Development projects in Nepal

Nepal - Program Administration and Control - Market Study Activity: Compact Development Funding (CDF) is used pre-compact for key project preparation work such as the feasibility and environmental impact studies, engineering designs, baseline surveys, financial management and procurement technical assistance, and other specialized analysis to help MCC determine the final suitability and scope of investments, costs, implementation risks, and mitigation measures.

Organization

Millennium Challenge Corporation

Budget

USD 975

Timeline

Apr 1, 2015 → Aug 30, 2028

Coverage

Nepal

<p class="ql-align-justify">Hunger and severe malnutrition are surging in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCASs), which often struggle to sustain resilient food, land, and water systems (FLWSs). For the 1.5 billion people living in FCASs (1), livelihood challenges and rising food, fertilizer, and input prices (2) are compounded by climate change, unsustainable resource consumption, poor governance, and weak social cohesion (3,4,5). Conflict and forced migration often result from, and further escalate, these challenges. Economic disruptions, such as those caused by COVID-19 and the Ukraine-Russia War, are sparking the risk of food and nutrition crises and poverty and conflict traps. Nearly 670 million people are projected to face hunger in 2030 — 8 % of the world population, and the same as in 2015 when the 2030&nbsp;Agenda and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched (6). </p><p class="ql-align-justify">By mid-2021, 84 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide; 80% of them experience acute food insecurity and high levels of malnutrition (7,8). Migration is an important development tool; it can support livelihoods, build resilience, and protect against fragility and conflict — particularly for youth (9,10). However, migration can strain FLWSs and create challenges for those left behind — especially women facing increased work burdens alongside insufficient decision-making authority and limited access to key assets and services (11,12). Currently, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) host 83% of the world’s refugees (9). Host communities struggle to provide livelihood opportunities for all; new arrivals often strain local infrastructure and services, put pressure on natural resources and the environment, and increase competition for jobs.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">By 2021, most food crises were due to conflict and insecurity (5). On average, 30% of the population in countries facing protracted crises lives in extreme poverty (<$1.90/day), compared to ~6% in LMICs overall (13). Climate change and social inequalities exacerbate conflict. Climate change is rapidly intensifying, increasing pressure on livelihoods and ecosystems (14). In 2020, about 25% of internally displaced people were displaced by conflict and violence, and the remainder by disasters, mostly weather-related (15). Social inequalities further increase risks of hunger and reduce access to benefits from FLWSs, while serving as structural constraints to stability and peace (16,17, 18). Women are disproportionately negatively affected by shocks and crises and have less access to channels of power and influence that could help them benefit from programming addressing these issues. Failure to address interactions between climate stress and human-made crises will escalate both problems. </p><p class="ql-align-justify">Governments and development organizations demand evidence to address these complex global crises. Poor governance and weak access to basic services, common features of FCASs, severely limit policy effectiveness and require novel solutions. &nbsp;The recent “Global Food Crisis Report 2022” highlighted the need to fill data gaps so that research and evidence guide proposed policy solutions <em>as well as </em>contextually appropriate implementation (5). And the Committee on World Food Security High Level Panel of Experts has called for a globally coordinated response to both address the humanitarian crisis and build more resilient FLWSs (19).</p><p class="ql-align-justify">A systems approach in partnership with those working in FCASs — incorporating women’s and youth’s voices — is needed to devise practical solutions that promote gender equity and social inclusion (GESI). CGIAR is uniquely positioned to generate evidence to support more effective and transformative policies and programming to enhance FLWS resilience in FCASs facing migration-related challenges, and to promote social equity, conflict mitigation, and peacebuilding (20).</p><p><br></p>

Organization

ICRC Nepal

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Apr 1, 2023 → Dec 31, 2024

Coverage

Nepal

Funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), UK Aid Direct was established in 2014 as a successor to the Global Poverty Action Fund (GPAF), which was created in 2010. UK Aid Direct is a challenge fund designed to support the UK’s commitments to achieving the Global Goals. The aim of UK Aid Direct is to fund small- and medium-sized national and international civil society organisations (CSOs) to reduce poverty and work towards achieving the Global Goals. Specifically, UK Aid Direct funding reaches the most marginalised and vulnerable populations, supporting the DFID agenda to ‘leave no one behind’. This agenda can be achieved through funding projects that encompass service delivery, economic empowerment, strengthening accountability or generating social change. As a flexible fund, UK Aid Direct is designed to be an adaptive and demand-led fund that responds to DFID priorities of:\n\n- Strengthening global peace, security and governance\n\n- Strengthening resilience and response to crisis\n\n- Promoting global prosperity\n\n- Tackling extreme poverty and helping the world’s most vulnerable\n\n- Delivering value for money

Organization

MannionDanniels

Budget

USD 23.3M

Timeline

Oct 31, 2023 → End not reported

Coverage

Nepal

This global programme aims to accelerate progress towards the elimination of violence against women and girls (VAWG) through supporting a more effective, evidence-based and scaled-up global response.

Organization

IRC Nepal (Resource Centre)

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Oct 1, 2021 → Sep 30, 2028

Coverage

Nepal

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is the most widespread form of abuse worldwide: globally, one in three women is beaten or sexually abused by an intimate partner in her lifetime. Under DFID’s £25 million flagship ‘What Works to Prevent Violence’ research and innovation programme, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is leading on researching the drivers, prevalence, trends over time and effective prevention and response mechanisms for VAWG in conflict and humanitarian emergencies. The evidence being generated is a global public good, intended to help DFID, developing country governments and international partners everywhere to improve the effectiveness of their efforts to prevent VAWG.

Organization

IRC Nepal (Resource Centre)

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

May 1, 2014 → Dec 9, 2019

Coverage

Nepal

Approaches in Complex and Challenging Environments for Sustainable SRHR (ACCESS)

Organization

International Planned Parenthood Federation

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Feb 7, 2019 → Dec 31, 2023

Coverage

Nepal

This Girls' Education Challenge Phase 2 will enable up to 1 million marginalised girls (currently supported through Phase 1) to continue to learn, complete primary school and transition on to secondary education. A further 500,000 highly marginalised adolescent girls, who are out of school, will also be targeted to gain literacy, numeracy and other skills relevant for life and work. It is estimated that at least 400,000 girls will complete junior secondary school in the first four years of the extension. The extension will build on what we have learnt so far in Phase 1 and further deepen global understanding of what works for girls’ education, particularly during adolescence and in the transition from education to work.

Organization

Girls' Education Challenge - Fund Manager PwC

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Apr 1, 2017 → Mar 31, 2025

Coverage

Nepal

Leave No Girl Behind is a new initiative announced in July 2016 as part of the Girls Education Challenge. This initiative will support interventions providing literacy, numeracy and skills relevant for life and work to highly marginalised, adolescent girls who have never attended or have already dropped out of school. So far, the Girls Education Challenge has reached over one million disadvantaged girls. We want to reach more girls, especially those most marginalised girls with new and innovative solutions and scale up and adopt successful existing interventions to deliver quality education and skills to the hardest to reach girls.

Organization

Girls' Education Challenge - Fund Manager PwC

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Aug 1, 2018 → Jul 31, 2025

Coverage

Nepal

1) To strengthen the capacity of government officials, regulators, policymakers, academia and civil society to understand, develop and implement regulatory and fiscal measures that promote healthy diets for all, including through provision of evidence-based and coordinated guidance. 2) To strengthen healthier food environments enabling healthy diets for all through national and international collaboration among policymakers, regulatory bodies, lawyers, public health and nutrition experts, civil society actors, academics, funders and communities. 3) To build knowledge about what people eat in each ecoregion, to contribute to understanding of human health, culture and interactions with markets and the environment and to inform actions by stakeholders across food systems, for collective impact on healthy diets.

Organization

International Development Law Organization (IDLO)

Budget

USD 149K

Timeline

Jan 1, 2024 → Dec 31, 2026

Coverage

Nepal

<p>Water, land, energy, forests and biodiversity&nbsp;are highly interconnected and critical to nutrition, health and food security (Impact Area, IA1), poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs (IA2),&nbsp;gender equality, youth and social inclusion (IA3), climate adaptation and mitigation (IA4), and environmental health and biodiversity (IA5) at multiple scales through multiple pathways.<span style="background-color: inherit;">i</span>,<span style="background-color: inherit;">ii</span>,<span style="background-color: inherit;">iii</span>&nbsp;Similarly, the SDGs are systemic, with interdependencies across goals mediated by water, energy, food and ecosystems.<span style="background-color: inherit;">iv</span>&nbsp;</p><p>However, governments,&nbsp;stakeholders&nbsp;and investors struggle to manage systems change in the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus and ensure changes are robust under climate change.&nbsp;NEXUS Gains&nbsp;addresses the challenge of optimizing trade-offs and building synergies to support SDG achievement through transformations in food,&nbsp;land&nbsp;and water systems nexus.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>The transboundary nature of basins&nbsp;makes integrated and sustainable management of water, energy,&nbsp;food&nbsp;and&nbsp;ecosystems challenging&nbsp;(Figure 1; WEFE; note for ecosystems the particular focus on forests and biodiversity). Systems thinking helps avoid unintended consequences that would jeopardize sustainability and possibly exacerbate conflict. Good governance across boundaries and sectors requires strong institutions and actors willing to overcome silos and adopt new tools to support nexus approaches.<span style="background-color: inherit;">v</span>,<span style="background-color: inherit;">vi</span>,<span style="background-color: inherit;">vii</span>,<span style="background-color: inherit;">viii</span>&nbsp;</p><p>Governments, investors and local communities are uncertain about where or how best to maintain, restore and improve ecosystems and biodiversity, regenerate agriculture, and support sustainable irrigation, clean energy, and agro-processing needs.<span style="background-color: inherit;">ix</span>&nbsp;Investments are often not coordinated. For instance, investments in water or energy remain&nbsp;often&nbsp;disconnected from policy goals of healthy diets,<span style="background-color: inherit;">x</span> re/afforestation often neglect ecosystem&nbsp;services across scales and socioeconomic development pathways.&nbsp;Women,&nbsp;youth&nbsp;and other vulnerable groups continue to bear the brunt of poorly developed WEFE systems.<span style="background-color: inherit;">xi</span>&nbsp;They struggle to access information, technology and needed skills<span style="background-color: inherit;">xii</span> and are under-represented in leadership and decision-making - a lost opportunity in terms of their contributions toward sustainable and inclusive development pathways.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>South Asia’s breadbasket basins&nbsp;</strong>Ganges and Indus (focus: India, Nepal and Pakistan) are increasingly challenged by ground and surface water abstractions (among the most unsustainable in the world), climate change (among the most vulnerable countries), deforestation, drastic pollution, severe ecosystem degradation and biodiversity<span style="background-color: inherit;">xiii</span>&nbsp;and poor policies, putting 7% of the world’s food production at risk, with potentially devastating impacts on the wellbeing, health and livelihoods of an estimated 1 billion people.<span style="background-color: inherit;">xiv</span>&nbsp;Governments are calling for scaling sustainable and inclusive on-farm water management practices for improved livelihoods and nutrition, and jobs; renewable energy as a priority intervention; nutrition and gender equality in access to safe water for multiple uses are systemic challenges. However, policies are incoherent,&nbsp;fragmented&nbsp;and inefficient.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>In the</strong> <strong>Blue Nile basin </strong>(Ethiopia and Sudan) a rapidly growing population faces increasing food and nutrition insecurity from climate change, demographic change, severe ecosystem degradation and low productivity,<span style="background-color: inherit;">xv</span>&nbsp;lack of irrigation, and energy access. Transboundary conflicts over nexus resources are intense (e.g., GERD)<span style="background-color: inherit;">xvi</span>&nbsp;and growing with development and climatic change.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Aral Sea Basin&nbsp;</strong>needs are similar, where glacial retreat, reliance on fossil fuels, and the depletion of the Aral Sea and other hydrological and ecological changes are aggravated by transboundary water conflicts, jeopardizing the region’s future.&nbsp;</p><p>All focal basins are global hotspots for multi-sector risks based on anticipated stresses from climate change and development paths for the water and energy sectors, crop yields and habitat degradation.<span style="background-color: inherit;">xvii</span>&nbsp;These challenges are surmountable if water, energy,&nbsp;food&nbsp;and ecosystems are managed with an integrated approach.&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: rgb(60, 64, 67);">&nbsp;</span><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Implementing&nbsp;NEXUS Gains&nbsp;Systems Approach at Basin Scale</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">NEXUS gains&nbsp;examines&nbsp;WEFE systems in transboundary basins of significant international relevance. Upstream/downstream interdependencies will be quantified, and the complexity of intersecting sub-national boundaries for policymaking and management of WEFE resources addressed by building on existing institutional strengths. Dependencies of interventions from farm to watershed to river basin scales will be analyzed to support social equity, economic efficiency and environmental sustainability across scales,&nbsp;sectors&nbsp;and other divides with a focus on gender, age, income and ethnicity.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Nexus approach is multicentric, not water centric like integrated water resources management. It aims to connect systems to optimize equitable economic and social welfare and environmental sustainability. Therefore, it considers a broad range of actors and stakeholders to overcome disciplinary and administrative silos. It requires a polycentric and multi-level governance framework, which makes co-development and implementation of nexus solutions challenging as it is interwoven with a complex political economy.</span>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">NEXUS Gains&nbsp;focuses on river basins that combine landscape elements and ecological regions connected by water flows. Water balance parameters as a basis for resource management can be quantified for basins. Natural and anthropogenic characteristics determine responses such as floods and droughts, soil surface and groundwater recharge, changes in water level, wetlands,&nbsp;reservoirs&nbsp;and nutrient and pollution fluxes. Digital models help us&nbsp;understand and quantify system interdependencies and predict future conditions in a changing climate under evolving environmental and societal changes (e.g., water availability for food systems, energy production, forests and other land uses, and Aquatic terrestrial ecosystems).</span>&nbsp;</p>

Organization

ICRC Nepal

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Jan 1, 2022 → Dec 31, 2024

Coverage

Nepal

1) Strengthened capacity of government officials, regulators, policymakers, academia and civil society to understand, develop and implement (as appropriate) regulatory and fiscal measures that promote healthy diets and physical activity. 2) Strengthened enabling environment on healthy diets and physical activity through national and international collaboration among policy makers, regulatory bodies, lawyers, public health and nutrition experts, civil society actors, academics, funders and communities. 3) Increased generation and use of relevant evidence and research from different disciplines to develop and implement effective regulatory and fiscal measures to promote healthy diets and physical activity.

Organization

International Development Law Organization (IDLO)

Budget

USD 38K

Timeline

Jul 1, 2022 → Jun 30, 2025

Coverage

Nepal

<p>&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Two generations ago, the challenge facing agriculture was daunting but clear: the world needed to rapidly increase staple food production to meet rising demand. That&nbsp;challenge&nbsp;was&nbsp;largely&nbsp;met but new ones arose, and today the challenges facing food, land and water systems are more numerous and complex: over 700 million people still live in absolute poverty, millions&nbsp;more&nbsp;young people&nbsp;seek jobs&nbsp;every year;&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;2 billion people&nbsp;suffer from moderate or severe food insecurity,&nbsp;while 4 in 10&nbsp;adults globally are&nbsp;overweight or obese; gender gaps persist; natural resources are under stress;&nbsp;and&nbsp;water resources are polluted&nbsp;and depleted&nbsp;(<a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/24797GSDR_report_2019.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(225, 227, 230);">Messerly&nbsp;et al&nbsp;2019</a>;&nbsp;<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Mahler et al 2021</a>;&nbsp;<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">FAO&nbsp;et al&nbsp;2021</a>;&nbsp;<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">UNEP&nbsp;2012</a>;&nbsp;<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Our World in Data 2021</a>).&nbsp;Climate change&nbsp;compounds&nbsp;all&nbsp;these challenges, increases uncertainty, and means that we can no longer rely on historical experience to guide decision-making (<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">IPCC&nbsp;2021</a>).&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Addressing these interlinked challenges&nbsp;requires transformation of food, land, and water systems.&nbsp;Transformation means moving from our current state to a fundamentally different state in the future, but what&nbsp;is that desired future state, and what actions are needed to get there? Synergies between impacts are possible, for example between poverty reduction, improved nutrition, and&nbsp;increased equity.&nbsp;But trade-offs between policies and investments to achieve these impacts are often unavoidable, given limited resources and disparate decision-making domains, and the choices facing national governments and their development partners have become increasingly complicated&nbsp;(<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Hasegawa et al 2018</a>;&nbsp;<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Balié&nbsp;2020</a>).&nbsp;What is the appropriate balance between self-reliance and global integration,&nbsp;for example,&nbsp;or&nbsp;between immediate welfare gains and long-term sustainability?&nbsp;Decision-makers at global and national levels have expressed their need for better evidence on the&nbsp;questions and&nbsp;challenges they face, which courses of action should be undertaken, and which policies and investments might minimize trade-offs and achieve collective goals (<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejb2p52qrun9qrj/Country%20consultation%20on%20Foresight%20and%20Metrics%2025-Aug-2021.pdf?dl=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">see country stakeholder consultations</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/hz3mw8gylzh8zu9/Regional%20consultation%20on%20Foresight%20and%20Metrics%2027-Oct-2021.pdf?dl=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">regional&nbsp;stakeholder consultations</a>).&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">These difficult questions&nbsp;highlight&nbsp;the&nbsp;need for cross-cutting capacity to understand system-level interactions and outcomes –&nbsp;across multiple spatial and political scales&nbsp;(from sub-national to global), across multiple time periods&nbsp;(from the next year to the next generation), and across multiple thematic and decision-making domains. A growing body of analysis is exploring future challenges and options to address them, but very often these studies are focused on individual commodities, challenges, locations, or time horizons, and&nbsp;thus&nbsp;miss important interlinkages. Integrated analytical approaches increasingly bring multiple domains together over longer time horizons, but these are typically focused on broad global and regional scales, with insufficient attention to the diverse concerns and needs of low- and middle-income countries&nbsp;(<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Willet et al 2019</a>;&nbsp;<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Springmann&nbsp;et al 2018</a>;&nbsp;<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Van Zeist et al 2020</a>).&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Building on these methodological advances and combining them with multi-disciplinary scientific expertise and close engagement with decisionmakers offers&nbsp;major opportunities for improvement. Innovative use of data, state-of-the-art analytics, and deep and ongoing dialogue with national,&nbsp;regional&nbsp;and global partners&nbsp;–&nbsp;with particular focus on poor and vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries&nbsp;–&nbsp;offer better insights into alternative transformation pathways that can inform choices and sharpen decision-making today.&nbsp;This is what the Foresight and Metrics&nbsp;Initiative seeks to provide.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

Organization

ICRC Nepal

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Apr 1, 2022 → Mar 31, 2025

Coverage

Nepal

<p class="ql-align-justify">Our food system is unsustainable. In 2020, between 720 and 811 million people faced <a href="https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb4474en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hunger</a>, while one-third of food goes to <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/i2697e/i2697e.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">waste</a>. To realize the transformative potential of digital technologies in shifting food-land-water systems toward climate resilience and sustainability, we identified three challenge areas that CGIAR’s multidisciplinary expertise could help address.&nbsp;</p><ol><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>The digital divide:</strong>&nbsp;The potential of digital technologies is clear, yet their reach is not universal. The Global South – and especially women and rural areas – are underserved by digital technologies&nbsp;and infrastructure. More than 600 million people still live outside of <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/The-State-of-Mobile-Internet-Connectivity-Report-2021.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mobile network coverage</a>, 67%&nbsp;of whom are from Sub-Saharan Africa. Fewer than 40% of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00631-0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">small farms</a> are covered by mobile internet, and only 13% of small farmers in <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/101498" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sub-Saharan Africa</a> have ever accessed a digital service. Across low- and middle-income countries, <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/The-Mobile-Gender-Gap-Report-2021.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">women</a> are 15% less likely than men to use mobile internet. <a href="https://www.uneca.org/?q=fr/node/4024#:~:text=The%20State%20of%20Climate%20in%20Africa%20Report%202020%20anticipates%20longer,rate%20than%20the%20global%20average." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Africa</a> has only-one eighth of the minimum density of weather stations recommended to issue timely early warnings. The cost of deploying and maintaining <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/somic/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rural infrastructure</a> can be two to five times the cost in an urban area, with 10 times less revenue generated. Enabling policies and investments are urgently needed, yet policy makers and investors do not always agree on priorities to address the digital divide.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Inadequate information:</strong>&nbsp;Real-time monitoring of food-land-water systems is possible at a lower cost and a higher accuracy than ever before using <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-141f720bcb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital technologies</a>, yet decision-makers lack access to timely, reliable, and actionable information across the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2021" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Global South</a>. Weak information systems waste <a href="https://publications.iadb.org/en/value-official-statistics-lessons-intergovernmental-transfers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">budget</a>, exacerbate <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.20151293" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">poverty</a>, and slow <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20151293" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">economic growth</a>. More than 300 million small-scale producers lack access to <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/108489/Actions%20to%20Transform%20Food%20Systems%20Under%20Climate%20Change.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital climate advisory services</a>, and unmanaged risks hinder producers’ adoption of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.05.010" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">improved technologies</a>.<a href="https://www.fao.org/3/i6583e/i6583e.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Existing knowledge</a> is often outdated and difficult to apply in practice. Public, private, and civil society actors are insufficiently coordinated to develop win-win digital solutions leveraging <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2021" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">data and technologies</a>. Siloed data do not support evidence-based policy responses that synergistically manage systems-level issues and risks such as price hikes, pest infestations, floods, and droughts.&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Limited digital capabilities:</strong>&nbsp;Any technological investments should be supplemented by digital capability initiatives that invest in the “soft” infrastructure to foster the <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/959181623060169420/pdf/A-Global-Study-on-Digital-Capabilities.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital ecosystem</a> and build <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/113555" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">forward-looking skills</a>. Digital literacy and skills levels across the Global South remain <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/ca4887en/ca4887en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">low</a>, particularly for the most marginalized and food-insecure individuals and communities, such as women. Social norms in many cultural contexts determine <a href="https://www.cgap.org/blog/digital-gender-divide-wont-close-itself-heres-why#:~:text=While%20there%20is%20often%20an,among%20other%20factors%2C%20gendered%20social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">women’s </a>access to and use of technology, including mobile phones. Promising pilots of decision-support tools exist, yet research, codesign, and capacity strengthening are needed to channel new evidence to decision-makers, tailor digital advisory content, and serve food-water-land systems stakeholders in their risk management decisions.&nbsp;</li></ol>

Organization

ICRC Nepal

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Apr 1, 2022 → Mar 31, 2025

Coverage

Nepal

NCE request received on 11 Dec 2012- rejection letter from ERC sent out on 19 Dec 2012

Organization

UNOCHA - Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Apr 16, 2012 → Dec 31, 2012

Coverage

Nepal

Urgent Assistance to Severely Food Insecure Rural Households in Karnali-Bheri-Rapti Regions of Nepal

Organization

UNOCHA - Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

May 8, 2012 → Dec 31, 2012

Coverage

Karnali, Nepal

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.

Organization

Department For Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Budget

USD 1.1M

Timeline

Mar 1, 2020 → Mar 31, 2021

Coverage

Nepal

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.

Organization

Department For Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Jul 1, 2017 → Dec 31, 2019

Coverage

Nepal

Develop data and info ecosystems local and provincial level in Nepal (DIPR)

Organization

Development Initiatives Poverty Research

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Mar 24, 2020 → Mar 29, 2024

Coverage

Nepal

Nepal E4D (Evidence for Development)

Organization

Development Initiatives Poverty Research

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Jan 1, 2018 → Oct 31, 2019

Coverage

Nepal

Work with Open Contracting Partnership in Nepal on public procurement data

Organization

Development Initiatives Poverty Research

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Feb 19, 2018 → Dec 31, 2018

Coverage

Nepal

Access to Information master project

Organization

Development Initiatives Poverty Research

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Mar 1, 2014 → Dec 31, 2016

Coverage

Nepal

Layperson summary The context for the Emilia proposal is the 'mental health treatment gap'. This is the difference between the number of people with mental illness needing treatment and care, and the number who actually receive help. At present this gap is huge. Over 80% of people with severe mental disorders in low and middle income countries (LMICs) receive no treatment at all. The aim of the Emilia project is to assess if it is possible to produce a version of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Mental Health Global Action Programme Intervention Guide that is easily usable on smart phones and tablet devices, for use in this project by primary care staff in Nepal and Nigeria. We intend to assess if this electronic form of guidance is suitable for use in other LMICs, where over 85% of the world's population live. We will compare the training, support and supervision given to primary health care using the paper version and the electronic version of the WHO Mental Health Global Action Programme Intervention Guide (mhGAP IG). We will assess if the electronic version is more practical to use (ie more feasible) by answering the following questions. Is the electronic version more feasible to use in terms of: 1. greater staff acceptability 2. more often leading to an evidence-based intervention 3. a greater proportion of patients with depression are identified by primary care staff 4. being affordable and cost-effective 5. delivering better clinical support and supervision to primary care staff 6. leading to less stigma related to people with mental illness among primary care staff

Organization

Department For Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Budget

USD 716K

Timeline

Oct 1, 2018 → Mar 31, 2021

Coverage

Nepal

For the majority of cancers, early detection results in better survival. Oral cancer is one of the few cancers that is visible and many of these cancers are preceded by a potentially malignant lesion where medical intervention can prevent the development of cancer. Taken together, oral cancer presents an opportunity for early detection. However, identifying which oral lesion has a propensity to become oral cancer is not straightforward without specialised training and this problem is confounded by the lack of specialists who are trained in this expertise particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where the majority of oral cancers are diagnosed. One innovative approach to overcome this is to develop an artificial intelligence algorithm to classify oral lesions into those that are benign and those that are potentially malignant or are occult cancer so that patients can be triaged accordingly to receive appropriate clinical management. In this project, we propose to work within a multi-disciplinary, international team to collate a library of images from existing and prospective collections that will facilitate the development of an artificial intelligence algorithm that will be tested and validated. The outcome of this project will pave the way for further rigorous testing, development of an App incorporating this automated tool and clinical validation for the early detection of oral cancer. The development of an automated tool for the classification of oral lesions will facilitate the identification of patients most at risk to develop oral cancer so that these individuals can be managed appropriately. This project is particularly impactful in the low- and middle-income countries as the majority of the global burden of oral cancer is found in these countries.

Organization

Department For Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Budget

USD 63K

Timeline

Nov 15, 2018 → Nov 14, 2020

Coverage

Nepal

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.

Organization

Department For Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Budget

USD 87K

Timeline

Jan 1, 2018 → Dec 31, 2018

Coverage

Nepal

Depression is a common mental disorder that will affect up to one out of five people around the world during their lifetimes and tends to start in adolescence. Depression is an especially debilitating mental illness because it often begins early in life and has a chronic course with many depressive episodes occurring throughout one's lifetime. Many people lack access to depression care and this is especially true in the world's poorest countries. Our proposed collaboration aims to bring a high-income country's expertise in research, where most of the scientific knowledge about depression and other mental health problems has been produced, to developing countries, where 9 out of 10 children and adolescents live. This collaboration between King's College London in the UK and researchers from Brazil, Nepal and Nigeria intends to find new ways to identify which adolescents are at risk of depression, what protects young people from developing depression, and are these factors the same or different in these contrasting contexts. Such information is crucial to help us understand how to intervene early in a range of settings to prevent a lifetime of suffering. In order to achieve this, we propose to do the following: First, we will bring together researchers with different types of expertise from high (UK), middle (Brazil and Nigeria) and low (Nepal) income countries to reach a consensus about how to measure risk and protective factors for depression in comparable ways among adolescents in these different countries. We will then draw upon existing datasets of youth who have participated in research at multiple time points during their childhood and adolescence to run initial tests to see whether similar or different factors predict the development of depression in each country. This collaborative network will then apply for funding to conduct a new research project to assess much larger numbers of adolescents in each country with the consensus measures to identify the biological, social, psychological, and environmental factors that predict which adolescents will develop depression and which will not in each of these settings. Finally, we will scope out potential gaps in equipment, expertise, and policies in each country so that we know what needs to be put in place before such a large-scale research project can be successfully conducted. In order to begin the process of rectifying these gaps, we will deliver online training and offer hands-on apprenticeships to increase the skills of researchers in Brazil, Nepal and Nigeria to enable them to effectively conduct the research themselves. Ultimately, this research will generate new knowledge on how to identify and prevent depression among youth, which would substantially decrease the personal, social and economic costs associated with the disorder in these countries and around the globe.

Organization

Department For Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Budget

USD 66K

Timeline

Feb 1, 2018 → Jan 31, 2019

Coverage

Nepal

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.

Organization

Department For Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Budget

USD 4K

Timeline

Sep 1, 2017 → Aug 31, 2022

Coverage

Nepal

Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are a major public health issue in South Asia (S Asia), accounting for 60% of deaths. Urbanisation is a key driver, increasing mental stress and injuries and risk factors such as tobacco use, poor diet and inadequate physical activity. Public health decision-makers in LMICs need unbiased, precise and accessibly-presented data to inform equitable urban development. Nationally representative surveys are the main data source used to inform decision-making in LMICs, e.g. Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and STEPS NCD Risk Factor Surveillance are used in over 90 LMICs. This approach has many problems: it excludes unofficial poor settlements and peri-urban areas beyond administrative boundaries; definitions of a 'household' overlook multiple occupancy by poor urbanites; current methods for ranking wealth are not sensitive to urban poverty; and NCDs currently assessed in these surveys do not include injuries and mental ill-health, conditions that disproportionately affect the urban poor. These methodological constraints leave policy makers with no way of understanding or responding to the NCD burden and inequities found within urban areas in LMICs. Furthermore, the way data is currently presented - in long wordy reports - undermines decision-makers' ability to find and interpret data for planning and managing health programmes. We will capitalise on existing partnerships and develop new ones, to i) identify and test questions on mental health and injuries, ii) test cheap and efficient novel methods to reduce bias in urban surveys iii) explore alternative approaches to defining households, measuring and ranking wealth iv) develop data visualisation tools to support decision-makers' use of survey data. We will conduct this foundation work in Nepal, Bangladesh and Vietnam as their different urban characteristics increase our works applicability to other LMICs and we have existing strong partnerships. We will hold two meetings and facilitate ongoing interaction with international and national bodies to share expertise and build capabilities on the novel survey methods, measures of wealth and NCDs, data visualisation and use of data to address urban inequities. We will conduct a systematic search of questionnaires and draw on our own work assessing injuries and mental health to identify the best questions for LMIC urban areas. We will finalise the questionnaire in collaboration with government stakeholders after checking its comprehensibility in urban slums. We will pilot our novel survey sampling and mapping methods in Kathmandu, where our initial pilot of these methods was curtailed by the 2015 earthquake. Our novel methods use satellite imagery, mobile phone and census data, to identify the entire urban population including those not captured by the census. Once sampled, we will use a web-based app to accurately map communities. Smaller feasibility studies of the methods and developed questionnaire will be conducted in Hanoi and Dhaka. We will explore household types and identify wealth indicators in urban slums. Using our pilot data, we will explore associations between household consumption, assets and income to develop an appropriate measure of urban wealth. In each country, we will assess the extent to which data is used in urban planning and management through interviews with decision-makers. Through the establishment of communities of practice within municipalities, we will co-produce appropriate data visualisation tools to support planning and management. This foundation grant has the potential to i) transform survey methods used in all LMICs, enabling more accurate assessment of health inequities in urban areas ii) provide questions on mental health and injuries for use in other surveys in LMICs, and iii) ensure data informs the health-sector response to NCDs in LMICs.

Organization

Department For Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Budget

USD 374K

Timeline

Mar 1, 2017 → Mar 31, 2019

Coverage

Kathmandu, Bagmati

Many low-income countries are suffering from shortages of health workers in rural areas. To expand access to health care, mid level health workers with up to three years training are being expected to complete tasks that higher cadres of health worker would usually undertake. Yet these cadres are largely ignored at a policy level. To enable these health workers to fulfill their potential and provide good quality care, they need to be adequately supported and supervised. Research suggests that health workers may respond better to supervision if their supervisor is aware of their emotional needs, and they build trust through listening, empathy and responding to their individual concerns (Cummings et al. 2010). This development grant will enable us to develop supportive supervision interventions for mid level health workers in rural Nepal, which will then be implemented through existing systems and evaluated in subsequent research. We will conduct a review of the literature using a realist methodology to understand for whom and in what circumstances interventions work. This will inform the development of supportive supervision interventions in Nepal. We will collect data from policy makers, programme implementers, managers, and health workers to describe existing systems, their weaknesses and collate the learning from national pilot interventions. This information will be discussed in a working group of government and non government participants who will meet regularly. This will help us to develop feasible interventions that have a broad level of support. A health economist will then model intervention costs. Interventions will be presented, debated and prioritised in a workshop with participants from the district and central level. On finalising interventions, a methodology will be designed to evaluate and understand the effect of these interventions, with input from experts and the working group. Funding sources will be identified to implement the interventions and research the effect of a supportive supervision intervention for mid level health workers in rural Nepal. We will disseminate our learning from this process through international peer reviewed publications, briefing papers, conferences and social media.

Organization

Department For Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Budget

USD 156K

Timeline

Feb 1, 2016 → Dec 31, 2017

Coverage

Nepal

This activity is part of the Right Here Right Now 2 (RHRN2) programme. It includes the consolidated results of the RHRN2 Nepal country coalition.

Organization

Rutgers

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Jan 1, 2021 → Dec 31, 2025

Coverage

Nepal

RHRN Nepal

Organization

Rutgers

Budget

— · not reported

Timeline

Dec 1, 2016 → Dec 31, 2020

Coverage

Nepal