Report
This report is part of a data landscaping exercise conducted under the Data for Development (D4D) in Nepal Programme, Phase II. It includes a diagnostic of the current state of national data infrastructures and recommendations for the further development of Nepal’s national statistical system under federalism.
Nepal’s 2015 constitution is an ambitious and aspirational undertaking to create representative and accountable institutions across 7 provinces and 753 local governments. Establishing evidence-informed decision-making in these spheres of government is a necessary undertaking, yet it represents a substantial challenge at the same time. Four-fifths (80%) of Nepal’s population live in rural areas now governed by 460 rural municipalities. For constitutional change to be successful it is these bodies, just as much as their richer counterparts in the metropolitan cities, that need to be empowered in the governance, management, production and use of data.
Before 2015 Nepal’s national statistical system was a highly centralised, top-down administration relying to a large extent on a variety of sample surveys and the decennial population and household census. Post 2015, the federal government requires a new statistical system where responsibilities, particularly around administrative data, are shared across spheres of government.
