Prabinz Blog: Nepal Peace and Development Strategy

Nepal Peace and Development Strategy

Nepal Peace and Development Strategy: A contribution to development planning from Nepal’s international development partners

Nepal’s international development partners are committed to supporting Nepal’s peace process. In this spirit, they have finalized a ‘Peace and Development Strategy’ that has been developed over the course of the last year by a cross-section of local and international actors—from UN agencies, bilateral aid agencies, international financial institutions, non-governmental organizations, think tanks and others. The strategy has also benefitted from discussions with different parts of government during its formulation and was presented to the Right Honourable Prime Minister and Nepali political parties on 12 January 2011.

The strategy articulates how development partners could assist Nepal in the years ahead to realize the development agenda embedded in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. It makes the case for ensuring development investments are ready, when called upon, to assist with both the short-term challenges as well as the all-important long-term transition issues reflected in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The strategy is, in effect, an ‘offer of support’ by development partners in specific areas that could help Nepal build the kind of peace which will be irreversible.

Using the Comprehensive Peace Agreement as a guidepost, the strategy highlights short-term peace priorities over the next two years and examines how to potentially advance the long-term transition issues articulated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement over the next five years. Importantly, the strategy also looks at how development partners can increase their contribution to peace and development in Nepal by working in different ways.

The strategy identifies 178 specific areas of ongoing or potential support for development partners. These have been compiled into a ‘Plan of Action’ that has been released as a companion document to the strategy. The status of the Action Plan will be reviewed and updated periodically to ensure the actions identified are moved along. Though all actions are contingent upon requests being made by the Government, the Action Plan will help establish a state of readiness for development partners.

In compiling this strategy, the extraordinary challenges and opportunities in the years ahead have been placed in stark relief. The long-term transformational objectives of the CPA contain issues of great complexity and contention with no easy solutions. Development partners are committed to continue working on these issues nonetheless, supporting nationally-led processes. The long-term nature of these issues and the high expectations that surround them suggested Nepal should get started on such long-term undertakings with the minimum of delay.

Development Partners




	Delegation of the European Union to Nepal





	United Nations*
	*FAO, ILO, IOM, OCHA, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UN-HABITAT, UNHCR, UNICEF, UN Women, UNMIN, UNODC, WFP, WHO