Transition to Federalism in Nepal

Nepal embarked on a full-fledged federal system with the adoption of a new Constitution in 2015. Progress has been made in terms of setting up of key institutional structures, and strengthening the regulatory environment for federalism, and to some extent staff deployment. But significant gaps still exist between the needs and existing capacity at all levels of government. A Federalism Capacity Needs Assessment (FCNA) was conducted in 2018-19 for the Government of Nepal (GoN). The FCNA used a broad definition of capacity, including organizational (physical and human) and institutional (laws and regulations) elements. This paper presents progress in the implementation of federalism based on the findings of the FCNA.