NATIONAL8 (Spotlight Weekly]

New Challenges

The British government is helping Nepal develop a system of pro-poor governance

By A CORRESPONDENT

Judging by the comments of senior civil servants on a program jointly initiated by the British government's Department for International Development (DFID) and Nepal's Prime Minister's Office, the project will have to face rough weather to finally achieve its broader target of developing pro-poor governance.

This may seem to be a challenging program for a country like Nepal where such efforts run either through the Ministry of Finance, the National Planning Commission or other agencies. If it succeeds, the program would bring substantial change in the concept of governance.

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"The Prime Minister's Office is fully committed to execute the project in its spirit," said Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, addressing a ceremony to mark the signing of the agreement.

As long as other agencies related to executing the program remain adamant, it may have to face difficult times every step of the way. "I don't see the rational of launching the program under the Prime Minister's Office," said a senior government official at the ceremony.

Although this is the first time a donor and the Prime Minister's Office have agreed to work together to carry out more effective programs for pro-poor governance, this effort may face more difficulties at the bureaucratic level.

For the first time in the development process, Nepalese experts have got the opportunity to prove that they are competent in initiating the development programs.

Under the Enabling State Program (ESP), efforts will be made to correct past failure and to meet the challenges in the development sectors. "Achieving a significant shift towards pro-poor governance will take time as it is one of the difficult task," said Dr. Shailendra Adhikary, talking to the press before launching the program.

Launched by DFID-ESP the program is first of its kind where Nepalese experts and policy makers are allowed to design and execute the programs.

The role of the DFID is to support the program by providing funding for ESP activities and to support some of the projects that evolve out of the ESP process. DFID will provide 19.5 million sterling pound over the next eight years.

According to the plan, around 800,000 sterling pound has been allocated annually for eight years to support the ESP process of developing project ideas and facilitating change advocates. Some 13 million sterling pound will be used over the first four years to support specific projects that are developed through the ESP.

"One of the objectives of the project is to employ Nepalese experts to develop the potential projects in the areas of pro-poor governance," said Dr. Shailendra Sigdel.

When governance is itself in trouble and confusion, one cannot expect better delivery in different sectors of society. Realizing the importance of pro-poor governance, DFID-ESP has launched this pro-poor governance scheme.

Despite five-decade-long efforts, Nepal's development activities are yet to achieve tangible results as a large number of the people are still below the poverty line. As there is lack of coordination among government agencies, donors dictate programs.