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Fact Sheets

Agriculture and Food Security

Business Literacy Program in Nepal

USAID's three-year, $4 million Business Literacy Project, is part of the U.S. Government's Feed the Future Initiative in Nepal.


Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia Nepal

The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia - Nepal is promoting high-yielding, climate-smart rice, lentil and maize varieties as well as small-scale mechanization and conservation tillage to reduce the labor burden for women farmers.


Hill Maize Research Program

The Hill Maize Research Program is improving food security and increasing the incomes of 50,000 farm households—particularly poor and disadvantaged rural families—in 20 remote hill districts of Nepal where maize is a primary stable crop.


Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM IL) Project

USAID-funded Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM IL) project was designed in response to the increased use of pesticides that accompanies increased horticultural production. While pesticides help to control plant pests and diseases, their use, particularly in excess, can be harmful to people as well as ecosystems in general. Integrated Pest Management is the use of multiple practices to reduce and eliminate pesticide use.


Knowledge-based Integrated Sustainable Agriculture and Nutrition (KISAN) Project

KISAN is a five-year Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative in Nepal that represents USAID’s global efforts to advance food security and nutrition objectives. Nepal was one of 19 focus countries chosen for the Presidential FTF initiative in 2010.


Promoting Agriculture, Health, and Alternative Livelihoods (PAHAL)

PAHAL is a five-year, $37 million project that seeks to strengthen livelihoods, improve nutritional status, and increase the capacity of vulnerable households to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in rural communities.


Policy Reform Initiative (PRI) Project

USAID’s Policy Reform Initiative Project supports the Government of Nepal to achieve inclusive economic growth in the agriculture sector to enhance and improve food security.


Sustainable Action for Resilience and Food Security (Sabal)

Sabal is a five-year, $59 million project that works in 11 districts to improve food security and nutrition outcomes at the individual, household, and community levels.

Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance

Combating Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) Project

The $6.79 million Combating Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) project takes a holistic approach to address protection, prosecution, and prevention of trafficking in persons. The CTIP project builds the capacity of law enforcement and judiciary sectors to effectively apply the TIP Act, prosecution, and prevention.


Community Initiatives for Common Understanding (CICU) project

CICU will foster mutual understanding and cooperation amoung youth, assembling the conflicting groups in a safe space to interact purposefully and seek solutions, as well as collaborate together on small development and peacebuilding efforts in their communities.


Inclusive Resource Management Initiative (IRMI) Project

USAID Nepal's Inclusive Resource Management Initiative project will enhance stability through natural resource conflict resolution and inclusive natural resource management, benefiting 237,000 community members, particularly youth and women.


Sajhedari Bikaas – Partnership for Local Development

As the Government of Nepal moves towards state restructuring, and continues to decentralize critical government functions to sub-national units, the U.S. Government will support Nepal in achieving a peaceful transition. USAID’s new Partnership for Local Development (Sajhedari) project intends to strengthen the relationship between Nepalis and their officials, and to improve transparency, accountability, and responsiveness at the local level. 


Nepal Peace Support Project 

The five-year, $4.1 million Nepal Peace Support Project hosts the Nepal Transition to Peace (NTTP) Forum where political leaders have the opportunity to navigate difficult political subjects and negotiate policy for top-level decision makers’ consideration. NTTP supports policy dialogues covering the constitution drafting process, state restructuring decisions, truth and reconciliation commission legislation, Maoist-seized territory disposition, minority-led unrest, and ex-combatant voluntary retirement and military integration.


Conflict Mitigation through Community Mediation Project 

The Conflict Mitigation through Community Mediation project seeks to decrease local level conflicts that stem from issues of inclusion and access. This two and half year, $474,051 project is designed to reduce community tensions and establish more inclusive mediation centers in 24 VDCs of Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahotari, Dhanusha, Siraha, and Saptari districts.


Sambad: Dialogue for Peace 

Sambad: Dialogue for Peace is a three-year, $ 1.15 million project that seeks to promote peace by building mutual trust and social harmony among conflicting groups. The project, part of the larger USAID/ Nepal Conflict Management and Mitigation Program, is implemented in 37 Village Development Committees (VDCs) of two Terai districts in the western region of Nepal. Sambad is implemented by Care Nepal in partnership with the GoN’s Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) and local organizations.


Singha Durbar (The Lion’s Palace): A Media Program and Creating Role Models for Good Governance

Singha Durbar is a two-year, $1.003 million project that seeks to mitigate public disillusionment and dissatisfaction towards the Government and political process using multi-media communications and story-telling approaches.


Strengthening Politial Parties, Electoral and Legislative Processes Project 

The Strengthening Political Parties, Electoral and Legislative Processes (SPPELP) project is a five-year, $26.5 million effort that supports political parties, electoral institutions, legislative processes, and civil society organizations to promote a more stable and peaceful democracy in Nepal. The project is designed to restore public confidence in democratic processes and institutions and to promote greater political participation, especially that of marginalized populations.

Education

Education Program

USAID programs support the Government of Nepal to improve the quality of education, restore access to education for children affected by the April 25, 2015 earthquake, and provide safe learning environments for adolescents to complete their education.


USAID's Early Grade Reading Program (EGRP) in Nepal

The Early Grade Reading Program (EGRP) is a five-year, $53.8 million project to support the Ministry of Education (MOE) to improve the foundational reading skills of Nepali primary school students in grades one through three. EGRP will directly support the National Early Grade Reading Program (NEGRP) 2014-2019, which aims for children to read with fluency and comprehension by grade three. NEGRP is led by the Ministry of Education (MOE) with support from USAID and other donors under the MOE’s School Sector Reform Plan.


Emergency Education Response

The Government of Nepal's Post Disaster Needs Assessment estimates that, as a result of the April 25, 2015 earthquake, 28,572 classrooms in public and private schools were totally destroyed or damaged beyond use. The extensive damage interrupted the education of over 2 million children and youth.


Zero Tolerance: GBV-Free Schools in Nepal

The Zero Tolerance project is a three-year, over $5 million collaborative effort between USAID and UNICEF aimed at reducing the prevalence of school-related gender-based violence and establishing child- and adolescent-friendly procedures to respond to incidents of gender-based violence (GBV) when they occur.


Government-to-Government Support for the Ministry of Education

In 2014, USAID commenced a five-year commitment of direct budget support to the Ministry of Education to implement NEGRP in 16 districts in the Eastern, Central, Western, Mid-Western and Far-Western regions. USAID’s support will help improve reading skills of one million children in grades 1-3.

Environment and Global Climate Change

Initiative for Climate Change Adaptation (ICCA) Project

The $2 million, five-year ICCA project supports targeted communities to adapt to adverse climate change impacts. It complements the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future Initiative, which aims to sustainably improve the food security of smallholder farmers. ICCA is aligned with Government of Nepal climate change programs that support local adaptation planning. ICCA helps develop sustainable livelihood opportunities for over 20,000 smallholder families through sustainable use and management of non-timber forest products, high-value vegetable crops, coffee, and essential oils, thereby benefiting over 100,000 people.


Hariyo Ban Project

The $29.9 million, five-year Hariyo Ban project works under the U.S. Government’s Global Climate Change Initiative in Nepal. It is designed to reduce threats to the country’s vast physical and biological diversity through interventions in two critical bio-diverse areas covering over a third of the country: the Terai Arc Landscape and the Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape.


Nepal Hydropower Development Program (NHDP)

USAID’s five-year, $9.9 million Nepal Hydropower Development Project (NHDP), supports the Government of Nepal's efforts to expand the country’s access to modern, high-quality hydropower services and realize its potential as an energy exporter in South Asia.

Gender Equality and Social Inclusion

Gender Equality, Female Empowerment, and Social Inclusion

Nepal has an undercurrent of pervasive, patriarchal social structures and a deep-rooted ethnic caste system woven into the fabric of an otherwise rich, diverse cultural heritage, restricting progress in all major development sectors. For Nepal to become a more democratic and resilient society, it must give women and girls, those who identify as LGBT, people who are differently abled, and those who come from historically marginalized ethnic groups equal access to resources and decision-making opportunities. USAID Nepal's Country Development Cooperation Strategy (2014-2019) explicitly recognizes gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) as integral to achieving its governance, economic growth, and human capital goals.

Global Health

Health for Life (H4L) Logistics Project

USAID's Health for Life Logistics project will strengthen Nepal’s existing health logistics management systems to ensure sustained availability of essential health commodities in facilities across Nepal.


Fertility Awareness for Community Transformation (FACT) Project

The USAID-supported Fertility Awareness for Community Transformation (FACT) Project is a five-year, global research, intervention, and technical assistance project that is developing and testing unique interventions in Nepal, India, Rwanda, and Uganda.


Chlorhexidine "Navi" Care Program

USAID’s Chlorhexidine “Navi” Care Program provides technical assistance to the Government of Nepal to scale up the use of chlorhexidine gel, an antiseptic applied to the umbilical cord stump of newborns to prevent infection and neonatal mortality.


Family Planning Service Strengthening Program (FPSSP)

USAID Nepal’s Family Planning Service Strengthening Program aims to strengthen the accessibility and availability of comprehensive family planning (FP) services to the people of Nepal.


Ghar Ghar Maa Swasthya (Healthy Homes) Project

The Government of Nepal (GON) endorses social marketing (i.e., use of commercial marketing principles and techniques to increase the accesibility and availability of quality, subsidized health products, especially in underserved areas), as an approach to addressing unmet demand for essential public health products and services and influencing a target audience to voluntarily change behavior for the benefit of the individual and society as a whole. USAID’s Ghar Ghar Maa Swasthya, or Healthy Homes project, complements GON efforts to expand the depth, reach, and impact of the private sector in social marketing and provide affordable, high-quality maternal and child health, family planning, and HIV prevention products and services.


Health for Life (H4L) Project

In spite of its mountainous Himalayan terrain and high rates of poverty, Nepal has experienced two decades of steady improvement in health and emerged as one of the few countries on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce child mortality and maternal mortality. For over 60 years, the U.S. Government has partnered with Nepal to strengthen the delivery of essential health services, especially for those in greatest need. The Health for Life (H4L) project builds on accomplishments gained from USAID/Nepal’s health sector investment to date with a greater focus on health systems strengthening and measuring sustainable changes in areas such as local health governance and use of information systems.


Red Book Support Program

The Government of Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) has seen award-winning success in improving maternal and infant health across the country. The Ministry is on track to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 “Reduce Child Mortality” and 5 “Improve Maternal Health” and continues to strive to realize further accomplishments in the areas of maternal, newborn and child health. To build on these successes, USAID provides direct funding to strengthen MOHP staff capacity and management systems with the end goal of improving quality and access to services focused on marginalized and vulnerable communities. Through this direct funding approach, USAID leverages host country systems and personnel to reach people who have the greatest need for quality maternal and child health services.


Saath-Saath Project

The $27.5 million Saath-Saath Project builds on the successes and lessons of the highly successful Advancing Surveillance, Policies, Prevention, Care and Support to Fight HIV/AIDS (ASHA) Project – USAID’s previous activity to combat HIV and AIDS in Nepal. The primary goal of Saath-Saath is to reduce the transmission and impact of HIV/AIDS and improve reproductive health among selected key populations.


Safe Practices on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Safe-WASH) Project

The $409,000 Safe-WASH project improves access to drinking water and sanitation facilities and promotes good sanitation practices, personal hygiene, and kitchen gardening for 27,000 people in the Far-West region. The project is implemented at the village and community level in 11 village development committees (VDC) of Achham district selected by the government-led District Water Supply and Sanitation Coordination Committee (WASHCC).


School-Led Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement (Su-SWASTHA) Project

The $312,000 Su-SWASTHA project supports school- and community-led total sanitation efforts for Open Defecation Free campaigns. By 2014, an estimated 45,000 community residents, including students and teachers, will benefit from this project. Schools will receive improved, child-friendly (with appropriate heights of water taps and urinals) and gender friendly (separate toilets) water and sanitation improvements to promote hygienic behavior.


SUAAHARA Project – Good Nutrition

Suaahara is a five-year, $46 million comprehensive community-focused project dedicated to improving the health and nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women and children under two years of age, thereby directly addressing the vulnerable points of development which result in chronic undernutrition or stunting. The project focuses on improving: nutrition; maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services; reproductive health/family planning services; water, sanitation and hygiene; and home-based gardening in 20 districts.


Strengthening Rehabilitation in District Environs (STRIDE) Project

Through evidence-based activities occurring at rehabilitation facilities in eight districts, the $2.71 million STRIDE project improves the functional independence of people living with disabilities in Nepal and encourages their participation in education and employment. The project seeks to ensure sustainable, accessible and quality physical rehabilitation services and community-based follow-up for physical rehabilitation and social inclusion for victims of conflict and other people living with physical disabilities.


Health Communication Capacity Collaborative Project

The Nepal HC3 Project is four-year, $5 million project that focuses on youth, adolescents, migrants and marginalized and disadvantaged groups. The national-level project will work closely with NHEICC and Family Health Division (FHD) in order to support comprehensive, targeted SBCC campaigns and advocacy among these groups.

Working in Crisis and Conflict

Baliyo Ghar

The five-year, $10.3 million Baliyo Ghar project, implemented by the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), is a key part of USAID/Nepal’s reconstruction portfolio. Designed to help homeowners and communities rebuild in a way that increases their resilience to future disasters, Baliyo Ghar is closely aligned with the Government of Nepal (GON) owner-driven housing reconstruction project which empowers and supports homeowners, allowing them to build back safer.


Building Code Implementation Program in Municipalities of Nepal (BCIPN)

BCIPN supports municipal governments in Nepal to develop and administer building permits and control systems to improve seismic performance of new building constructions. 


Community Action for Disaster Response (CADRE)

The project aims to reduce the number of deaths and injuries and the negative socio-economic impact caused by disasters by building the response capacity of the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) and communities in Nepal. 


Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM)

This project aims to strengthen local capacity for emergency preparedness through a Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) approach and to increase the resilience of livelihoods through the prevention of landslide disasters and establishment of safer agricultural livelihood strategies. Prevention of landslide disasters in the targeted watershed areas reduces the loss of life and livelihoods related to such hazards.


Identification and Management of Open Spaces for Disaster Preparedness (IMOS)

The IMOS program assists the Government of Nepal to continue enhancing their preparedness efforts and establish coherent approaches in responding and managing the needs of the displaced populations after a large-scale earthquake in remote areas and cities in the hilly districts west of Kathmandu.


Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Project

After the devastating earthquake on April 25, 2015, mental health needs in Nepal increased considerably. The alarming rate of suicidal ideas in 10 percent of earthquake-affected populations revealed through a rapid survey indicated the high mental health burden.


Nepal Earthquake Recovery

USAID’s commitment to Nepal has stood the test of time. In the aftermath of the devastating April 25 earthquakes that shook Nepal, our commitment remains stronger than ever.


Program for the Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER) Phase III

PEER aims to assist local, regional, and national disaster management agencies in organizing and conducting standardized training in medical first response, collapsed structure search and rescue, community action for disaster response (CADRE), and hospital preparedness for emergency (HOPE) following a disaster. 


Post-Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Support

The April and May 2015 earthquakes in Nepal damaged or destroyed over 755,000 homes, making housing the single largest reconstruction need and the Government of Nepal’s (GON) highest priority. USAID is funding a number of complementary initiatives to help meet this need and support the GON’s owner-driven housing reconstruction efforts. USAID has provided over $23.3million supporting to the housing sector to date.


Post-earthquake Contributions for Housing Reconstruction

The April and May 2015 earthquakes in Nepal destroyed or significantly damaged over 750,000 homes, making housing the single largest reconstruction need and the Government of Nepal's (GON) highest priority. USAID/Nepal is funding a number of complementary initiatives to help meet this need and support the GON's owner-driven housing reconstruction efforts. 


Strengthening Flood Resilience in Nepal's Kamala River Basin Through End-to-End Early Warning System

The Kamala River Basin End-to-End (E2E) Early Warning System contributes to increase resilience of communities to floods, while strengthening stakeholder capacity to manage an E2E early warning system.


WHO Emergency Support Program

Since January 2016, a team of medical doctors known as WEDS Officers have provided technical assistance to District Health Authorities of the 14 districts most affected by the 2015 Nepal earthquake. USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) has supported this intervention since February 2016.