The United Nations Development Programme has partnered with a Chinese non-governmental organisation for the first time to implement a Chinese-funded programme in Nepal.

The UNDP and the China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD) Nepal on Friday jointly unveiled the partnership to implement the new project—Support for Schools and Communities in Remote Areas for Pandemic Prevention and Green Recovery in Nepal.

The programme will get funding from the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund Project, established under China’s Global Development Initiative (GDI) Programme in September 2021.

Kamal Raj Sigdel, head of communications at the UNDP, said it is the first-ever partnership between the UNDP with the Chinese NGO in Nepal.

The programme to be implemented in the Madhesh province will provide assistance to improve the quality of education, to prevent diseases like Covid and other similar infections in children, and provide educational kits. The programme will be implemented in 2023, according to the CFRD.

Earlier, in August, the UNDP and the Chinese government had launched a new initiative in Nepal to help seven hospitals to improve their healthcare waste management system so as to better handle the Covid pandemic. UNDP implemented the programme through local partners. But the UNDP has now selected the Chinese NGO in Nepal to implement the new programme.

“Maybe, the UNDP was selected as a partner considering the ease in communicating with China,” said Zou Zhiqiang, head of the Nepal office of the CFRD, told the Post. “It is the first-ever partnership between the UNDP and any Chinese NGO in Nepal.”

She said that the UNDP would receive around $1.5 million to implement the programme while the CFRD would make certain additional contributions.

Along with the rise of China, it has been increasing its financial support to the United Nations. China, the world's second-largest economy, is also the second-largest contributor to the United Nations after the US, according to a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2018.

Besides contributing to the UN, China has also been launching a number of international assistance programmes in recent years. China announced the GDI at the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September last year.

According to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, out of the 50 projects that are listed as first-batch projects in the GDI projects pool, two projects have been selected for Nepal.

The first one is the ‘Nepal Smiling Children Project’ which is being implemented by the CFRD. Under this programme, the CFRD has been distributing food packages to the children of poor families in Dolakha, Mahottari, Saptari and Kathmandu. Since 2022, it has also been conducting meal programme in 31 different schools in three districts including Dang, Kathmandu and Lalitpur targeting more than 6000 students.

Support to Schools and Communities in Remote Areas for Pandemic Prevention and Green Recovery is the second programme being implemented by the UNDP in partnership with CFRD.

The CFRD is one of three Chinese NGOs affiliated to the Social Welfare Council. This NGO’s name was changed from China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, which was registered in Nepal in 2015 to support Nepal after the 2015 earthquakes.“After China announced the eradication of extreme poverty in 2021, the name of the NGO was changed,” said Zou.