USAID is the leading U.S. Government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential. Poor governance, stagnant economic growth, high malnutrition, vulnerability to disasters and climate change, and regressive caste and gender norms hinder development in Nepal. To address these challenges, USAID partners with Nepal on three U.S. presidential development initiatives: Feed the Future, Global Climate Change and Global Health. Across all sectors, USAID focuses on strengthening gender and social equality, reducing disaster risk, and working with the Government of Nepal to improve its institutional capacity, inclusiveness and accountability.
USAID supports healthy behaviors and improved health services, particularly for mothers and young children. In over half the country, USAID increased the prevalence of young children receiving a healthy diet from 23 percent to 59 percent. USAID also developed medical innovations that reduced newborn deaths by 23 percent. As primary school enrollment is high and reading skills are low, USAID partners with the Government of Nepal to support improved reading skills for one million students in grades 1 through 3 across 16 districts.
In 2010, after signing a cooperative agreement with USAID, CRS started implementing the USAID-supported Ghar Ghar Ma Swasthya (GGMS) project, which seeks to improve the health of disadvantaged population in Nepal via improved accessibility and availability to health goods and services, especially in hard-to-reach rural areas, through use of diversified social marketing techniques and subsidized health interventions.
The German development bank, KfW , since its founding in 1948 and according to its statutory mission, has been supporting economic growth through investments in infrastructure, and equipment in Germany, Europe and throughout the world.
CRS has received KfW’s support, in conjunction with USAID/ Nepal, for its social marketing efforts since 1997. Over the past two decades, KfW has provided funding commodities, marketing support (e.g., advertising, packaging, promotional materials, community-based education), and foreign technical assistance. Through this funding, KfW has facilitated the successful launch and social marketing of CRS’s Nava Jeevan orange-flavored oral rehydration salts (ORS), Sunaulo Gulaf combined oral contraceptive pills, Econ emergency contraceptive pills and CURe STI treatment kits for male urethritis.
