Recent years have seen a growing number of commitments to strengthening aid effectiveness and tackling state fragility, with increasing recognition of the importance of taking the local context in conflict-affected countries into account. Despite these hard-won positive developments, there continue to be substantial internal and external challenges confronting international institutions as they seek to translate these commitments into national strategies and programming.
In Nepal, foreign aid accounted for approximately 19% of the total national budget in 2009-10. This proportion is expected to increase to approximately 25% in 2010-11. Over half of foreign aid is channelled through multinationals such as the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and United Nations. These institutions play an important role in Nepal’s development. It is therefore essential that they play this role in a way that also supports sustainable peace and does not exacerbate tensions.
Through its International Institutions Programme, International Alert in Nepal seeks to support international institutions to:
- Explore in depth the challenges to aid effectiveness in the transitional context;
- Identify practices that facilitate the production of greater peace dividends across programming;
- Promote the sharing of learning within and between international institutions and the wider community of stakeholders operating in Nepal and other conflict-affected contexts.