Kathmandu, Apr. 10

The Programme for Accountability in Nepal (PRAN) under the World Bank, Tuesday signed agreements with the 18 civil society organizations (CSOs) for grants in implementing PRAN programmes in different parts of Nepal.

The agreement was signed amidst a workshop organized in the capital by the World Bank.

PRAN is a three-year programme of US$ 3 million financed by State and Peace Building Fund designed to respond to a unique opportunity in the process of state building in Nepal.

PRAN is designed to enable civil society practitioners and the Government of Nepal to effectively promote and implement social accountability (SA) approaches by strengthening knowledge and skills regarding SA approaches and tools, piloting SA initiatives supporting networking among SA practitioners, and monitoring and evaluating SA approaches, a press statement issued by the World Bank said.

The PRAN works with four partners in four areas, Pro Public: Capacity Building, Center for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI): Grant Making, South Asia Partnership (SAP) Nepal: knowledge management and sharing and Total Management Services (TMS) on Research.

On the behalf of grant making agency to the CSOs, the CECI makes grants of two kinds: up to US$ 15,000 for those willing to practice new skills in SA that they have learnt and up to US$ 50,000 for those experienced in SA and interested to extend their practice.

The CECI has already provided 10 large and two small grants to various CSOs across the country.

The PRAN programmes covers 32 districts representing all the development regions and ecological regions.

PRAN seeks to respond to the enormous governance and development challenges that Nepal faces due to limited transparency and accountability at all leers, it said.