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NEPAL
>> Regional Overview >> Nepal Overview 
Introduction
USAID has made many critical contributions to Nepal's development since the country opened its doors to the outside world half a century ago - building infrastructure, enhancing rural development, improving health and family planning and meeting a host of other important development needs. Since the inception of democracy only 10 years ago, USAID has partnered with the Government of Nepal and other donors to ensure continuing progress towards improved democratic processes in Nepal. More recently, USAID has pioneered assistance to improve the role of women, protect natural resources and biodiversity, and increase rural incomes. USAID is also assisting Nepal to attract private sector investment to capitalize on its tremendous hydropower potential. As a result of such assistance, visible, measurable progress has been made in Nepal in the past half century. However, Nepal remains a nation of great need - half of its population still lives in absolute poverty.The current USAID/Nepal program promotes the U.S. national interests of democracy and human rights and the global issues of environment, population and health. Strengthening democracy in Nepal is the most important goal of the MPP and central to the community-level approach of the USAID activities. It serves a fundamental American interest and contributes to human rights, economic growth and political and social stability. The USAID program is intrinsically tied to several other MPP goals - Economic Development, Open Markets, Environment, Health, Population and Regional Stability.
The Development Challenge
Despite real progress in the social sectors, Nepal still faces serious challenges. Many of Nepal's social indicators are still the lowest in South Asia. Elections held in May 1999 resulted in a majority government. Problems of corruption and governance have troubled the new government but substantial donor attention has been focused on these issues. The USAID program is complementing these efforts. USAID programs are contributing to the democracy goal of the Agency by building the capacity of women's groups, community forest-user groups and irrigation-user groups, to better manage their resources and advocate for change. These programs are mutually supportive of other donor contributions in Democracy and Good Governance.The Nepal program also supports the USAID goals of stabilized world population growth, protected human health and reduced spread of infectious diseases. Nepal's population growth rate is high (2.4% annually) and total fertility (the average lifetime births per woman) is 4.6. These rates mean a doubling of Nepal's population in 25 years, arguing for a continued need for USAID assistance to help the GON to expand the availability of quality, voluntary family planning services. The health of Nepal's population is still poor by world standards despite measurable progress. USAID programs that improve the control of diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, and reduce the number of children with vitamin A deficiency, have contributed to the reduction in the under-five mortality rate from 165 to 118 deaths per 1,000 live births in five years. But the infant mortality rate is still among the highest in the world. USAID also supports active programs in preventing HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases to address these areas of growing local and global concern.
USAID/Nepal continues to pioneer assistance for women's empowerment in Nepal to advance democracy and economic growth. This program has contributed to significantly strengthening Nepali women's participation in politics, advocacy and economic growth despite funding restrictions. The completion of this innovative program provides the Agency with a large-scale tested pilot program on which to model similar activities globally. The program has increased women's literacy, knowledge of their legal rights and access to small loans to start businesses. This empowerment leads to future generations of articulate women who better understand the political systems that can address their community concerns. Future USAID/Nepal programs will use components of the successful Women's Empowerment Program to improve democratic processes in Nepal.
Eighty percent of the economically active population in Nepal works in the agriculture sector. Agricultural development is a critical means of alleviating poverty for rural Nepalis and to prevent large-scale migration to urban areas and to India. Contributing to the Agency goal of encouraging broad-based economic growth and agricultural development, the Nepal program will continue to use limited funding to assist farmers in targeted areas to use their resources more effectively to improve the quality of life for their families.
In forestry, USAID's support to over 1,300 community forestry user groups (an estimated 500,000 people) has supported the Agency Goal to protect the world's environment for long-term sustainability. The program is helping to preserve biodiversity, reduce global warming, and improve the management of over 100,000 hectares of forest in Nepal. The value of forest products is becoming an increasingly important source of new income for rural families. There is a growing link between the protection of watersheds by community forest-user groups in the hills and long-term returns on hydropower development.
The production and use of clean energy in this region is a priority in advancing global environmental objectives and is the focus of USAID's South Asia Regional Initiative in Energy (SARI). Nepal has tremendous hydropower potential (over 80,000 MW) of which less than 1% has been developed, that can contribute to the increasing demand for clean energy in the region. Hydropower development is a long-term goal that can generate tremendous revenue and thus reduce Nepal's dependence on donor assistance. USAID/Nepal has a strong program that directly assists the GON to administer environmentally sound hydropower development with transparent systems attracting international private sector investments. This program contributes to the Agency's environment goal as well as providing opportunities for U.S. private business interests.
Other Donors
Donor assistance in Nepal amounts to over U.S.$400 million annually. Infrastructure development, particularly transport, communications and energy, continues to receive the largest share of the resources. Trends in donor assistance are towards an emphasis on agriculture, health, social services, and natural resources. Recently, donor issues have included decentralization and good governance. The USAID program coordinates closely with other donors. The U.S.G. ranked fifth in bilateral assistance in 1999 and continues to play a lead role in policy discussions in forestry, health, women's issues, agriculture and hydropower.
Country Background Information Resources CIA Factbook
Library of CongressNational Geographic Country Maps
State Dept. Country Information
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Last Updated on: November 17, 2000 |
