RVWRMP Completion Report: A Story of Successful Development Cooperation

The Rural Village Water Resources Management Project (RVWRMP) was a bilateral Project supported by the Government of Nepal (GoN) and Government of Finland (GoF). It was implemented over three phases: Phase I from 2006-2010, Phase II from 2010 to 2016 and the concluding Phase III from 2016 to 2022. During Phase III, the European Union joined as a financier. The Project was aligned to the policies of the Government of Nepal and the activities were geared towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

RVWRMP could be summarised as working with water to achieve comprehensive rural development. The Purpose of the Project was to achieve universal access to basic WASH services, and improved livelihoods with establishment of functional planning and implementation frameworks for all water users and livelihoods promotion in the Project area. The interventions were grouped under four result areas:

1. Institutionalised community capacity to construct and maintain community managed water supply and adopt appropriate technologies and sanitation and hygiene behaviour

2. Improved and sustainable nutrition, food security and sustainable income at community level through water resources-based livelihoods development

3. Increased resilience to disasters and climate change as well as promotion of climate change mitigation and adaptation

4. GoN institutional capacity to continue integrated water resources planning and support communities in implementing and maintaining WASH and livelihood activities

RVWRMP III achieved excellent results in several sectors. It supported local governments, institutions and communities in planning, funding, implementing and monitoring of rural water resources management. Following the federalisation process and elections in 2017, RVWRMP was fully embedded in the new federal structure and local governance. The project developed the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Management Board (WASH Board) concept together with Rural Municipalities (RMs) to institutionalise WASH governance.

Another important achievement is the incorporation of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) at all levels of Project activities. Concrete activities included Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) & GESI trainings and orientation, awareness raising programs, national and international thematic day celebrations, leadership development trainings, interaction programs and gender responsive planning with RMs. Furthermore, Dignified Menstruation Management (DMM) activities aimed to improve access of women to taps and toilets and to ensure they could live in a safe environment with their rights protected. This became a focus of the Project with a range of behaviour change activities, and the appointment of a DMM Ambassador who steered a musical awareness-raising campaign in various municipalities.

Sustainability and transfer of capacities during the Project exit was supported through institutional development in RMs, especially through the WASH Board and Unit concepts, capacity building of the User Committees and municipal staff, and the tens of thousands of trained residents whose capabilities stay in the area. Most of RVWRMP key staffers continue their careers in other development projects in ever more demanding tasks, where their skills have been greatly appreciated. Many of the Project guidelines have been adopted by the RMs for their own use, as well as being used by several other donor-funded projects in Nepal. In the last year of implementation, the Project focused on developing the National WASH MIS platform by RM level data collection. RMs can utilise the collected data in their own RM WASH MIS. RVWRMP III benefited a total 398,283 people in 821 water supply schemes.

With the conclusion of the project, a Completion Report (available here) was developed to showcase achievements for Phase III. Separate Competition Reports for Phase I and Phase II are already available. Since the Phase III Completion Report concludes the project, it also (where relevant) covers the entire Project period from 2006-2022. The Completion Report consists of two Volumes: Volume I Main Completion Report and Volume II Rural Municipality Completion Reports (27) from all the Core-Municipalities of the Project.

RVWRMP would like to thank the financiers, local partners, staff members and everyone involved in the success of the project.