WASHINGTON – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved two separate additional financing of $50 million each to support the implementation of the government’s flagship School Sector Development Program, and improve efficiency in the public resource management systems of Nepal’s health sector.
“Strengthening
Nepal’s school sector and building resilient health systems are critical for
human capital development, particularly for poor and vulnerable
populations,” stated Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and
Sri Lanka. “Through this
support to the Government of Nepal, we aim to mitigate learning losses and
ensure that children return to schools, and improve efficiency of spending and
fiscal space for delivering quality and accountable healthcare services.”
The Additional Financing to the School Sector Development Program will
help reduce dropouts and mitigate learning losses by supporting pro-poor
targeted scholarships, pro-science scholarships, and catch-up programs. It will
lay the foundation for the next school sector successor program in two areas –
assessment and data systems, and help create the fiscal space to fill the gap
in financing the government’s flagship program. It will also support the
implementation of federalism in Nepal by aligning the program with the federal
structure to improve efficiency and achievement of results.
“Learning losses and drop-outs are higher among children coming from
poorer socio-economic backgrounds,” stated Karthika Radhakrishnan, World Bank’s Program
Task Team Leader. “The
additional financing will support catch-up programs to mitigate learning
losses, and support children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds through
pro-poor targeted scholarships.”
The Additional Financing for Nepal Health Sector Management Reform Program
for Results will support the implementation of Nepal’s Health
Sector Strategy in the one-year extension phase and sustain the gains accrued thus
far in public resource management reforms of the health sector. It will also
provide critical financing in a resource-constrained COVID-19 environment to
build resilient health systems, and prepare Nepal to implement its next health
sector strategy.
“The
additional financing will continue to provide incentives for addressing the
bottlenecks to improving public resource management in the health sector, and
promote transparency and accountability in the system by linking payments to
results,” stated Sangeeta Carol Pinto, World Bank’s Program Task Team Leader.
The World Bank, one of the
largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, is
taking broad, fast action to help developing countries respond
to the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19. This includes $12 billion to help low- and middle-income countries
purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments, and
strengthen vaccination systems. The
financing builds on the broader World Bank Group COVID-19 response, which is helping more than
100 countries strengthen health systems, support the poorest households, and
create supportive conditions to maintain livelihoods and jobs for those hit
hardest.