World Bank approves $60 million to strengthen higher education

 The World Bank’s Board of executive directors today approved $60 million to improve the quality of Nepal’s higher education, scale up online learning, and expand access to academic institutions for underprivileged and vulnerable students.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of building back better (BBB) and prioritising human capital development,” World Bank country director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka Faris Hadad-Zervos said, adding that improving access to quality higher education and helping students acquire the skills that are in demand in the labour market will contribute to Nepal’s Covid-19 recovery and strengthen its resilience.

The Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Program builds on Nepal’s previous successful higher education projects supported through results-based financing. It will help the government of Nepal align its higher education sector with labor market needs, boost collaborative research and entrepreneurship, improve governance, and access to quality higher education, especially for disadvantaged students, a press note issued by the World Bank, reads. "The Covid-19 pandemic has created strong incentives to expand online platforms and blended learning, which the programme will help scale up across Nepal’s universities."

"A key priority of the programme is to promote the inclusion of disadvantaged students, including those facing economic hardship due to Covid-19,”  World Bank’s Programme Task team leader Mohan Aryal said, adding that the programme will expand targeted scholarships to help disadvantaged students pursue labor market-driven academic programmes and support equity grants to higher education institutions in needy and disaster-affected areas in Nepal."

The World Bank, one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, is taking broad, fast action to help developing countries respond to the health, social and economic impacts of Covid-19. It includes $12 billion to help low- and middle-income countries purchase and distribute Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments, and strengthen vaccination systems. The financing builds on the broader World Bank Group Covid-19 response, which is helping more than 100 countries strengthen health systems, support the poorest households, and create supportive conditions to maintain livelihoods and jobs for those hit hardest.

Sharing of experiences and lessons learned on BBB recovery

National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) claimed that past efforts by the government to expedite the reconstruction process have been yielding results.
Presentating his past works, during a seminar 'Sharing of Experiences and Lessons Learned on BBB Recovery' – jointly organised today by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and NRA – to commemorate the fourth year of the Gorkha Earthquake, chief executive officer of NRA Sushil Gyewali also highlighted the progress and achievements in reconstruction and recovery based on the principle of Build Back Better (BBB) in the last four years. 
Presentating his paper before some 200 participants from the government, development partners, civil society, academia and media today, he also claimed that 80 per cent progress has been made so far in reconstruction of private houses. "Out of the 7,553 schools that needs to be rebuilt 85 per cent progress has been achieved and 66 per cent progress achieved so far in reconstruction of health facilities," he added, though the overall progress – of the devastating earthquake of 2015 April 25 – stands at around 32 per cent as almost all of the cultural and heritage sites have not yet been under construction, even after the four years.
On the occasion, senior representative of JICA Nepal Dr Kozo Nagami explained how the core principle of ‘Build Back Better’ has been integrated into the wide array of reconstruction and recovery support provided by Japan. 
This year’s seminar was enriched by the invaluable contributions by two distinguished speakers from Japan including deputy mayor of Higashimatsushima City Shu Oyama, who shared experiences and lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake, which hit the northern part of Japan in March 2011. He shared the city’s efforts in developing its recovery plan and highlighted the importance of ensuring bottom-up, participatory process by involving residents in every step of recovery.
Likewise, Prof Satoru Nishikawa from the Disaster Mitigation Research Center of the Nagoya University, on the occasion, explained Japan’s long historyof coping with natural disasters, and shared how Japan reduced its vulnerability to disasters by investing in disaster risk reduction over the years.
Concluding the seminar, chief representative of JICA Nepal Yumiko Asakuma reaffirmed JICA’s continuous support for rebuilding lives, economies and institutions affected by the earthquake. This year marks the 50 years (1969-2019) of Japanese cooperation in Nepal and commemorating this occasion Asakuma further assured to strengthen JICA’s partnership and cooperation with Nepal.