Evaluation of Nepal WFP Country Strategic Plan 2019 - 2023

Executive Summary

Introduction

EVALUATION FEATURES

1. The country strategic plan (CSP) evaluation assessed WFP’s work in Nepal from 2019 to mid-2022 and had the dual objective of serving both accountability and learning purposes. It also considered WFP’s transitional interim CSP (T-ICSP) in relation to the development of the CSP and the transition from WFP’s previous operations in Nepal.

2. The evaluation applied a theory-based, mixed-methods approach. As well as a document review, the evaluation team conducted more than 126 interviews with WFP employees and external stakeholders, 13 focus group discussions (including in remote mountainous communities), site observations of (re)constructed assets and humanitarian staging areas and an online survey. Findings, conclusions and recommendations were discussed with internal and external stakeholders at two stakeholder workshops.

3. Immediate users of the evaluation include the WFP country office and internal and external stakeholders, including beneficiaries.

CONTEXT

1. Nepal is a mountainous country with an ethnically diverse, predominantly rural (79 percent) population of 29.1 million.

It is classified as a “medium human development” country, but a quarter of the population lives below the national poverty line. The Government of Nepal places a strong emphasis on reducing poverty and food insecurity, as defined in its 14th and 15th three-year national development plans.

1. Nepal is among the world’s most disaster-affected countries, with flooding, landslides and drought. Recent studies suggest that Nepal faces losing 2.2 percent of its annual gross domestic product by 2050 owing to climate change.

2. Employing more than 60 percent of all workers, agriculture accounts for 25.8 percent of the gross domestic product. The agriculture sector is dominated by subsistence farming, and reliance on food imports is on the rise.

3. Food insecurity in Nepal is associated with physical access constraints and natural disasters, affecting in particular women and certain ethnic and caste groups. Nepal’s score on the Global Hunger Index improved from 37.4 (“very serious”) in 2000 to 19.1 (“moderate”) in 2022,8 but challenges persist, with more than 12 percent of households having inadequate food consumption.