Nepal makes progress in Human Capital Development

 Nepal has made some progress, though the Covid-19 pandemic threatens hard-won gains in health and education over the past decade, especially in the poorest countries, a new World Bank Group analysis finds. Investments in human capital – the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives – are key to unlocking a child’s potential and to improving economic growth in every country.

The World Bank Group’s 2020 Human Capital Index reveals that pre-pandemic, most countries have made steady progress in building human capital of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.

In Nepal, a child born today will be 50 per cent as productive when she grows up as she would be if she enjoyed complete education and full health. This is higher than the average for South Asia region and higher than average for countries with similar level of income. This is largely due to an improvement in school enrollment and institutionalising the measurement of student learning, reads the analysis.

“Investment in human capital is just as important as investment in infrastructure, if not more, and brings returns in the form of a healthier and more productive workforce in the long run,” World Bank country director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka Faris Hadad-Zervos said, adding that there is a need for an accelerated push to focus on investing in human capital in the recovery and rebuilding phases after the pandemic. “This requires close collaborations among all three levels of the government in order to bring about large and sustainable changes.”

Due to the pandemic's impact, most children – more than 1 billion – have been out of school and could lose, on average, half a year of schooling, translating into considerable monetary losses in the future. Data also reveals significant disruptions to essential health services for women and children, with many children missing out on crucial vaccinations. The economic impact of the pandemic has been particularly deep for women and for the most disadvantaged families, leaving many vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty.

The 2020 Human Capital Index includes health and education data up to March 2020 for 174 countries covering 98 per cent of the world’s population, providing a pre-pandemic baseline on the health and education status of children.

Today, hard-won human capital gains in many countries are at risk. But countries can do more than just work to recover the lost ground, it reads, adding that to protect and extend earlier human capital gains, countries need to expand health service coverage and quality among marginalized communities, boost learning outcomes together with school enrollments, and support vulnerable families with social protection measures adapted to the scale of the Covid-19 crisis.

In Nepal, it is essential to invest more in the early years, with a focus on those children who have been left behind. This includes safeguarding access to nutritious, safe and affordable diets and providing opportunities for learning and stimulation especially for the poorest and most-affected households, the analysis reads. “Given the current high cost of medical care, resources can be refocused towards ensuring universal access to quality essential primary, emergency and referral health services.”

The World Bank Group is working closely with governments to develop long-term solutions to protect and invest in people during and after the pandemic. In Nepal, it is supporting the development of school safety and hygiene protocols while working with WASH teams to provide basic sanitization and hygiene supplies. The multilateral development partner is also helping strengthen government systems and expand coverage of social security allowances and civil registration to support vulnerable communities. The bank is also supporting the government to strengthen health systems and security and improve the health financing landscape of the country.

Shaping agile governance

The Global Shapers Community Kathmandu Hub today – hosting their third Shape Talk event – discussed Agile Governance, especially in the context of emerging businesses.
With some 130 participants, the moderator Princi Koirala, on the occasion, started the session with a question, ‘what is agile?’
Agile, while a term used in technology, is unused in other businesses. “We are in an era where the father knows best, the entrepreneur knows best, doesn't work anymore,” the founder and managing director of Safal Partners Ashutosh Tiwari said, on his definition of ‘agile’, said that it's better to think ‘I know a little bit’, now let the system teach me. “What I would like to propose is regulation for public welfare,” Tiwari said, asking a question, “has a company added to the public welfare of the society? Pathao, Tootle, Foodmandu for example?”
Likewise, founder of Karkhana – an education company encouraging hands on learning – Sakar Pudasaini, on the occasion, said that agile means shorter and shorter sessions of planning. “When building software, there's a lot of deviation outside the plan, so developers thought how about we plan for even shorter sessions,” he said, adding that this is ‘agile’ across different industry.
Starting your own business requires capital, a fact that is very important and must not be undermined, said Tiwari, who also recommended that people not quit their jobs unless they had tested their ideas.
As the recent advances in technology have the potential to fundamentally redefine modern life by giving rise to new business models and industries, the panel discussed both challenges and opportunities for emerging businesses.
“I think finding alternatives in local products like jute, could not only help the environment but also reduce the trade deficit that we have,” said chief executive of Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI) Shilshila Acharya, said in the context of starting new businesses. “However, startups aren’t easy and may require a lot of sleepless nights and turmoil,” he shared his experience with Karkhana.
“The number one reason that companies fail in Nepal is because of working capital management,” said investment director of Dolma Impact Fund Shabda Gyawali. “Cash conversion is slow in Nepal.”
The panel ended with a question on what steps the government could take immediately. Panelists agreed that the government could better implement policies in place instead of creating more policies, many that can be conflicting. “I would like the government to increase the trust between the private sector and the government,” said Gyawali.

DopperChangemaker challenge to award student-led project

One of the most pressing problems in the modern world is that of water and plastic Pollution. About 2.7 tonnes of plastic waste is produced in Nepal everyday out of which 80 per cent ends up in landfills, causing irreversible damage by polluting our soil and water bodies. Innovative solution like Dopper is going to address the problem by awarding the ones working to make change.
Dopper – a social enterprise from the Netherlands – introduced the DopperChangemaker Challenge 2019 in Nepal to support students implement their thesis or graduation project on two major environmental issues: water and, or plastic pollution. The international competition helps kick-start the careers of graduates, with a funding support ranging from cash prize of Rs 200,000 to the first place winner and the title DopperChangemaker 2019. Additionally, Rs 125,000 to the second and third place winners and Rs 75000 each to the rest of the winners in top 10 will be rewarded, it said.
Dopper joined their forces with Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI) – a youth driven Nepali Non-Profit Organisation – is committed to building Social Inclusion and Climate Resilience. HCI envisions putting Nepal on a sustainable development trajectory.
DopperChangemakerChallenge can be an excellent launchpad for young people to transform their innovative project idea in to an actual implementable solution or a social business if they desire. Applications opened from 19 February 2019 and would be accepted till 12 April 2019. This international challenge is simultaneously organised for hundreds of students across Netherlands, London, Berlin and Kathmandu. Dopper founder Merijn Everaarts says, “We believe that the solutions of the young minds of today can surprise us the most. With this challenge we want to give them the opportunity to actually make a positive change.”

CG, Nimbus pledge to help start-ups

Chaudhary Group (CG) and Nimbus Group will help the start-ups with capital and other support.
Talking at ‘Finance Your Dreams’ – an interaction with some 450 young entrepreneurs organised by Himalyan Climate Initiative (HCI) – in Kathmandu today, CG Corp managing director Nirvana Chaudhary and Nimbus managing director Anand Bagaria pledged their personal and corporate commitments to help incubate start-ups in Nepal.
They also announced their personal and corporate commitments to help incubate start-ups in the country to boost entrepreneurship.
Speaking at the event, Chaudhary said the Chaudhary Group is always committed to supporting young start-ups with an information technology bent. "We are making a huge chunk of money available for young entrepreneurs and companies,” he said, adding that young entrepreneurs often find it difficult to access finance. "As entrepreneurs ourselves, we feel committed to make entrepreneurs in the society,” he added.
Chaudhary also suggested youths to develop a package of passion, energy, innovation and execution plans before starting any new ventures.
Likewise, Bagaria said core business start-ups come from entrepreneurs and then get supported by investors. "However, sometimes ideas also came from investors and will be picked up by young entrepreneurial talents."
Stressing on the need to develop incubation hubs in the country, Bagaria informed that such hubs would help create an environment where entrepreneurial ideas are exchanged and brought to fruition. “Nimbus is always positive to support start-ups of Nepali youths and develop entrepreneurship in the country,” he added.
A founder of HCI Prashant Singh, on the occasion, said that 500,000 new jobs should be created in the country each year to stop talented youths travelling to foreign countries in the search of work. "One entrepreneur can create three to five jobs,” he said, adding that only entrepreneurship would help in the development of a country’s economy.
He also said the aim of the event was to collect entrepreneurial ideas. "The ideas generated at the event would be further shaped at HCI Incubation Hubs and those which were ready for investment would be presented to potential investors for consideration.
HCI is a not-for-profit organisation that runs 'Social Innovation and Business Incubation Hubs' in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj.

Nepal fares better in Habitat Commitment Index

Nepal has fared marginally better in the recently released Habitat Commitment Index (HCI), which tracks every country's performance record as against the commitments made during Habitat II in Istanbaul in 1996.
Nepal has improved by 1.94 points in the last two decades, according to the HCI that creates an index, which tracks the progress made in six broad categories of the Habitat II agenda including Infrastructure, Poverty, Employment, Sustainability, Institutional Capacity, and Gender. Nepal has scored 69.22 points in HCI scale in 2016 compared to 67.28 in 1996.
Habitat III also revealed that Nepal has fared better than India as India has slipped marginally by 0.41 points on the HCI scale. The South Asian average stands at 1.26, it said, adding that Nepal and Pakistan are the only two countries – among the 8 countries – in South Asia – that have fared better.
The UN member states will agree on the New Urban Agenda at Habitat III, scheduled to be held in Quito in October this year. "In the run-up to the event, the review of each country's score on the previous urban agenda was released by the New York based Global Urban Futures Project," it added.
Instead of comparing absolute outcomes between countries of varying levels of economic development, the outcomes are adjusted for resource difference, as measured by per capita gross domestic product (GDP).
In the absence of any monitoring mechanism or binding commitment, the overall global HCI score has increased by only 1.49 points, the report further stated, adding, “Despite the Habitat Agenda's 241 paragraphs containing over 600 recommendations, there has been little meaningful change in urban conditions since Habitat II."
From a global average of 69.68 in 1996 it has now gone up to current average score of 71.17, which means that global performance is at around 70 per cent of what could have been possible given the level of resources available. "Of all the six indicators, the worst performance is on the sustainability index where the global average performance is not even at half of what it should be."
Among the drivers of the changes – or lack thereof – in the HCI scores, the greatest change was in the Gender dimension, it reads, adding that the average gender HCI score increased by 8.62 points in the period between Habitat II and the present, rising to a global average of 76.82, one of the highest among the HCI categories. "This rise was due in part to phenomenal increase in the Female Tertiary Enrollment indicator, which rose by an HCI score of 22.13 points, by far the largest positive change among the indicators."
The report also states that minimal progress was made in the Infrastructure dimension (+1.78), while Poverty (+5.69) and Sustainability (+3.63) improved modestly in the last 2 decades. Only two dimensions saw declines in overall average HCI scores; Employment and Institutional Capacity.
While decline in the Employment dimension was negligible (-0.56), Institutional Capacity had the most extreme change among the dimensions, with the global average HCI score for Institutional Capacity falling by 11.26 points, from 74.8 in 1996 to 63.5, and accounting in large part for the overall lack of HCI progress, since the decline was large enough to offset gains made across the other categories.
The two components of the Institutional Capacity dimension, the International Country Risk Guide's Quality of Government index and the World Bank's Government Effectiveness index, declined by 18.09 and 6.52, respectively.
However, the two Institutional Capacity measurements do not take into account levels of participation, democracy, or freedom, but rather are based on surveys sent to firms and NGOs to assess perceptions of governments' abilities to provide public services.