The COVID-19 Food Relief Program in Nepal: Assessment and Lessons for the Future

By Asian Development Bank

This report assesses relief programs established by Nepal during its 2020 COVID-19 lockdown to mitigate food insecurity among vulnerable groups, analyzes their effectiveness, and recommends ways to make them more responsive and resilient. Outlining how Nepal strategically engaged the private sector, it explains the process of selecting eligible households, the challenges of food distribution, and shows how the program addressed issues such as gender and inclusion. It makes a series of recommendations including strengthening local capacity, harnessing data to identify vulnerable groups, and implementing disaster response mechanisms to help Nepal better manage future crises.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Aug 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9789292702465

Book preview

THE COVID-19 FOOD RELIEF PROGRAM IN NEPAL

ASSESSMENT AND LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE

Balkrishna Sharma, Binod Pant, Raju Laudari, Lila Raj Dhakal, Kamal Pande, Manbar S. Khadka and Rudi Van Dael

JULY 2023

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2023 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2023.

ISBN 978-92-9270-245-8 (print); 978-92-9270-246-5 (electronic); 978-92-9270-247-2 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. TCS230266-2

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS230266-2

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Contents

Tables/ Figures/Boxes

Foreword

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that surged in late 2019 has a profound impact on the world community, including Nepal. The imposition of a strict nationwide lockdown in Nepal for nearly 4 months in fiscal year 2020 crippled economic activities. The poor and vulnerable sections of society were badly affected. To mitigate the adverse effects of this pandemic, the Government of Nepal introduced the National Relief Program (NRP) on 29 March 2020. This program focused on three key areas: (i) tackling health emergencies, (ii) addressing social protection for the poor and vulnerable by providing immediate food relief and employment Support and (iii) providing economic relief measures. The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration MOFAGA played a vital role during the crisis by issuing timely instructions and guidelines to the local levels to streamline measures that had to be taken up, including unconditional food support to identified communities.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided budgetary support to the Government of Nepal to partly finance activities outlined under the NRP. ADB also provided technical assistance to support the Ministry of Finance and