World Bank for poverty reduction packages

The World Bank has approved two separate projects for poverty reduction through community-led and managed initiatives in Nepal.

The World Bank has approved two separate projects aimed at poverty reduction through community-led and managed initiatives in Nepal.

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A USD 25.3 million credit was approved to extend water supply and sanitation to over 8,00,000 people in rural areas of the country. A second USD 15 million grant was also approved to the Poverty Alleviation Fund, a pilot initiative created to bring increased opportunities for income generation and access to basic services and infrastructure to poor communities in rural areas.

Poverty is pervasive in the Himalayan Kingdom with about 40 per cent of the population living below the poverty line.

"While the Government of Nepal struggles to provide effective support to marginalised groups, it also recognises that some NGOs, community-based organisations and donors have implemented a number of successful programmes to reach out to the marginalised groups, through community-managed infrastructure," Ken Ohashi, the World Bank's Country Director for Nepal, said in a release.

The Second Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, worth US$25.3 million of credit, is a follow-on operation to a similar project, which was also financed primarily by the World Bank. The project aims to improve rural water supply and sanitation, and support communities to form inclusive local water supply and sanitation user groups.

The Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF), a USD 15 million grant, will finance a pilot programme that can be subsequently scaled up to assist the government in reaching poor and excluded communities.