On 4th June, the World Bank’s Board of Directors discussed the new two-year country interim assistance strategy for Nepal. The new plan aims to address key elements of the peace process, including the foundations for state building, growth and improved basic service delivery for Nepal’s poor. It includes a clear commitment to improve the sensitivity of Bank-supported projects to the root causes of the conflict and the social tensions in the country.
At the start of this year, following a report on the Bank’s engagement in fragile and conflict-affected countries, International Alert was asked by the Bank to help with the development of a tool, the ‘peace filter’, aimed at operationalising conflict sensitivity in its programmes in Nepal.
The ‘filter’ consists of a set of questions that sectoral staff and the country management team are asked to consider during project design and implementation. The questions aim to prompt teams to identify and respond to key conflict and political economy issues which not only will affect the outcomes of their projects but also could arise as a result of the project activities.
Throughout February and March, Alert worked alongside the Bank’s social development experts and conflict specialists in Kathmandu both to integrate global expertise into the tool and also to adapt it to the immediate dynamics in the country. Road and agriculture projects were the first to be analysed, but the work has now been extended to the education and power sectors.
Alert will continue to assist these efforts in Nepal and is also beginning to engage in Sri Lanka where the Bank has made similar commitments to the conflict sensitivity of its activities.
Find out more:
http://go.worldbank.org/P2A9HQJQR0 [4] for the press release on the Bank’s new strategy for Nepal
http://go.worldbank.org/S1K73FF2O0 [5] for the Bank’s commitments in Sri Lanka