US pledges $402m dev funding over five years
KATHMANDU, SEP 24 -
The US Mission in Nepal has pledged to provide $ 402 million through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve governance, expand proven health interventions in maternal and child health, improve literacy, increase economic growth and address the challenges of food insecurity and climate change. The funds will be used over the next five years.
Madhu Marasini, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, and Dr Beth Dunford, mission director of USAID-Nepal, signed an assistance agreement on behalf of the two governments on Tuesday.
“I would like to express my appreciation to the people and the government of the US for this assistance and also for their continued interest and support in the socio-economic development of Nepal,” said Marasini. “This agreement reflects the American people’s continued commitment to development priorities in Nepal. As a focus country for all three US Presidential Initiatives-Global Climate Change, Global Health Initiative, and Feed the Future, working together with the government, seeks to build on the efforts and successes of the past and create a Nepal where the most vulnerable are lifting themselves out of extreme poverty and contributing to stable, resilient democratic societies,” said Dunford. USAID focuses on key cross-cutting issues across all sectors such as gender equality and empowerment and disaster risk reduction besides supporting Nepal’s leadership to increase accountability and ability to deliver services to traditionally marginalized groups.
Monitoring and Evaluation Policy Forum held
The fifth Monitoring and Evaluation Policy Forum was held on Tuesday by the National Planning Commission (NPC) in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) supported project for Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation System (SMES-2) with the objective of contributing to further institutionalization of external and internal evaluation practices in Nepal. Teertha Raj Dhakal, joint secretary of the NPC, presented a paper entitled Institutionalization of Evaluation in Nepal. Ryo Sasaki, team leader of the SMES-2 Project, presenting a paper entitled Internal Evaluation in Japan, recommended formulating an evaluation policy and using a mixture of internal and external evaluation. The forum shared the results of the second Networking Meeting with policymakers and reviewed the achievements of the fourth Policy Forum. The fifth Policy Forum concluded with the collection of feedback and recommendations to strengthen the Evaluation System for both the government and non-government sectors.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
