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Press Release
18 April 2023
Press Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the UNESCAP made her first official visit to Nepal
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Press Release
04 April 2023
UN Resident Coordinator Hanaa Singer-Hamdy presents her credentials to Rt. Honorable Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal
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Story
29 March 2023
Bringing Agricultural Insurance to Climate-Vulnerable Farmers: A Unique Pilot Program in Nepal Shows How to Unlock the Benefits of Index-Based Insurance for Smallholders
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The Sustainable Development Goals in Nepal
Nepal committed to the SDGs early on, and this commitment has been reaffirmed in key policy documents, such as the current 15th Development Plan and the 25 Year Long-Term Vision 2100 that internalises the Goals. SDGs codes are assigned for all national development programmes through the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. Further, Nepal has prepared the SDG Status and Roadmap to localize the SDG indicators with baselines and targets for 2030. Other key documents are a SDGs Needs Assessment, a Costing and Financing Strategy, and additional SDGs Localization Guidelines. Finally, Nepal has conducted a Development Finance Assessment (DFA) to provide an overview of development finance flows and institutions and policies that can align finance with national development priorities. These are the goals the UN is working on in Nepal:
Story
20 January 2023
Cooking clean
Kalikot, Nepal: On a cold December morning in the kitchen of her home in the hilly environs of Khandachakra Municipality in Kalikot District in Nepal’s remote west, Ganga Shahi plays with her little girl Yasodha, mother and daughter bathed in the warm sunlight streaming through the window. From time to time, Ganga turns to check on the rotis she is making on the stove next to them, flipping and tossing them into a waiting basket when ready.
The stove is a relatively new addition to Ganga’s kitchen. What makes it different from what she had been using before? This is an improved ‘eco-cookstove’, a device that is far more efficient, clean and time-saving than traditional stoves, and one that the 45-year-old says has made her life “a lot easier” on different fronts.
“When we were using the traditional stove, we needed much more firewood,” Ganga says, describing the seven-hour walk it used to take to fetch just one load or ‘bhari’ of firewood – weighing between 50-60 kilograms approximately – from the nearby Khadikhola jungle, a grueling process that would have then to be repeated seven or eight times before the month ended. “It was difficult carrying all that weight home on our backs, but if we didn’t do it, we couldn’t cook.”
Now, however, those trips have been cut down substantially. “We can manage with just around three loads per month because the new stove doesn’t need so much wood,” she says.
Indeed, according to local social mobilizer Sharmila Shahi, while households needed around 13 kilograms of firewood per day on average, the consumption with the eco-cookstove is significantly low, at an average of 2.5 kilos per day.
Ganga has also noted positive effects on her health.
“Before, when I stayed in the kitchen too long when cooking, my eyes would get sore, I would struggle to breathe properly and my head would start to hurt because of all the smoke,” she says.
A few times, the burning in her eyes and respiratory issues had compelled her to seek medical help at hospitals in the cities of Nepalgunj and Surkhet, journeys that took hours and cost money.
“Since using the new stove, I haven’t had these issues,” she says.
Ganga’s family is among 9,844 households that have so far received such improved eco-cookstoves as part of the Eco-Zone programme launched by UNICEF – with generous funding support from the Jersey Overseas Aid – in partnership with six municipalities in the Sudurpaschim and Karnali Provinces.
Launched in 2021, the project is focused on various interventions to improve maternal and child health, as well as help prevent deforestation – by establishing green spaces in schools and health facilities – and boost livelihoods in some of the country’s most hard-to-reach areas. This includes sensitization and trainings for government officials, community leaders, health workers, educators and households on key climate, energy and environment issues, as well as on disaster risk reduction.
The distribution of improved eco-cookstoves is a key part of the effort, given how heavily communities across rural Nepal rely on inefficient and smoke-emitting traditional stoves – still used by 2.8 million households, according to reports. Besides using up large amounts of firewood and contributing to deforestation, these stoves also cause indoor air pollution by emitting severe pollutants, primarily affecting women who use them daily, and the young children who are usually by their mothers’ side, and causing respiratory illnesses, among other issues.
“The benefits of this project for families in the area, particularly women and children, are clear,” says Jaisi Prasad Chaulagain, Acting Chief Administrative Officer at the Khandachakra Municipality. “We feel that this has been a very effective venture.”
Ganga, for one, is in full agreement with this sentiment. “I have so much more time now to care for my children, make sure they get ready for school on time, and to do other things, like tend to the vegetables in our garden,” she says. “I wish we’d had the stove sooner.”
UNICEF Nepal/2022/SShrestha
Source : UNICEF Nepal
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Press Release
03 December 2020
Oped : The challenges people with disabilities face
Richard Howard
The year 2020 has thrown unprecedented challenges at all of us, both in Nepal and globally. The pandemic has also impacted people disproportionally. Persons with disabilities that make up 15 percent of the world population, or one billion, are among the hardest hit by Covid-19. One in every five women is likely to experience disability in her life, while one in every 10 children is living with a disability. Of the one billion population of persons with disabilities, 80 percent live in developing countries. These numbers provide a backdrop for thinking about our response to Covid-19 and how we make a dedicated effort to ensure that people with disabilities are not left behind. We must ensure their inclusion in our response and recovery efforts.
Some disabilities are not visible. Chronic pain, mental illness, chronic fatigue are a few types of invisible disabilities that control people’s lives but do not show in obvious ways. These are people who are regularly told that their disabilities are not real, are made up for sympathy or only imagined and could not possibly be a real medical condition since they walk free from canes or crutches, have functioning limbs, and can seemingly move their bodies just like the rest of us. Society needs to be built so that it is accessible to everyone, including those with less visible disabilities.
Nepali society, like most societies, should promote greater understanding and increased accessibility for people with disabilities, who are often treated differently or excluded from the opportunities and conversations open to others. They are pressed to navigate a world that is not built for them. Kindness, compassion and consideration are a good start to ensure that we see and support those who may struggle and suffer in normal times and in times of crisis.
When this pandemic passes, the world must be a different place, and it is a chance to reimagine a society in which people with disabilities have better lives; where they do not have to fight to be seen and included, and where they are not merely an afterthought. People with disabilities should participate in our response and recovery from Covid-19 at all stages, and they should hold us accountable to deliver on our promises.
On this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I hope that we can all begin to envision a society that everyone can participate in, one that changes how we see and interact with disabilities as equal partners, particularly those with invisible disabilities. It is a chance to build back better and challenge inequalities at every step.
A big step in the right direction is to break the silence, speak up and wipe away the biases held against people with disabilities, to banish the stereotypes, and slowly dissipate the stigma facing people with disabilities. These changes start with each of us making a commitment. There are myriad ways in which the world can transform to remove obstacles for people with disabilities to access the opportunities the rest have, from access to economic opportunity and healthy workspaces to accessible infrastructure and health services.
Richard Howard
Howard is the UN Resident Coordinator ad interim in Nepal and is the Director of ILO Nepal
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Story
12 October 2020
Young Girls in rural Nepal are choosing early marriage to escape poverty and discrimination
The zinc sheet roofs, mud huts and wooden pillars of Namuna Basti shows poverty reigns. Namuna Basti is a labyrinth of lanes with 55 closely packed housing units inhabited by impoverished Badi community- the poorest and most marginalized groups (Dalits) in Nepal who are also considered the “untouchables”. It lies just out of eyesight from the nearest bigger town in the Karnali Province. In the community, young women with children are a common sight. About 90 percent of the women from Namuna Basti are married before the age of 20, which speaks to the alarming prevalence of child marriage here.
An Arial view of Namuna Basti.
Child marriage in Nepal is driven by a complex web of factors., Key among them is caste-based and gender-based discrimination, especially when combined with poverty.
In Nepal’s rural communities, parents often choose marriage for girls because, once married, daughters customarily leave their homes to enter into their husbands’ household and cannot financially support their parents like their sons. It leads families to prioritize education and even basic survival needs, such as food, for boys over girls, which is one of the reasons why child brides and their children are more likely to be malnourished.
Due to the existence of a deeply embedded patriarchal norms and unequal power relations, Nepal has a high prevalence of deeply-rooted traditional practices such as caste-based discrimination, chhaupadi and menstrual restrictions, child marriage, dowry, and witchcraft accusation and persecution. These practices often create significant barriers to the realization of human rights, particularly for women and persons from excluded groups. Despite significant advances in legislative and policy frameworks made over the past few years, these practices continue to pervade in Nepal.
In 2018, in recognition of these practices being barriers to realizing the UN’s commitments to Agenda 2030 and the principle of Leaving No One Behind, the United Nations Country Team in Nepal with the support of DCO innovation funds carried out a Perception Survey on five of the above-mentioned practices. The survey, conducted in 16 districts within Province 2, 6 and 7 covering 4,000 respondents, was led by the United Nations Resident Coordinators Office in Nepal.
Rama (name changed), a 22-year-old girl from Namuna Basti was born into a Badi family. Due to poverty her parents could not afford her education. She started working in India as a full-time maid at the age of 13.
She had to spend more than 12 hours a day doing household chores, and she was desperately looking for an escape from her everyday hardship. With the hope to live a better life, seven years ago, she married the person she loved at the age of 15, despite the minimum age requirement for marriage being 20 years old under the Nepali Law. Her husband was 25
Rama’s husband belonged to the so called “upper-caste” Kshetriyas (also called Chhetris). In Nepal, the influence of caste — a social order rooted in Hindu scriptures and based on an identity determined at birth — cannot be disregarded.
In the perception of caste hierarchy, Brahmins and Chhetris remain at the top and Dalits, who make up almost 13.6 percent of Nepal’s population of more than 27.33 Million, are at the bottom. Due to this perceived hierarchy, discrimination based on caste remains pervasive. From the Perception Survey carried out by the UN, among the 4,000 respondents from 16 districts, 97% indicated that they have accepted the prevalence of caste-based discrimination in their locality.
Following their marriage, Rama returned to Nepal with her husband and began living with her in-laws. Being a Dalit woman, Rama was at high risk of experiencing both caste- and gender-based discrimination at her husband’s house. Fortunately, however, Rama’s husband protected her and facilitated her to be accepted as a member of the family.
Rama became pregnant almost immediately after her marriage. Knowing that pregnancy could be risky for Rama at her young age, her husband insisted to abort the baby. But she remained adamant and gave birth to their first child when she was just 16.
Within just five years of her marriage, her life took an unexpected turn, when a tragic road accident killed her husband.
Following the death of her husband, her in-laws began verbally abusing her and forced her to work endlessly. Rama left her husband’s house along with her children and began living with her mother in Namuna Basti.
Rama is now a 22-year-old widow and is a sole bread winner for her family. With poverty, lack of education and discrimination based on her caste that she faces every day, giving a decent life to her children is a constant struggle.
In the same Basti, Seema Badi (name changed) lives two houses apart from Rama. Seema, just like Rama, is a child bride who chose to get married on her own. She eloped with her boyfriend, who was two-class senior to her in school, when she just became a teenager.
Her mother initially brought Seema back from her boyfriend’s house and asked her to focus on her education and wait until she gained some maturity. To her mother’s dismay, Seema left the house for the second time to be with her boyfriend.
And what drove her to do that?
“To escape from poverty, discriminatory social norms and a desire to avoid a forced marriage to a stranger” was her answer.
“My mother was giving birth every other year. I had to support her either by babysitting my siblings or supporting the household chores. At school, I faced discrimination from my peers and my teachers for being a ‘Badi girl’” lamented Seema.
Recalling one of the incidents in school she said, “one day a big commotion took place in my class when I accidently touched my classmate’s tiffin box. Since she belonged to the upper-caste, my teacher thrashed me in front of my peers. That very moment, I lost faith in our education system and I tore my books in front of my teacher and left the class. I never returned to the class again.”
Seema, who is 21 and a mother of an 8-year-old girl, shares she is content with her present life. Her husband is working in the gulf country to make the ends meet for the family and pay for their daughter’s education.
“Together Forever” says Seema with happiness as she shows the initials of her husband and daughter's name inked on her left hand.
She however feels she could have achieved more had she listened to her mother and not eloped for the second time. But the societal pressure was one of the factors that constrained her from staying with her mother. “The rumor about me eloping with my boyfriend has already spread in the community. So, the only choice I had was to go back to the person I love because no one would have accepted me as a wife later,” shared Seema.
Seema does not want her daughter to repeat her same mistakes. She wants to invest in her daughter’s education so that her daughter can achieve her full potential. But the growing trend of voluntary “love marriages” among teenage children in marginalized communities, often prompted by the desire to escape poverty and discrimination, scares Seema.
Seema’s fear is not unfounded. The Perception Survey showed that 90% of the 4,000 respondents acknowledge that voluntary love marriage (Bhagi Bibaha) among minors is prevalent in their locality, while 19% indicated the continued prevalence of an arranged marriage (Magi Bibaha) among minors.
According to UNICEF, 15 million girls are married as children globally each year and Nepal has the third highest rate of child marriage in Asia, after Bangladesh and India.
The trend of young girls like Seema and Rama choosing early love marriage to cope with poverty and discrimination not only exposes them to a vicious cycle of inequality and insecurity, but also perpetuates the practice of child marriage, creating an obstacle to global development.
A 19-year-old girl from Dailekh district with her two children.
Child marriage is a core development and human rights issue which is directly linked with eight of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are Goals 1 (poverty), 2 (food security), 3 (health), 4 (education), 5 (gender equality), 8 (economic growth), 10 (inequality), and 16 (peace). Ending child marriage and investing more into the child’s future is therefore an indispensable responsibility of Nepal to ensure that it fully achieves the SDGs.
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29 March 2023
Bringing Agricultural Insurance to Climate-Vulnerable Farmers: A Unique Pilot Program in Nepal Shows How to Unlock the Benefits of Index-Based Insurance for Smallholders
It is located in the centre of the Himalayas, its topography and climatic conditions make it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
These disasters not only cause the loss of lives and property, they also pose severe threats to physical infrastructure and disrupt economic development. And addressing them will be costly: It is estimated that achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 (climate action) in Nepal will require US $47.4 billion for climate adaptation and $196.1 billion for climate mitigation between 2021 and 2050.
Making matters worse, the impacts of Nepal’s climate variability and extreme weather events are unevenly distributed among its people, with smallholder farmers and rural women disproportionately affected. It’s also a country where a climate-sensitive industry — agriculture — represents 24% of the GDP and employs 64% of the labour force (and 74% of the female labour force). Due to these circumstances, and considering that Nepal’s government is committed to achieving not only SDG 13 but also SDG 2 (food security) and SDG 5 (gender equality), the development of risk management tools for farmers is an imperative priority for the country.
The government of Nepal has put a particular emphasis on the importance of investing both in financial inclusion for smallholder farmers and in risk management tools that help them cope with climate-related threats. For example, Beema Samiti – the Nepal Insurance Authority – requires at least 5% of the total insurance policies sold by non-life insurance companies to be for agriculture, livestock and produce. The federal government provides a 75% subsidy on the insurance premium, which has helped to insure almost $24 million worth of agricultural products. However, insurance companies have leveraged this subsidy more for livestock than for other types of products, as claim settlement is easier to manage in this case. This excludes many farmers whose crops and livelihoods are essential to the food security and economic growth of the country.
Below, I’ll discuss a UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) pilot program that leveraged local partnerships, technical assistance, farmer training and an innovative product design to bring agricultural insurance coverage to Nepali smallholders. Though the program, which ended in 2021, was focused on the unique needs of Nepal, the learnings it generated could help inform efforts to expand the benefits of insurance to farmers in other climate-vulnerable countries in Asia and beyond.
Understanding the Different Types of Agricultural Insurance
Globally, there are several types of agricultural insurance, which include traditional indemnity-based insurance and index-based insurance.
Indemnity-based insurance typically protects against physical losses, and payouts are made after damage assessments are carried out. These damage assessments are difficult and time-consuming to execute in remote rural areas, while smallholder farmers — particularly women — often need their insurance payouts right away due to the demands of the crop cycle. As a result, indemnity-based insurance is more suitable for wealthier customers, who have enough cash on hand to cover their expenses while this assessment process plays out. It has proven not to be responsive to the needs of smallholders and others who are most affected by climate risks. What’s more, the concept of insurance in general is often challenging to explain to these customers, since the products are complex, and the financial literacy of these potential clients is usually low. These factors may partially explain why the penetration rate of agricultural insurance in Nepal — where most such products are indemnity-based — is around 1%.
Index-based insurance involves payouts that are triggered and calculated by historical data and a pre-determined index, which also determines the amount of the benefits. A yield index-based insurance — one of several types of index insurance — covers all risks that may affect the crop yield in a determined area, and the more farmers in that specific area who participate in the coverage, the less they each pay for the insurance premium. For example, the index may use historical data to project the expected amount of rainfall in a specific area, and to calculate the value of the insured yield. If the level of rainfall is lower or higher than the one predicted by the index, then payouts to the farmers can be triggered with no need for a lengthy verification process by the insurer. The straightforward design of the product itself makes it easy to understand, enhances transparency, helps to avoid disputes and may reduce costs for farmers.
Piloting a Yield Index Insurance Designed for Farmers in Nepal
To bring the benefits of index insurance to more Nepali farmers, UNCDF made a catalytic grant, coupled with technical assistance, to Jeevan Bikas Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (Jeevan Bikas), a local microfinance institution, and Pula, a global insurance technology company. Through this support, we enabled these companies to pilot an area yield index insurance for smallholder farmers in the Morang district of Province 1 in eastern Nepal. The grant was used to:
unlock a government subsidy designed to offer insurance to smallholder farmers;
provide technical assistance to Jeevan Bikas on the design and roll-out the product; and
build the financial capabilities of the farmers.
UNCDF helped Pula to design the insurance product together with Nepali insurance companies, in close cooperation with Beema Samiti and other stakeholders. We facilitated the approval of the insurance by Beema Samiti, and held discussions about premium subsidies with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. We also organised a learning dissemination workshop on the area yield index insurance with non-life insurance companies in Nepal, explaining what these insurers would need to focus on to offer similar kinds of products.
To date, these efforts have enabled 15,380 smallholder farmers in the district, primarily low-income rural women, to receive insurance coverage to protect their rice yields against frost, excessive rainfall, heatwaves, hail, flood, drought, pests and diseases. The estimated total sum insured for these rice farmers was $4,000,000, which is equivalent to around $260 per farmer. About 70,000 smallholder farmers received training on the insurance product, which was delivered digitally, and 10,000 farmers received advice on agricultural agronomy.
Critical Factors for Successful Agricultural Insurance Products
In implementing this grant program, we identified several factors that are critical to the success of an agricultural insurance offering, which I’ll discuss below.
Building the capacity of local financial institutions to design and pilot the insurance product: Although Jeevan Bikas is one of the largest microfinance institutions in Nepal, it needed new technical capabilities to develop and pilot index-based insurance. The technical assistance provided by Pula, highlighted below, was pivotal to the success of the product, helping Jeevan Bikas to:
Identify the average production history in the insured area, and the unit area of insurance (i.e., the unit of measurement that’s used to determine the amount of cultivated land covered by the insurance);
Determine if the yields of the farmers were lower than the historical benchmark, based on a sampling methodology;
Establish key product attributes like the basis for determining coverage amounts, the average sum insured per farmer, and the point at which payouts are triggered;
Define the payout amount based on the yield benchmarks vs. the yield attained;
Collect data from a representative sample of farmers after harvest, to determine the average yields and payouts for each unit area of insurance.
Leveraging partnerships to crowd in finance from the private sector and promote uptake of area yield index insurance: As the largest area yield index insurance ever offered in Nepal, this program required multi-stakeholder partnerships, and commitment from both the private and public sectors. UNCDF, as a neutral broker of partnerships, is proud to have facilitated these interactions and helped the stakeholders navigate these relationships. Thanks to this project and our collaboration with Beema Samiti, Jeevan Bikas and Pula, offering yield index insurance products to smallholder farmers is now more feasible for financial service providers in Nepal.
Beema Samiti and the local insurers it worked with for reinsurance were initially reluctant to participate in the area yield index insurance. There was no history of cross-border agricultural underwriting in Nepal and, at first, Pula’s reinsurance partners did not want to take on the risks. Through the close engagement we helped foster with these reinsurance partners, we were able to highlight the product’s potential to reach new markets in a cost-efficient manner. Similarly, our close engagement with Beema Samiti allowed UNCDF and our partners to familiarise the regulator with index-based insurance and its benefits.
Empowering smallholder farmers with knowledge about agricultural insurance: Smallholder farmers often lack an understanding of agricultural insurance, which represents one of the biggest barriers to the product’s uptake. Focus group discussions conducted as part of the project showed that the farmers we were targeting shared this low level of awareness of agricultural insurance, including crop insurance, livestock insurance and area yield index insurance. Many also did not know about the government subsidy offered in Nepal, which (as mentioned above) covers 75% of the premium for agricultural insurance. The training we designed aimed to clarify the benefits of the product to farmers, and to explain how they could access and claim the insurance, in order to address key gaps in the knowledge, skills and attitudes of these potential clients.
Designing Sustainable, Scalable Agricultural Insurance Products in Emerging Markets
Our pilot project leveraged a government subsidy, but Nepal is on its way to graduating from its least developed country status, which will result in decreasing official development assistance. In this context, it is critical that financial service providers find a way to deliver and scale up agricultural insurance products in a more sustainable manner. Below are some suggestions for how they can make this happen.
Product refinement: Our focus group discussions with the farmers were key to understanding their challenges and to better delivering the insurance product. The data collected during the pilot helped to improve the future payout structure of the product, which will provide farmers with insurance payouts if their actual yields fall below 70% of their average production yields, paying them up to 70% of the insured value of their yields.
Use of digital solutions: The pilot project used digital technologies to deliver training to the farmers, and UNCDF sees a clear opportunity to use digital innovation to scale up the uptake of this type of insurance. For example, digitization can reduce the cost of distribution and transactions, provide farmers the flexibility and convenience of making premium payments using mobile money, and ease the claim process by allowing farmers to submit documents as digital photographs instead of physical copies. Through these and other benefits, digital technology can act as a catalytic enabler to the delivery of index-based agricultural insurance in Nepal and other low- and middle-income markets.
Regulatory framework: It is important that financial service providers bundle area yield index insurance with other services such as loans and savings. This will make the product easier to deliver for a financial institution, which in turn will increase the uptake of the insurance. The right regulatory framework, however, needs to be in place to allow providers this type of flexibility.
This pilot program demonstrates the critical role of financial services in protecting development gains and giving farmers the best chance to mitigate the risks of extreme weather events. UNCDF will continue to work with the government of Nepal and our other partners in piloting and scaling financial mechanisms that provide meaningful change to the most vulnerable. We are also keen to work with other stakeholders in the broader Asian region to take this agenda forward and share our learnings.
If you’d like to learn more about this work, contact Georgii Nikolaenko, Learning, Knowledge Management and Communications Analyst at georgii.nikolaenko@uncdf.org
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17 March 2023
Breaking Down Barriers: How the UN's Commitment to Accessibility Made a Difference for a Youth with Visual Impairment
He is currently a Youth Advocate at UNICEF Nepal and loves to stay up to date with the latest happenings at the UN and often visits their website. Nir is blind and in the past accessing the information on the UN Nepal website was often difficult for him. It wasn’t very user-friendly and he often needed someone to help him navigate the website to find the information he needed. But thankfully, things have improved now, and Nir is happy to report that it's become much easier to get the information he's looking for.
Two years ago, a team was contracted to carry out an accessibility assessment of the two UN Websites and since then accessibility has progressively been improving. Our approach is to learn as we go and increase the knowledge and capacity of colleagues along the way.
Since implementing the recommendations from the Access Audit, UN Nepal has made considerable improvements to make the website un.org.np much more user-friendly for everyone, including visually impaired users like Nir.
Now, he can easily navigate the site using just his keyboard, and all the images have helpful descriptions, so he can quickly find the information he needs.
Nir is appreciative for the UN’s efforts in inclusion. The UN's dedication to accessibility has made a difference, allowing him to easily access information and updates on important issues. However, Nir still finds it challenging to locate accessible documents, as most are only available in PDF or image format. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic that the UN will continue to work towards making information more accessible for everyone.
The UN's efforts to enhance the accessibility of its website have brought about tangible improvements in Nir's daily routine, including overcoming obstacles to accessing important information and facilitating communication.
Story by:
Sagar Prasai (Diverse Patterns)
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Story
15 March 2023
Fighting Fire, Fighting Stigma
The invitation had come in from the Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City. And it was for something that, at first, seemed quite unorthodox. A firefighting training.
Reflecting on how they felt when they received the invitation, Dhan excitedly exclaims, “I thought this is the first-time I have received an invitation to something like this and was very happy!”
Pramila Rana, another trainee, echoes Dhan’s sentiments: “I was pleasantly surprised when I was invited to a firefighting training. Most of the trainings that we, as members of the LGBTIQ+ community, receive are to do with either livelihood or safe sexual practices. So, the opportunity to participate in such a training was novel.”
The firefighting training was targeted specifically for the gender and sexual minorities as they often live in rented spaces with shared kitchen facilities. To equip them to be able to safely handle fire in the early stage, Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City organized a household firefighting training, targeting kitchen fires, for 24 participants who identify as gender and sexual minorities. The Sub-Metropolitan City, in collaboration with the European Union Humanitarian Aid funded Strengthening Urban Preparedness, Earthquake Preparedness and Response in Western Regions of Nepal Project (SUPER) organized this training specifically for people who identify as a gender and sexual minority.
Dhan elaborates, “Most of the people in our community are migrants from all over Sudurpaschim Province, and even from Karnali and Lumbini Provinces. Most of us live in rented areas together as it is not very easy for us to find accommodation. Most of us have beds and kitchen space in the same room which definitely increases our risk to fires. And this training, I think, helps mitigate the probable risk of kitchen-based fire by equipping us with the necessary skills.”
At the event, the Disaster Risk Reduction Focal Person, Mr. Lekhnath Ojha remarked, “Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City is committed to being inclusive. We hope that this training can impart some learning in each of you, which you can then impart on to others or use in case there is a need. We hope this will not only better equip you to fight fires, but also to fight the societal stigma that you often face.” And indeed, Dhan, Pramila and the other participants take one step ahead in fighting fires and fighting stigma.
SUPER, under the EU Humanitarian Aid’s generous financial support, is being implemented by UNDP, UNICEF and UN Women. The project seeks to enhance municipal and provincial preparedness for impending urban and earthquake risks for effective disaster response in select places in the western regions of Nepal. It operates at the provincial level in Lumbini Province, Karnali Province and Sudurpaschim Province; and at the municipal level in Nepalgunj Sub Metropolitan City, Dhangadhi Sub Metropolitan City, Amargadhi Municipality and Jay Prithvi Municipality.
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15 March 2023
Using Innovative Technology for Earthquake Preparedness
And this haphazard development ends up taking lives in the face of disasters like earthquakes. Nepal ranks eleventh on the global risk for earthquakes, with research indicating that Western Nepal is particularly susceptible to earthquakes which will have a catastrophic impact.
So how do you know how safe the buildings are, in a cost-effective way?
One way is through a Rapid Vulnerability Assessment (RVA).
The RVA is an innovative tool that externally assesses and identifies individual buildings that face multi-hazard risks, particularly earthquakes. To assess the safety of the buildings, the European Union Humanitarian Aid funded Strengthening Urban Preparedness, Earthquake Preparedness and Response in Western Regions of Nepal Project (SUPER) conducted structural assessments of 4,000 building across its working areas in Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City, Amargadhi Municipality and Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City.
Mr. Shailesh Bahadur Shrestha, Team Leader at Innovative Solutions says, “We developed this assessment method together with UNDP in 2015. We are now using this to assess approximately 4,000 houses in select wards of Dhangadhi, Amargadhi and Nepalgunj to see how they will cope against earthquakes – all densely populated urban areas.”
SUPER, through Innovative Solutions, has been working closely with the three municipalities on ensuring better earthquake preparedness and response measures. “A specific set of questions were designed to assess the structure of the house externally and inform whether they seemed earthquake resilient. For this we worked with field engineers and field enumerators on the grounds using KOBO tool to collect data and feed into a mobile application,” says Kabita Bade Shrestha, Data Analyst at Innovative Solutions.
Assessing the potential impact for loss and damages that an earthquake may cause in urban areas helps inform integrated disaster risk management policies. It strengthens disaster and emergency response plans. And this is the goal of the RVA – to ensure that the municipalities realize the value of conducting these assessments to inform policy practices around resilient construction and scale this up. The output generated from the RVA of 4,000 houses in 6 wards, with primary data, will help in demarcating vulnerable structures and access choke points during earthquake and fire. “We hope to allocate dedicated funds to assess the safety of the schools, hospitals and government buildings in the Sub-Metropolitan City in the next fiscal year,” says the Mayor of Dhangadhi, Mr. Gopal Hamal.
And in the process, SUPER also wants to ensure technical and knowledge transfer so that there is national level capacity to scale up and sustain the good impact of the project interventions. The mobile based application and dashboard, whereabouts of the local trained enumerators will be handed over to the respective municipalities. Moreover, the municipality engineers will be trained on implicating RVA tools so that it will be continued beyond project period and replicated in other interventions. Mr. Prashant Rimal is an engineer who was engaged in the RVA in Dhangadhi. He shares, “My team and I oriented the enumerators as well as the municipality officials on what a Rapid Vulnerability Assessment is and worked with the field enumerators to collect the data. I feel that all the enumerators were able to get a taste of real-world work experience in the process of RVA.”
The RVA serves as a first step to understand the risk of the building so as to move to a more in-depth analysis. The Mayor of Amargadhi Municipality Mr. Dilli Raj Joshi says, “The RVA revealed that my own house is vulnerable to potential hazards. This indicates a clear need for construction practices to abide by the law, and we look forward to ensuring this in our municipality thanks to the study.”
Like the Mayor in Amargadhi, the stakeholders in Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City also see the utility of the RVA and call for it to be scaled up in other wards. They reflected that the RVA contains many important information such as on vulnerability, population, vulnerable population, which can be used for risk-transfer through insurance. In fact, Nepalgunj is in the process of drafting a working policy for the municipality to cover at least NRs. 500 monthly premium on houses that are valued at NRs. 15 lakh.
SUPER, under the EU Humanitarian Aid’s generous financial support, is being implemented by UNDP, UNICEF and UN Women. The project seeks to enhance municipal and provincial preparedness for impending urban and earthquake risks for effective disaster response in select places in the western regions of Nepal. It operates at the provincial level in Lumbini Province, Karnali Province and Sudurpaschim Province; and at the municipal level in Nepalgunj Sub Metropolitan City, Dhangadhi Sub Metropolitan City, Amargadhi Municipality and Jay Prithvi Municipality.
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Story
23 January 2023
A new frontier
Surkhet, Nepal: It was early in 2022 when Lokendra Subedi began to worry about his young son. The child – eight years old at the time – was starting to act a bit strange, showing a number of changes in his behaviour that concerned both Lokendra and wife Tika.
“He was taking a lot of long breaths, not sleeping as well as he used to… he would also constantly make these ‘hmmm, hmmm, hmmm’ sounds when sitting by himself,” Lokendra, a resident of Surkhet District in the Karnali Province in western Nepal, explains.
“He also seemed afraid to be alone and would try to stick close to us as much as possible.”
Hoping for a solution, the family consulted pediatricians at the Karnali Provincial Hospital. However, even after a series of physical check-ups and tests, doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him. “They checked his nose, lungs, but there was nothing there…. Physically, he was fit,” Lokendra says.
That was when the couple started to wonder if the issue might have to do with their child’s mental health. Still, their next course of action was not clear, given the dearth of child mental health specialists in the area.
Luckily, while the family had been deliberating their options, Lokendra learned from one of the pediatricians at the provincial hospital that there was a new service in place: a tele-mental health system. Under this initiative, a team of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists based in the Kanti Children’s Hospital in the country’s capital city, Kathmandu, provide remote mental health treatment and counselling services via telephone and video calls to caregivers of children and adolescents around the country.
This service was established with support from UNICEF in collaboration with local partner CWIN Nepal. In addition, a second unit is also in the process of being established at the Karnali Provincial Hospital in Surkhet in partnership with the provincial government, thanks to the generous support of the Rettig Group - through the Finnish Committee for UNICEF - so as to reach even more children.
Thanks to this tele-mental health service, Lokendra was able to consult a child psychologist about his son’s condition, and says he felt at ease from the very first conversation. “The doctor told us that he had seen other children with similar problems, and that in many cases, it was because of the drastic disruptions that the pandemic had brought about in children’s lives and schooling,” Lokendra says. “He explained that this had led to anxiety in many children, and that that was possibly what my child was suffering as well.”
A round of medication was prescribed, and Lokendra given various tips on how to help manage his son’s anxiety at home. Slowly but surely, after several months and numerous follow-up sessions through the tele-mental health system, Lokendra and Tika began to see a marked improvement in the child.
“These months of treatment have really, really helped us, and my child is doing much better now,” he says. “I feel so relieved.”
Crucial support
Forty per cent of Nepal’s population at present consists of children and adolescents under the age of 18. One of the key challenges for this young demographic relates to mental health – the country has one of the highest rates of suicide among adolescents in the South Asia region.
Seven in 1,000 adolescents have attempted suicide in their lifetimes, and four in 100 have had suicidal thoughts, as per the national mental health survey in 2020.
Despite this high prevalence, mental health issues often go unrecognized and untreated, owing to a mix of factors, including the lack of awareness, stigma and silence surrounding mental health, as well as limited availability and access to mental health services and trained providers, most of whom are concentrated in Kathmandu and a few other urban centers.
“We are the only full-time mental health clinic for children and adolescents in the whole of Nepal,” says Dr. Arun Raj Kunwar, head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Kanti Children’s Hospital, and lead psychologist for the tele-mental health system.
Dr. Arun explains that, in the past, people used to travel five or six days to bring their children to the hospital. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, however, and restrictions were placed on mobility, people were simply not able to come to the facility in person. “That was when we started the tele-video option, using WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger and other video calling tools that people are already familiar with.”
This can have a massive impact on reducing people’s expenses, Dr. Arun says. “To come for follow ups has a lot of cost implications for families – there are the flight tickets or vehicle charges to bring multiple family members to the city, followed by accommodation and other costs. Each visit can be a big burden.”
In this context, the tele-mental health system enables families who would never have been able to access mental health support services in the past a chance to do so now.
“In a country like ours, where services are sparse outside Kathmandu and travel is very difficult, tele-medicine is a new frontier,” Dr. Arun says.
Reaching the unreached
In 2022 alone, the tele-mental health unit has fielded over 3,000 calls. In addition to working with provincial hospital management and CWIN in the setting up of these units, UNICEF has also been training health workers at the community level in Karnali Province to raise awareness in their respective areas with regard to mental health, screen cases and increase referrals to the tele-mental health system.
Ishwori Poudel, nursing officer at the Mehelkuna Primary Health Care Centre in remote Surkhet, is among those health workers in the province who have participated in these sessions. She says she speaks for all her fellow health workers when she says she is keen for the second tele-mental health unit in the Karnali Provincial Hospital to come into operation closer to home.
“When we come across cases of children and adolescents with mental health issues, it is difficult for us to treat them as we don’t have the necessary expertise in house, and we feel bad recommending they go to Kathmandu given the high expenses,” Ishwori says. She adds that having the tele-mental health service in Surkhet itself would make referrals a lot easier and economical.
Still, Ishwori says there is a lot more to be done to battle the stigma that mires mental health. “In our community, people don’t talk openly about mental health, so we don’t get a lot of patients coming to us directly to seek help – instead we have to deduce from their words, behaviors and actions, so there is a big need to raise awareness.”
On his part, Lokendra says he has been doing his best to inform his family and friends about the availability of the tele-mental health system, sharing his own experience of using it.
“To be honest, I can’t really express in words just what it has meant to me…. I was under such a great deal of pressure; I didn’t know what to do. But thanks to the facility, there has been such an improvement in my son’s health,” he says. “We are very happy.”
UNICEF has developed a mental health chatbot (Ma Chhu Ni) to be connected to popular messaging apps, providing users with key information and guidance on navigating mental health issues. And, in cases where personal counseling or mental health specialist services are required, it will also connect them to the psychiatrists and psychologists at the tele-mental health unit at the Karnali Provincial Hospital, also connected to the unit at the Kanti Children’s Hospital. The content for this chatbot has been co-designed with a group of adolescents.
Source : UNCEF Nepal
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Press Release
19 April 2023
Press Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the UNESCAP made her first official visit to Nepal
In Kathmandu, Ms. Alisjahbana opened the Subregional Workshop on “Structural Transformation towards a Sustainable Graduation from Least Developed Country Category” organized by ESCAP and the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office/UN Country Team and hosted by the National Planning Commission of the Government of Nepal. Nepal will graduate from least developed country status in 2026. Sustaining the growth momentum beyond graduation requires continuous structural transformation and strengthening of productive capacities.
As part of her visit to Nepal, Ms. Alisjahbana met and discussed Nepal’s development challenges with Hon. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Hon. Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Hon. Vice Chairman of National Planning Commission Min Bahadur Shrestha, Hon. Minister of Finance Prakash Sharan Mahat, Hon. Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Shakti Bahadur Basnet, and Hon. Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala. Congratulating Nepal for its recent appointment as chair of the Global Coordination Bureau of Least Developed Countries, she highlighted ESCAP’s cooperation with the Government of Nepal in supporting Nepal’s smooth and sustainable graduation, particularly in the areas of structural transformation, sustainable transport, energy connectivity and clean (electric) cooking, disaster risk resilience, and statistics and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Ms. Alisjahbana also met SAARC Secretary General Esala Ruwan Weerakoon and took the opportunity to examine cooperation between the secretariats of ESCAP and SAARC in South Asia.
UN Resident Coordinator Ms. Hanaa Singer Hamdy accompanied the meetings and reaffirmed the UN Country Team’s support to Nepal in accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that will facilitate Nepal’s smooth and sustainable graduation. She acknowledged the country on overcoming unprecedented challenges and expressed appreciation for initiating the formulation of the Integrated National Financing Framework, which furthers Government efforts to reorient financial resources to achieve its national goals. Recognizing the complexity of the transition to a developed country, she reiterated UN Nepal’s readiness to work with the Government, drawing on experience and expertise nationally, regionally and internationally, including through South-South and triangular cooperation.
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For more information Contact:
Simrika Sharma
National Information Officer
simrika.sharma@un.org
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Press Release
05 April 2023
UN Resident Coordinator Hanaa Singer-Hamdy presents her credentials to Rt. Honorable Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Hanaa Singer-Hamdy of Egypt as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nepal, with the approval from the Government of Nepal.
Following the UN Reform in 2019, the Resident Coordinator’s function has been upgraded to be the representative of the UN Secretary General in member states. UN Resident Coordinator Hanaa is the highest-ranking official of the UN Development System in Nepal. She leads the UN Country Team and coordinates UN support to Nepal in implementing the 2030 Agenda.
Upon presenting her credentials Ms. Hanaa Singer-Hamdy appreciated Nepal’s contribution to global peace through peacekeeping forces. She expressed the UN’s commitment to accompany Nepal on the inclusive and sustainable graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) by investing in people, specially strengthening social protection, Disaster Risk Reduction and climate change mitigation systems by leaving no one behind. She also said the UN stands ready to support the government to complete the peace process and victim-centric transitional justice reform.
Ms. Hanaa has worked for close to 30 years across development and humanitarian contexts at various senior management and strategic leadership roles and has most lately served as the UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka.
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BACKGROUND
Ms. Hanaa Singer-Hamdy has worked for close to 30 years across development and humanitarian contexts at various senior management and strategic leadership roles. She served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka from 2018 to 2022. Under her leadership, the UN in Sri Lanka continued its partnership with the Government in responding to complex economic and political challenges including the 2019 Easter Bombings, COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent deterioration in macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability. When Sri Lanka faced a significant rise in food insecurity and other humanitarian concerns, she led a response targeting 3.4 million people in need that raised over $100 million for vital aid. To advance inclusive and rights-based development, she led the design of the United Nations Strategic Development Cooperation Framework 2023-2027 in consultation with Government and other stakeholders. Since 2019, she also mobilized over $36 million for peacebuilding and resilience programming through the UN Sri Lanka SDG Multi-Partner Trust Fund.
Prior to this, she held several senior management positions in UNICEF offices across the world, including as the Associate Regional Director in Geneva and as Country Representative for Syria, Nepal, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
In Syria, she provided strategic leadership to one of the largest protection crises on the global stage – successfully scaling up programmes through an integrated package of high impact interventions in health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and child protection - increasing the reach of UNICEF’s work to the most vulnerable children including in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.
As UNICEF Chief in Nepal, she pioneered strategic programmes for scaling up sanitation, adolescents and multisectoral nutrition programmes, establishing strategic new alliances resulting in the government adopting national action plans. She has also led humanitarian programmes in Burundi and Haiti, and as a Regional Emergency Advisor for central and eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) coordinated setting up cross border humanitarian operations to Afghanistan, from central Asia, and Iraq, from south Turkey. She also provided technical support to emergency preparedness programmes in the North Caucasus, and Kyrgyzstan.
Ms. Singer-Hamdy holds a Master's degree in Political Sociology and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. She obtained a diploma in “Planning and Management of Decentralized Development Projects” from Bradford University in the United Kingdom.
Ms. Singer-Hamdy has engaged in academia and research in political sociology and international relations at the American University of Cairo and at the Sadat’s Academy for Management Sciences, Faculty of Political Science of Cairo University. She is the author and co-author of two publications on social change in the Middle East.
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For more information Contact:
Simrika Sharma
National Information Officer
simrika.sharma@un.org
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Press Release
21 March 2023
An Evidence-Based Workshop on Prevalence of Digital Violence and Hate Speech in Nepal
The workshop is a part of UN Nepal’s long-term goal to foster discussion on the causes and consequences of hate speech and promote information integrity in the hope of encouraging a collective effort to widen preventive measures and early warning actions on hate speech and disinformation in the country.
Speaking at the program, the UN Resident Coordinator Designate in Nepal, Ms. Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, said, “creating safer online experiences is crucial in the climate of aggressive digitalization. When groups in society use online platforms to attack and propagate hurtful content, it causes backlash, harm and can turn violent and undermine social cohesion. To make a difference we need effective partnerships between government, civil society, and tech companies. A partnership that prioritise protection over profits. We need laws, police and courts willing to create consequences for illegal activity. We need to create strong alliances that address the issues beyond regulation, involving the private sector, civil society, and communities so digital literacy and awareness of the impact of hate speech goes hand in hand with improved internet access.”
Sharing the lessons from the 2022 elections in Nepal, Honorable Dr. Janaki Kumari Tuladhar, Commissioner, Election Commission Nepal expressed, “The Election Commission Nepal has partnered with social media company Meta to counter disinformation and hate speech during the 2022 election. The Commission has launched voter education campaigns via social media and door-to-door outreach, urging voters to fact-check information related to elections. However, the issue of hate speech and disinformation extends beyond elections, and there is a need to cultivate critical thinking skills for accessing accurate information online. The Election Commission and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology should collaborate to tackle this issue in Nepal.”
The workshop provided space for dialogue between government, civil society, development partners and other practitioners who shared experiences, discussed lessons, and proposed future actions to mitigate hate speech and misinformation.
“The Government of Nepal wants to regulate the media without restricting freedom of expression. Self-regulation of individuals on the online and offline platform is more important than ever in the rapidly evolving digital media,” said Dr Baikuntha Aryal, Secretary of Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. “We are open to collaborate with civil society, media and development partners to work together on strengthening digital literacy of Citizens,” he added.
In response to the alarming trends of growing racism, intolerance, violent misogyny and hatred around the world, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech in 2019.
The Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech sets out a comprehensive strategic guidance for the United Nations system to address hate speech at the national and global level. It aims to both address root causes and drivers of hate speech and effectively respond to the impact of hate speech on societies.
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For more information Contact:
Simrika Sharma
National Information Officer
simrika.sharma@un.org
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For more information Contact:
Simrika Sharma
National Information Officer
simrika.sharma@un.org
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Press Release
07 March 2023
Joint Statement
1. As the Graduating Cohort of 2021, we, the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the Government of Lao People's Democratic Republic, and the Government of Nepal underline our common commitment to sustainable and inclusive national development despite the challenging circumstances. We are confident that the global economic recovery will enable the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to attain at least 7 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth per annum in line with the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). And we are committed to pursuing sustainable graduation from the LDC status with the ambition to move sustainably towards higher levels of prosperity and equality that leaves no one behind with support from the international community and partner countries.
2. We are aware that the continuing impacts of the recent pandemic, the geopolitical tensions, and the resultant economic uncertainties, more frequent and intense climate-related crisis, among others, have exacerbated the underlined structural vulnerabilities of the LDCs, including the graduating ones, reversing their development gains in some areas and impacting their abilities to pursue sustainable development. These existing and emerging challenges have affected and may continue to challenge our preparations for smooth, irreversible and sustainable graduation.
3. We take graduation seriously, and as such we are developing Smooth Transition Strategies (STS) that identify the necessary steps by all stakeholders for a successful graduation process. We are also committed to utilizing the existing or new inclusive consultative mechanisms to ensure that the transition is smooth, sustainable and engages a wide spectrum of voices across our respective countries.
4. However, we recognize that graduation is not the end goal for our national development endeavors. It significantly represents the remarkable achievements made by our governments over the past years, with support extended by the international community.
5. Against this backdrop, to successfully manage the transition of graduating countries, especially in the context of global challenges, we call up on our international community and development partners, including multilateral development banks and international financial institutions to extend necessary support to the graduating LDCs in the spirit of the Doha Programme of Action that calls for international solidarity and reinvigorated global partnership
6. More specifically, we call upon the international community and development partne ent on the margins of the Fifth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries on Susrs for: By the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and the Government of Nepal as a part of the side event on the margins of the 5th United Nations Conference on Leference on Least Develop Democratic Republic, and the Government of Nepal as a part of the side event on the margins of
Continued partnership, cooperation and international support to formulate and implement strategies in the areas of fostering structural transformation, improving competitiveness of domestic producers, reducing digital divide and promoting international trade and foreign investment during and beyond graduation.
Continuation of International Support Measures beyond graduation, for which a formal submission has been made to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for consideration, including preferential market access and TRIPS waivers, particularly for pharmaceutical products for combating public health-related challenges and pandemics.
Mobilization of international support to promote export diversification both in terms of commodities and markets, and advocate for necessary support for recently graduated countries, including through WTO processes.
Providing easy and flexible access to climate mitigation and adaptation finance on a concessional basis, including in the context of loss and damage, and continuation of technology transfer to LDCs after their graduation, as emphasized through the Conference of the Parties (CoP) process.
Ensuring technical assistance to support Public Finance Management reforms, notably to fill data and infrastructure gaps with regard to a large informal sector, and capacity development and modernization of tax administrations.
Continued Official Development Assistance to meet financing gaps for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals and national development priorities and to make a shift towards sustainable development practices, noting our collective commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015.
Post-graduation extension of the waivers in the regional and sub-regional trade agreements and other support measures provided to the graduated LDCs.
Assurance of safe, orderly and regular migration with full respect for human rights and the humane treatment of migrants, regardless of their migration status, easy access to quality financial services to lower the transactional cost of remittances, and technical support to ensure remittances can be used for long-term investment in productive sectors, such as micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, for economic transformation and job creation in the LDCs.
7. In the context of the shocks to development that the world is contending with, it is incumbent upon all of us to stay the course with the global call to rescue the SDGs and get back on track to building a better world that “leaves no one behind”, and the success of the Graduating Cohort of 2021 in reaching the thresholds for graduation is a major milestone and shows our common commitment to this progress. However, maintaining the progress throughout the transition, and ensuring that the graduation is sustainable and irreversible, requires continued and concerted support measures from the international community and development partners along with our collective endeavor and commitment to implementation of the Doha Programme of Action.
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Press Release
08 February 2023
JOINT PRESS RELEASE : National Gender Equality Programme Launched
The Government of Nepal, the Delegation of the European Union in Nepal and the United Nations launched a four-year joint programme to advance gender equality and contribute to the empowerment of women and girls to realize the national vision of a prosperous and happy Nepal (vision 2030).
Honourable Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Ms. Bhagwati Chaudhary, the Director for the Middle East, Asia and Pacific at the Directorate-General for International Partnerships of the European Commission, Mr Peteris Ustubs and Ms Elke Wisch, UNICEF Representative to Nepal on behalf of the UN Resident Coordinator and the UN team, jointly launched the programme at a ceremony held in Patan today. The event was attended by representatives from the Government of Nepal, Heads of agencies of the United Nations, Head of Missions/Ambassadors of development partners and EU Member States, and civil society organizations.
"Empowering women is crucial for the prosperity of Nepal. In the 21st century, we must strive to eliminate discrimination against women and girls. We are honored to be a part of the collaborative effort between the EU and UN agencies towards this goal," said Chaudhary, Honourable Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens.
The programme, titled “Empowered Women Prosperous Nepal” (Shashakta Mahila, Sambridhha Nepal) ultimately seeks to strengthen equal rights and opportunities for women and men by engaging with men and boys, families, and communities to exhibit more gender-equitable behaviors, as well as support for positive social and gender norms that promote Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE), resulting in increased agency and voice of women and girls.
“Nepal is at a strategic crossroad- with a recent, strong and democratic constitution bringing a very ambitious reform to a federal system, and at the verge of graduating from Least Developed status. And these two important milestones for Nepal’s development rest on Nepal’s capacity to use its potential to the fullest, which means using all hands and all hearts to the betterment of the country. Nepal has not only the opportunity, but the necessity, to count on all of its people, including women and men in all their diversity to make these ambitions happen,” said Director Peteris Ustubs.
The programme aims at addressing the formal and informal barriers to development that women and girls face in Nepal. It will also acknowledge the intersecting vulnerabilities, formal and informal forces that combine to leave half of Nepal's vital forces behind and ensure that women, men, girls, and boys, in all their diversity, have equal access to economic, labor, and social rights.
“Women and girls account for half of Nepal’s population and represent half of the country’s potential to realize a prosperous and happy Nepal! The Constitution of Nepal commits to equal opportunity and protection for women and girls. It will take a ‘whole of society’ approach – with government at all levels, civil society, private sector and development partners working together – to achieve this great aspiration.” said Ms Wisch. “With men and boys at the forefront to tackling the social norms that continue to drive discrimination against women and girls, and joining efforts to promote gender equality in their families and communities, together we can create a more inclusive and equal society.”
The programme, with a total budget of US$19.5 million, will be jointly implemented by four UN agencies (ILO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women), in three provinces, namely Madhesh, Karnali and Sudurpaschim from 2023 to 2026 in collaboration with federal, provincial and local governments. The programme has been designed following an in-depth situation analysis and extensive consultations with wide range of government bodies, civil society organizations and other stakeholders.
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For further information, please contact:
Ambar Mainali, Delegation of the European Union to Nepal, Ambar.MAINALI@eeas.europa.eu Simrika Sharma, United Nations Information Centre, Simrika.sharma@un.org, Tel: 5523200 Ext. 1510
Ambar Mainali, Delegation of the European Union to Nepal, Ambar.MAINALI@eeas.europa.eu Simrika Sharma, United Nations Information Centre, Simrika.sharma@un.org, Tel: 5523200 Ext. 1510
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