Capacity Development Support to Governance (CD-SG)

Project description

Title: Strengthening the decentralised government structure in Nepal
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Nepal
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA)
Overall term: 2019 to 2022

Context

The adoption of Nepal's constitution in 2015 marked a political turn in the country's development process and introduced federalism and decentralised governance. In March 2016, the Government of Nepal initiated the restructuring process which led to the establishment of a federal government, seven provincial governments and 753 local governments. The local level election completed in September 2017, which instituted elected leadership in all local governments. The new local governments exercise executive, legislative and judicial functions and are responsible for tasks related to service delivery and development.

Nepal’s provincial and local governments need support in implementing the necessary reforms and making them effective and fully functional. Moreover, the national level agencies are in need of substantial strategy, guidance and support measures to prepare the extensive reforms at national and local levels.

Objective

Inclusive service provisions have been strengthened in selected municipalities in provinces of Nepal.

Approach

The project supports fifteen selected local governments in provinces 5, 6 and 7. The project supports three levels of government through following three outputs:

• Output 1: To improve the participation of disadvantaged groups in municipal decision-making processes: The module advises partner municipalities on how to optimise and institutionalise key processes in the cycle of municipal strategy development (e.g. mission statement formulation, development planning, budgeting and monitoring/revision) with a view to target group-oriented participation.
• Output 2: To strengthen the capacities of selected municipalities for inclusive service provision: The module supports local authorities in developing model approaches and implementing appropriate measures to improve access to municipal services for disadvantaged groups.
• Output 3: To improve the conditions for the dissemination of inclusive service delivery approaches: In the sense of vertical scaling up, the project supports key institutions for municipal capacity development (PCGG in provinces, MoFAGA at central level) in order to prepare local practical experience for inclusive service provision and disseminate it to municipalities. For horizontal scaling up, the project supports the municipal associations to further develop and institutionalise mutual learning formats (peer-to-peer learning) within the framework of inter-municipal networking.