The Provincial and Local Governance Support Programme (PLGSP) is the national ϐlagship programme of the Government of Nepal (GoN) to build institutional, organizational and individual capacity at all levels of government, with special focus on the provincial and local levels. The ultimate goal of the Programme is to attain functional, sustainable, inclusive and accountable provincial and local governance. The Programme aims to contribute to the delivery of quality services at provincial and local levels, promote local development and enhance economic prosperity. This is the progress report for the period of 16 July 2020 - 15 July 2021.

21,480 ofϐicials and elected representatives have been trained, of which 8% are Dalit, 20 % Janajati, 9 % Madhesi and 60 % are others. The ofϐicials and elected representatives of the PLGs have enhanced their knowledge and understanding of GESI, public ϐinance management, budget planning, RIAC’s role, LISA/MTEF, IT & e-governance, monitoring and evaluation, service-entry and on-the-job training, law drafting and revision, SuTRA CD plans, RIAPs of LGs, and have applied the acquired knowledge in the planning of local development initiatives.

Good progress has been made in developing the capacity and capabilities of PLGs and in undertaking underpinning analyses and baselining. For example, GESI, Fiduciary Risk Management and controls, budgeting, procurement, CD and periodic plan preparation, MTEF, IT training and LISA have all taken good steps in the reporting period. However, given the continuing challenges of Covid-19, the rate of delivery against almost all metrics and outputs has been less than planned.

Nationally, the necessary legislation to deliver the full powers, capabilities, roles and responsibilities for each level of government as determined by the Constitution, has yet to be enacted, a situation replicated within the PLGs themselves. This, combined with the slow rate of redeployment of staff from the federal government to PLGs and high levels of turnover, has also presented the Programme (and PLGs) with signiϐicant limitations to capacity, delivery and engagement.

UNDP’s Technical Support (TA) contributed to implementing planned activities. The key focus of the TA in the reporting period was capacity building, continue backstopping and mobilization of the TA staff. Further to this, the TA support under the leadership of PLGSP greatly contributed to delivering capacity building through the PCGGs in all the provinces. The PLGSP in coordination with UNDP, enhanced capacity of PLGSP staff from all provinces through an induction orientation and a team building workshop that provided a platform for enhanced internal communication, relationship and working environment and to develop buy-in on leadership/ proactive behaviors needed to achieve the PLGSP goals. However, frequent turnover of the staff with a total 11 turnout in the reporting year remained as a challenge from TA point of view.

The expenditure (in NPR) during the reporting period is 839.70 million which is 26.19 % of the total budget planned. The expenditure is 71.02 %, 61.32 % and 17.02 % for PCU, FCGO and the province respectively. Similarly, the expenditure for the reporting period under TA is 1005135.54 (USD) for the period of 1 January- 15 July 2021, which is 60.79 % of the total budget of the same period.

Frequent interaction between NPM/NPD from MoFAGA/PCU and PPMs/PPDs/ EDs from the Provincial Governments, along with the TA staff, proved very useful in increasing the understanding of the programme objectives and driving the implementation process. Feedback received from the participants in the training conducted from PCGGs has reϐlected a need for the improvement in the subject matter of the training. PCGGs will review and improve the content to enhance its quality and relevance.