USAID has announced up to $110 million support to Nepal.
At the end of his two-day visit to Nepal today, USAID administrator Dr Rajiv Shah announced up to $110 million in support for Nepal in five programmes.
He announed up to $70 million Community Resilience Programme for integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into an expansion and deepening of USAID’s food and nutrition security efforts in Nepal. “A quarter of Nepal’s population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25-per-day, and the programme will benefit an estimated five million of the most vulnerable in Nepal’s hill regions,” he said, adding that it will also support the government of Nepal’s efforts to strengthen community resilience and stimulate inclusive growth.
Likewise, he also announced five-year $20 million support to National Early Grade Reading Programme. “Under Ministry of Education leadership, USAID aims to improve the reading skills of more than one million children in grades one to three in twenty districts in the mid- and far-western regions,” he said, “USAID is now conducting the first-ever nationwide Early Grade Reading Assessment, creating a baseline against which to measure improved reading skills.
Similarly, three-year $4.1 million Business Literacy Project will operate in twenty Terai and lower hill districts in the far-western, mid-western and western regions complementing ongoing Feed the Future agriculture and nutrition activities. “The project will build the literacy, numeracy, life and business skills of an estimated 48,000 women, youth, disadvantaged groups, and ethnic minorities so that they can run small-scale enterprises, access public services, and participate in the economy,” Shah added.
The $10 million partnership between USAID, DfID and the government of Nepal will help increase access to family planning services for some of Nepal’s most excluded households, he said, adding that the programme is expected to become a model for expanding health care to hard-to-reach groups.
Similarly, the fifth programme will get $500,000 Innovative Early Warning Flooding System support. “USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance will fund an early warning system to help protect communities in the mid-and far west regions from flooding,” Shah said, adding that the project will install gauges along flood- prone rivers and share data in real time with district authorities using SMS and email. “It will help save lives and livelihoods in the event of a pending event.”
Shah also met with prime minister Sushil Koirala and other key political leaders and also addressed at the closing session of the Nepal Economic Summit 2014, where he stressed the private sector’s role in accelerating Nepal’s economic growth.
He visited sites that highlight USAID’s commitment to using innovation, science, technology, and partnerships – with Nepal, civil society, and the private sector – to deepen development impact.

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