This project, implemented by United Nations Development Programme and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in partnership with the local authorities, focuses on building the capacity of Nepal's lead road safety agency, the National Road Safety Council, to improve road safety.

Road crashes have caused huge loss of human lives and hampered economic growth and sustainable development in Nepal. The number of casualties of road crashes rosed from 1131 in 2008 to 2789 in 2018 with an increase of 146.6%. Experts estimate that if the trend continues, it may reach 4,500 by 2030-2031. In 2017, economic loss due to road crashes was estimated to be 122.88 million USD, around 1.5% of Nepal’s GNP.

There are many reasons behind the poor situation of road safety in Nepal. Still, the fundamental one is weak capacity of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) to function as lead agency on road safety, which is critical for the implementation of the National Road Safety Action Plan (NRSAP 2021-2030).  

With extensive consultation with the government and other stakeholders, a package of support following the system approach for institutional capacity building of NRSC to function as the national lead agency on road safety for implementation of NRSAP (2021-2030) has been proposed by this project:  

a) Conduct a national capacity review on road safety management. An in-depth review will be conducted to find the gaps in road safety management and provide directions for reforms during and after the project.

b) Build capacities of NRSC for road safety management. To enable NRSC to function as the national lead agency responsible for steering the national efforts on road safety management in Nepal, the project plans to build/enhance capacities in four aspects:

1. Optimization of mandates, structure and functions: This includes a review of existing mandates, structure and functions of NRSC, learning from experience from other countries, and proposing changes in mandates, structure and functions.
2. Effective coordination and partnership: The project will support NRSC in building partnerships with government and UN agencies, development banks, NGOs, academic and research institutions, youth organizations and others; and facilitate to organise regular meetings for review of progress and knowledge sharing.
3. Conduct the feasibility study of the Center of Excellence (COE) on road safety: The project will partner with the Institute of Engineering (IoE) under the affiliation of Tribhuvan university and support to strengthen its capacities towards function as Center of Excellence (COE) on road safety issues in partnership with NRCS.
4. Implement Priority road safety actions as per NRSAP. The project will support the national institutions to take priority actions in coordination with NRSC, including capacity building of the key partners, updating road safety regulations in harmony with the six main UN conventions on road safety; and supporting post-crash response management.