I recently went to the USAID Nepal’s Resilience Summit. The event was held at the Hotel Yak and Yeti in Kathmandu on Wednesday, 3rd of September between 10AM – 12PM. During the summit the US Ambassador Peter Bodde announced three new programmes with up to $70 million in funds that will help communities more quickly recover from natural disasters and other stressors.
The three USAID Resilience Projects are:
An up to $70 million Community Resilience Program integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into USAID’s food and nutrition security efforts in Nepal. A quarter of Nepal’s population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day, and this program will benefit an estimated 5 million of the most vulnerable in Nepal’s hill regions.
A $500,000 Innovative Early Warning Flooding System: USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance will fund an early warning system to help protect communities in the Eastern region from flooding. The project will install gauges along flood-prone rivers and share real-time data with district authorities using SMS and email. This will help save lives in the event of flood.
A $100,000 Science and Technology Competition for Resilience – a call for bold and innovative solutions to “building sustainable food security” in Nepal. The Competition opens on September 4, and will be open to individuals, non-profits, academic institutions, and the private sector, with a focus on districts primarily in the Eastern regions of the country. More information will be released soon.
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