NPPR meet to focus on dev effectiveness
KATHMANDU, JAN 31 - The next Nepal Portfolio Performance Review (NPPR) will focus on “ development effectiveness ” instead of the traditional theme of “aid effectiveness” in a bid to address the problems seen in the entire range of development projects.
The evaluation meeting, an annual government-donor engagement to discuss challenges to development projects, will be held after a new government is formed.
Finance Ministry sources said delays in the government’s formation had pushed back the NPPR meet.
“We’ve not set the date for the meeting, but it will be held soon after a new government is formed,” said a senior ministry official.
Government officials said that as the projects funded by domestic resources and foreign aid were facing similar challenges,
the theme of the event was being changed to “ development effectiveness ” from “aid effectiveness”.
“Domestic resources account for more than 70 percent of the development budget, and they are spent even on foreign-aided projects as counterpart funds,” said Kailash Raj Pokharel, under secretary at the International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division at the Finance Ministry.
“That’s why effective use of not only foreign aid but also domestic resources must be ensured.” He added that donors too had supported the idea of changing the theme of the event.
Meanwhile, economist Keshav Acharya said that the idea of development effectiveness was better than aid effectiveness.
However, he admitted that improving the effectiveness of donor-funded projects was more difficult than domestically financed projects as the first kind involved two bureaucratic processes—government and donor.
Acharya, who has served as the chief economic advisor to the Finance Ministry in the past, said that issues such as effectiveness of public procurement, public financial management, human resources and monitoring and evaluation were common challenges for both domestically funded and foreign-aided projects.
Bringing effectiveness in these areas has been consistent themes since the NPPR was initiated 13 years ago. During last year’s NPPR, a new thematic area “mutual accountability” was added. It envisages making both the government and the donors responsible for aid effectiveness.
Likewise, four sector areas including local governance, road and transport management, agriculture and energy were added during last year’s NPPR meet.
Finance Ministry officials said the major thematic areas of the upcoming NPPR meet would be the same as last year.
“The major thematic areas of the discussion will be same,” said Madhu Marasini, joint secretary at the ministry who heads the International Economic Cooperation Coordina-tion Division.
Meanwhile, one more donor will be joining the upcoming NPPR meet. According to the Finance Ministry, Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) is scheduled to take part in the NPPR which will bring the number of donors participating in the event to 12.
During last year’s meet, 11 donor agencies, namely the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, USAID, Norway, JICA, IFAD, European Union, Department for International Development of the UK, Danish Aid Agency (DANIDA), Australian Aid Agency (AusAid) and United Nations Country Team (Nepal) took part.
(Source: The Kathmandu Post)
