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Nepal
>> Regional Overview >> Nepal Overview
Summary Tables
Program Summary
Previous Years' Activities
2001, 2000, 1999, 1998Last updated: 54
Introduction
In 1951, The Kingdom of Nepal opened its doors for the first time to the outside world after centuries of isolation. It was a country without roads or infrastructure, and lacking the most rudimentary systems such as education and health. During the past 50 years, Nepal has taken giant strides to join the modern world. The country built roads and schools, eradicated endemic malaria, and introduced basic health services. In 1990, Nepal took perhaps its single most important step-establishing a democracy by creating a multiparty, constitutional monarchy. From the beginning, USAID has been a development partner. Critical USAID contributions to Nepal's development in the last 50 years include building basic infrastructure, enhancing rural development, improving health and family planning, and meeting a host of other national needs. The current USAID program promotes the U.S. national interests of democracy and human rights and the global issues of health, population, and environment. Strengthening democracy in Nepal is the most important goal of the Mission Performance Plan (MPP), and is central to USAID's activities. The USAID program also is linked to several other MPP goals-economic development, open markets, environment, health, population, and regional stability.
Development Challenge
Nepal's progress over the last half century has been dramatic. Roads, schools, electricity, a university system, and modern governmental functions are now firmly established. However, Nepal's needs are vast-over half of its population still lives on less than a dollar a day, and many of its other social indicators are still the lowest in South Asia. Population growth, enormously rugged terrain, geographical location, and a fragile, fledgling democracy have held in check many of Nepal's attempts to become a modern nation. These factors frame Nepal's development challenge. USAID's program has evolved to meet this challenge, focusing on addressing the most salient issues: a weak, decade-old democracy; rapid population growth; the lack of primary health care for women and children; the low status of women; increased energy demand; increased environmental pressure; and the lack of economic opportunities for the poor.
Women and children under the age of five die at alarming rates in Nepal. USAID's targeted health programs provide critical interventions for over 3.5 million such children. Vitamin A distribution throughout the country reaches 80% of children between the ages of six months and five years, thereby helping to avert over 30,000 deaths annually. This intervention, along with a program focusing on pneumonia diagnosis and treatment, is helping Nepal to reduce its under-five mortality from 118 deaths/1,000 in 1996 to a projected 85/1,000 by 2002. Nepal's AIDS epidemic is concentrated among high-risk groups. Drawing from its worldwide leadership in the field, USAID is working with the Government of Nepal to increase awareness and promote safe practices.
To counter population growth, USAID is focusing on expansion of quality family planning services. These efforts are contributing to a steady decline in Nepal's total fertility rate, with current trends showing a decrease of 0.43 children per woman every five years. However, despite the fact that nearly 36% of couples in Nepal now use contraceptive measures (compared with 24% in 1991), there remains a huge unmet demand for contraception.
Nepal has vast, virtually untapped hydropower potential. Its rugged topography and climate create a network of fast-flowing rivers. Tapping this tremendous energy potential through hydropower development is the key to Nepal's long-term sustainable development. USAID's hydropower program, while modest in terms of funding, focuses on stimulating private sector hydropower investment for both domestic use and export. This important partnership is the main economic growth component of USAID's strategy in Nepal. Developing Nepal's vast water resources for hydropower offers enormous potential for stimulating national development, including the creation of a substantial source of foreign exchange. Clean energy production can replace other polluting energy supplies in Nepal and the region, particularly in India. USAID assistance in the sector is already improving transparency and predictability. One measure is the increase in firm financial commitments to hydropower projects from $303 million in 1999 to $319 million in 2000. Similarly, 29 survey licenses were issued last year for hydropower projects, a number far exceeding expectations.
Nepal's bold transition to democracy, barely a decade old, is threatened by ineffective governance, corruption, and growing discontent resulting from citizens' rising expectations. Most recently, Nepal launched a decentralization program designed to push decisions and resources closer to actual users. For this laudable effort to be truly effective, a corresponding demand for good governance must be created at both national and local levels. Strengthening nongovernmental stakeholders provides institutional checks and balances and broader oversight over government activities. This means assuring that civil society groups can effectively demand essential services and monitor government performance. The creation of a strong civil society is critical for ensuring transparency, accountability, predictability, and participation-all major factors for ensuring more equitable economic and social development.
USAID's approach to good governance emphasizes increasing the capacity of citizen and private sector organizations to effectively plan and advocate. Although programs in women's empowerment and agriculture and forestry are ending, USAID will continue to use the comparative advantage gained from its successful programs and partnerships. By accessing this important network, USAID will continue strengthening the voices of rural resource users through their national associations and federations. Better governance of the natural resource sector not only contributes to economic growth and a stronger rural democracy, it also conserves the nation's unique and extensive biodiversity and ensures that the revenues generated by hydropower development are invested wisely for broad-based development.
USAID will continue to address the issue of trafficking of women and children (from Nepal to India and other countries) through community education programs and activities to intercept and protect trafficked victims in border areas. These activities will support USAID's South Asia Regional Initiative (SARI)/Equity program and will complement the efforts of other donors.
The continuing Maoist antigovernment insurgency in rural areas of Nepal has not hindered progress toward achieving USAID's program objectives. However, USAID is carefully monitoring the conflict to assure that programs continue to meet their objectives and to be positioned for a rapid response should conditions change.
Other Donors
Donor assistance in Nepal amounts to approximately $550 million annually. The United States ranked sixth in bilateral assistance in 2000, and continues to play a lead role in policy discussions in forestry, health, women's issues, agriculture, and hydropower. Other major donors are the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United Nations Development Program, Norway, Denmark, and Canada. Infrastructure development-particularly transport, communications, and energy-continues to receive the largest share of donor resources. Trends in donor assistance also emphasize agriculture, health, social services, and natural resources. Recently, donor issues have included decentralization and good governance. USAID coordinates closely with other donors through sectoral working groups and other fora.
FY 2002 Program
In FY 2002, USAID will focus on Nepal's needs in health and family planning, hydropower development, and strengthening democratic processes to ensure the wise use and equitable distribution of wealth in the future.
In the health sector, the FY 2002 program will focus on technical assistance, commodities, training, and limited budgetary support. This will support nationwide vitamin A distribution for children; contraceptive purchasing and distribution; the training and deployment of community health workers; the control of infectious diseases, including such vector-borne diseases as malaria; public awareness campaigns aimed at HIV/AIDS prevention; training of rural women; and the development of birth preparedness packages to combat maternal deaths.
In the hydropower sector, USAID will fund technical assistance and training to strengthen the Department of Electricity Development's institutional capacity to promote private sector development of hydropower. In addition, technical assistance will be provided to improve local capability to conduct and assess environmental and social impacts of proposed hydropower projects and increase public participation in these processes.
In the democracy and governance sector, the FY 2002 program will include technical assistance and training to strengthen targeted natural resource user groups, advocate for women's rights, strengthen selected institutions, and assist in preventing the trafficking in girls.
In addition to the bilateral program, the Global Bureau has a women's education policy research activity that works to mobilize broad-based, informed constituencies to improve girls' education.
Activity Data Sheets
- 367-001 Increased Sustainable Production and Sales of Forest and High-Value Agricultural Products
- 367-002 Reduced Fertility and Protected Health of Nepalese Families
- 367-003 Increased Women's Empowerment
- 367-004 Increased Private Sector Participation and Investment in Environmentally and Socially Sound Hydropower
- 367-006 Increased Private Sector Participation in Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Hydropower Development
- 367-007 Strengthened Governance of Natural Resources and Selected Institutions
Country Background Information Resources
CIA Factbook
Library of CongressNational Geographic Country Maps
State Dept. Country Information
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
