By Sharachchandra Bhandary
Kathmandu, 23April: With an objective of taking stock of current situation and understand the on-going federal reform implications to the overall governance structure, to effective service delivery and to the Finnish funded programmes in Nepa, a Finnish Development Policy Committee (DPC) visited Nepal from 15-20 April. The high level visit included a joint monitoring visit to Rural Village Water Resources Management Project in Far-West Nepal together with co-financiers European Union and Government of Nepal.
The DPC is an independent advisory body to the government on development issues. The DPC reviews Finland’s global development policy on a systematic and broad basis. It also has an important role in influencing Finnish development policy content and practices. Its members include representatives of parliamentary parties, advocacy organisations, NGOs and universities in the UniPID network.
The visit of DPC included travel to Far-West Nepal in order to visit Rural Village Water Resources Management Project (RVWRMP). The visit was undertaken together with officials from the European Union and Government of Nepal, and included also a courtesy meeting with Chief Minister of Province 7, Trilocha Bhatta.
RVWRMP III (2016-2022) provides the population access to water supply, energy and improve their food security, income opportunities and resilience to disasters and climate change. Its previous phase (RVWRMP II, 2010-2016) reached some 144,000 people living remote areas with water supply and about 360,000 people improved their sanitation as part of the project providing important part to the Open Defecation Free movement in the region. The total project cost is 60.2 million euros out of which Finland’s contribution is 15 million euros, European Union 20 million euros and Government of Nepal and user contribution is 25.2 Million euros.
The visit of DPC also included meetings with Ministry of Education, several UN organisations working on gender, reconstruction and transitional justice, EU Human Rights Defenders and Finnish NGOs.
The DPC members appreciate the complexity of the present situation in the country, a good overview to the present status with several opportunities and challenges was achieved. The cooperation with Government of Nepal, EU and other key partners was highly appreciated and several lessons will benefit Finland’s development cooperation globally, stated Finnish ambassador to Nepal Jorma Suvanto.
The DPC was also informed about the recently published draft of National Ethics Policy (2074). The DPC emphasizes that non-governmental organisations and civil society are crucial for national development both in Nepal and globally. As such, it is necessary to ensure that the operational arrangements between NGOs and Government of Nepal are smooth and functional.
“To simplify, we can think of the present situation as traffic lights” commented Chairperson of the Finnish Development Policy Committee, Aila Paloniemi adding “Some of the processes are running smoothly and we do highly appreciate this green part in which Government of Nepal has done magnificent work. Same time there are areas in which there is need for additional time and red traffic light is to be considered.
She stated, “We do understand that issues such as menstrual hygiene management, water quality related work and also quality related aspects in the education sector are such examples in which both Government of Nepal and partners can receive excellent results in future if the joint efforts are rightly implemented.”
People’s News Monitoring Service
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