Attached herewith is the Aide Memoire  of 2nd National Executive Committee Meeting of PLGSP held at MOFAGA on June 10 2020.

Attached herewith is the Aide Memoire  of 1st National Executive Committee Meeting of PLGSP held at MOFAGA on 29 Nov 2019.

Over the past decade, the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP 2008-2016) has been the only nationwide programme on local governance. It was designed for rebuilding the trust between the citizens and the state at a time when the country had emerged from a period of conflict and there was no elected leadership, sense of accountability in citizen orientated service delivery at a local level. The LGCDP was meant to prepare the ground for institutionalized elected local governments that have become a reality under the new constitution. Four achievements of the LGCDP have been generally acknowledged:

(1) Massive social mobilization for engagement, empowerment and participation in local governance, particularly of the marginalized and disadvantaged groups and communities. This has been achieved through the Ward Citizen Forum (WCF) and Citizen Awareness Centres (CACs) which is also known as the “silent revolution” through social mobilization;

(2) Attention to local needs and the promotion of inclusive service delivery;

(3) Capacity building at a local level (planning, implementation, monitoring and downward accountability);

and (4) Expansion of the space for devolution.

The fact that an estimated 30-40 percent of the elected members in the local elections have benefitted from training and awareness raising under the LGCDP is a testimony of the credits generated by the programme. Given that under the new constitution administrative boundaries have changed – whilst formal structures have taken over from the erstwhile project structures – the main transferable asset of the LGCDP is the ‘human capital’ that it has created, and people need to see how this human capital can be made to work in the new set up. However, an analysis of GESI mainstreaming in LGCDP –II undertaken in May 20171 points out that GESI is limited to “representation of women and DAGs” without substantive participation. The need for explicit mainstreaming is obvious.

The promulgation of the new federal constitution also necessitated structural changes in the LGCDP and a faster transition to a new programme known as the “Provincial and Local Governance Support Programme” with an aim to support the newly elected provincial and local governments according to their needs and the spirit of federal transition and devolution.

A transitional bridging programme known as the ‘Transition to Sub-national Governance Programme’ was implemented in FY 2017 during the bridging period when elections to the new levels were taking place and aimed to assist with a smooth transition towards the federal structure and the preparatory and immediate capacity building needs. The enactment of legislation such as the Local Government Operations Act, 2017; the InterGovernmental Fiscal Management Act, 2017; the National Natural Resource and Fiscal Commission Act, 2017 and the Staff Adjustment Act, 2017 together with deliberations by the federal parliament and the government on various Bills to legislate federalized sector governance and optimize the federal structures to reach their greatest potential is a further testimony to the fact that the government is busy in ensuring the quick and smooth transition to the federal system of governance as envisaged in the constitution.

A new programme with objectives of policy support, institution building and capacity building at the provincial and local levels of government in new strategic ways which respect to the principles of devolution and local/provincial autonomy caters to them in accordance with their needs and with their ownership and aims to harmonize the IG relationships in the true spirit of cooperative federalism. This is a highly needed framework programme in the area of federal governance for Nepal.

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.