USAID/OTI Nepal Program Fact Sheet
January 2009
After eleven years of armed insurgency, a window of opportunity for peace and reconciliation opened in Nepal with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Government of Nepal and the Maoists in November 2006. A new interim constitution came into force and an interim parliament was formed that included the Maoists. Since this time, Constituent Assembly (CA) elections were successfully held on April 10, 2008 and have radically changed the political environment and power structure of the country. The Maoists unexpectedly won more seats than any other party but did not secure a simple majority. The historically strong parties, Nepali Congress and CPN-United Marxist Leninist (UML), suffered unexpected defeats, and the new Madhesi parties won significant representation. At the first sitting of the CA on May 28, Nepal was declared a republic state, and the status of then-King Gyanendra was reduced from a royal to a general Nepali citizen. The CA is now tasked with drafting Nepal's new constitution while also addressing significant social and political issues.
USAID/OTI Nepal Program
In August 2006, the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) began a two-year, $15,000,000 program to support a peaceful, democratic transition in Nepal. In close coordination with other USAID programs, OTI seeks to positively support the political situation as it evolves and recently extended the program for a third year with an additional $10,000,000. The program has the following objectives:
- To increase access to information and diversify public debate on issues critical to political transition, and;
- To increase local-level engagement and participation in the peace process.
OTI's flexibility and fast-response capabilities uniquely enable the program to implement a wide variety of activities, such as supporting social inclusion in the post-election environment, strengthening the media, facilitating community stabilization in the volatile Terai, and providing information to diversify public debate on the political transition process. To date, the program has approved 254 small-grant activities totaling more than $9 million. In FY 2008, the program received $500,000 in 1207 transfer authority funding to augment program objectives.
Program Activities
OTI has supported efforts to increase awareness of the CPA and the CA through local-level initiatives and wide-reaching radio and television PSAs and talk shows targeting different groups of Nepali society. Following the seating of the CA, OTI has been working with the CA Secretariat to improve the media and outreach functions of the CA, allowing networks to access live feed of the proceedings. OTI has also supported a resource center for CA representatives.
Following the CA elections, OTI supported the Secretariat of the Legislative Parliament to establish and maintain a media resource center for journalists, a press conference hall, and an internal broadcasting system to display the CA proceedings. To stabilize and normalize key areas outside of the Kathmandu Valley, especially in the Terai, OTI has been mobilizing youth to participate positively in the development of their communities through small-scale infrastructures activities. Media strengthening also remains an important area for OTI.
For further information, please contact:
Brigitte Hoyer, OTI/AME, 202-712-5212, bhoyer@usaid.gov.
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