The devastating 2015 earthquake has severely hindered Nepal’s economic recovery and growth. Major economic sectors have been severely impacted, undermining development gains achieved over the last five years.

Critical challenges remain for Nepal to pursue a broad based economic growth strategy to reduce poverty and improve overall human development due to a number of factors, including inadequately planned urbanization, environmental and climate risks, poor land, labor and capital productivities, and inadequate and poor infrastructure.

The Government of Nepal (GoN) has a number of policies and plans focused to achieve green growth including the periodic three year National Development Plan, Low Carbon Economic Development Strategy, the LDC graduating strategy, and the NDC and the Socio-economic Development Strategy (SEDS). Implementation of these policies and plans will require institutional strengthening, an improved regulatory environment, implementation capacity, and financing at all levels, particularly at the sub-national level where poverty is concentrated.

Over 2016, GGGI focused on aligning Nepal’s policy frameworks, strengthening green growth related institutions, and assessing the potential of green growth across sectors. The priority sectors for this project will be determined by the end of 2016 following the completion of the GGPA and the CPF. GGGI will continue to build on these results over 2017-18 to develop an implementation plan for Nepal’s NDC and will focus on priority sectors at both national and sub-national (municipal) levels. GGGI is also providing technical assistance in the drafting and finalizing of SEDS, which is under preparation by NPC, and in delivering capacity development activities to central and local level government officials relevant to NDC implementation.

PROJECT OUTPUTS FOR 2017-18:

• Develop sectoral NDC implementation plan(s) and submit to government
• Develop recommendations on financing options for sectoral NDC implementation plan(s) and submit to government
• Develop project proposals to implement NDC commitments for 3 municipalities and submit to government
• Deliver 2 knowledge sharing events to build capacity for NDC implementation in priority sector(s)

PROJECT OUTCOMES FOR 2017-18:

• Government adopts sectoral NDC implementation plans for financing and implementation
• Government approves project proposals to implement NDC commitments in 3 municipalities

GGGI will support central government in sectoral NDC implementation, identifying financing options for NDC implementation, and commencing the implementation of the NDC at the local level with municipal agencies. This will be done by delivering the following outputs:

Sectoral NDC implementation plans developed and submitted to government. The GoN is currently drafting a macrolevel implementation plan. GGGI will assist the GoN in the development of sectoral implementation plan(s) through undertaking the following actions: (1) situation analysis of policies and regulation in priority sectors; (2) identifying best practices for policy and regulatory development in priority sectors based on the result of GGPA tool; and (3) recommending policy and regulatory recommendations for priority sector(s). Subsequently, GGGI will identify and prioritize projects linked to NDC in priority sector(s) in consultation with stakeholders and develop a project pipeline.

Recommendations on financing options for sectoral NDC implementation plans developed and submitted to the GoN. GGGI will conduct a financing assessment of the implementation of priority sector projects. The MoPE, the agency responsible for NDC implementation, has yet to identify financing modalities. Therefore, GGGI will collaborate with the MoF and potential financiers to identify and prioritize possible financial instruments for NDC implementation in the priority sector(s) and municipalities.

Project proposals to implement NDC commitments for three municipalities developed and submitted to the GoN. MoFALD has been implementing the Environmental Friendly Local Governance Framework (EFLGF). The EFLGF is a crucial component of the NDC as the GoN intends to implement the NDC at the local level using this framework. GoN recently increased the number of municipalities, which are currently not under the EFLGF program, which will be completed in 2017. The GoN therefore requires assistance from GGGI on implementing the NDC in new municipalities. GGGI will conduct consultations for the selection of three municipalities, and a vulnerability and impact assessment in the selected municipalities, in order to inform the development of three project proposals for the municipalities identified.

Two knowledge sharing events to build capacity for NDC implementation in priority sectors delivered. GGGI will develop and deliver customized capacity development activities and utilize the experiences of external stakeholders, including policymakers from partner countries. This will necessitate a situational analysis of policies and regulations relevant for NDC implementation, and government stakeholder consultations to identify critical needs and delivery through south-south knowledge sharing activities.