epal: World Bank To Support Community – Managed Poverty Reduction Efforts With US$40 Million In Assistance
The World Bank on June 1st approved two separate projects totalling 40 million US dollar (ca. 240 mio. DKR) aimed at poverty reduction through community-led and managed initiatives in Nepal.
A 25,3 million US dollar credit was approved to extend water supply and sanitation to over 800.000 people in rural areas of the country. A second 15 million US dollar grant was also approved to the Poverty Alleviation Fund, a pilot initiative created to bring increased opportunities for income generation and access to basic services and infrastructure to poor communities in rural areas.
– While the Government of Nepal struggles to provide effective support to marginalized groups, it also recognizes that some NGOs, community based organizations and donors have implemented a number of successful programs to reach out to the marginalized groups, through community-managed infrastructure, says Ken Ohashi, the World Banks Country Director for Nepal.
– Thus the government has wisely decided to turn the Poverty Alleviation Fund over to those who know how to run it best and to scale up the provision of safe drinking water to the rural poor through mechanisms successfully demonstrated by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Board, added he.
Poverty in Nepal is pervasive with about 40 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The poor live predominantly in rural areas and engage in subsistence agriculture on small plots of low quality land, have limited access to credit, infrastructure, markets, and basic social services, such as water and sanitation.
Ethnic minorities and lower caste communities in remote areas, and women, especially female-headed households, lag seriously behind in terms of incomes, assets, and most human development indicators in Nepal.
The Second Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, a 25,3 million dollar credit now approved, is a follow-on operation to a similar project, which was also financed primarily by the World Bank.
The project aims to improve rural water supply and sanitation, and support communities to form inclusive local water supply and sanitation user groups that can plan, implement, and operate their drinking water and sanitation infrastructure to benefit rural households.
Tashi Tenzing, task-team leader for the project from the World Bank explained that more inclusive and sustainable access to improved water supply and sanitation facilities and health benefits, will be achieved by integrating health and hygiene programs with water supply, and by strengthening governmental and non-governmental capacities to facilitate the delivery of rural water supply and sanitation services.
– The project will also provide opportunities to women and girls by involving them in planning, implementation and management of the schemes, and by ensuring that Dalits and Janajati are also included, said Tenzing.
The Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF), a 15 million dollar grant, will finance a pilot program that can be subsequently scaled up to assist the government of Nepal in reaching poor and excluded communities. PAF will be an autonomous institution engaged in the creation of small infrastructure and employment and income-generating opportunities in poor communities.
The program will enhance the capacity of local bodies to provide better services for poor and socially excluded groups. The initial phase to be supported by this grant will be implemented in six districts, including Darchula in the far western region, Mugu and Pyuthan in the mid west, Kapilbastu also in the west, Ramechhap in the central region, and Siraha in the east.
In subsequent phases, as PAF gains experience and can demonstrate its ability to reach targeted groups effectively the program will be expanded.
Geeta Sethi, the task-team leader for the project from the World Bank, added that the project aims to improve access to income-generation projects and community infrastructure for the groups that have tended to be excluded by reasons of gender, ethnicity and caste, as well as for the poorest groups in rural communities.
– Unlike past targeted interventions by the government, the Poverty Alleviation Fund will be based on a demand-driven, and community-centered approach, implemented by an autonomous body in close collaboration with other non-governmental groups, as well as local bodies, added he.
For more Information on the World Banks Activities in Nepal, visit: www.worldbank.org/np
