Despite the change of governance structure and role of civil society following the elections of local level, what has not changed is the close partnership between local level and INGOs and NGOs to carry out development activities.

In a day long interaction, this is what the mayor, chairman, vice chairman and ward chair representing various local levels expressed in front of stakeholders. Although INGOs and NGOs have been working with a small amount of budget, their contribution to uproot evil from the society is immense.

“Although we have our own resources, they are not enough to social sector. In the last two years WVIN has been working with us supporting the social sector, particularly to end child marriage and in campaign against Chaupadi,” said the Mayor of Dipayal Municipality. “We are ready to work in collaboration with INGOs like WVIN.”

World Vision International Nepal, a global development and relief international non-governmental organization working for the well-being of children in Nepal for more than 15 years, organized a national-level symposium in Kathmandu to showcase best practices and achievements in the areas of strengthening systems, service delivery, innovation and solutions to improve the lives of the most vulnerable children and families in rural and semi-urban communities of Nepal.

At the function attended by representative children, community, government, donors, civil society, media and partner organizations, member secretary of Social Welfare Council and joint Secretary of Ministry of Women Children and Elderly Rajendra Poudel also hailed the role played by WVIN.

“There are spaces for the organizations like WVIN and NGOs in Nepal in social sector. However, the project needs to be integrated with the annual plans and programs of local level. WVIN has shown a way how to make a successful collaboration between elected local level and civil society organizations.”

A marketplace set up to demonstrate effectiveness of WVIN’s programs highlighted the organization’s work in the areas of health, education, protection, agriculture and economic development, youth development and disaster management. The event also showcased the best practices of the organization’s five-year campaign to reduce child marriage in Nepal, launched by President Bidya Devi Bhandari in August 2017.

This campaign supports the Nepal Government initiatives to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially targeting SDG 5.3 and has helped prevent 44 child marriages in communities to date since it was first launched.

Speaking at the event, National Director of World Vision in Nepal, Janes Ginting said, “This event, a first of its kind for World Vision in Nepal, is being organized not just to showcase our achievements but also to be accountable to the stakeholders in the country who have been partnering with us to help achieve the results we have shared.

In 2018, in partnership with partner NGOs; federal, provincial and local governments; civil society; the private sector; donors; academia; and inter-faith networks, WVIN reached out to more than 494,000 women, men, girls and boys with long term development programs across 12 districts in seven provinces across Nepal. Besides, our work has also been contributing to Government of Nepal’s social and economic development priorities and SDGs, as outlined in our annual report.”