The “Role of the Private Sector in the Era of Sustainable Development” conference on 12 December discussed the country’s prospects in achieving in the SDGs and how enterprises and corporations might potentially expedite the process

For the locals of the village of Gadhi in Surkhet, a UNDP-supported water-supply project has completely altered their prospects, particularly that of women

A group of farmers in the earthquake-stricken settlement of Putalikat in Dolakha’s Gairimudi are set to reap the rewards of commercial farming of large cardamom thanks to a training organized by the District Agriculture Development Office and local NGO ECARDS, and assisted by UNDP's Community Infrastructure and Livelihood Recovery Programme (CILRP)

In the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes of 2015, UNDP has been extending its support to the Government of Nepal to coordinate, plan and manage the recovery and reconstruction processes. In addition to the immediate emergency assistance provided within the first six months, UNDP is further assisting the Government through a comprehensive recovery programme spanning four years. This report presents the UNDP’s strategy with regards to earthquake recovery assistance in Nepal, and the effort therein to systematically address underlying vulnerabilities in order to help the country to return to sustainable development pathways and build back better.

At the fifth Responsible Business Forum, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today called on business leaders to take a greater role in the new development era in order to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This Forum, opened in Singapore by UNDP and Global Initiatives, aims to address a sea change in the nature of development funding by creating a new partnership for sustainable development.

While foreign funding (Official Development Assistance) is still essential for the development system, it now accounts for 0.7 percent of total financial flows in Asia-Pacific (down from 13.5 percent in 1990), while domestic public and private finance accounts for 89 percent, according to a UNDP report launched last month.

It is one year since every country in the world signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals. They form a blueprint for addressing the most significant challenges facing our planet and its people. Challenges like climate change. This is likely to be the hottest year on record and here in Asia, climate change is a cause of the natural disasters that have claimed half a million lives in the last decade. Challenges like inequality, which has been growing for four-fifths of Asia-Pacific’s population over the last 20 years. Challenges brought on by the accelerating process of ageing, which will make it harder for many Asian states to provide basic services to their people. The 17 SDGs will address these challenges and other interlinked issues, including education, hunger and security. But governments cannot implement this blueprint on their own. Nor can the UN and other development organizations.

Kathmandu Nepal’s parliamentarians have launched an informal forum to promote and implement the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A follow-up to the Millennium Development Goals, which concluded in 2015, the SDGs comprise long-term development objectives agreed upon by all 193 member-states of...

Kathmandu Persons with disabilities (PWDs) and other stakeholders have suggested new areas for amendment in the proposed Disability Bill. The concerns were put forth to lawmakers at an interaction programme held in Kathmandu on Friday with UNDP’s support. Speaking at the programme, one of the participants, Dr....

The timely help of UNDP's Rapid Enterprise and Livelihood Recovery Project has enabled micro entrepreneurs in Kubu kasthali, raise from the dust of rumbles to catch the pace of their lost prosperity in the devastating Earthquake. Saraswati Karki hand her husband lived a very poor life until a decade ago. Despite...

The Knowledge Exchange is part of a week-long Regional SDG Forum hosted by UNDP in Bangkok from 21 to 27 October. The Forum features also a conference on youth engagement in SDG implementation and a meeting on finance for development focused on how countries can mobilize the required financing for the envisioned transformation to sustainability.

In 2013, the Government of Nepal began implementing a National Climate Change Support Programme in 14 remote districts, under the guidance of the Ministry of Population and Environment, and the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development. Facing longstanding challenges with programme delivery, the Government sought external technical support, opting for UNDP as a partner, given its expertise and long history of engagement in the country. For the first time in Nepal, the programme used a co-financing approach, drawing on financing provided to the Government by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union. The move signals Nepal’s urgent need to adapt to climate change as it strives to graduate from a least developed to a middle-income country by 2022.

On 19 September, 2015, Nepal took a significant democratic step with the promulgation of its long-awaited Constitution adopted by the popularly elected Constituent Assembly. Eight years in the making, the Constitution of Nepal fulfills a significant achievement for the country as the Constituent Assembly reached an agreement passing the landmark set of principles upon which Nepal will be governed.

The Government of Nepal, UNDP and the Food and Agriculture Organization on Monday launched a new project to integrate climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector. According to a 2015 study ‡, the impact of climate change on Nepal’s agriculture is likely to reduce GDP by about 0.8 per cent per year in 2050. Amongst other things, this will come from more intense and frequent droughts that can damage crops and reduce yields. The cumulative impact of the losses in the agriculture sector would be a GDP lower by 13% than it would otherwise have been.

Transitional justice experts and survivors from post-conflict countries, including Nepal, Cambodia and Guatemala have underscored the urgency for addressing pending cases of conflict-related sexual violence to secure lasting and sustainable peace. Experts speaking at a two-day conference at the end of September...

Locals from Briddhim VDC in Rasuwa district provide labour to reconstruct a road vital to tourism

In Nepal, people with disabilities often feel excluded from many areas of daily life. Accessing government services is one area in which they feel limited and their rights overlooked. “We have been hearing special facilities to be provided to disabled persons in public facilities like transportation, education, health, etc....

Despite making a negligible contribution to global warming, Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. Climate change threatens to save almost 10 per cent off projected annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 2100, according to the ADB. Prudent public spending and fiscal management...

A new drinking water scheme has brought relief to the earthquake survivor residents of Bhotechaur-2 in Sindhupalchowk district “We survived the earthquake but now we might die of thirst,” bemoaned Fulmaya Tamang of Bhotechaur VDC-2 in Sindhupalchowk district. “We lived through the loss of our homes and our...

The August heat and a thin tarpaulin do not deter the beneficiaries of a recently completed vegetable collection and marketing centre from cheering their "highly meaningful" success at Kalyanpur VDC in Nuwakot. Assisted by UNDP Nepal and the Government of Mauritius, the earthquake- ravaged community has...

The UN in Nepal, on Wednesday, marked the opening of the first 'all gender restroom' on its premises in Pulchowk. The 'all gender restroom' aims to complement the restroom gender binary and provide an alternative for third gender persons. UNDP Assistant Administrator Jens Wandel inaugurated the restroom -- which...

Thank you, General Secretary of the Parliament Manohar Bhattarai and Member of Parliament Mr. Gagan Thapa. Members of parliament, ladies and gentlemen, members of the media – thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. You may wonder, what brings me here to Nepal? It is of course a...

When the rains failed him for the second year in a row, Jiwan Mahato blamed the rain god. A subsistence farmer from Madi, in the south of Nepal, Mahato’s paddy crops had failed again.  Like most of the 20 million subsistence farmers of Nepal, Mahato had no other source of income to feed his six-member family. As...

As we mark World Environment Day today, strong collaborative actions among nations and international institutions for conserving natural environment and combating climate change effects and impacts have been realized more urgent. This urgency is reflected in the global environmental commitments made during the...

Photo Essay

The room is full of people. Women and men of all ages sit cross-legged on the floor, some with children on their laps. The afternoon sun streams in through the windows and outside, the wind stirs up dust on the dry streets of Mehalkuna, Surkhet. Inside the room, a legal awareness programme is concluding. Local...