Nepal has signed a joint financing agreement with the
European Union (EU), Switzerland, Norway and the United Kingdom for 100 million
US dollars (equivalent to Rs. 11.4 billion) support to strengthen federalism
and improve service delivery of the local levels.
Nepal will contribute 30 million dollars to the project
titled as 'Provincial and local governance support programme (PLGSP)' that aims
at capacity building of the local governments in the federal structure.
The project is designed to strengthen the capacity of the
State and local governments to deliver public service in a more effective and
efficient way.
The four-year project begins from Fiscal Year 2019/20 and
will run till FY 2022/23.
"It is a highly prioritised programme," said Shree
Krishna Nepal, Chief of International Economic Cooperation and Coordination
Division at the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
"This project will ensure to attain functional,
sustainable, inclusive and accountable provincial and local governance by
maximising benefits of cooperative federalism for Nepali citizens," he
added.
The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration
(MoFAGA) said that the programme was designed as a framework programme that
would link the three levels of the governments.
"It will focus on enhancing the knowledge, skills and
attitude of the provincial and local governments. System reform, information
technology initiatives and efficient service delivery are the priority,"
said Ramesh Adhikari, Under-Secretary at the MoFAGA and Manager of the
programme.
According to him, the programme will also include audit and
procurement support and institution building.
The agreement was signed by Nepal on behalf of the
government and Matthew John Rycroft, Permanent Secretary at the Department for
International Development of the United Kingdom, Lasse Bjorn Johannessen,
Ambassador of Norway to Nepal, and Elisabeth Von Capeller, Ambassador of
Switzerland to Nepal on behalf of their respective government. The EU has
already extended the commitments and will sign the agreement at the earliest.
Rycroft said that the international community was impressed
by the progress made by Nepal in implementing federalism in the last two years.
He said that the cooperation was extended so that people could
realise the benefits of federalism. "We assure further support in
overcoming the challenges in institutionalising and strengthening
federalism," he said.
Johannessen said that the Norwegian Embassy was committed to
partnering with other agencies to enable the local governments in executing
their part of jobs.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 5 September 2019.
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