‘Donor support imperative for country’s prosperity’

Kathmandu, December 6 : Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lalbabu Pandit has highlighted the need of donor support to make the country prosperous.
Addressing the 11th meeting of the National Executive Committee of Local Government and Community Development Programme (LGCPD)-II here on December 6, he said there was also collaboration with donor agencies in advancing the country in the past and so is imperative for now to propel country’s development.
Minister Pandit further said the government would address any problems facing the donor agencies while working in Nepal. “The programme would help strengthen capacity of people’s representatives of the province and local levels”, he said, adding that the programme would also be helpful in advancing the campaign of prosperous Nepal and happy Nepali.
Also speaking on the occasion, Secretary at Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the new project, Province and Local Governance Support Programme (PLGSP) to replace LGCPD would also contribute to establish smooth, sustainable, inclusive and public accountable governance system at province and local levels.
Ministry Spokesperson Suresh Adhikari said the programme would hone capacity of the province and local level governments thereby making the public service and development management effective.
Likewise, Swiss Ambassador to Nepal Elizabeth von Capeller noted that the programme would contribute much to the governance and community development of Nepal.
The government is implementing the PLGSP at province and local levels from January 2019 with support from donor agencies including Norway, European Union, United Nations Development Programme and the DFID.
Budget amounting to Rs 13 billion has been appropriated for the programme which will be executed until 15 July 2023.
It may be noted that the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP) I and II was implemented from 2008 to 2018 in collaboration between the government and donor agencies