Resident Coordinator's Preface
On behalf of the United Nations Country Team, I am pleased to share with you the first annual report of the 2008-12 United Nations Development Assistance Framework for Nepal. This is the first attempt at such a report. I am confident that it will help to raise the visibility, transparency, and accountability of the UN's efforts in Nepal.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2006 makes a very strong commitment to, not only peace, but also development. The preamble puts "democracy, peace, prosperity, progressive social and economic transformation, independence, integrity, sovereignty and prestige of the state [at] the centre-stage". It also places a great deal of importance on rights, civil and political rights, like democratic rights and freedom of speech, but also economic, social and cultural rights, like the right to health, education, food and employment. Inclusion of all layers of society is central.
The UNDAF is a result of planning of the UN Country Team and the Government of Nepal in 2007 to build the basis for its cooperation in the aftermath - and indeed the spirit - of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Aligned with the Three Year Interim Development Plan of the Government of Nepal, it provides a programming tool for a coordinated UN approach to assist the Government's development efforts in the transitional period. The UNDAF provides the main framework for UN Reform in Nepal, and is the UN's main contribution to the aid effectiveness agenda.
The framework defines four Priority Areas for the Country Team's work: a) Consolidating Peace, b) Quality Basic Services, c) Sustainable Livelihoods, and d) Human Rights, Gender Equality, and Social Inclusion. The implementation and monitoring of the UNDAF is coordinated in four Theme Groups corresponding to the four priority areas, each co-chaired by two agency heads. The chapters of this report are prepared by the theme groups in late 2008, bringing forward the highlights in programme implementation and results during the first year of the current UNDAF.