This report is issued by the UN RCHCO with inputs from its UN Field Coordination Offices and other partners and sources. The report covers November 2012. The next report will be issued the first week of January 2013.

CONTEXT

Political update Politics in Nepal remained deadlocked in November, with the political parties unable to deliver on the President‟s call for a consensus Prime Minister candidate by 29 November. In response, the President has extended the deadline twice, now asking parties to announce a consensus candidate by 12 December. Despite some optimistic statements, the political parties have struggled to find common ground amongst their substantial political differences. The opposition Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) have sought a government led by an NC leader. The government coalition of parties has insisted that the opposition should join the current government under Prime Minister Bhattarai in exchange for access to powerful ministerial portfolios. Further, the parties in government offered a range of possible Prime Ministerial candidates from within their own ranks. The opposition has rejected these offers and so-called „independent‟ or neutral alternatives for the Premiership have been discussed as a last resort. The political parties will need to reach a solution in December if spring elections (April or May 2013) are going to be operationally possible.

- Video of the press conference
- The ICRC priorities for 2013
- Key data for 2013
- Overview of the ICRC's operations in 2013

06-12-2012 News Release 12/240

Geneva (ICRC) – Millions of people around the world are suffering the effects of increasingly complex armed conflicts and other situations of violence, with little prospect of significant improvement in their daily lives. Against this backdrop, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is asking for 1.17 billion Swiss francs (0.97 billion euros, or 1.21 billion US dollars) to cover its humanitarian activities in 2013.

The ICRC's budget for next year includes the initial figures of 988.7 million Swiss francs for field operations and of 186.8 million francs for support provided by the organization's headquarters in Geneva.

"This budget will enable us to maintain a wide range of activities in response to a wide range of needs, while taking the difficult security environment into account," said ICRC President Peter Maurer, speaking at a press conference in Geneva on the occasion of the launch of the organization's emergency appeals.

"In 2013, the ICRC will deal with a very diverse set of situations and with a great variety of consequences for men, women and children who are wounded, sick, displaced, detained or separated from their families," said Mr Maurer. "The mix of acute and protracted conflicts will lead to an overall increase in the scope of the humanitarian activities we need to carry out, whether to alleviate immediate needs or to support people's longer-term resilience."

"The toll on civilians of the escalating conflict in Syria is of great concern, as are the renewed fighting and numerous abuses in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo," explained the ICRC president. "People in northern Mali are becoming increasingly vulnerable as a result of food shortages and the breakdown of basic services that have compounded the effects of the armed conflict. Prospects are bleak for the population of Afghanistan, which has faced danger and abuses for the past three decades. Fighting in Sudan and South Sudan, which has resulted in thousands having to flee their homes, shows no signs of abating. Forms of violence other than armed conflict, such as inter-community violence in parts of Asia and tribal clashes in several African nations, also appear set to cause enormous further suffering. In addition, the economic crisis could bring more instability to certain countries."

"While Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali may grab the headlines, we are also at work where suffering goes relatively unnoticed, as in the Philippines, Madagascar or the Central African Republic," said Mr Maurer.

Violence, abuses and disruption to health-care, water and electricity services all have a dramatic impact on civilians. ''Some of the most urgent situations that our staff have to deal with are those in which entire communities are denied basic services because fighting is restricting their freedom of movement, or those in which attacks on ambulances, medical staff, rescue workers and hospitals make it difficult or impossible to provide prompt and vital emergency care."

In 2013, the ICRC's largest operations in terms of expenditure will be in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Syria, Israel and the occupied territories, Sudan, Mali/Niger, and Yemen. Africa will once again account for over 40 per cent of the ICRC's operational commitments worldwide.

"Our budget fully reflects our objective of taking action and attending to needs in the most suitable and meaningful ways. We always aim to take account of people’s circumstances, the risks and dangers they are exposed to, their gender and their age. We also take into account the level of access available to the ICRC, the degree to which our organization is accepted and the nature of security risks confronting it," said Mr Maurer. "For the ICRC, 2012 was one of the most challenging years ever in terms of security. In 2013, striking the right balance between the risks undertaken and the scope of the humanitarian response will remain no easy task. In order to be successful in this endeavour, the ICRC will have to do everything possible to ensure that it is accepted as neutral, independent and impartial."

To carry out its activities, the ICRC relies on 12,000 staff in the field working in close partnership with national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, but also, increasingly, in cooperation with other international or local organizations. In Nepal, for example, where the ICRC supports families of missing persons – many of which are headed by women – it is working in close cooperation with local organizations that provide economic assistance, legal advice, medical rehabilitation and community support.

"Now as ever, we are fully committed to doing everything we can to help people in need, wherever they may be," said President Maurer. "But it is important to remember that the lives of countless people who need protection and assistance ultimately depend on the continued support of our donors."

For further information, please contact:
Dorothea Krimitsas (English, French), ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 25 90 or +41 79 251 93 18
Carla Haddad Mardini (English, French, Arabic), ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 24 05 or +41 79 217 32 26
Alexis Heeb (Spanish), ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 37 72 or +41 79 218 76 10
Anastasia Isyuk (Russian), ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 30 23 or +41 79 251 93 02

International norms such as United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 which support women's contribution to peacemaking, are not yet well integrated in the drafting of peace agreement texts. Such texts continue to miss opportunities to include relevant language on women's rights and gender perspectives, and mediators and negotiators often lack the knowledge on how this might actually be achieved.The publication From clause to effect: including women's rights and gender in peace agreements examines six peace agreements from the Asia and Pacific region to identify how reference to women's rights and gender perspectives were included - or excluded - in those texts. The report focuses in particular on five recurring issues in peace processes - power sharing, security arrangements, access to justice, resource sharing, and the monitoring of agreements - and recommends alternative wording to improve the agreements' references to women's rights and gender perspectives.

New Delhi, 4 December 2012 – The European Union (EU) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) today signed a €11 million agreement for livelihood development and mitigation of climate change impacts through adaptation. Spanning the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) mountain region, this programme will have contribution of €10,000,000 from the EU.

The Himalayas are the highest mountain range in the world and represent the world's greatest extent and volume of permanent ice and permafrost outside the Polar Regions, feeding into 10 major river basins. Together, these rivers contribute to the fresh water supply of an estimated 1.4 billion people. The HKH region spans over 8 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Nepal with interconnected mountain ranges and plateaus, extending for more than 3,500 km. Glaciers alone cover an area of 60,000 km2.
The region is the world's 'roof' and 'water tower'.

Over the years changing climate patterns have negatively impacted the lives of people in this region. Glaciers are receding, permafrost retreats, snow melt induces changed river flows, and ecosystems are altering. There is an increased frequency and duration of extreme climatic events, causing more frequent and severe natural disasters. These factors aggravate erosion, land degradation, decline in soil fertility and crop yields. The capacity of mountain people to deal with these growing stresses is limited, and the incidence of poverty too is growing.

The EU and ICIMOD programme which starts in 2013, aims at using natural resources in a more sustainable, efficient way and protect the environment. This objective will be achieved by:

1. Enhancement of the knowledge base on Himalayan ecosystems and ecosystem services;

2. Raising awareness on the effects of environmental degradation, climate change and adaptation;

3. Strengthening collaborative action research in the region;

4. Building capacity in higher education, training institutions and civil society across the HKH region to scale up best practice for improved resilience to climate change.

Pilot activities, which the very pivot of this programme, will focus on livelihood opportunities and sustainable management of natural resources, including promotion and development of pro-poor value chains of mountain products and services and the use of ecosystem services such as landscape and biodiversity for recreational and cultural activities with direct community involvement and benefit.

For more information contact:

EU Delegation to India
Karine Olislagers karine.olislagers@eeas.europa.eu

ICIMOD
Christian Mazal cmazal@icimod.org
Nira Gurung < info@icimod.org, ngurung@icimod.org>

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is releasing its annual report on the state of human rights protection in Nepal through 2012 on the occasion of the 64th Human Rights Day. This year the world human rights community is celebrating with the theme of "Your voice, your right. Your voice counts", stressing the importance of participation and inclusion in democratic institutions to ensure a better protection of the rights of all.

Building democratic and inclusive institutions allowing the participation of all in the decision-making process has been one of the main challenges that Nepal has tried to meet since the end of the conflict.

The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly without producing a new constitution on May 28, opening a new area of political uncertainty, has once more put human rights issues on the backburner. Police torture remained a major concern through the year and victims seeking redress faced threats and attacks without benefiting from the protection of institutional actors. Very few concrete achievements were made to ensure that victims of human rights violations, including victims of caste-motivated and gender-motivated violence, had access to legal redress, without concerns for their safety. Nor was any progress made in the investigation and prosecutions of human rights violations cases dating from the conflict. Instead 2012 has seen considerable suggestions from higher ranking political circles that transitional justice mechanisms should be used to foster "reconciliation"– a euphemism for amnesty, over "justice".

This failure to improve Nepal's human rights record in 2012 not only underlines the government negligence toward the protection of human rights of the people it serves but more importantly points at larger institutional failures. The fight against impunity relates to the substance of the functioning of state institutions and implies in-depth reforms to put concerns for human rights of the people at the heart of their functioning. The justice and policing systems still lack the strength, accountability and independence demanded from institutions supposed to safeguard human rights in a vibrant democracy.

This report has tried to show the far-reaching consequences of institutions which are unable to deliver justice to all equally on the lives of ordinary people. When your right to an effective remedy does not depend on the law but on your ability to mobilize resources, be it in terms of personal or political connections or financial resources, the protection of human rights will be subjugated to arbitrariness and corruption.

In Nepal, the slow erosion of the basic structures of justice has been of serious concern in 2012 and it is the responsibility of the human rights movement to focus on the twin tasks of strengthening the authority and the independence of the judiciary and developing the accountability and effectiveness of the policing system. The dissolution of the constituent assembly should not put the debate about the kind of institutions that can protect the rights of all Nepalese on hold. On the contrary the people of Nepal should seize this opportunity to reclaim the terms of the debate and make sure the institutions that will be developed will crystallise the collective sense of fairness of Nepali people.

The full report is available for download at:

http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2012/AHRCSPR0072012HRRptN...

Today, U.S. Ambassador Peter W. Bodde signed a memorandum with the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) acknowledging a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contribution to the Nepal Peace Trust Fund (NPTF).

During the current life of the NPTF, USAID will support the peace process as a contributor to the Fund and as a participant in the Technical Cooperation Pool for Capacity Development (TC Pool). The U.S. Government is providing $500,000 to the NPTF to support conflict-affected communities, transitional justice, future elections, public infrastructure reconstruction, and other peace commitments. As part of the TC Pool, USAID will also hire a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Advisor. The Advisor will serve to strengthen the ongoing work within the Ministry and Peace Fund Secretariat gender units and address gender and inclusion within NPTF programs. USAID’s initial commitment is $550,000 to the TC Pool and $500,000 to the NPTF, for a total contribution to the MoPR of $1,050,000.

Speaking at the ceremony, U.S. Ambassador Bodde remarked, “The U.S. Government’s partnership with the Government of Nepal in this effort further demonstrates our commitment to helping the people of Nepal realize the benefits of peace and the promise of prosperity.” He further stated: “We recognize the Ministry’s and the Peace Fund Secretariat’s work to implement the commitments of the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord through the Fund’s programming.”

USAID’s support to the Fund, in partnership with other international donors, also represents its commitment to donor coordination and harmonization of assistance for aid effectiveness.

Nepal is the first and only country to lead a joint donor-host government trust fund. Since its inception in 2007, the NPTF has funded Government of Nepal institutions to implement Comprehensive Peace Accord programs such as support to conflict-affected people, elections, cantonment management, and infrastructure reconstruction. MOPR, mandated to implement the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord co-chairs the NPTF with the Ministry of Finance. To date, the Government of Nepal has allocated $100 million and donors $50 million to the NPTF, which ends in January 2016.

In addition to its support to NPTF, USAID works to encourage robust citizen participation at the national and local level. At the national level, USAID supports government and political systems by helping key institutions such as the Election Commission, the former Constituent Assembly, and political parties to become more democratic, inclusive, and effective. At the local level, USAID helps communities to participate effectively in development decisions which impact them, and fosters linkages between citizens and their Village Development Committees and District Development Committees, as well as other local government offices. USAID programs also strengthen government and non-governmental organization services for one of Nepal’s most vulnerable populations—human trafficking survivors and those at high-risk for trafficking.

The German government has pledged a total amount of EUR 37.2 million for new and ongoing programmes in Nepal for 2012/13.

Issuing a press statement, German Embassy in Kathmandu Tuesday said that EUR 14.0 million will be provided for financial cooperation and EUR 23.2 million for technical cooperation projects.

This brings the German Development Assistance for Nepal since the beginning of Nepal-German cooperation in 1961 to a total of EUR 1.099 billion.

"The emphasis of German Development Cooperation in Nepal remains on inclusive development, poverty alleviation and support for the peace process in all sectors," the statement said. nepalnews.com

Six-year-old Yagandra Kami flew to Pennsylvania in the United States on Wednesday, becoming the 75,000th refugee from Bhutan to be resettled from Nepal under a major resettlement programme launched in November 2007.

“Today we celebrate this turning point and look back the long way we have come from number one,” said Maurizio Busatti, Chief of Mission of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Nepal.

“Our efforts will continue unabated to prepare the last refugee to settle into his/her new life. IOM is committed to nurturing the team spirit and the model partnership that has marked this program from the start and is at the basis of today’s result”.

Under one of the largest and successful resettlement programmes, more than 63,400 of the refugees have begun new lives in the United States.

The other countries to accept refugees are Australia (3,837), Canada (5,296), Denmark (724), New Zealand (710), the Netherlands (326), Norway (546), and the United Kingdom (257), stated a joint press statement issued on Wednesday by IOM and UNHCR.

“This is a tremendous achievement,” said Stephane Jaquemet, UNHCR Representative in Nepal. “It has only been possible due to the incredible generosity of the resettlement countries, the resilience of the refugees, the great support of the Government of Nepal, and the exemplary partnership with IOM.”

The UN refugee agency is responsible for interviewing refugees and referring their names to resettlement countries, while the International Organization for Migration conducts health assessments, organizes cultural orientation courses and transports the refugees from Nepal to their countries of resettlement, according to a press statement issued on the occasion.

The statement further said, UNHCR also provides in-depth and targeted information on durable solutions to the refugees through mobile information counseling in the camps.

With over half the original population resettled, the seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal have been merged to two, Sanischare and Beldangi, added the statement.

UNHCR also stated that it has been receiving a steady stream of Declarations of Interest for resettlement from the remainder of the population.

Amongst the over 41,000 remaining refugees in these camps, some 31,300 have expressed an interest in resettlement. The acceptance rate by the countries of resettlement is over 99%, the highest in the world.

DHARAN, Nepal, Dec 13 2012 (IPS) - Sita Tamang’s husband went missing sometime in 2004, two years before Nepal’s civil war came to an end. A native of Dharan, a town about 600 kilometres southeast of Kathmandu, Tamang waited seven years after his disappearance before she tried to claim compensation offered by the government after the 2006 peace deal ended this country’s bloodshed.

When she finally managed to get hold of government officials in Dharan overseeing compensation procedures, she was met with the thorny request that she “prove” her marriage to the father of her three children, whom she had lived with for a decade and a half.

As was customary, Tamang and her husband had gone through the traditional marriage ceremony but had not obtained any civil documents.

In addition to taking care of her three children, including two daughters, Tamang was saddled with the added burden of seeking the required paperwork before even beginning the bureaucratic process of securing compensation.

“That is the way things are here,” she told IPS simply. “Women will always have it a bit hard.”

Thousands of miles away, in northern Sri Lanka, Rajina Mary, a 38-year-old war widow with four children, ran into similar hurdles when she began constructing a new house with assistance from the Sri Lanka Red Cross in late 2010, about a year and a half after this country’s civil war ended.

“The labourers would not take orders or instructions from me because I was a woman. They are used to taking orders from men,” Mary told IPS, standing in front her house in the village of Selvanagar in the northern Kilinochchi district, deep in the former war zone.

When the workmen refused to follow her instructions, Mary and her children were forced to take over the construction themselves, digging most of the foundation and carrying hundreds of bricks and cement sacks.

“It was cheaper for us. But that is the way things are here, it is a very male-dominated society,” Mary said, echoing Tamang’s words.

Aid workers, counsellors and experts working in post-conflict regions in the two South Asian countries say the patriarchal nature of rural societies makes them unenviable locations for widows or female heads of households.

“There is a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression. Most of these women live in isolation without anyone to talk to, even when they live among family,” Srijana Bhandari, a counsellor with the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC) working in Dharan, told IPS.

After her husband disappeared in 2004, one woman struggled for seven years to send her son to school and seek assistance for her young daughter’s epileptic condition. It was only in November 2011, when WOREC began talking to her, that she finally opened up about the many challenges confronting women suddenly left to fend for themselves and their families.

Now, thanks to the advocacy group’s intervention, her son has a scholarship at the village school and she receives a monthly medical stipend for her daughter.

“Before we spoke with her, she was finding it really hard, there was no one to help her, some members of her family even looked at her as a burden,” Kamal Koirala, WOREC’s programme coordinator, told IPS.

Even on the rare occasions when women find new marriage prospects, they come under enormous pressure – ironically from their female in-laws – to reject the offer. As a result, many women end up eloping, leaving their children behind, WOREC officials said.

Koirala told IPS that women rarely, if ever, open up about pressure brought on them to turn to sex work, but said aid workers have strong suspicions that the practice is widespread.

The situation is not much different in Sri Lanka according to Saroja Sivachandran, who heads the Centre for Women and Development, a non-governmental organisation working on gender issues in the country’s northern Jaffna peninsula.

Despite a three-decade-long conflict in which many females fought alongside their male counterparts, especially among the ranks of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), northern Tamil society is still steeped in patriarchal values, Sivachandran told IPS.

“The problem is that now, single women or female heads of households – and there are thousands of them – have to compete with males for everything from jobs to housing assistance,” she said.

In both countries, scores of women were left to navigate the post-war landscape after the fighting ended.

The Nepali Red Cross lists 1401 persons as still missing, six years after the conflict ended. Officials say at least 90 percent of the families left behind are now headed by women, 80 percent of whom are mothers.

In Sri Lanka, the United Nations estimates that around 30,000 of the 110,000 families that have returned to the former war zone in the northern province are headed by women.

In 2010, the World Bank found that two-thirds of the participants in a cash for work programme worth 5.5 million dollars were women.

In fact, programme managers made special allowances for the women by offering more flexible working hours. The programme also paid elders who looked after children while their mothers or caregivers took part in the work scheme.

But the women who are faced with rebuilding their lives after decades of war, while also dealing with the suffocating customs and traditions of male dominance that date back generations, say there is very little chance of things changing.

“It was like this even during the fighting, why should it change when there is no fighting?” Mary asked.

• Infections aggravate problem
• Limited access to sanitation and safe water
• Poor eating habits and agriculture investments
• Nutrition historically low priority

KATHMANDU, 14 December 2012 (IRIN) - The number of children in Nepal with acute malnutrition hovers near emergency levels, something that has not changed even after 15 years of efforts and millions of dollars invested, say local and international nutrition experts.

“The prevalence was the same in 1996. If we look at the number of children affected, the situation has even deteriorated due to the population increase,” said Nicolas Oberlin, deputy country director of UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).

Levels of wasting - acute malnutrition, or low weight-to-height ratio - hardly changed from 2006 to 2011, according to the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2011(DHS).

Any global acute malnutrition rate- comprising both moderate and severe acute malnutrition-exceeding 10 percent is considered a nutrition emergency, according to medical experts. As of 2011, the Department of Health (DOH) estimated wasting affected nearly 11 percent of children under five years old, or 385,000 children. Some 2.6 percent of all under-fives – 91,000 – had severe acute malnutrition.

In Nepal, malnutrition plays a role in 60 percent of child deaths, according to UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“We are concerned about making more children vulnerable if we don’t act fast,” Raj Kumar Pokharel, chief of the DOH nutrition section, told IRIN, acknowledging that the government, until now, has not paid enough attention.

While most children with wasting are in the remote hills of Midwest and Far West regions, considered the poorest areas nationwide, severe acute malnutrition, the situation is worse in the southern fertile plains bordering India, known as the western Terai. There, more than 15 percent of children are estimated to be acutely malnourished due to poor sanitation, contaminated water and water-borne disease outbreaks during monsoons, according to the government.

In addition, the rate of stunting (low height-for-age, also known as chronic malnutrition) in Nepal is among the world’s highest; UNICEF reported this year that Nepal has the sixth worst rate of stunting - 49 percent - among all countries that provided data.

Below, IRIN explores five reasons experts have identified as the main culprits behind Nepal’s stubbornly high malnutrition rates.

Poor health

Acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea, Nepal’s leading causes of deaths among children under age five, are linked to acute malnutrition, according to the Ministry of Health and Population. Diarrhoea depletes children of critical nutrients and makes them more vulnerable to infection; infections, in turn, worsen their nutritional status.

In 2011, there were 2.7 million cases of acute respiratory infection to the government. Of the 1.7 million reported cases of diarrhoea only 38 percent of the children saw a healthcare provider.

Of those who sought healthcare, half were treated with oral rehydration salts (ORS). In 2012, an independent evaluationNepal’s health system noted that zinc, recommended by the World Health Organization for diarrhoea treatment in conjunction with ORS and proven to cut diarrhoea-related deaths by some 40 percent was not widely distributed.

Poor sanitation

More than three million of the country’s 30.4 million people do not have access to safe drinking water despite the country’s abundant fresh water resources. Nearly 19 million do not have access to “improved sanitation”-public standpipes, covered wells or springs, piped household connections or boreholes -according to the local NGO Forum for Water and Sanitation. 　　

“A big cause of malnutrition is our poor health environment due to the poor hygiene practices, poor sanitation and…poor living conditions,” said nutrition expert Som Paneru, president of the Nepal Youth Foundation, which runs nutrition treatment centres nationwide.

Poor access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities are associated with skin and diarrhoeal diseases, as well as acute respiratory infection.

Poor early childcare practices

“The critical period [for a child] is during the 1,000 days from pregnancy up to two years of age. Whatever damage is done to physical growth and brain development during the period is very difficult to reverse,” said Saba Mebrahtu, chief of UNICEF’s nutrition section in Nepal.

“Childcare practices are really poor, and usually we find that babies are not fed nutritious food, especially after six months,” explained government official Pokharel.

Breastfeeding within the first hour after birth and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months can strengthen a child’s immune system for years. But only around half of babies are breastfed within the first hour -51 percent in urban areas and 44 percent in rural areas, according to the 2011 DHS. Fortunately, exclusive breastfeeding rates are improving - now 70 percent, up from 53 percent in 2006.

Still, mothers of malnourished children lack proper healthcare before and after birth. “Most of the time, they are expected to get back to household chores like working in the farm and the kitchen just a few days after delivery, and it affects the mother’s health and nutrition,” he added.

While 88 percent of urban mothers received antenatal care from a skilled provider, only 55 percent of rural mothers did so, according to the DHS. Additionally, some 23 percent of mothers nationwide gave birth before age 18.

Poor agriculture investments

A key challenge in fighting acute malnutrition is simultaneously addressing its many causes, said WFP’s Oberlin.

“Some of these factors weigh more heavily in certain geographic areas, or within certain social categories. For instance, food insecurity in remote areas is a serious contributing factor, where unavailability and lack of access to food, combined with poverty, have a dramatic impact on nutrition,” he added.

A quarter of the population lives under the national poverty line, and nearly 3.5 million people have difficulty getting nutritious foods, according to WFP.

“A lot of investment is needed now in the agricultural sector, but, unfortunately, the investment and funding by both the government and aid agencies have reduced a lot,” said Pitamber Acharya, director of Development Project Service Centre a local NGO working on agriculture and food security. 　　

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Development, donor support to agriculture declined from 2002-2006. Overall government spending has more than doubled since 2006, but spending on agriculture has remained unchanged.

Poor priority-setting

Until now, the central government has relegated malnutrition issues to a four-person nutrition unit, led by DOH’s Pokharel. The unit ranks low within health ministry’s hierarchy.

“The way that the nutrition section has not been given prominence shows the government’s negligence over the past years, and the small team is actually doing [its] best to reduce malnutrition. But that is really a herculean task for them to cover the whole nation,” said Paneru from the [Nepal Youth Foundation.](

Still emerging from a decade-long civil conflict that killed an estimated 18,000 civilians, the country has been without local government since 1997, leaving nearly 4,000 “village development committees” with only one person, appointed by the national government, to keep basic services going.

A new constitution that would lead to local elections has yet to be approved. Promised in 2010, draft approval has been delayed four times most recently on 27 May.

Ongoing political squabbling also delayed the new fiscal budget by eight months, which held up money needed for development said Chandan Sapkota, an economist at the South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment office in the capital, Kathmandu.

Change?

But agencies and the health workers are still hopeful. The government launched its first inter-ministerial national nutrition plan on 20 September. Donors have pledged close to 60 percent of the plan’s US$150 million 2014-2017 budget, while the government has set aside near $12 million for 2012-2013 nutrition interventions.

The National Planning Commission monitor spending for the new nutrition plan, which is expected to create a national centre for nutrition and a “food security secretariat”.

DOH’s nutrition team anticipates this will translate into improved nutrition and has proposed hiring 35 staff for the national centre, nutrition supervisors for all of the country’s 75 districts, and nutrition officers for each of the five regional health offices.

“We have, however, yet to see how things will shape up,” said Pokharel, referring to the ongoing political deadlock.

nn/pt/rz

Six-year-old Yagandra Kami flew to Pennsylvania in the USA on Wednesday, becoming the 75,000th refugee from Bhutan to be resettled from Nepal under a major programme launched in November 2007.

IOM Nepal Chief of Mission Maurizio Busatti and UNHCR Nepal Representative Stephane Jaquemet welcomed the milestone in the Nepali capital Kathmandu.

“It has only been possible due to the incredible generosity of the resettlement countries, the resilience of the refugees, the great support of the Government of Nepal, and the exemplary partnership between IOM and UNHCR,” said Jaquemet.

Under the programme, over 63,400 of Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin have begun new lives in the USA. Other countries to accept the refugees have been Australia (3,837), Canada (5,296), Denmark (724), New Zealand (710), the Netherlands (326), Norway (546), and the United Kingdom (257.)

UNHCR is responsible for interviewing refugees and referring their names to resettlement countries, while IOM conducts health assessments, organizes cultural orientation courses and transports the refugees from Nepal to their countries of resettlement.

UNHCR also provides information to the refugees through mobile counselling in the two remaining camps - Sanischare and Beldangi. At the start of the programme, some 120,000 refugees were living in seven camps.

Of the over 41,000 remaining refugees in the camps, some 31,300 have expressed a desire to move. The acceptance rate by the countries of resettlement is over 99%, the highest in the world, according to UNHCR.

For more information, please contact Tracy Vunderink at IOM Nepal, Tel. +977-23-585-201, Email: tvunderink@iom.int

La campagne de collecte de fonds «Chaque centime compte» («Jeder Rappen zählt») a lieu pour la quatrième fois, dans la semaine qui précède Noël. La Radio Télévision Suisse appelle le grand public à verser des dons en faveur de programmes d’accès à l’eau dans le monde. La Croix-Rouge suisse (CRS) participe elle aussi à cette opération.

Du 17 au 22 décembre 2012, la place de l’Europe à Lucerne accueillera un studio radio mobile depuis lequel le programme de l’opération sera diffusé sur DRS 3 et SF 2. Mardi matin, la présidente de la CRS, Annemarie Huber-Hotz, y donnera une interview en direct.

Cette année, les dons seront reversés en faveur de programmes d’accès à l’eau menés par des œuvres d’entraide suisses. La RTS s’associe à cette opération avec une journée thématique sur ses différentes antennes. A la radio, Option Musique, La 1ère et la Chaîne du Bonheur organisent mercredi 19 décembre une journée spéciale de collecte afin de faciliter l’accès à l’eau potable dans les pays en développement.

800 millions de personnes sans eau potable

Dans les régions défavorisées surtout, l’eau potable est en effet une richesse extrêmement rare, et 800 millions de personnes de par le monde en sont privées. Chaque jour, quelque 3000 enfants succombent à des diarrhées, la plupart du temps pour avoir consommé une eau souillée ou par manque d’hygiène.

La CRS pend part à l’opération à Lucerne en publiant des affiches et une petite vidéo. A travers ses programmes de santé, la Croix-Rouge améliore l’accès à l’eau et l’hygiène dans les contrées isolées et défavorisées. Aux côtés de la population locale, elle construit par exemple des systèmes d’alimentation en eau et des puits au Népal, au Cambodge, au Soudan du Sud et au Salvador.

A la suite de la collecte «Chaque centime compte», la CRS présentera des propositions visant à financer d’autres projets d’accès à l’eau grâce aux dons versés.

15 December 2012 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is deeply concerned about the continuing political deadlock in Nepal, according to his spokesperson.

“He urges the country's political parties to set aside differences in the interest of the nation and form a broad-based government without further delay,” the spokesperson added in a statement issued on Friday night. “He also encourages the main stakeholders to create a conducive environment for the next elections.”

The Asian nation's political leaders have reportedly failed to nominate over the past three weeks a prime ministerial candidate, who would lead a new government that would be responsible for holding Constituent Assembly elections.

The South Asian country has been plagued by political disputes since a civil war between Government forces and Maoists formally ended in 2007 and the monarchy was abolished.

There have been important achievements in the peace process to date, including the completion of the discharge and integration process of the ex-Maoist army, the successful and largely peaceful elections in 2008, the removal of all minefields, and a smooth transition to a Republic.

However, challenges have included a missed 27 May deadline for a new Constitution and the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly that followed.

Mr. Ban's spokesperson said that the Secretary-General urges all actors in Nepal to “reaffirm their commitment to the Comprehensive Peace Agreements and to safeguard the achievements of the past several years in line with the aspirations of the Nepali people.”

La campagne de collecte de fonds «Chaque centime compte» («Jeder Rappen zählt») a lieu pour la quatrième fois, dans la semaine qui précède Noël. La Radio Télévision Suisse appelle le grand public à verser des dons en faveur de programmes d’accès à l’eau dans le monde. La Croix-Rouge suisse (CRS) participe elle aussi à cette opération.

Du 17 au 22 décembre 2012, la place de l’Europe à Lucerne accueillera un studio radio mobile depuis lequel le programme de l’opération sera diffusé sur DRS 3 et SF 2. Mardi matin, la présidente de la CRS, Annemarie Huber-Hotz, y donnera une interview en direct.

Cette année, les dons seront reversés en faveur de programmes d’accès à l’eau menés par des œuvres d’entraide suisses. La RTS s’associe à cette opération avec une journée thématique sur ses différentes antennes. A la radio, Option Musique, La 1ère et la Chaîne du Bonheur organisent mercredi 19 décembre une journée spéciale de collecte afin de faciliter l’accès à l’eau potable dans les pays en développement.

800 millions de personnes sans eau potable

Dans les régions défavorisées surtout, l’eau potable est en effet une richesse extrêmement rare, et 800 millions de personnes de par le monde en sont privées. Chaque jour, quelque 3000 enfants succombent à des diarrhées, la plupart du temps pour avoir consommé une eau souillée ou par manque d’hygiène.

La CRS pend part à l’opération à Lucerne en publiant des affiches et une petite vidéo. A travers ses programmes de santé, la Croix-Rouge améliore l’accès à l’eau et l’hygiène dans les contrées isolées et défavorisées. Aux côtés de la population locale, elle construit par exemple des systèmes d’alimentation en eau et des puits au Népal, au Cambodge, au Soudan du Sud et au Salvador.

A la suite de la collecte «Chaque centime compte», la CRS présentera des propositions visant à financer d’autres projets d’accès à l’eau grâce aux dons versés.

Introduction

The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on 21 November 2006 heralded the beginning of a new chapter in Nepal’s history. Although it is a political document signed between the Seven-Party Alliance and the Maoist party to carry out a series of political and security transitions—such as cease hostilities, manage arms and armies and end the 10-year armed conflict—the CPA commits Nepal to a profoundly ambitious agenda of political, governance, economic and social transformation. In many ways, the CPA can equally be viewed as a ‘checklist’ of long-term development priorities, vital for creating a just society and achieving a sustained peace.
Six years since the signing of the CPA, Nepal remains in the midst of its very complex transition. ‘Business as usual’ approaches to development are not enough in these circumstances and more is required of development instruments and actors to work at the heart of peace-building. The government’s ‘periodic plan’ is one such instrument as it defines the medium-term development priorities and goals of the country. In order to advance the CPA’s transformation agenda, it is imperative that Nepal’s periodic plans have good alignment with the CPA.

This Field Bulletin looks at how core priorities identified in the CPA are featured in Nepal’s current Three-Year Plan. Overall, the Three-Year Plan shows strong alignment with the CPA. The Plan is particularly focused on promoting social inclusion, equitable growth, employment generation and good governance, though concrete targets or activities are often not specified. Attention to rule of law, respect for human rights, land reform and considerations for state restructuring are also included in the Plan, but to a much lesser extent. Action towards transformation of the security sector, on the other hand, is largely missing. The most important question, which still awaits an answer when the Plan concludes in July 2013, is whether or not progress has been achieved against these priorities? Even more so, will the next periodic plan maintain the existing momentum to push Nepal’s development efforts further into the core peacebuilding agenda of the CPA? With much talk of the ‘logical conclusion of the peace process’ arriving imminently, this may not be a given, despite the long-term agenda laid out in the CPA.

Background

Nepal has been carrying out ‘planned development’ since 1956, with each of the 12 periodic plans reflecting the dominant national development discourse of the day. Broadly, the first four periodic plans (from 1956 to 1975) prioritised transportation and communications. The Fifth and the Sixth Plans (from 1975 to 1985) focused on agricultural development. The Seventh Plan (from 1985 to 1990) sought to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, education, sanitation and transportation. Reflecting the political changes following the first Jan Andolan of 1990, the Eighth and Ninth Plans (from 1992 to 2002) prioritised poverty alleviation and regional disparity reduction. In order to fill the shortfalls of these preceding Plans, the Tenth Plan (from 2002 to 2007) came into effect with the sole objective of poverty reduction. The Three-Year Interim Plan (from July 2007 to July 2010) responded directly to the post-conflict and CPA context, emphasising the reconstruction of conflict damaged infrastructure, the provision of immediate relief to conflict victims and support to inclusive development. In many ways, it was guided by a post-CPA ‘euphoria’ which characterised the period when the Plan was being developed. However, “the consensus [...] shown during the formulation of the Plan could not last during the implementation period”.

Overall, it has been observed that Nepal’s “planning experiences exhibit that development performance has been both a combination of success and failure.” The current Three-Year Plan itself recognises previous mixed successes, “Even after more than 50 years of planned development efforts, our economic growth has not been able to gain expected pace. As the outcome of the implementation of the past plans, some achievements have been made in sectors like road, irrigation, drinking water, information and communications, literacy and school enrolment rate, average life expectancy, child mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, however, the country is still in a least developed country stage at large.”5 While many periodic plans have fallen short of their targets, the plans remain the central instrument for determining national development priorities and expenditure.

Management of water resources in South Asia is complex. One billion people, including some of the poorest in the region in Pakistan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh (as well as Myanmar and China), depend on flows from the Himalayas for their livelihoods and wellbeing. Access to water from the twelve major river basins can hinge on cooperation with neighbouring governments. Extreme environmental factors such as glacial floods, droughts and earthquakes further complicate the picture.

Australia is a world leader on water resource management. Australia’s water management tools have the potential to help to manage water stress and poverty in developing countries. Sharing these tools and knowledge will help to build capacity and improve investment planning in water management, as well as assisting in climate change adaptation and disaster risk management.

Trans-boundary water resource management is a priority for AusAID’s South and West Asia regional program. Regional cooperation on water management has the potential to mitigate against the more extreme effects of climate change in the region and contribute to improvements in quality of life for hundreds of millions of people. Most importantly, it is essential for long-term water and food security for the region.

AusAID is supporting a number of initiatives. We are working with regional organisation such as the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and partnering with the World Bank on the South Asia Water Initiative. We will also support civil society initiatives in the region.

In partnership with the International Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management (ICEWARM), AusAID is bringing together Australian water experts with their counterparts in the region to explore opportunities for technical collaboration in water management. At a recent workshop in Canberra, representatives from the CSIRO, eWater, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Murray Darling Basin Authority, the National Water Commission and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology met with officers of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, the Institute of Water Modelling (Dhaka), the Indian Institute of Technology (New Delhi), AusAID and the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

In October 2012, the prime ministers of Australia and India announced the India–Australia Water, Science and Technology Partnership.

More information
• AusAID at work in South and West Regional Asia

Written by Dominic Courage, Shelter Trainee, Humanitarian team in Nepal

“Nangkholang is there – this is my place.”

Jiban, the leader of the Village Development Committee, cheerfully pointed to a small settlement perched across the plunging valley.

Nagendra, the coordinator for our implementing partners, the Nepal Red Cross Society filled in some details.

A fire five years ago had created the patch of now luminous green paddy field just below the village. Cracks in the buildings on our precipitous route signposted the earthquake which, beneath the surface, had loosened soil across the mountainside.

This hidden threat became reality during this year’s monsoon as landslides streaked past the communities.

It’s little wonder that the village is keen to prepare for the next disaster.

Smiling, resilient people

If it gets people down, it doesn’t show. All along the way, our small troop of six were welcomed out of the rain with tea, fried bread and smiles.

Laughing and smiling, the families had a comfort in each other’s company that you don’t see everywhere.

After all, at only three hours walk, this was the closest and most visited of our 60 odd projects in the area. The furthest takes three days to get to – longer of course if you’re unfortunate enough to have to carry a roof truss or a bag of cement.

Rebuilding schools

The two school block reconstructions we’re supporting were part of the extensive complex of 29 classrooms that made up Kalika Secondary School.

Ghanendra, the deputy head, told me how happy he was with the classrooms that, as head of the School Development Committee, he was responsible for building.

As well as the funding, he was grateful for the technical support we’d given him in making the buildings earthquake-resistant and stabilising the slope that he was forced to build it under.

It was heartening to see the technology being copied across the village. The masons we had trained had become hot property.

Disaster Risk Reduction

I met Sita, one of the community mobilisers who prepare train and prepare the villages for disaster alongside school reconstruction work.

Villagers are trained in first aid, search and rescue, and disaster planning. With an initial Save the Children grant, the community builds up reserves of cash and grain to prepare for the worst.

After lunch, I was given the honour of judging the Community Disaster Management Committee dance and drama competition.

Collapsing huts, burning thatch, and even live goats were brought in to try and sway the judges in dramatic interpretations of disaster response and recovery.

I was slightly bewildered as I tried to pick a winner, but in the end went for the best special effects, as well as some handy first aid.