1 Approach Paper Nepal Country Program Evaluation World Bank Group Support to Nepal, Fiscal Years 2014–23 November 30, 2023 1. Evaluation Purpose and Audience 1.1 This Country Program Evaluation (CPE) will assess the performance of the World Bank Group’s support to Nepal in achieving its development objectives between 2014 and 2023. The evaluation will focus on the Bank Group’s support to Nepal as it tackled its long-term development challenges while undertaking political and institutional reforms relating to the shift to federalism and responding to multiple shocks and disasters. The evaluation covers the period from fiscal year (FY)14 to FY23. This period spans the last two country strategies—the FY14–18 Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) and the FY19–23 Country Partnership Framework (CPF). The CPE will assess the adaptive relevance and coherence of the Bank Group–supported program by examining how the Bank Group has adapted its support over time in response to changing conditions and priorities. This will include an examination of the Bank Group’s response to the 2015 earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic. The evaluation will assess the Bank Group’s work in three important thematic areas—resilience to natural disasters, federalism, and jobs and private sector development—in greater depth. 1.2 The evaluation seeks to identify lessons to inform future Bank Group engagement in support of Nepal’s development priorities, including the next CPF, which is due for completion in 2024. The evaluation’s findings and lessons may also be relevant to other countries emerging from conflict or facing other similar development constraints. The audience for the evaluation includes the Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors, Bank Group staff and management working with Nepal, and the government of Nepal. The evaluation may also interest a broader set of stakeholders, including international development partners, local and international civil society, the private sector, research organizations, and citizens. 2. Background and Country Context 2.1 Nepal’s development is tied to its geography. Nepal is a lower-middle-income country with a population of 30 million that is landlocked between China and India (map 2.1). Nepal’s gross national income per capita of US$1,220 in 2021 places it behind all other countries in South Asia except for Afghanistan. GDP growth over the past decade has been driven by remittances from labor migration and has averaged approximately 4 percent, which is low both for the region and against structural comparators. Although rich in certain natural endowments, Nepal’s topography limits connectivity, constrains Public Disclosure AuthorizedPublic Disclosure AuthorizedPublic Disclosure AuthorizedPublic Disclosure Authorized 2 service delivery, and makes the country highly vulnerable to climate and disaster risks, including floods and l...
