Nepal

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals to be achieved by 2015 that respond to the world's main development challenges. The MDGs are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 189 nations-and signed by 147 heads of state and governments during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000.

The eight MDGs break down into 21 quantifiable targets that are measured by 60 indicators.

Where Nepal stands in terms of achieving the MDGs?
The road towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Nepal

Nepal is one of the 189 countries committed to the MDGs, a pledge renewed in its Three-Year Interim Plan 2008-10. The MDG Progress Report for Nepal 2005, prepared in partnership between the Government of Nepal and the UN Country Team, suggested that Nepal, despite the decade-long conflict, was likely or potentially able to meet all except two goals, the ones on universal primary education and HIV and AIDS. In 2008, the UN's informal assessment is largely similar. Nepal still has the potential to reach almost all of the Goals if the Government and the development community make serious and coordinated efforts to improve the implementation of programmes across the country.

There has indeed been tangible progress on some of the targets. Poverty incidence has gone down by over a percentage point per year since the mid-nineties. Reported child mortality rates have fallen by half over the past fifteen years. Since 1990 the share of Nepalese with access to clean water has doubled, reaching almost 90 percent today. Nine out of ten children in Nepal now enroll in school. In terms of the empowerment of women, a visible - yet partly symbolic - step forward was taken through an effective quota-system that brought in over 33 percent of women in the Constituent Assembly in 2008.

Despite these and other positive results, major development issues remain in Nepal, and a large proportion of Nepal's population still ranks among the poorest people in the world. Nepalese have the lowest life expectancy in Asia, the largest share of undernourished children, and - most importantly - development has been significantly unequal across social groups. While maternal mortality has fallen by half, only one fifth of births are attended by a skilled birth attendant. Similarly, school enrolment rates are encouraging, but there are serious concerns about the quality of primary education and the low school completion rates. Also, in the areas where the MDG indicators reflect a generally good development, serious issues remain to be resolved to ensure sustainable progress.

The UN system in Nepal - Supporting development and building capacity toward the MDGs

UNDP and the other UN agencies in Nepal are actively supporting the Government in fulfilling its commitment to the MDGs. Large-scale joint programming on effective service delivery at the local level is being developed. In addition, the UN is supporting the capacity of the Government in mainstreaming MDGs in its planning and monitoring. Together with the Regional Offices of UNDP, UNICEF, and UNFPA, the agencies helped integrate MDGs into the Government's Three-Year Interim Plan 2008-10. This support continues with the objective of updating the MDG Needs Assessment Report, and to prepare an MDG-based macroeconomic framework and financing strategy. A poverty monitoring and analysis system has been put in place at the national level, and a district-level monitoring mechanism is taking form. The second MDG Progress Report is planned for 2010.

The National Interim Plan for Nepal's Millennium Development Goals

Upon the request of the Government of Nepal (GoN) the UN System helped finalize the Three Year Interim Plan (2007/08 to 2009/10) and make it MDG-based.

Under this initiative, the Millennium Development Goals Initiative (MDGI) team together with the UNCT in Nepal and UN Regional Offices, worked closely with the Government to assist in aligning the Three-year Interim Plan and subsequent National Development Plans with the MDGs.

The UN, under this initiative provided a number of services at the request of the Government. These include: review of the Approach Paper and the sectoral chapters of the Interim Plan from an MDG perspective; drafting a background chapter on poverty MDGs and human development in line with the Approach Paper as a framework for the sectoral chapters; a capacity mapping exercise with a special focus on local level implementation; and MDG Needs Assessment.

The Government formed an inter-ministerial Thematic Task Forces to undertake the Needs Assessment. A training of the Task Forces was organised for senior and mid-level government staff directly engaged in planning and programming at the National Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance, sectoral Ministries and the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The MDG Initiative (MDGI) is the UN response to the World Summit. The MDGI offers countries a 'menu' of services adapted to the national development context and national needs. It comprises three essential pillars related to MDG-based national development strategies: MDG-based needs assessments and diagnostics; widening access to policy options; and strengthening national capacity to deliver.

Millennium Development Goals District Progress Reports

The Government of Nepal and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have jointly produced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Progress Report for five districts of Nepal-Chitwan, Kanchanpur, Morang, Bhaktapur and Banke. These reports were prepared at the helm of the District Development Committees with the participation of local government officials, civil society, private sector and the media.

  

(click here for the report)

• MDG Needs Assessment for Nepal

News Updates