The Nepal Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Program Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) was established to support the Government of Nepal’s rural housing reconstruction efforts in the wake of the massive earthquakes in April and May of 2015.
The earthquakes and aftershocks that struck Nepal destroyed close to 490,000 houses -- mostly traditional mud-brick and mud-stone houses built and occupied by the rural poor -- and rendered another approximately 265,000 houses, at least, temporarily uninhabitable.
The Multi-Donor Trust Fund is administered by the World Bank, and was initially established with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Government of Canada, Following the close of the MDTF’s first reporting period, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) joined the MDTF in November 2016.
The majority of funds raised under the MDTF will go directly towards co-financing the World Bank’s Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Project (EHRP), which will contribute to the restoration of around 10% of the total housing reconstruction needs in Nepal while providing the technical framework for the entire government housing reconstruction program.
The MDTF partners are working closely with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), who is also a direct contributor to the government’s housing reconstruction program. The MDTF team also works with the United Nations, other donors, and local and international NGOs.
The Nepal Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Program Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) has a flexible governance structure, allowing for adjustments based on changing needs on the ground.
The advantages of this multi-donor approach include, among others:
- Reduced transaction costs for the GoN and donors by working through a single funding facility;
- Increased harmonization of reconstruction by pooling resources in support of the Government’s Reconstruction Plan;
- Increased efficiency through reduced duplication of efforts among partners; and
- Enhanced transparency and accountability
Objective
The objective of the World Bank’s Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Project (EHRP), is to help Nepalis construct multi-hazard resistant core housing units in the targeted areas (where there was extensive damage to houses during the 2015 earthquakes) and to enhance the government’s ability to improve long-term disaster resilience. The EHRP also provides a technical platform to standardize housing reconstruction policy for all districts, thus serving as the basis for all housing reconstruction irrespective of the funding sources.