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Nepal

Contacts

James Grall

regional director
jgrall@pactworld.org

Pact began working in Nepal in 1988 and has played a critical role in improving literacy, citizen engagement and the economic and social status of women and other marginalized groups in the country.

Nepal is the birthplace of Pact’s award-winning WORTH program, which brings women together in groups of 20 to 25 to learn how to save money and start small businesses. They use the savings to make loans to fellow members, and with credit and interest earnings, they grow their businesses and launch new ones. WORTH groups also receive literacy, numeracy and technical training, such as agricultural best practices. Since the program’s inception in 1999, hundreds of thousands of Nepalese women have taken part.

Members look on as an outgoing officer welcomes a new one at the start of a WORTH banking cycle.

Pact's work has also empowered communities in Nepal to achieve inclusive and effective local development. Today, our Social Accountability in the Health Sector, or SAHS, project is improving citizen engagement and accountability in the country's health sector. SAHS collaborates with civil society groups, national policy actors and government health institutions to understand challenges and barriers.

Stories and Highlights

Turning the informal into the new normal: Social accountability in a federalizing Nepal

July 30, 2021
Over the last decade, Nepalis embarked on a historic transition that aims to alter the fundamental structures of government. As many remain hopeful for more responsive governance in the new federal...
The Kiev skyline in Ukraine, where Pact and its partners have worked for nearly a decade to build democracy and government accountability. (Photo: Brian Clark/Pact)

‘We’re Still Open:’ Balancing government transparency and accountability with effective crisis response

July 2, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought new meaning to the phrase "all politics is local." Though the virus does not discriminate, affecting 188 countries as of writing, its severity can depend on how...

The Sajhedari Bikaas project: Partnership for Local Development

May 31, 2018
A look at USAID's Sajhedari Bikaas project, which is implemented by Pact. This project is strengthening the relationship between citizens and local governments and improving transparency,...

In Nepal, learning from mistakes means lasting roads, less environmental impact

November 2, 2017
Through a Pact-U.S. Forest Service partnership, Nepali engineers gain critical skills for building sustainable roads in unforgiving conditions.

Rebuilding Stronger: Putting Communities in Charge after Nepal’s Earthquakes

August 31, 2017
In 2012, Pact began implementing USAID’s Sajhedari Bikaas project in six southern districts of Nepal. The six-year effort is helping rural communities better direct their own, inclusive development,...

For Nepal’s pint-sized citizens, new kids’ taps deliver hydration, hygiene & fun

June 29, 2017
Kids are short, right? And they need water, just like grown-ups. So why are most water taps in Nepal built far above children’s reach?

After earthquakes in Nepal, rebuilding better

June 19, 2017
With a unique model that puts post-disaster communities in charge of their own recovery, Nepalis are building much more than water systems.

With vocational training, a beautiful new future in Nepal

January 31, 2017
Subhadra Rokka always wanted to open her own beauty shop. After joining a Pact-supported youth group, she did.

In rural Nepal, Pact is using integrated development to break poverty's grip

September 29, 2016
The Sajhedari Bikaas project is solving longstanding development challenges in one of the poorest parts of the world by combining interventions that tackle governance problems, economic insecurity,...

Sustainable development: Twenty years after their start, Pact’s first WORTH groups remain

July 14, 2016
Two decades after its founding, in a testament to the WORTH model’s sustainability, the Jyoti WORTH group in rural Nepal is still together, even though it’s been years since Pact’s assistance ended.