Park Chong-suk, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Nepal, and Shreekrishna Nepal, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the project “Empowering Rural Communities in Nepal through an Integrated Approach to Health and Income Growth.

According to a press release issued by KOICA, the total budget of the project is US$ 4.7 million and it will for the period of five years.

The Record of Discussion (RoD) for the project was signed between The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) and The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on 24th of July, 2020.

The main goal of this project is to improve the living standard of community people through enhanced access to outreach centers, participatory health and rural development programs, and income generation opportunities. The project has set 3 outputs i.e. increased income, improved health and increased community capacity of communities of project areas.

In the partnership with the Dhulikhel Hospital - Kathmandu University Hospital (DH-KUH) the project will be implemented in its outreach centers namely; Manekharka and Hindi in Sindhupalchowk District, Salambu in Kavre District and Puttar in Tanahun District . Similarly, a consortium of Korea Institute for Development Strategy (KDS) and Yonsei University has been selected as the Project Management Consultancy (PMC) during September 2020.

KOICA plans to start the construction of 2 outreach centers in Hindi and Puttar within 2021 and targets to complete by 2023, provide medical equipment in 2 outreach centers once the construction is complete, and implement various activities related to income generation opportunities in 3 project areas i.e. Puttar, Hindi and Manikharka through improved farming methods and infrastructure.

In close coordination with KOICA and DH, the PMC will mainly be responsible for conducting agricultural programs as integrated rural community development and in performing health improvement activities including capacity building of health workers in response to infectious disease such as COVID-19 in project sites.

KOICA has continued its development assistance to Nepal mainly in health, education and rural development sectors based on the need and priorities of the Government of Nepal.