Type of assistance and programming
The Country Cooperation Framework (CCF-I, 1997-2001) for Nepal was designed in consistence with the Government's Ninth Development Plan (1997-2001) and UNDP's mandate. UNDP's Country Cooperation Framework (CCF II, 2002-2007) has completed its programming cycle of six years which addressed poverty alleviation by supporting development projects in the areas of Democratic Governance, Pro-Poor policies and Sustainable Livelihood, Energy, Environment and Natural Disaster Management, Crisis Prevention and Recovery (CPR) and Responding to HIV/AIDS.

In early 2008, UNDP approved its Country Programme Document (CPD) for 2008-2010 in support of the Interim Development Plan of the Government of Nepal. While capacity development will be the overarching objective of UNDP assistance, gender and social inclusion, climate change, and risk management will be addressed as a cross cutting issue in all UNDP supported projects and programmes. The Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) will be the legal agreement between the Government of Nepal and UNDP. These programmes will regularly be assessed and refocused to align with the new requirements in line with the Government's priorities and UNDP's Strategic Plan.


Support to the Peace Process
UNDP has been introducing a series of peace-support activities and continues to place a major emphasis on reaching communities to foster grassroots reconciliation through development. Some of the key interventions have been;

• Support provided to United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) to design and implement a comprehensive strategy to register and verify the Maoist army, and their weapons, and to facilitate the lock-up of an equivalent number of Nepal Army weapons as part of the agreement.
  
  
• UNDP provided technical assistance to the Government's initiative of establishing a Nepal Peace Trust Fund (NPTF) to help mobilise and coordinate development partners' financial support to various projects related to the implementation of peace agreements.
  
  
• A UNDP Constitutional Advisory Support Unit was set up in late 2006 to help build the understanding and readiness of key national actors and the public at large to participate actively in the constitution building process.
  
  
• Provided a range of specialist technical experts to support the work of the Election Commission in its preparation for the CA elections in close collaboration with UNMIN.
  
  
• As part of UNDP's participation in Peace Project, weekly radio discussion programmes and radio dramas have been developed in partnership with the BBC World Service Trust to empower people from traditionally excluded communities to engage meaningfully in peace and constitution-building processes.
  
  
• A new grassroots Quick Impact and Peace Support Initiative (QIPSI) was launched in October 2007 to bring immediate benefits in the most vulnerable and marginalised communities of 10 conflict affected districts of the Tarai, especially for youth, women, indigenous nationalities, Dalits and religious minorities. This initiative provides support for community infrastructure, micro-enterprise development and disaster mitigation.

Geographical focus
UNDP's activities span almost 75 districts and 1,000 out of 4,000 villages. The number of projects ranged from 25 and currently consolidated into 16. Some of them are being closed by mid 2008 with the completion of past cooperation. However, about 10 new programmes are expected to be formulated in line with the newly approved Country Programme.


Resources
UNDP is funded from its own regular resources, other United Nations sources of financing, and from bilateral and other external donors. During the period of 2002-2007, UNDP's assistance reached to $US 84 million including the resources mobilized from bilateral donors. For the current Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) period of 2008-2010, UNDP together with its donor partners expects to provide assistance worth of US$94.0 million. Of this $25 million is expected to be from UNDP's regular source.

Of the total programme delivery of US$ 27 million through the 33 ongoing projects in 2007, 32 percent was from UNDP resources, 18 per cent from Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), Global Environment Facility (GEF), UN Peace Fund and other Thematic Trust Funds, 2 percent from United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and 48 percent from bilateral donors.

Of all the donor partners, the British Government's Department for International Development (DFiD) is expected to be the largest contributor followed by Norway.