Achievements Required for Year 1 and Their Status

The Terms of Reference for the JICA Expert Team stipulates that during Year 1 two achievements are specifically required. They are:

Achievement 0: Installing proper project management system

Project Offices

By the end of June 2009, GeMSIP Project Offices were set up in MoLD, DDC Syangja and DDC Morang. In addition to JICA Experts, Kathmandu office in MoLD is staffed by two Project Officers and one Administrative Officer. Syangja office and Morang office respectively have two Project Officers. These seven Nepalese staff were recruited from over 1,250 applicants through a two-month long joint selection process by the JICA Expert Team and the counterpart.

Cooperation with the counterpart

Close, day-to-day cooperation with the counterpart team is essential for this project. Since the inception, the JICA Expert Team has been extremely mindful of this requirement and tried to establish close relationships with key members of the Nepalese side both at the central and district levels. As a concrete result of this effort, the participants of the ToT held in Kathmandu in mid-June 2009 have become active core members of district-level organizations newly set up for GeMSIP (Syangja: GM/SI Coordination Committee; Morang: GeMSIP Working Group). At the central level, no such organization has been established but the JICA Expert Team has kept frequent communications and consultations with key officials.

Inception Report

As the first step of GeMSIP, its Inception Report has been drafted and finalized. The JICA Expert Team first drafted the report and presented it to the Nepalese counterpart in March 2009. They then formed a special joint technical team and revised the draft extensively. Comments on the draft were given from the counterpart agencies, JICA Nepal Office and JICA Headquarters. After the English version of the report was finalized by the technical team in May 2009, its Nepalese version was additionally requested by JICA Nepal Office. However, its translation took quite long time and was finally completed in July 2009.

Support to hold JCC and PMC meetings

The Joint Coordinating Committee and the Project Management Committee were quickly organized according to the member composition specified in the R/D. The JICA Expert Team assisted the counterpart to hold one JCC meeting (5 May 2009) and three PMC meetings (10 April, 26 April and 17 September 2009) during Year 1.

Baseline Survey

Baseline survey was carried out in April, May and June 2009. One point to be mentioned here is that JICA Expert Team members joined the survey team (from IIDS) to visit some sample VDCs and Municipality and observed the survey procedure closely. The reason for this special arrangement was for team members to utilize the opportunity to know for themselves the real conditions of the target districts. Results of the direct observations have formed a concrete basis for deliberating on the future direction of GeMSIP.

Specifying PDM indicators

The PDM( Project Design Matrix) originally designed in December 2008 (version 1) leaves a number of indicators unspecified. It was intended that this PDM would be completed using the results of baseline survey. However, as it turned out, some indicators are themselves not so appropriate considering Nepal’s reality and GeMSIP’s scope of work. The JICA Expert Team is preparing a draft proposal for revising the PDM based on the consideration above.

Public relations and awareness raising

The JICA Expert Team proposed a special, additional work to be carried out throughout the project period: public relations and awareness raising. This proposal is based on a belief that GM/SI can never be promoted without changing the mindset of the general public. Though such a task is out of the scope of work specified for it, the JICA Expert Team nonetheless wants to endeavor towards that end. Several concrete ideas for that purpose were elaborated in the proposal. However, experts’ assignment schedule turned out extremely tight due to extra work load necessitated to establish the solid ground for the project. As a result, this special work could not be initiated during Year 1. It will be left for Year 2 and beyond.

Achievement 1: Enhancement of GM/SI understanding of personnel concerned at central and district levels

This requirement is made up of three main components: Training of Trainers (ToT), GM/SI Basic Training, and development of GM/SI Basic Training Modules. As noted earlier, the participants of the ToT have already shown commitment and eagerness to work for GeMSIP, an indication that the training has achieved its objective. Their greater roles and accomplishments in carrying out their duties in subsequent years are highly expected.