The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has initiated a livelihoods recovery programme to help the most vulnerable people cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In first phase of the programme, to be implemented jointly with the local governments, over 2,000 women and men — especially poor, vulnerable and most-affected daily wage earners and migrant workers — will get short-term jobs though small-scale community and tourism infrastructure projects in 11 most-affected municipalities in Sudurpaschim, Karnali, Gandaki and Bagmati provinces.

Besides a daily wage, workers will be offered the opportunity to access skills training and technology support aimed at supporting the establishment of potentially up to 600 microenterprises to generate longer term livelihood opportunities in these areas. In Gandaki, workers will be engaged to clean up trekking trails and plant trees.

The same programme will provide short-term employment opportunities through projects focusing on the rehabilitation, construction, or improvement of community infrastructure, such as irrigation canals, drinking water system, and rural roads. Up to 23 such schemes are planned, which will be implemented under the leadership of user groups from these same communities. These schemes aim to provide short-term employment to over 1,200 hardest-hit people.

These activities are part of UNDP’s socio-economic recovery response, which will be funded with $1.5 million of UNDP’s own resources. Responding to a call from the government, UNDP is also repurposing previously launched projects towards the broader COVID response in consultation with national implementing partners.

Some of the planned activities have begun in earnest. The Sadhikhola Virkuna irrigation project in Kakani Rural Municipality, Ward 6, started last week and is expected to engage up to 400 people. Similar projects have started at Palungtar Municipality in Gorkha, Melamchi Municipality and Helambu Rural Municipality in Sindhupalchowk and Jiri Municipality in Dolakha, each engaging over 300 people.

UNDP plans to expand recovery activities to other municipalities in quick succession. In parallel, UNDP is designing a dedicated programme to create another 5,000 short-term jobs for the tourism and hospitality sector workers who have lost jobs.