The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) of the Government of Nepal (GoN) has requested the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to provide technical assistance (TA) to support employment-led approaches to reducing poverty and vulnerability in Nepal. This assistance is provided through the Karnali Employment Technical Assistance (KEPTA), consortium led by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and integrated by Cardno IT Transport and Deego Pvt Ltd. The main goal of the TA is to assess whether public works programmes (PWPs) could play a significant role in a national social protection strategy. The TA programme has been designed as a three-year project divided into two phases.

In Phase 1, from September 2013 until July 2014, KEPTA developed a revised model for the effective delivery of the KEP. This model is described in detail in the Project Implementation Manual (PIM) and was implemented in four pilot projects – known as Centre of Excellence Projects (CEPs : Jumla and Kalikot). These CEPs operated under special arrangements, as the Karnali Regional Development Unit (KRDU) set aside special funding for the payment of workers and the other inputs. The CEPs were implemented in a short timeframe. Preparations started in December 2013, implementation began in March 2014 and the work was finished by July 2014. A total of 811 households participated in the CEPs in Jumla and Kalikot and worked during an average of 53 days. The community infrastructure created with this work consisted of two roads and two irrigation canals. The main process and features tested were:

• Selection of the projects based on technical and social assessments as well as the approval of the village development committee (VDC) and/or the district development committee (DCC);
• Awareness raising on CEPs;
• Community-based approach for prioritising the poor;
• Job cards for participants;
• Regular and timely payments;
• Payment based on days worked and output produced;
• Technical oversight of the project sites;
• Training of local technical teams on labour-based engineering skills; and
• Social facilities such as emergency health care, childcare, insurance and toilets, etc.

After the positive experience of the CEPs, MoFALD has incorporated most of the processes tested into the new KEP guidelines and will be rolled out by the programme in the fiscal year 2014/2015.

In Phase II KEPTA is providing four different kinds of support in Jumla and Kalikot:

• Demand Pilot Projects: After the successful experience of Phase 1, KEP and KEPTA have decided to pilot some further processes. In one VDC in each Jumla and Kalikot, KEPTA will test a demand driven approach.

  According to the current KEP operation the programme provides a supply or project driven support. This means that first the projects are selected and then beneficiaries are identified. However only those who live close to the project-sites, within the ‘area of influence’, can apply for work, implying that a large number of families are excluded from KEP participation in any one year. This project driven approach may be appropriate if the core objective is to support communities to produce assets. It is not appropriate if the objective of the programme is to develop a comprehensive approach to reducing poverty and vulnerability through employment.

  As a consequence, KEPTA will test a demand driven approach, which consists of a process which reverses the supply driven or project based approach. It starts with the demand for work and then employment is created to meet this demand. Programmes under this approach operate as a sort of social insurance or safety net that households can rely on during hardships which for many households in a region such as Karnali may persist over many years.

  These pilots will also test the creation of a District Employment Fund (DEC). The DEC consists of a matching fund through which both the GoN and KEPTA/DFID will channelize the funds for the programme.

  The demand-led pilots are fully financed by KEPTA.

• Demonstration Projects: In this mode of support, KEPTA implements the projects following the new KEP guidelines. The objective of this intervention is to demonstrate how the new processes and rules should be implemented. The costs of wages and materials of these projects are covered by KEPTA (DFID) and KEP on equal basis.The demonstration projects aim to offer up to 60 days of employment to130-150 workers.
• Advance support projects:In this mode of support, KEPTA supports only key processes of the implementation of 6 KEP projects in Jumla and Kalikot. The processes to be supported are: project selection, technical designs and estimates, selection of workers, job cards distribution, and data entry. KEPTA also supports the KEP unit by providing basic engineering equipment, jobs cards and human resources (two sub engineers and one social facilitator). The project cost iscovered by the KEP. The number of workers selected and days of work offered is constrained by the budget available.
• Other KEP Projects: KEPTA provides only basic support to the remaining KEP projects in Jumla and Kalikot. Such support is limited to equipment, job cards and training.