Overview/Background

Nepal has made commitments in the Constitution of 2015, as well as by ratifying international human rights agreements such as to Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child and supporting the adoption of ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202).  The fundamental rights established by the Constitution of Nepal includes rights to social security, food, health care, employment as well as rights of vulnerable population groups such as women, children, people living with disability and elders. Article 51 of the Constitution further reaffirms these fundamental rights under state policies saying that the State has responsibility to ensure easy, convenient and equal access of all citizens to quality health services including health insurance. Nepal has introduced various legislation and adopted a number of policy reforms in the area of social protection, however, significant gaps in the ability and capacity of current structures to deliver an effective and inclusive social protection system for all remain.

Enhancing Social Protection System and Synergy with Public Finance Management (SP&PFM) Project will support the Government of Nepal in improving social protection policies; financing strategies; coordination mechanism; and implementation and monitoring systems in order to increase coverage to the excluded, including persons with disabilities, informal sector workers and people living in disaster prone areas. Key project outcomes include:

i.    Policy consolidation: Support the development of a common vision with objectives and functions of the social protection system clearly defined in the context of national goals and plans including a national-level coordination mechanism with sub-national institutions and appropriate financing strategies.
ii.    Institutional strengthening: Support the establishment of innovative modalities and building the institutional capacity for the planning, budgeting and coordination of social protection; support in improving the inter-sectoral alignment, policy coherence and the delivery of quality social protection programmes to make them efficient and inclusive for beneficiaries.
iii.   Knowledge building: Support targeted research and evaluation on the effectiveness of social protection programmes for robust evidence base.
iv.    Public Finance Management: Build on the identified fiscal space and the expenditure analysis work of the World Bank to cost key social protection programmes as well as provide technical assistance to the Provinces on financing of social protection measures.                                 

The programme key stakeholders include responsible government ministries; government’s implementing agencies, workers’ and employers’ organizations, civil society organizations (CSOs).  The project is to be completed in May 2023.

For further information, please contact:

Mr Andre F. Bongestab                                           Ms Suravi Bhandary
Project Officer                                                           National Project Coordinator
Email:                                                                        Email: