Evaluation Brief: Nepal The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conducted an Independent Country Programme Evaluation (ICPE) of UNDP Nepal in 2021. The evaluation covers the programming period of 2018-2022. This is the second assessment carried out by the IEO for the country; the previous assessment was conducted in 2012. The purpose of the evaluation was to strengthen accountability to national stakeholders and the UNDP Executive Board, to promote organizational learning and to inform the development of the next UNDP country programme. Nepal’s dynamic development context in this period is characterized by transitions. A decade of political transition after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, led to a new federal constitution in 2015 that put in place a three-tier federal structure of government at federal, provincial and local levels. Elections in all three tiers of government were successfully organized in 2017 and officials assumed office in 2018. In the area of human development, Nepal has made steady improvements and transitioned to the medium human development category in 2016. However, inequalities along ethnic, gender and community divides threaten Nepal’s efforts to achieve sustainable development. Looking forward, Nepal, currently classified as a least developed country, aspires to graduate to the status of a developing country by 2026 and of an upper middle-income country by 2030. Equally prominent in this programme period are the challenges and emerging needs for crisis response and recovery. Nepal is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and experiences significant risks of disasters including landslides, floods and droughts, with high cost to human life as well as high social and economic costs, as evidenced by the 2015 earthquake. Economic performance was strong in recent years until the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the country with substantial decreases in economic growth and intensified economic vulnerability. UNDP Nepal country programme for the period of 2018-2022 has focused on three outcome areas: sustainable and inclusive economic growth; governance, rule of law and human rights; and resilience, disaster risk reduction and climate change. It is aligned with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework for the same period. Gender equality, social inclusion and human rights are integrated across the thematic areas. UNDP established four field offices in provincial capitals in 2019 to provide coordination and coherence at the subnational level and launched Nepal’s Accelerator Lab in the same year to promote locally contextualized innovative solutions to urgent development challenges.
Programme Expenditure by Outcome 2018-2021, in millions (USD) $26
Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Growth Governance, Rules of Law, and Human Rights Resilience, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Climate Change
$21 $26
Note: Financial data as of 9 December 2021
INDEPENDENT COUNTRY PROGRAMME EVALUATION: NEPAL
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