PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS

Nepal: Governance Support Program

Cluster (Subprogram I)

Suman Subba
N
Nepal lR
Resident
id t Mi
Mission
i
Gender Specialists’ Annual Meeting, Manila
27 October 2010

The views expressed in this paper are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of
the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do
not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.
Governance Support Program Cluster
™ GSP Cluster
Cl t supports t Government
G t off Nepal’s
N l’ short
h t
to medium-term reform plans in local governance
and communityy development
p in a p
phased assistance.
¾ Subprogram I (SP1) (2008–2012) emphasizes community
mobilization and strengthening to hold local bodies accountable,
strengthening
g g their capability
p y to p
provide effective and inclusive
services and instituting relevant protocols and systems in the central
Government to support the local governance reform agenda. It
provides support to the Government’s Local Government and
Community Development Program (LGCDP) ($106.3 million)
Approval: 22 October 2008 Effectiveness: 19 December 2008
¾ Subprogram
p g II (SP2)
( ) (2012–2015)
( ) will concentrate on the business
process reengineering needed at the center to support a federal
government structure, putting in place the legal framework for proper
local governance, strengthening the fiscal transfer process and
system, and then strengthening community organizations and local
bodies. ($50.0 million)
 About LGCDP
Executing Agency: Ministry of Local Development
Implementing Agencies: Local Bodies (District development
Committees, Municipalities, Village Development
Committees) through community organizations and
NGOs
Development Partners:
¾ 11 development partners (ADB, DANIDA, CIDA, DFID,
UN System
System, Gov
Gov. of Norway,
Norway SDC including GoN – pool
funding)
Financial Resources:
¾ Government
G t off Nepal
N l $ 260.8
260 8 million
illi
¾ Donor’s Commitment $ 161.5 million
¾ ADB contribution $ 106
106.33 million
 Governance Support Program SP-
SP-1
3MMain
i Outcomes:
O t
1. Citizens and communities empowered and
actively engaged with local bodies and holding
them accountable
2. Improved capacity of local bodies to manage
resources and deliver basic services
inclusively and equitably
3. Strengthened policy and national institutional
frameworks including legal frameworks for
decentralization, devolution, and community
development
 Project Outputs

¾ Empowered communities and CBOs that participate in local

governance processes
¾ More capable communities, including DAGs, that assert their rights
and hold local bodies accountable
¾ Access to greater fiscal resources for local bodies in equitable and
appropriate ways
¾ Appropriate measures to build capacity in all levels of the local body
service delivery system
¾ Fine-tuned local body service delivery mechanisms and processes
¾ Policy framework for decentralization to enable an environment for
effective, transparent, accountable, and inclusive local governance
¾ Strong central government and NGOs that provide appropriate
support to local bodies
 GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION PLAN
Project GESI Activities/Targets Progress/Achievements
Outcomes
1. Citizens and ¾ Develop targeted modalities of ¾ Social Mobilization guideline
communities social mobilization prepared and operational manual is
currently being developed. Process
actively engaged initiated at national and local levels.
with local bodies ¾ Encourage recruitment of women
and hold them and DAG members by local bodies as ¾ Attempt has been made to include
accountable social mobilizers LSPs and SMs from women and
excluded groups. No data available
yet.
¾ Budget for capacity development
(CD) of CBOs, women organizations ¾ CD grant: Few districts carried out
awareness raising programs,
training/orientation and skill
¾ Participation of women and DAG in development trainings for CBOs,
planning,
p g budget
g pprocess, pprogram
g political p
p party
y representatives
p
prioritization, public and social audits
¾ Small funds for capacity building of
DAG groups including the capacity of
¾ Training on local governance dalit and janajati coordination
provided to grassroots women leaders committee institutionalized at the DDC
and
d lleaders
d ffrom DAG communities
iti level
¾ Participation of women (33%) and
excluded in the planning and
budgeting process increased at ward
level gatherings
gatherings, IPCs due to targeted
funds and mandatory provision in the
VDC/DDC guideline. Women’s
participation varies across districts.
 GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION PLAN

Project GESI Activities/Targets Progress/Achievements

Outcomes

2. Better ¾DAG mapping for effective ¾The revised VDC/DDC guideline

management targeting allocates - 20% of the block grant for
of resources ¾ Allocation in block grants targeted groups at the VDC level, 35%
and delivery for direct benefits to women at DDC level and 40% at municipal
of services and disadvantaged level. This is the increase from
inclusively ¾ Capacity building of LB
previous % allocation of 15% -20%.
and equitably mechanisms on GESI – ¾ The blended block grant guideline:
by capable Gender, Dalit and Janajati 35 % in VDC level and 35% at DDC
local bodies Coordination Committees level with the list that specifies
¾ Ensuring MCPM system to
activities that can be supported
pp under
have GESI indicators targeted funds
¾ Opportunity for GESI to be
¾ Appointing and activating
GESI focal points in all DDCs considered in the revision and overall
with
ith clear
l TOR and d th
throughh review process of MCPM
capacity building by training, ¾ GESI focal points placed in districts
exposures without clear function
 GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION PLAN

Project GESI Activities/Targets Progress/Achievements

Outcomes
3. Strengthened ¾ GESI Strategy and GESI-
GESI- ¾ Development and approval of GESI
policy and responsive budgeting, policy for MLD (March 2010) – significant
national
ti l planning
l i and d monitoring
i i breakthrough
¾ National level - Institutionalization of
institutional ¾ Develop clear mandates
GESI Unit with clear mandates, roles,
framework for and role of GESI section in responsibility and earmarked budget – lead
devolution and MLD and earmark budget for byy under secretary,y 2 section officers, and
l
local l self-
self
lf- the section assistants. The section to take on the
governance ¾ Making decentralization responsibility of taking the lead role in
integrating GESI for all sections of the
and sector devolution
MLD (Upto 1 million fund use authority).
policies,, and regulations
p g more However lacks skilled human resource
resource.
GESI responsive ¾ Development of GESI CD grant plan by
¾ GESI
GESI-- responsive staffing all districts - The plan covers capacity
policy of local bodies development needs for both supply and
demand side. As p per the g
guideline,, 70% of
the capacity development grant has been
allocated to the capacity building of VDCs
municipalities, NGOs, CBOs, TLOs and
representative organizations
 GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION PLAN

Project GESI Activities/Targets Progress/Achievements

Outcomes
3. Strengthened ¾ Approval of GE budget audit guideline by
policy and the MLD (2007) – Refined and updated,
national
ti l currently revising this guideline as gender
and social Inclusion Budget Audit guideline
institutional and is developing the same for VDCs and
framework for Municipalities
devolution and ¾ Local level - Gender Mainstreaming
l
local l self-
self
lf- Coordination Committee, Gender
governance mainstreaming implementation committee,
Dalit and Janajati coordination committees,
DAG committees, and Integrated Planning
Committees district social mobilization
Committees,
coordination committees formed (WCF and
VCF yet to be formed and strengthened),
role of gender focal points recognized
¾ Minimum disaggregation of data (gender,
DAG and non DAG categories)
incorporated in the monitoring format and
distributed to districts
¾ Local Body Staffing policy not yet
developed
 GESI performance targets in DMF
Impact Level Outcome Level Output Level

¾ GDI target ¾ GESI Strategy ¾ GESI capacity development

operationalized and GESI plan prepared and implemented,
¾ 33% of capital expenditure
¾ Increased leadership focal persons activated in grants spent on projects
of women and DAG in the districts prioritized by women and DAG,
local governance ¾ Participation of women and
DAGs increased by 50% in
¾ I
Increasedd allocation
ll ti iin program activities,
¾ GESI section in MLD block grants for women ¾ 60% of CBOs of women and
functioning and DAG DAGs are trained in local
governance, managerial and
l d hi skills,
leadership kill
¾ CBOs of women and ¾ Increased formal ¾ Greater number of women
DAG capable to function interaction of women and federations strengthened,
without external support DAG CBOs with LBs ¾ MCPM revised from GESI
perspective,
p p , GESI budgeting
g g
operationalized, GESI focal
¾ Increased points in districts performing,
inclusiveness in service ¾ CBOs trained on resource

delivery mobilization and empowerment,

LBs trained on GESI strategy,
strategy
HRD plan includes affirmative
action policy
 GESI in Policy Matrix
Tranche release GESI conditions:
¾ MLD to approve gender budget audit
guidelines (GE Audit
A dit Guideline
G id li ffrom 2007 iis b
being
i
revised as GESI Budget Audit Guideline),
¾ MLD to approve a GESI Strategy
Strategy,
including detailed implementation
arrangements with budget allocation
(approved in March 2010)
Progress on Partners’ Coordination

¾ Gender Thematic Group p – Active and

functional (includes 11 DPs) – meets
regularly
g y for updates,
p sharingg of findings
g of
studies, inputs/expertise for guidelines,
annual pplans. Smaller task teams for task
specific inputs also formed
 Challenges
¾ GESI sectionti lacks
l k adequate
d t technical
t h i l capacity it andd
ownership
¾ Lack of orientation on GESI Policy in local bodies
¾ Implementation of LGCDP not carried out as planned
due to weak governance, budget delays and political
instability that have caused gaps in sequencing and
inter linkages between activities
inter-linkages
¾ Gender Audit Guideline approved (2007) but has not
been implemented (no disaggregated data, weak
monitoring and reporting to capture results
results, gap in
identification of needs and prioritization of GESI
activities)
¾ Weak targeting due to lack of data management system
¾ No clarity on responsibility for GESI implementation
within LBs
¾ Lack of criteria and transparency in CD grant allocation
and utilization
 Future Action Areas for NRM
¾ Continuous follow up and technical inputs to
GESI Unit in MLD
¾ Strengthen Partners’ GESI Thematic Group to
ensure quality assurance of GESI
¾ Participation in regular/joint monitoring missions
with MLD to ensure GESI processes are
institutionalized in the field
¾ Enhance coordination with Ministry of Women
Children and Social Welfare and Department of
Women Development
Thank You