The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown people’s lives out of gear everywhere. In Nepal, the pandemic has had even more serious impact on the lives of vulnerable populations. Particularly the marginalized—migrants, informal workers including women, socially excluded and disadvantaged communities—are among the most affected ones. The Government of Nepal called on all the actors to focus on early economic recovery, while responding to the humanitarian needs. In response, UN Agencies have repurposed their existing programmes to contribute to the various efforts of the government in addressing the humanitarian and economic needs of the most affected.

In addition to individual agency’s interventions, under the leadership of UN Resident Coordinator, four UN Agencies – United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Organization of Migration (IOM and International Labor Organization (ILO) have launched a joint project to help the most vulnerable people recover their livelihoods.

Funded under the COVID-19 Multi Partner Trust Fund, the one million dollar project, “Immediate UN Response for coherent safeguarding the livelihoods of people made most vulnerable by COVID-19 in Nepal” complements the government’s early recovery efforts.

Under the project, UNDP is leading a component that includes skills trainings, enterprise support and short-term employment in two of the selected Provinces: Sudurpaschim and Karnali. District Micro Enterprise Group Associations (DMEGA) in four districts of Kailali, Kanchanpur of Sudurpaschim and Surkhet and Dailekh of Karnali province have started their work in selected 17 wards in coordination with the municipalities and resource and market survey has been completed in all four districts. This will ultimately support in the selection of the most vulnerable people for training opportunities and short term jobs. So far, over 400 people has been be engaged in enterprise development training. The trainings were conducted by Enterprise Development Facilitators.

As part of the same project, UNDP and the Nepal Tourism Board have launched joint initiative to create short-term employment for wageworkers, porters, and guides who have lost their job due to COVID-19 in Province 1, 2 and Gandaki.

COVID-19 MPTF is a UN inter-agency finance mechanism launched by the UN Secretary-General to support low- and middle- income programme countries in overcoming the health and development crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fund’s assistance targets those most vulnerable to economic hardship and social disruption.