Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, July 17
The fate of a country-wide development programme appears to hang in a balance as donors sound out plans to review their commitment, unhappy about irregularities and mismanagement of the funds in the absence of elected local bodies.
Donors supporting the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP) have indicated that they would slash their fund citing lack of accountability and fiduciary risk management in the local bodies, according to Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) sources.
The development partners have not been satisfied with the governance system in the local bodies and have raised serious concerns about the misuse of development funds, sources said. "They have been demanding a sound mechanism, including fiduciary risk management, and an accountable body to check irregularities in the local bodies," MoFALD officials said.
They have committed to provide only about US$ 100 million till date for the second phase when the government has planned to bring some US$ 1300 million programme that the government will contribute US$ 1058 million and remaining about US$ 300M by donors. "The donors have assured us that they will assist three times bigger amount if the local elections are held," said Puroshottam Nepal, programme coordinator of the LGCDP at the MoFALD.
LGCDP, originally conceived between July 2008-January 2009, was re-designed into a four-year programme supported by a host of development partners comprising several European countries, the World Bank and the UN System in Nepal. The first phase of LGCDP concluded on July 15, 2012 and no cost tenure was extended till July 15, 2013 in order to prepare policies and programmes for the second phase and sign agreement. The second phase was supposed to start on July 16 to July 15, 2017.
The joint financing agreement with the development partners is yet to be signed. As on date, LGCDP runs into its second phase unofficially, said ministry sources as they looked forward to the signing of renewal agreement for the remaining period.
"The government is negotiating with donors and is in process of signing a renewal agreement," Local Development Secretary Shanta Bahadur Shrestha told The Himalayan Times.
However, programme coordinator of LGCDP Purushottam Nepal sounded more optimistic about the future of the second phase programme. "A draft agreement has been prepared and it will be signed by August," he said.
"The size of budget from the development partners may decrease this time due to absence of elected representatives in the local bodies," ministry sources said. The local bodies elections were held last time 16 years ago.
The total budget comprising of government of Nepal US$ 260.8 million (Block Grant Allocation to LBs) and donors commitment US$ 161.5 million was planned to invest in the first phase of the LGCDP. The development partners include Asian Development Bank, DANIDA, DFID, UN System (UNDP, UNICEF, UNCDF, UNFPA, UNV etc.), Government of Norway, Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), GIZ, JICA, World Bank and Government of Finland.
However, the donors did not provide all the committed assistance of the first phase for the local bodies, citing irregularities in the local bodies, according to the MoFALD sources.
Out of about Rs 45 billion budget allocated for the MoFALD annually, development partners contribute about Rs 15 billion for 75 districts, 3,915 village development committees and 58 municipalities across the country.
Kathmandu, July 17
The fate of a country-wide development programme appears to hang in a balance as donors sound out plans to review their commitment, unhappy about irregularities and mismanagement of the funds in the absence of elected local bodies.
Donors supporting the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP) have indicated that they would slash their fund citing lack of accountability and fiduciary risk management in the local bodies, according to Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) sources.
The development partners have not been satisfied with the governance system in the local bodies and have raised serious concerns about the misuse of development funds, sources said. "They have been demanding a sound mechanism, including fiduciary risk management, and an accountable body to check irregularities in the local bodies," MoFALD officials said.
They have committed to provide only about US$ 100 million till date for the second phase when the government has planned to bring some US$ 1300 million programme that the government will contribute US$ 1058 million and remaining about US$ 300M by donors. "The donors have assured us that they will assist three times bigger amount if the local elections are held," said Puroshottam Nepal, programme coordinator of the LGCDP at the MoFALD.
LGCDP, originally conceived between July 2008-January 2009, was re-designed into a four-year programme supported by a host of development partners comprising several European countries, the World Bank and the UN System in Nepal. The first phase of LGCDP concluded on July 15, 2012 and no cost tenure was extended till July 15, 2013 in order to prepare policies and programmes for the second phase and sign agreement. The second phase was supposed to start on July 16 to July 15, 2017.
The joint financing agreement with the development partners is yet to be signed. As on date, LGCDP runs into its second phase unofficially, said ministry sources as they looked forward to the signing of renewal agreement for the remaining period.
"The government is negotiating with donors and is in process of signing a renewal agreement," Local Development Secretary Shanta Bahadur Shrestha told The Himalayan Times.
However, programme coordinator of LGCDP Purushottam Nepal sounded more optimistic about the future of the second phase programme. "A draft agreement has been prepared and it will be signed by August," he said.
"The size of budget from the development partners may decrease this time due to absence of elected representatives in the local bodies," ministry sources said. The local bodies elections were held last time 16 years ago.
The total budget comprising of government of Nepal US$ 260.8 million (Block Grant Allocation to LBs) and donors commitment US$ 161.5 million was planned to invest in the first phase of the LGCDP. The development partners include Asian Development Bank, DANIDA, DFID, UN System (UNDP, UNICEF, UNCDF, UNFPA, UNV etc.), Government of Norway, Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), GIZ, JICA, World Bank and Government of Finland.
However, the donors did not provide all the committed assistance of the first phase for the local bodies, citing irregularities in the local bodies, according to the MoFALD sources.
Out of about Rs 45 billion budget allocated for the MoFALD annually, development partners contribute about Rs 15 billion for 75 districts, 3,915 village development committees and 58 municipalities across the country.
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