SCANDAL: - in Nepal, UNDP subsidesed a "Clean Energy" project with $26 Million from world taxpayers - calls it a success, but doesn't bother to think of how would Nepalese sustain such costs in long term

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United Nations Capital Development Fund : CleanStart Programme launched in Kathmandu

10/10/2012| 12:09pm US/Eastern
CleanStart, a joint global programme of theUN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was launched today at a function attended by key members of the government, academia, financial sector, development sector and energy sectors. The CleanStart programme seeks to expand access to clean energy for the poor through microfinance and responsive energy value chains.

In Nepal, CleanStart aims to support 600,000 poor households and micro-entrepreneurs to have access to modern energy services through microfinance. It also seeks to build end-user confidence in the reliability of technologies chosen for lending by strengthening supply chains.
The panel discussion, while marking the rollout of the CleanStart programme in Nepal, explored issues around financing access to clean energy for the poor. Discussions centred on the necessary actions to expand the energy value chain for poor people in Nepal, with a particular focus on the role of finance. The panel was comprised of Govind Raj Pokharel, Executive Director, Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC); Ashoke SJB Rana, CEO, Himalayan Bank Ltd and Chairperson of Nepal Banker's Association (NBA).; Bibek Chapagain, Energy Adviser, Royal Norwegian Embassy; Vijaya Singh, Assistant Country Director, UNDP Nepal and Ana Klincic Andrews, Chief Technical Advisor, UNCDF Nepal. The panel was moderated by Robert Piper, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Nepal.
"The key drivers to provide access to clean energy are equity and social inclusion and AEPC seeks to rectify regional disparities within Nepal" said Govind Raj Pokharel from AEPC. He continued  by stating that "although this sector receives a subsidy of about €20 million, this goes towards ensuring quality of the products and services available and in generating demand among individuals at the bottom of the pyramid. This sector however still requires end-users financing. Financial institutions therefore need to focus on providing access to energy through financing schemes and products".
"The banking community, as well as financial institutions, face significant challenges in providing access to finance to the poor especially with regards to transaction costs, lack of financial literacy among the poor and complying with regulatory issues" explained Ashoke SJB Rana, Chairperson of Nepal Banker's Association.
Introducing the CleanStart programme, Ana Klinic Andrews CTA of UNCDF in Nepal affirmed that "CleanStart and this event seek to 'localize' the commitments made during Rio +20  within the Nepalese context". During her intervention in the panel, she outlined the four main components of the programme: 1) end user financing for clean energy, 2) technical assistance for responsive energy value chains, 3) knowledge and learning and finally 4) advocacy and partnerships. UNCDF also announced that an Expression of Interest will shortly be announced, inviting Financial Service Providers and Microfinance Institutions to join the CleanStart Programme and move into the energy lending sector.
After a lively discussion from the floor Robert Piper, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, concluded the event stating that "CleanStart comes at a very timely moment in Nepal, and marks the beginning of a long term sustainable effort to provide access to clean energy for the poor, and we invite all development partners to join us in this initiative".

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Did Helen Clark authorized the Manoj Basnyat's slush fund to pay cash bribes to Afghan Ministers that would favor UNDP initiatives ?

UNDP SCANDAL

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U.N. Expands Its Probe Into Funding Oversight

By DION NISSENBAUM

WASHINGTON—The United Nations has expanded an internal examination into its largest global development program because of questions over the management of international aid funds in Afghanistan.

The U.N. Development Program's Afghanistan office used a recently established fund to hand out millions of dollars in donated money to Afghan ministries without proper oversight of how it was spent, according to a preliminary report by U.N. auditors.

In a majority of cases they examined, the auditors found "no evidence" that Afghan ministries receiving funds through the UNDP's so-called Policy Advisory and Development program spent the funds for the intended purpose. There were indications that ministry workers received excessive pay raises or double salaries, according to the report, which was completed in July and viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The preliminary summary didn't include detailed allegations about the program, which was established to support special projects at Afghan ministries. But the questions it raised were echoed in recent months by several past and present UNDP employees who have alleged in interviews that the program was used to spread cash to win favor inside Afghan ministries for U.N. initiatives.
The U.N. said the document reflected initial findings that were undergoing further examination. In some cases, it said in a statement, further investigation determined that some of the concerns about misallocated funds and high pay raises were unfounded.

The program was created in 2009 under the UNDP's then-director in Afghanistan, Manoj Basnyat, a long-time U.N. official from Nepal. Soon after arriving in Kabul, Mr. Basnyat and the UNDP established the fund, which handed out about $1 million a year to Afghan ministries.

The U.N. hasn't accused Mr. Basnyat of wrongdoing, and he hasn't addressed any allegations publicly. The U.N. declined to make him available for an interview and said it couldn't comment on personnel matters. The U.N. said it encouraged anyone with allegations of wrongdoing to contact it directly and said it maintains a "zero tolerance" anticorruption policy.

The Kabul office is working to phase out the Policy Advisory and Development program in the wake of the auditing questions, a senior U.N. official there said.

"It is not a slush fund," said the official. "My feeling is that it is a project that was weak in terms of the planning and reporting."

The UNDP has been at the center of a multibillion dollar effort to reform the Afghan government and rebuild the battle-damaged country. In part, it is supposed to serve as a model to Afghan politicians of efficiency and transparency.

But the UNDP became the focus of scrutiny this year amid allegations—by U.N. workers as well as by an international monitoring group—of corruption at a fund it oversees, the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan, a $1.4 billion pool financed by international donors to pay the salaries of the 150,000-member Afghan police.

This summer, the European Union blocked the release of $37 million in funds until the allegations are resolved. In June, the program removed five staff members, including the program's assistant director in Afghanistan. The U.N. didn't say why the workers were dismissed or put on administrative leave. The workers declined to comment or couldn't be reached.

U.N. investigators returned to Kabul over the weekend to continue their examination of the UNDP office in Afghanistan, U.N. officials said.

In April, Mr. Basnyat was replaced after more than three years as country director in Afghanistan by Alvaro Rodriguez, a longtime UNDP employee who had previously held the same position in Pakistan and Somalia. The switch took place under a routine U.N. assignment rotation and wasn't a result of the audit, according to U.N. officials. He is currently on assignment in New York, the U.N. said.

Last year, the UNDP presented Mr. Basnyat with its Julia V. Taft Award, given each year to its most outstanding country office.

—Nathan Hodge in Kabul Afghanistan, contributed to this article.

  Write to Dion Nissenbaum at dion.nissenbaum@wsj.com
 

A version of this article appeared September 11, 2012, on page A9 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: U.N. Expands Its Probe Into Funding Oversight.

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UNDP SCANDAL: - Does UNDP high level officials brake UN rules on Gifts ?

WHAT DOES UNCLE HELEN DO WITH GIFTS

SHE RECEIVES WHILE ON OFFICIAL TRIP?

Helen Clark receiving a Nepali Pashmina Scarf during her recent visit in Nepal

Pls note that Electoral Committee of Nepal is a direct recipient of UN/UNDP funds.

ST/SGB/2009/7 (page 4)

Honours, gifts or remuneration

(j) No staff member shall accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any Government;

(k) If refusal of an unanticipated honour, decoration, favour or gift from a Government would cause embarrassment to the Organization, the staff member may receive it on behalf of the Organization and then report and entrust it to the Secretary-General, who will either retain it for the Organization or arrange for its disposal for the benefit of the Organization or for a charitable purpose;

(l) No staff member shall accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any non-governmental source without first obtaining the approval of the Secretary-General;

A bizarre project in Nepal

At Buddha’s birthplace

A Chinese development proposal causes disbelief

Aug 20th 2011 | from the print edition

of The Economist

AFTER Prachanda, the leader of Nepal’s Maoists, stepped down as prime minister in 2009 he several times met representatives of the “Asia Pacific Exchange and Co-operation Foundation”. The Nepalese media speculated that this mysterious organisation was a front for either the Indian or the Chinese intelligence services, the two giant neighbours often accused of meddling in Nepal’s politics. The truth seems even stranger.

In July Chinese media reported that the Hong-Kong-based foundation—which is widely thought to have China’s backing—had signed an agreement with UNIDO, the UN’s industrial-development organisation, to invest $3 billion in Lumbini, a village in southern Nepal. Lumbini is the birthplace of the Buddha, which the project aimed to make a “Mecca for Buddhists”, with train links, an international airport, hotels and a Buddhist university.

In this section

• Lamas at loggerheads
• »At Buddha’s birthplace
• Your billion or ours?
• Poison protests
• Hazed again
• What’s Schadenfreude in Chinese?

Reprints

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Related topics

• Religion
• Culture and lifestyle
• Buddhism
• India
• Asia

The news caused uproar in Nepal. Neither the central government nor the local authorities responsible for Lumbini said they had been consulted about, or even heard of, the project. UNIDO’s officers say they will not comment on the affair while they try to discover how the organisation got involved. If this was an exercise in Chinese “soft power”, it was a disaster.

India is highly sensitive to Chinese activities in Nepal. It regards Nepal as part of the Indian sphere of influence, and it is easily Nepal’s biggest trading partner and source of investment. Nepal pegs its currency to the Indian rupee. Through close cultural and linguistic ties, and the machinations of its diplomats and spies, India has long exercised a strong influence on Nepal’s politics. It is widely believed that India helped topple Prachanda (whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal) as prime minister in 2009 partly because he was thought to be too close to China.

Now the role of Nepal’s other giant neighbour is becoming more visible. Chinese interests were once limited to demanding support for their policies in Tibet. To that can now be added burgeoning commercial interests in hydro-electricity, construction and telecoms. This week China’s top security man, Zhou Yongkang, became the latest in a series of senior Chinese officials to visit Nepal, bearing loans and aid packages. Chinese diplomats have begun discreetly treating Nepalese journalists to whisky-fuelled dinners and offering them visits to China—blandishments that were once the preserve of India. Chinese hotels, restaurants and brothels have multiplied in Kathmandu.

How to interpret it all? Observers agree that security remains China’s top priority in Tibet, though it is undoubtedly looking to expand its economic influence, too. For Nepal, balancing India’s influence by engaging more with China is attractive. One of the poorest countries in Asia, Nepal should benefit greatly from improving economic ties with its booming neighbours. As for Lumbini, the Buddha scheme has been shot down, but attempts to revive it are already under way. If the would-be investors handle it better next time, such a huge project may prove irresistible.

UN Peacekeeping corruption: Nepal vows to punish the corrupt in U.N. defence deal

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NEW DELHI (TrustLaw) - Nepal plans to crack down on officials linked to allegations of corruption in the procurement of military hardware, after the United Nations discovered Nepali peacekeepers in Sudan had sub-standard equipment, officials said.

Nepal has 140 police officers serving as part of the 22,000-strong United Nations-African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) – deployed to stem years of violence in western Sudan between government forces and rebels.

Shankar Pokharel, Nepal's information minister, said a government probe last month found that up to 300 million rupees (about $4 million) had been embezzled during the procurement of armoured vehicles to supply to Nepali blue helmets in Darfur.

"The investigation found that the armoured personnel carriers (APCs) bought in 2009 were poor quality and had parts missing and were also quite old. They were bought at much cheaper prices and the remaining funds were siphoned off," he said in a telephone interview.

"The government is committed to punishing those responsible and has now set up a panel to recommend what action to take against those who are allegedly responsible for the scam."

ASKED TO LEAVE?

The government became aware of the incident in 2009 after the U.N. reported that the armoured vehicles sent by Nepal were unsafe and did not meet U.N. specifications.

A Nepali parliamentary team was then sent to the troubled Darfur region in April last year which confirmed the vehicles were unsafe and a probe was established to examine the procurement process.

There have been media reports that the U.N. has repeatedly asked Kathmandu to replace the equipment or risk being pulled out of the peacekeeping mission and repatriated.

But U.N. officials have dismissed this, saying that while the APCs "did not meet the U.N. requirements to fulfil their mandated tasks" and were being sent back to Nepal, there was no question of repatriation of the country's peacekeepers.

The United Nations is not currently considering repatriation of any of its FPUs (Formed Police Units) currently serving in peacekeeping operations," Nick Birnback, chief of public affairs for the U.N. department of peacekeeping operations, told TrustLaw.

“The (Nepali) unit is currently fully operational using U.N.-owned equipment," said Birnback, adding that "the Nepali authorities have committed to replacing the vehicles as a matter of priority".