Dear colleagues,

I’m delighted to bring you the first edition of a redesigned USAID/Nepal Quarterly Newsletter, developed by our Communications team to provide you with recent information about our programs, development issues, innovations, as well as hearing from our partners and beneficiaries.  Check out the “Nepal Taking the Lead on Conservation Genetics” story, an exclusive feature by a prominent Nepali researcher and writer Kashish Das Shrestha, highlighting the internationally acclaimed Nepal Tiger Genome Project – an exceptionally effective partnership with the Center for Molecular Dynamics, Nepal.

I urge you to take the time to read “A Tool for Managing Aid in Nepal and Making it More Effective,” a first-hand account of USAID’s commitment, along with other donors, to development transparency. On June 21, the Government of Nepal’s (GoN) Ministry of Finance publicly launched the Aid Management Platform (AMP), an online tool that enables better management of foreign aid in Nepal.  This portal promotes aid transparency – a big step towards mutual accountability in the mobilization of foreign aid in Nepal – and we are very proud to be a partner in this important endeavor and feel that it holds a lot of potential. The AMP is a valuable tool for you, as the one-stop-shop for Nepal aid data. Check out the portal!

Also under the Opinion page (page 7), Dr. Ronald H. Magarick from Jhpiego offers a fascinating report on sustainable impact – one that all of us in the development community aspire to – seeing development investments pay dividends long after the project ends.

This year marks the 20^th anniversary of USAID’s partnership with the GoN, along with other donors, to combat HIV/AIDS.  We collectively continue to navigate and tackle the scourge of HIV/AIDS to Foster an AIDS-free Generation. This milestone is both an opportunity for us to further build and strengthen relations with stakeholders and to renew our pledge to remember the lives lost, celebrate the lives saved, and recognize the lives still at risk. Look out for the launch of the 20 year commemoration in early August—and with it will follow more information, facts and figures.

Find out more about the potential of mobile financial services, unleashed in Nepal with support from USAID’s Nepal Economic Agriculture Trade project, and how it’s transforming rural households. With further investments and commitment from the Nepali private sector, mobile financial services hold great promise for the future. 

Meanwhile, as Nepal gears up for the much-anticipated Constituent Assembly elections in November 2013, learn what role USAID and its development partners play in support of the elections. The Democracy and Governance portfolio updates await you on page 6.

Feel free to forward this Newsletter to anyone who might be interested. And, if you want to learn more about USAID Nepal, follow us on facebook and twitter! 

Stay tuned,

Sheila Lutjens
Acting Mission Director, USAID Nepal