“Local bodies will have to own SDGs,” noted NPC in its report titled ‘National Report on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ released on August 02, 2017. It said a strong partnership between three tiers of government — federal, provincial and local — is extremely necessary to integrate SDGs into local-level structures.”

NPC also urged the Central government to provide sufficient funds at grass-root levels, thus enabling them to come up with various developmental programmes that meet UN-backed goals.

The Commission also pitched on the need for workshop and training sessions stating, “Consultation, workshops and trainings will be required to ensure that SDGs are incorporated in provincial and local plans. It is also equally important to ensure effective participation of women, youth and other marginalized groups in planning and implementation of SDGs at local level.”

SDGs, a follow-up on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that expired at the end of 2015, include 17 goals and 169 targets that cover a broad range of issues regarding sustainable development in Nepal. These UN-formed goals will have to be met by 2030.

Ending poverty & hunger, sustainable industrialization, inclusive & sustainable economic growth, employment and overall welfare of the public form major elements of SDGs.

Fund Crunch, a Major Challenge

According to the World Bank Council, implementation of SDGs will require at least USD 1.5 trillion a year at the global level.

It is still uncertain on how much the Nepali Government will have to invest on SDGs of Nepal, however, the government’s own financial resources were found insufficient.

“Therefore, Nepal is trying to manage financial resources from a triangular partnership, which includes the public and private sectors as well as development partners, as meeting SDGs is a shared responsibility of the national and international communities,” says the NPC report.

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The Nepal Parliament felt the heat on Wednesday, as the members debate on key government bills, such as Inter-Government Financial Management Bill, Local Governance Bill, and Bill on the Distribution of National Natural Resources and Finance Commission.

As part of the discussions, law makers from both the ruling and opposition parties found fault with the bill on distribution of natural resources and revenue among the Centre, provincial and local governments.

The bill proposes to allocate 78 percent of resources to the Centre, with just 7 percent and 15 percent to the provincial and local governments respectively.

Stating that the proposed bill will weaken local bodies, lawmaker Janak Raj Joshi said this would make the local bodies fully dependent on the Centre’s assistance.

CPN-UML lawmaker Purushottam Paudel felt that the proposed provisions in the three bills are diluting the constitutional powers granted to the local and provincial governments.

Noting that the local bodies should be independent, the Nepali Congress lawmaker Bharat Bahadur Khadka pitched for the allotment of 50 percent revenue share to the local bodies.

In response to the lawmakers’ arguments, the Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development said that these bills will give self-governing powers to the local bodies. He confirmed that certain provisions of the bills would be amended post discussions.

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