District-level efforts in support of the MDGs

The MDG Report for 2005, prepared with the participation of a wide range of stakeholders, indicated that Nepal, despite the 12-year conflict, was likely or potentially able to meet all the Goals except universal primary education and HIV/AIDS. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper included analyses of sectoral policy from an MDG viewpoint. An MDG Needs Assessment, published in 2006, informed the three-year Interim Plan of the Government. With the conflict moving towards resolution, Nepal could achieve almost all the Goals.

An MDG Needs Assessment was conducted in one district, and five district MDG Progress Reports were prepared with the full participation of district-level stakeholders. A poverty monitoring and analysis system has been put in place at the national level, and a district system will follow. These systems, along with the NepalInfo database, capture most of the MDG indicators. A monitoring framework has been developed for the community level. The United Nations system, major donors and civil society organizations supported these initiatives.

These past efforts are now leading to concrete outcomes. The government has asked the United Nations for technical assistance to develop a package of initiatives to support national and local development strategies based on the MDGs and align them with the new Interim Plan. This will also form the basis for the preparation of a vision document, on which subsequent five-year plans will be based. The support involves: updating the MDG Needs Assessment and Costing; a macroeconomic framework and financing strategy consistent with the MDGs; identifying capacity development needs and tools to monitor the outcomes of MDG-based planning; and a framework for localizing the Goals at the subregional level. The United Nations is assisting the government in integrating the MDGs into its review of the Interim Plan, linking it to the Medium-term Expenditure Framework and the annual budget.

Major challenges include programmatic coordination and donor harmonization. Institutional weaknesses and capacity gaps also need to be addressed. The government is moving to align the MDGs with central planning and monitoring processes and to localize the Goals at national and district levels. But a resource crunch may also hamper achievement: It has been projected that a significant upscaling of interventions and a doubling of aid would be needed to meet the MDGs by 2015.

Source : UN agencies