UNOPS’ South
Asia Operational Hub provides technical, operational and administrative support
to 5 countries: Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. UNOPS’ work
in this region focuses on the construction and operation of high quality
sustainable infrastructure and sustainable procurement, project management, timely
provision of services, and the use of most relevant technologies. Such projects
provide social and economic benefits to vulnerable populations across the
country, and contribute to poverty eradication. This includes construction of
schools, hospitals, water networks, urban sewerage and drainage facilities,
harbors and anchorages, waste management facilities, climate change mitigation,
as well as a range of “soft” support in Capacity Building, operations and
maintenance of public assets, local governance, etc.
About the DFID funded Integrated Programme for
Strengthening Security and Justice in Nepal (IP-SSJ)
The Department for International Development
(DFID) through its Operational Plan is committed to support Nepal in its
efforts to ensure communities can live in safety and security. Nepal’s own
commitments in this area are particularly enhanced by the National Human Rights
Action Plan (2011-2014), and, of special interest to the UK, the National Plan
of Action Against Gender-Based Violence.
DFID’s proposed IP aims to improve security and
access to justice for poor and traditionally excluded people, especially women
and girls. It has been designed on the basis of extensive analysis that is set
out in the DFID ‘Security and Justice for the Poor’ (SJ4P) Business Case.
The IP is a major initiative
coordinated by a Board convened by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) of the
Government of Nepal (GoN) that aims to ensure inter-related initiatives are
mutually reinforcing, notably on the Government and UK priority of tackling
Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
The overall programme approach involves
interlocking elements of:
1)
Community-level
awareness-raising about laws and services, and the facilitation of dialogue
with state institutions;
2)
Modernized
and context-specific facilities and equipment for better public service
delivery by state institutions; and
3)
Improved
institutional systems of resource utilization, performance management and
oversight.
The overall programme will be holistic across
hard (facilities and equipment – F&E) and soft (capacity and skills
development, police-public partnerships, community awareness-raising and social
development etc.) elements. Institutional beneficiaries (Nepal Police and
targeted state/non state organizations) will be able to better service
communities who will have a greater access to, and awareness of, the services
proposed. Long term results will center on the security and access to justice
experienced, and perceived, by the poor and traditionally excluded, through
improved delivery of service to the communities, increased level of awareness
of services offered and thereby improved access. Disaster resilience and
climate change considerations will also be cross-cutting priorities across the
project investments.
About the Modernization and Improvement of
Policing Project
Under this programme, UNOPS is to implement
support to the component: Modernization and Improvement of Policing Project
(MIPP). The MIPP is primarily focused on the Nepal Police (NP), but will likely
also encompass some related security and justice services in the targeted districts[1].The MIPP will modernize, tailor and help
sustain high quality service delivery through improved infrastructures and
systems of resource utilization, performance management and oversight. The
elements would be to:
i)
Identify
and priorities F&E required for improved public service delivery for access
to justice in approximately 25 districts determined by GoN in collaboration
with DFID;
ii)
Procure
building refurbishment, civil works, specialized and non-specialized equipment
and supplies;
iii)
Procure
forensic equipment for the central laboratory;
iv)
Implement
the construction, O&M plans;
v)
Provide
technical advisory services related to performance management, improvement and
oversight.
The project will be implemented over a 4 year
period, through three operational segments, in up to 25-28 districts. It is
envisaged that, in the latter part of the project, implementation will be
handed over to the GoN with UNOPS taking on a technical advisory role.
Segment
1 of the project will begin with an assessment process of facilities and
equipment to ensure optimal targeting and tailoring, as well as the elaboration
of work on police performance management systems (such as Monitoring and
Evaluation). It will then proceed with F&E procurement and implementation,
as well as the delivery of the O&M and performance-related assistance.
Segment 1 will target a set of priority districts, testing approaches before
further coverage and actions are agreed between DFID and UNOPS, with the
guidance of the Programme Board convened by GoN and the MIPP partners.
[1]The primary focus will be units of the Nepal Police,
but complementary work would deliver public-facing improvements to
justice-related services provided by Chief District Officer (CDO) and Women and
Children Development Offices (WCDOs) and, conceivably prisons.