A United States government funded democracy support programme allocated up to 20 million dollars to strengthen Nepal’s electoral system, parliament and political parties during the country’s post Constitution federal transition, according to official cooperative agreement papers, annual reports and work plans related to the program.
The Himalayan country will go to vote on 5 March in the first election post Generation Z uprising that led to the fall of the KP Sharma Oli led elected government.
The programme had a total ceiling of 20 million US dollars, approximately Rs 2.9 billion in local currency at current exchange rates, and ran from July 2017 to early 2023, covering roughly five and a half years including extensions.
The documents further show that the initiative was subject to structured oversight and approval authority embedded within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Washington based implementing partners, with formal provisions granting the U.S. side substantial involvement in work plan approvals, monitoring frameworks and key personnel decisions.
The funding was issued on 24 July 2017 by the USAID to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) under Cooperative Agreement with an implementation window running until 22 July 2022. The award established a total ceiling of 20 million dollars to support a programme titled “Niti Sambad, Policy Dialogue,” focused explicitly on Nepal’s political transition and party system reform.
The cooperative agreement defines two central objectives. The first was to support Nepal’s political transition in order to institutionalize a more inclusive, effective and democratic political governance system. The second was to ensure that political parties function more inclusively and transparently and become more accountable to their constituents on national policy issues.
The agreement goes beyond funding language. It explicitly provides for USAID substantial involvement in programme administration. USAID retained authority to approve annual work plans, approve Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plans, approve specified key personnel and exercise oversight over certain sub awards. The MELP (Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan) framework required alignment with USAID performance indicators, mandatory demographic disaggregation by caste, ethnicity, age and sex and submission of datasets to the USAID Development Data Library. The recipient was also required to submit a conflict sensitive programming analysis incorporating do no harm principles within 30 days of award.
Budget documents show that the funds were distributed across three Washington based implementing partners, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, operating under the CEPPS umbrella.
Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening is a U.S.-based consortium that implements democracy, elections and political governance assistance programs funded primarily by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The agreement details negotiated indirect cost rates, overhead formulas and cost application bases for each organization, reflecting a structured financial architecture rather than ad hoc grant disbursement.
Separate budget notes for later extensions show a layered administrative apparatus supporting the programme from Washington and the field.
The documentation lists roles including Senior Advisor for Digital Democracy, Evidence and Learning Practice Specialist, Senior Program Manager for South Asia, Program Officers, Program Associates and Program Services Staff including procurement administrators, accountants and technology staff.
Human resources functions were budgeted for recruitment and onboarding of field staff, while finance managers oversaw compliance and reporting.
Allocations were made for Cooperating Country National severance payments and health insurance under Nepali labour law. The structure indicates centralised programme management with distributed field implementation.
Annual reports show substantial engagement with the Election Commission of Nepal. In Fiscal Year 2019, CEPPS through IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems), is a U.S.-based non-profit organization that provides technical assistance on elections and electoral governance worldwide, developed and integrated three software systems for the Commission, including a Campaign Finance Monitoring System, an Electoral Dispute Resolution Case Management System and a Political Party Registration and Annual Financial Disclosure system. The programme also supported voter education campaigns, legal drafting processes and technical assistance related to elections and electoral administration.
The initiative extended into parliamentary strengthening. CEPPS through IRI conducted a comprehensive assessment of the Federal Parliament Secretariat, consulting parliamentarians and staff and presenting recommendations to improve research capacity and legislative functioning.
A national public opinion survey covering all seven provinces and involving 3,000 respondents was completed to inform programming with parliament and political parties. The programme established a Policy Research Framework to support federal and provincial policy analysis and stakeholder engagement.
CEPPS through NDI implemented committee training, legislative drafting support and pre budget consultations with parliamentarians, submitting recommendations to the Ministry of Finance, some of which were incorporated into the annual budget according to programme reporting.
The Women Mentorship Program brought together 100 women leaders from seven political parties and launched a national advocacy campaign on economic empowerment. Youth and marginalized group forums developed policy briefs addressing caste based discrimination and youth employment.
The Year III Annual Work Plan covering October 2019 to September 2020 outlined continued collaboration with the Election Commission of Nepal, the Federal Parliament Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s Office, the National Reconstruction Authority and multiple ministries, alongside civil society organizations and political parties. The plan included electoral reform initiatives, civic education integration and institutional capacity building at federal and provincial levels.
Implementation continued through extensions beyond the original end date. A no cost extension covered August 2022 to February 2023 with a budget total of 1 million dollars. A 5.5 month extension modification extended performance to 15 January 2023 and adjusted the ceiling for that phase to 2,175,356 dollars.
The records collectively depict a multi year, multi million dollar U.S. funded initiative operating during Nepal’s constitutional restructuring phase. The programme combined electoral system engineering, parliamentary capacity development, political party reform, data driven policy research and civic education under a framework that retained formal oversight authority within USAID and Washington based implementing partners.
The documents characterize the initiative as support for inclusive governance and institutional strengthening. The financial scale, supervisory mechanisms and embedded monitoring requirements indicate sustained and structured American engagement in the development and institutional shaping of Nepal’s democratic systems from 2017 through early 2023.
