Kathmandu: The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Nepal mission has said that it is here in Nepal to support Nepal and Nepalis. Addressing a program organized in the capital on Thursday to share its activities with a group of media persons, the USAID/ Nepal’s Acting Mission Director Beth Hogan said USAID’s key goal is to support Nepal and Nepalis. “We are to support Nepalis, to determine local solutions to solve local problems,” said Beth Hogan.
USAID is implementing various programs with its 659-million-dollar budget, all of it grant, for the year 2022-2027 in Nepal.
In 2023, USAID reached more than one million Nepali women directly providing them better opportunities for health, education and economic growth and an additional five million Nepali women indirectly with various interventions such as mass media campaigns, the USAID officials shared.
Since 2000, USAID has provided more than $1.5 billion (196 billion Nepali rupees) in support of Nepal’s development in health, education, infrastructure, agriculture, economic growth, women and girls’ empowerment, disaster assistance, governance environment, civil society and media and business development.
Bishwas Rana, Development Program Specialist at Democracy, Rights and Governance Office at USAID/Nepal said USAID has been providing support worth 12 million dollars every year in the sector of democracy and good governance. “We provided 14.2 million people with voter and civic education,” he said.
Raj Kumar Dulal, Education Specialist at USAID/Nepal said that USAID helps build capacity of schools and education improvement for 18000 community schools across the country. Post Covid-19 the USAID constructed 29 schools, he shared.
Jaganath Sharma, Senior Adviser at Health Office, shared that USAID spends between 50 to 60 million dollars in Nepal’s health sector in a year which focuses on quality care, access to health care among others.
Considered as Nepal’s oldest development partner, USAID is credited for eliminating malaria from Tarai, supporting education and agriculture, increasing literacy rates, reducing child mortality, polio eradication among others.
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