Accelerating Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals in Nepal (AISN)

Summary

Accelerating Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals in Nepal (AISN) project has been implemented with the objective of supporting the Government of Nepal in achieving the SDGs in accordance with the targets set in the 15^th Plan by creating enabling environment and capacity building through accelerated implementation. This will attempt to address critical development challenges of the country by mitigating SDG financing gaps and reconciling socio-economic development with environment management.

The project aims to support Nepal in achieving the SDGs and the targets of 15th Plan by creating enabling environment and capacity development through accelerated implementation. The project has two outcomes:

1) Planning, budgeting, monitoring & reporting systems at all levels of government are SDG responsive and functional; and

2) Resilient and innovative financing available for SDG implementation.

Background

The Government of Nepal has adopted various policies and programs to accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals in Nepal and had put in place the institutional and financial arrangements. The National Planning Commission (NPC) is the principal agency for SDG monitoring and has taken a number of initiatives towards attaining the SDGs by engaging relevant stakeholders in this process. Nepal is one of the first country to take stock of its status on the proposed Sustainable Development Goals in 2016, followed by preparing SDGs status and roadmap 2016-2030 and SDGs Needs Assessment, Costing and Financing Strategy. The implementation started with incorporating SDGs in the 14^th Plan (2016/2017 – 2018/2019) and now mainstreaming SDGs in the 15^th Plan (2019/20-2023/24) which is guided by the overarching national aspiration of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’. The Long-Term Vision 2043 is also built on the goals, targets and milestones of the Agenda 2030.  Nepal has already introduced SDG budget coding in the national budget system to monitor public expenditure aligned with the SDGs achievements. The national Medium-Term Expenditure framework is SDG responsive. The SDG localization at sub-national levels is also advancing to accelerate achievement of the SDGs in a comprehensive and holistic manner overcoming the challenges of resource mo­bilization, data management, coordination and monitoring & evaluation. COVID-19 has added additional challenges in this localization process.

What have we accomplished so far?

AISN Project has been supporting NPC in producing milestone documents including supporting to mainstream the SDGs in the national development process. Below are key documents produced so far/in the pipeline.

• Publication of Nepal Human Development Report 2020
• Publication of SDGs Progress Assessment Report 2016-2019
• Publication of SDGs Localization Source Book 2020
• Development of Financing Requirement Framework of the 15^th Plan
• National Review of SDGs (Voluntary Report) to present to the High-Level Political Forum
• Study on the Socio-economic Impact of COVID-19 in Nepal

Expected Outcome of the project

• Planning, budgeting and M&E systems at federal level fully aligned with the SDGs,
• SDGs aligned planning, budgeting and M &E systems in place at provinces and local levels,
• The intergovernmental fiscal transfer mechanism incentivizes provincial and local governments to integrate the SDGs,
• Cooperatives and public enterprises increased investment for SDG implementation
• Private sector resources and innovative financing including global and vertical funds are mobilized to mitigate SDG financing gap and
• COVID-19 financing and economic recovery plan/ strategy developed.

Documents

  Project Document

  Factsheet