Where Does $1 Billion in Official Development Assistance Go in Nepal?

On April 16, the Nepal Ministry of Finance (MoF) formally launched its second-annual Development Cooperation Report (DCR) for fiscal year 2012. The DCR, which aggregates and analyzes information from the Nepal Aid Management Platform (AMP), dissects and displays for the public how $US 1 billion in development assistance – representing 26% of the national budget – was used in Nepal over the past year.

The report illustrates which donors gave the most (World Bank), how much funding each district receives (Lamjung gets the most), aid by sector (education is first), and how much aid is given on-budget vs. off-budget (77% vs. 23%). Data are presented in various graphs, visuals, and maps to help readers digest the facts. The DCR should satisfy many of the demands for aid information requests from other government ministries, media, academia, donors, and the general public. The MoF will also launch a public AMP portal in May 2013 which will make all AMP data publicly available via the MoF website.

Media in Kathmandu quickly highlighted and commented upon the most salient points from the DCR – see relevant articles here and here. We expect many more such articles in coming months.

Development Gateway commends the MoF on an excellent report and is pleased to see AMP data and tools used for high-exposure information sharing. DG staff attended the launch and was asked by the Minister of Finance to “share this DCR with the world.” We gladly tout the DCR here as a strong example of how aid information should be used to enhance accountability and incentivize effectiveness.