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The International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction 2015 with the slogan,‘Towards a Resilient Nepal’ was held yesterday with a huge gathering of foreign government representatives and donor agencies in order to raise money and hopes for Nepal’s reconstruction.

The conference was planned to fulfill 4 major objectives:

• Appraise friendly countries and development partners of the socio-economic situation in Nepal in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and share international best practices and experiences on institutional arrangements
• Disseminate the findings of the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA)
• Update government's policies and institutional mechanism for post-earthquake reconstruction and new construction
• Seek technical and financial support for reconstruction and express solidarity of all friends and partners

Honourable Prime Minister Sushil Koirala in his speech informed that a fully empowered agency will lead the reconstruction effort. Affirming Nepal’s commitment to good governance practices amidst wide skepticism of misutilisation of the fund, he stated, “This agency will be efficient and fully transparent and will keep all stakeholders regularly informed of progress.”

Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat, the architect of this conference emphasised on the need of strengthened governance for economic reform as he opined, “We are absolutely clear that Nepal is not going to graduate out of under-development because of foreign aid alone. At best, this can be a catalyst. The ordinary process of development has to be pursued on the strength of economic reforms initiated and facilitated by the government to mobilise huge amounts of private capital, creativity, and entrepreneurship. It needs for an enabling climate for private sector investment in world class infrastructure and production.”

Through the conference, 4.4 billion USD was raised which was almost 66 per cent of the country’s total recovery and reconstruction needs of $6.7 billion.

PDNA as a ‘DNA’ of needs

Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) served as a DNA – exploring the needs of disaster effect and the extent of resources required for rebuilding Nepal. This assessment was carried out by National Planning Commission with various sector specific experts and PDNA Core Partners – ADB, European Union, JICA, United Nations and World Bank Group.

According to the assessment, the earthquake will end up pushing an additional 2.5 to 3.5 percent Nepalis into poverty in 2015-16 which translates into at least 700,000 additional poor. Similarly, the Annual economic growth in FY 2014-2015 is expected to be the lowest in eight years, at 3 percent (basic prices). The earthquakes suppressed an earlier projection of 4.6 percent by over 1.5 points.

The assessment displays that the disaster has had a humongous effect with 7065 million USD worth of losses and damages. Social Sectors (housing and human settlements; health, education, cultural heritage) seem to be mostly affected with 58% effect followed by 25% effect in the Productive Sectors (agriculture, irrigation, commerce, industry, tourism, finance).

In terms of estimated needs for reconstruction, 6695 million USD is required among which 61% should be spent in the social sectors.

Statements of Support

John Kerry, US Secretary of State, in a press statement stated how US government and citizens expressed their support to support the earthquake affected. He told that U.S. businesses have pledged over $20 million in cash and in-kind contributions in support of relief and recovery efforts in Nepal.  U.S. NGOs have provided assistance worth more than $150 million. For further rebuilding plans, he revealed that US government will help rebuild seismically stable houses; construct temporary learning centres; strengthen agricultural systems; protect against human trafficking; and build foundations for effective disaster response in the future. India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj pledged US$ one billon, one fourth of which would be provided as a grant and the remaining would be given as a concessional loan. She said, “We expect that these amounts will significantly help the quickest possible recovery and reconstruction efforts of the Government and people of Nepal.” President of Asian Development Bank, Takehiko Nakao in his speech focused on 5 principles of reconstruction: Building Back Better, Inclusiveness, Robust Institutional Setup, Capacity and Governance and Donor Coordination and Government Ownership.

Reactions to ICNR and collected fund

Skepticism surrounds ICNR and its collected fund as responses flew in in social media sites, especially Twitter – mostly describing how ineffective the conference could be as most of the commitments were just in the form of pledges to add to the question marks on government’s capacity to mobilise funds effectively. Some of the interesting remarks made by individuals on Twitter are:

• Billions of dollars pledged at ICNR 2015 for Nepal's reconstruction. Emergency grant of 15000 hasn't reached hundreds of thousands
• We have become such helpless that even when we invite donors with red carpets, offer all sorts of hospitality and even then the donors put forward their terms and conditions, so this conference doesn't do any good for us
• Success of ICNR 2015 depends upon our competence, efficiency, honesty and level of negotiation. Let's critically support government's endeavor
• The fund flow is great. I think the need here is more of ability to manage the collected fund.

Media Reactions

Media outlets in Nepal have also reacted to the conference. The Kathmandu Post writes, “International development agencies have also failed to convince Nepalis that a significant portion of their money reaches the affected populations, the intended beneficiaries. Now the focus should be on rebuilding both infrastructure and people’s lives.” Similarly, The Rising Nepal writes, “The government has already constituted a powerful authority under Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. Now it should not delay to move the task of reconstruction and rehabilitation in a planned way.”

Another Haiti misery in the making?

Emily Troutman strongly argues that Nepal – given its current context, would repeat the Haiti misery as she says, “Five years after the earthquake in Haiti, the international community has rebuilt only 9 per cent of the houses that were destroyed. It will happen in Nepal too, and it is happening now.” She predicts that humanitarian projects in Nepal will have anywhere from 10% to 50%administrative costs, plus the administrative costs of the subcontractors. Many projects list multiple subcontractors. She backs this prediction by providing an evidence of an INGO’s cost for the “Temporary Learning Centers,” which are actually just tents, to be $76,174. The INGO plans to erect 26 tents at an estimated cost of $2929 for each. According to Troutman, this amount could build a permanent classroom, but the plan is for tents instead.

Build Back Better

Despite the skepticisms, predictions and arguments about the fundraising initiative becoming a failure, the National Planning Commission through the PDNA report has highlighted upon short term as well as mid and long-term goals as strategies for Nepal’s reconstruction.

Short Term Priorities

• reconstruction of damaged DRR assets and improvements on BBB principle;

• measures to improve preparedness, response, relief and logistics systems;

• measures to strengthen information and communication capacities for relief, response and recovery; and

• measures to enhance multi-hazard risk monitoring, vulnerability assessment, risk information dissemination and awareness

Long Term Priorities

• improvements in legal and institutional arrangements;

• measures to mainstream DRR into the developmental sector, particularly housing, private and public infrastructure, social sectors (health and education), and livelihood; and measures to improve integration of climate change adaption and DRR

It is in our best of interests to build a strong mechanism to implement these priorities in the interest of Nepal’s development.