Planned Budget (Total)
Other resources (non-core)
Country Indexes
outcome XM-DAC-41146-NPL_D_1.1
By 2027, more people, especially women, youth, the most marginalized and poor, increasingly benefit from and contribute to inclusive, resilient, and sustainable socio-economic transformation at federal, provincial, and local levels (UNSDCF Outcome 1)
Some progress was made towards this outcome. Women from vulnerable and excluded groups have expanded income opportunities, integrated in the formal economy, secured local governments resources and increased their decision-making roles in families and communities. -In 2024, additional 706 (701 women, 3 men and 2 non-binary) women and people from excluded groups, started and/or expanded their micro-scale business and increased income generation opportunities. These women are now engaged in diverse income generating opportunities in the climate resilient agriculture and livestock value chain, food processing, small scale garment, handicraft and off-farm businesses. With their newfound income, women are demonstrating their confidence and financial independence in household decision-making as well as in community level participation. As shown by the testimonials from the field, they were able to expand their income significantly. Ms. Pradipta Bhujel, a member of Nashika Self-Help Group (SHG) in Banepa-13, reported that she was able to earn approximately NPR 40,000 through her floriculture and vegetable business. In addition, a total three women led collective business have been established in three municipalities, enabling 51 women members from the community to earn income. With collectivization and social networks, they have been able to tap more opportunities in business scaling as well as for personal growth, such as leadership, social networking. In addition, 56 women including those from vulnerable background are now using digital banking services in support of running their businesses. Women’s economic empowerment has been further enabled by the private sector, with 39 companies internalizing Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and committing towards gender equitable workplace and marketplace. This is further accompanied by mainstreaming unpaid care work in 16th National Plan for the first time, creating policy space to expand care services. Further, gender responsive budgeting (GRB) has been institutionalized by the 23 local level governments enabling women’s access to local government resources. These governments are now allocating targeted resources for women’s economic empowerment. For example, Laxmipur Patari municipality provided public land to women farmer’s group to set up collection centre. Birgunj municipality distributed sewing machine and other logistics to set up small scale garment production centre for women training graduates supported by UN Women. Narayan municipality from Dailekh district allocated NPR 450,000 (USD 3,250) for the vegetable farmer’s producers. These are few examples on how UN Women interventions supported unlocking local government resources and increased women’s access to productive resources. The robust mix of interventions focused on economic empowerment enhanced the income opportunities for women from excluded groups. UN Women provided technical, financial and coordination support to its programme partners namely Women Human Rights Nepal, Didi Bahini, Community Action Center Nepal and Justice and Rights Institute Nepal, to implement interventions focused on market-oriented skill training, business development support, seed fund and equipment support for business startup and market linkage coupled by family and community dialogue and developing soft skills, such as negotiation and leadership to address the barriers they face based on the deeply rooted social norms. These interventions were completed with financial contribution from the Government of Finland, European Union and Multi-Partner Trust Fund (Sweden and Norway). Based on the progress made, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable and hence, it remains unchanged. If as expected this strategy is successful, then by 2027, more than 3,400 women including those form marginalized groups will increase their income and contribute to inclusive, resilient, and sustainable socio-economic transformation in Nepal.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-NPL_D_1.2
By 2027, more people, especially women, youth, children, and the most marginalized and poor, increasingly participate in and benefit from equitably improved quality social services at federal, provincial, and local levels. (UNSDCF Outcome 2)
Some progress was made towards this outcome. More women especially from the excluded groups started participating in and benefiting from improved quality social services at federal, provincial, and local levels. A total of 500 Gender-based Violence (GBV) survivors accessed lifesaving services, including legal aid, referral, and counseling, which addressed critical cases of domestic violence, GBV and abuse. Moreover, 27 women in Madhesh and Bagmati provinces are now benefitting from social protection schemes after successfully obtaining the legal documentation, such as citizenship, marriage and birth certificates. Their children have now received nutrition cards, enabling them to receive NPR 500 each month under the Child Protection Grant (nutrition grant) for children under 5 years old. Through citizenship acquisition, a legal recognition, has enhanced their social and economic empowerment, providing opportunities previously inaccessible to them such as opening bank accounts and employment opportunities. The Storytelling initiative yielded significant results under this Outcome, which encompass; seven local governments allocated NPR 219,000 (approx. USD 1,643) for implementing Community Action Plans (CAPs) developed by Self-Help Groups (SHGs) aimed at promoting positive social norms, addressing harmful practices, and organizing a village referral clinic to support GBV survivors. The SHG members implemented 65 CAPs in four provinces, as an instrumental in driving grassroots social change, fostering awareness, and promoting positive norm and practices. As a result, they sensitized 3,691 community members on harmful social norms and gender equality. Notably, the Mahadev SHG in Haripurwa-3 intervened alongside the local ward chairperson to prevent the child marriage of a 14-year-old girl, safeguarding her future. These SHG members are also actively participating in local-level planning processes, advocating for gender-focused budgeting and programming to address gender-discriminatory norms and practices. In addition, the progress achieved by the Badi women’s group has been transformative. Once stigmatized as Dalits and entertainers for high-caste individuals, they now work with ward committees and other stakeholders to implement CAPs focusing on GBV prevention, caste-based discrimination, and child marriage. A total of 25 Badi women lead sensitization campaigns on these issues, demonstrating their newfound leadership role. Pre- and post-session assessments revealed significant attitude shifts amongst community members in four provinces on harmful norms and practices. Disagreement with the statement “Education is more important for boys than girls” increased by 30%, while belief in the notion “women need protection from men” dropped by 68%. Agreement with “Household decisions should be made jointly” rose from 44% to 97%. In the words of a male participant in a dialogue group in Laxman BK: 'I realized that harmful and discriminatory norms are significant barriers to realize gender equality. Generations of our ancestors struggled with these issues, and our generation is facing the same struggle. This must end, and we need to advocate for and embrace positive change. Such dialogues should be initiated in other communities, neighborhoods, and wards across LGUs.' UN Women contributed to these results by providing technical and financial support to implement initiatives such as storytelling, SHG capacity building, and village clinics in partnership with the local governments and civil society organizations, namely Justice and Rights Institute Nepal, Center for Dalit Women Nepal, Women Human Rights Nepal and Didi Bahini, LACC focusing on facilitating legal aid services establishing referral clinics and driving the social norms change at the community level. The role of UN Women was also commended by the local government during the Project advisory committee meeting. These interventions were completed with financial contribution from the Government of Finland and Multi-Partner Trust Fund (Sweden and Norway). Based on the progress made so far, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely applicable. Hence, they remain the same. If as expected this strategy is successful, then by 2027, more women and girls including those from the most marginalized communities will benefit from quality social services including GBV services at federal, provincial, and local levels.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-NPL_D_1.3
By 2027, more people, especially women, youth, children, and the most marginalised and poor, increasingly benefit from and contribute to building an inclusive, sustainable, climate-resilient and green society and reduced impacts of disasters at federal, provincial, and local levels. (UNSDCF Outcome 3)
Some progress towards this outcome was made. Women including those from the most marginalized backgrounds increasingly benefitted from and contributed to building gender responsive climate resilient and green societies via strengthened capacitates and enabling policy environment. Women in five municipalities of highly climate-vulnerable Bagmati Province (Dhulikhel Municipality, Hariharpurgadhi Rural Municipality, Marin Rural Municipality, Namobuddha Municipality and Bethanchowk Rural Municipality) are now advocating for gender responsive services and resources from their local municipalities in support of strengthening their climate adaptation and resilience capacities. These women were previously provided with capacity strengthening support by UN Women, via REFLECT sessions focusing on the impacts of climate change, disaster risk reduction (DRR), seasonal calendar change, agriculture and women’s rights. The partner reports show that women’s advocacy has been aided by strengthened capacities of duty bears, who are able to understand the climate and DRR impacts and have institutionalized such learnings via creation and integration of gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) concerns in the draft GEDSI Action Plans in five municipalities at local level. These GEDSI considerations are also being institutionalized at the national level. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority is now implementing the Strategic Action Plan for GEDSI in Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) which was adopted in May 2024. Four task teams/committees for GEDSI in DRRM, have been formed in Nepalgunj, Dhangadhi, Amargadhi, and Jay Prithivi municipalities to further localize the implementation of this Strategic Action Plan. Furthermore, the GEDSI Paper prepared by the federal Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoFE) highlights the key concerns related to gender in the climate agenda. UN Women’s both financial and technical inputs contributed to achieving these results. UN Women in partnership with HIMAWANTI conducted REFLECT trainings for women while providing capacity development support to duty bearers as well as part of gender-responsive climate-smart village project. These capacity building initiatives were informed by the findings from two research UN Women published with CIPRED and IHRR on impacts of climate on indigenous women and climate-smart technologies to reduce women’s time-poverty and drudgery respectively. Further, UN Women in coordination with UNDP and UNICEF, supported the localization of the Strategic Action Plan for GEDSI in DRRM, where UN Women provided technical inputs to draft the Strategic Action Plan for GDESI in DRRM, a milestone document which was recognized in the Asia-Pacific region. These engagements have also secured UN Women’s leadership as the co-lead of Gender thematic groups in the 3rd Nationally Determined Contribution, working alongside MoFE, MoWCSC, UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO to ensure sectoral and GEDSI targets are ambitious to address women’s climate and disaster impacts. Based on the progress made, the strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable. If as expected, these strategies are successful, by 2027, more women and young girls will have built their climate resilience and contributed to building a green society with reduced disaster impacts leading to reduction of human life due to climate change and DRR.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-NPL_D_1.4
By 2027, more people, especially women, youth, and the most marginalized and poor increasingly participate in and benefit from coordinated, inclusive, accessible, participatory, transparent, and gender-responsive governance, access to justice and human rights at federal, provincial, and local levels.
Women and the most marginalized and poor increasingly participate in and benefit from coordinated, inclusive, accessible, participatory, transparent, and gender-responsive governance, access to justice and human rights at federal, provincial, and local levels. A total of 481 individuals (354 females, 127 males) accessed justice through 11 Judicial Committees, and informal justice mechanisms supported by UN Women in 11 Local Government Units (LGUs). This was further strengthened by the assistance of four legal aid lawyers. Among them, A total of 77 women (diverse ethnic groups) supported by 11 Grassroots Women's Organizations (GWOs) successfully accessed justice services, indicating the organizations' effective engagement in governance. These GWOs also conducted 23 advocacy programs involving 537 people (420 females, 117 males), addressing topics like strengthening GWOs-LGUs coordination for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) and facilitating access to justice. Furthermore, 25 community awareness events were organized by these GWOs, reaching 665 community members (620 females, 45 males) to combat discriminatory practices. UN Women’s financial and technical support were crucial in these advocacy efforts. Further, three key policies - Mediation Procedure, Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion Policy, and Judicial Committee Procedural Law - were officially endorsed by two LGUs (Gauriganga Municipality, and Bhajani Municipality), highlighting an enhanced commitment to gender-sensitive justice processes. This was facilitated by Legal Aid and Consultancy Centre under the project on access to justice with funding and technical assistance from UN Women. Additionally, the first amendment to the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006, came into effect, addressing key citizenship issues and paving the way for previously denied citizens to obtain citizenship through UN Women’s advocacy efforts in close collaboration with key development partners and civils society organizations. Six LGUs allocated a total of NPR 13,00,000 (USD 9,848) for GWOs to conduct community awareness, showcasing increased collaboration between LGUs and GWOs. This was a result of UN Women’s support to capacity building efforts in gender-responsive justice and human rights advocacy, reflective dialogues, sharing platforms, and video-making skills. The first-ever CEDAW shadow report was submitted by the Muslim Women’s Group through the National Muslim Women Welfare Society (NMWWS), highlighting the status of Muslim women in Nepal and related key issues faced by this group and demanding accountability from duty bearers to address such issues. To facilitate this process, NMWWS received technical and financial from UN Women. Nepal's first same-sex marriage was registered at the local government, marking a milestone in marriage equality advocacy. This followed UN Women's recommendation on same-sex marriage equality and represents a significant achievement in civil rights. The federal Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen finalized and submitted Nepal’s Seventh Period Report to CEDAW in July 2023. This was achieved with continuous technical and financial support from UN Women, indicating strong collaboration and commitment to eliminating discrimination against women.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-NPL_O_1
Assuring an accountable organization through principled performance
Significant progress has been made toward this output. In 2024, UN Women Nepal accelerated the implementation of its programme which had been impacted negatively from the system transition to Quantum in the previous year. This was realised through sustained and effective use of corporate tools in finance, procurement, information communication technology (ICT), and security management systems and capacity development of staff and partners. Operational efficiency was enhanced as evidenced by the smooth functioning of the Procure to Pay cycle. The average number of working days for onboarding the procurement partners were reduced to 25 days, last year we were not able to track due to system challenges. The overall implementation rate was increased by 4 % compared to 2023, which was a result of having a full-fledged team on board from 25 in year 2023 to 36 in year 2024, the team effort to onboard responsible partners in shorter timeframes and closely monitoring the implementation through systematic use of a newly launched detailed activity-based utilization plan and discussing delivery regularly at the Core Team meetings. These were facilitated through comprehensive training and capacity building sessions conducted for UN Women Personnel on overall financial management, including several sessions on Quantum including Project and Portfolio Management, Budget management, Procurement, Travel, Supplier Maintenance, Human Resource Management, and Fraud Awareness. Additionally, UN Women Nepal was able to recover USD 35,555.00 VAT in December 2024 which is 63% of the VAT claimed till 2024, as a result of active engagement in UNCT Operations Management Team. Capacity for accurate financial reporting was significantly improved among 14 programme partners through orientations focusing on financial reporting and the correct use of FACE forms. Through regular tracking of the newly launched Programme Partner tracking tool, the average partner liquidation and payment time was reduced from an average of 35 days to 21 days. Clarity and understanding of audit processes were significantly enhanced among partners and personnel through orientation sessions, leading to unqualified audit reports for four programme partners, with one qualified. Furthermore, 28 representatives (19 women and 9 men) from 14 implementing partners reported enhanced their capacity on financial reporting, fraud awareness, and audit findings. Continuous coordination with the Regional Office and the Headquarters ensured 100% compliance with ICT standards including upgraded Polycom Video Conferencing System for improved online and hybrid communication and collaboration as reported in the InfoSec Compliance Report as of 31 Dec 2024. Full 100% compliance Business Continuity and Crisis Management was achieved as indicated by the Business Continuity and Crisis Management Application Dashboard, with timely updates and compliance of the Security Compliance Survey for all offices.Showing 1 - 5 of 9