There are currently 46 so-called Least Developed Countries (LDCs), a United Nations designation.
They participated in a International conference in Doha, Qatarfocus on how best to support their growth and future graduation from the LDC team.
“In the 1970s, when Nepal was first included in the United Nations list of least developed countries (LDCs), my parents worked as porters of food and other goods 68 km from the road. the country’s only highway to their Arghakhanchi district.
At that time, people lived with an annual per capita income of $70 and more than 60% of the population lived in extreme poverty and hunger.
Until the 1990s, my parents could not feed us a full meal; and I still vividly remember queuing at Sarkari Khaddya Godam – the government food depot – to buy subsidized food.
Pursue development aspirations
Fifty years later, the situation in the country is very different. In 2021, Nepal is eligible to graduate in the “Least Developed Country” category when it meets for the third time threshold levels on two of three indicators: the Human Wealth Index and the Economic Vulnerability Index, which assess the exposure of a country’s health, education, and economy to natural shocks such as drought, natural disasters and instability in agricultural production.
Nepal’s achievements go far beyond meeting these official thresholds. By 2020, the poverty rate will drop to 17%, and by 2022, the level of poverty (as measured by the Global Poverty Index) has fallen from severe to moderate. Improvements in roads and infrastructure mean that the country’s rural areas are now better connected.
On gender equality and health issues, Nepal has also made significant strides, successfully achieving gender equality in school enrollment by 2019 and significantly reducing under-five mortality. age down to 28/1000.
A young girl studying hard in Nepal.
Economic, security and climate challenges
Achieving these milestones has not been easy, especially for a country that has been through a decade-long armed conflict between 1996-2006 and subsequent construction. challenging peace. In 2015, Nepal was also hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that claimed the lives of more than 9,000 people and reduced GDP growth by more than 1.5 percentage points compared to the 4.6% estimate of the country. that year.
Not long after I joined the UN in Nepal in 2010 as a development analyst, the Fourth UN Conference on LDCs was held in Istanbul, marking an important step in the long way for the country. Nepal aims to graduate from LDC.
With the goal of implementing the ‘Istanbul Agenda of Action’, Nepal has come up with its own 12th national plan to prioritize LDC graduation. Three years later, under the 15th plan, 2024 was considered the final deadline for Nepal’s graduation, this deadline was delayed to 2026 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
As an economist at the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) in Nepal, an important part of my role is helping the Government and other development partners prepare for the transition. this important change. What impact will it have on communities across the country? How can we work together to reduce any risk? These are some of the questions that have guided my work in RCO over the past three years.
In the short term, graduation has the potential to keep Nepal’s economy stable. However, in the longer term, there are many challenges including supply-side constraints of goods, inadequate structural transformation and loss of flexibility in promoting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). which we have supported the national authorities.
A rice farmer in Rupan, Nepal.
Harnessing the potential of Nepal’s ‘nascent’ businesses
Together with my colleagues from the Resident Coordinator’s Office, we provided technical support to the Government of Nepal as they developed the Smooth Transition Strategy (STS). This strategy focuses on accelerating economic transformation by attracting foreign direct investment, expanding the revenue base, accessing development finance, especially climate finance, and promoting investment. private.
Engaging with neighboring LDCs, and drawing on UN development system expertise from the national, regional and global levels, is an important part of a smooth transition.
Preparing Nepal for this transition requires broad United Nations support; that’s why the United Nations Sustainable Development Organization Cooperation framework (2023-2027) has taken the LDC classification and comprehensive economic transformation as one of the central and cross-cutting pillars to guide the activities of the entire UN system in the country.
All these efforts will help create jobs and strengthen the ability of local authorities to provide services and promote Nepal’s many micro, small and medium enterprises, which account for almost 99% of businesses in the country. . If linked to regional value chains, these MSMEs, or ‘nascent industries’, many of which are led by women, have great potential to accelerate progress towards achieving this goal. the SDGs and Nepal’s own development goals.
Outside of Doha
The UN Resident Coordinator in Nepal, Hanaa Singer, along with other government officials and development partners attended 5th UN Conference on LDCs in Doha to present the country’s success in surpassing the LDC graduation threshold.
As we near the finish line and prepare to transition away from being one of the World’s Least Developed Countries, we take on the additional responsibility of ensuring a sustainable and irreversible graduation, while at the same time working together to ensure that no parent struggles to feed their families or send their children to school as my parents and many others of my generation did.
This is a proud moment for Nepal, and a proud moment for me personally. Our graduation sends a positive message to the world that Nepal is ready for its next chapter.”
