We need to get Nepal back on its development path

Days after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal, the government launched the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund and announced that monetary contributions in support of earthquake relief efforts should be deposited to the fund. The circular was retroactive as well, which meant aid money deposited to the accounts of different relief organizations on the ground will be transferred to the disaster relief fund.

Not surprisingly, this announcement drew criticism from international aid donors and nongovernmental organizations, which feared the move was an attempt by Nepal’s ruling party to have control over aid disbursement. Worse, there was concern that the money would be diverted for political considerations.

But the government has actually been centralizing aid funds for nearly a decade now, Orla Fagan, regional public information and advocacy officer at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told Devex in Nepal. She dismissed concerns that funding might be diverted for other purposes, noting that aid has gone out in the past and it “will continue to go out.”