Summary
Nepal is the poorest country in South East Asia and the fifteenth poorest country in the world. It is regarded as a fragile state, having suffered 10 years of conflict prior to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2006. We examined the Department for International Development's (DFID) programme in Nepal in the context of the policy shift announced in its 2009 White Paper of focusing more of its resources on fragile and conflict-affected states.
Nepal managed to make progress on a number of poverty indicators despite the deaths, displacement, and disruption to services which occurred during the years of conflict. However, poverty and inequality remain acute in Nepal. One in three people lives in poverty and half of all children are malnourished. The mountainous terrain compounds the difficulty in gaining access to essential services such as health, education and livelihood support. Inequalities based on ethnicity, caste and religion exacerbate exclusion and poverty.