Our Strengths

  • Partnership with three tiers of government
  • Collaboration with non-governmental actors for health and food systems
  • Strategic partnership with the private sector in the food supply chain, food environment, health service delivery, and water, sanitation and hygiene

Outcomes

  • Strengthened collaboration with national, provincial and local governments for pro-poor and marginalized health and food systems service delivery
  • Increased capacity of local partners to implement and drive health and food systems initiatives
  • Participation of the private sector in the food supply chain, food environment, health service delivery, and water, sanitation and hygiene

Collaboration with three tiers of the government

Helen Keller firmly believes that the government should take the front seat in the development of the country and the development partners should extend technical support in evidence-based and marginalized groups focused programming and measurement of the results. Helen Keller embraced the federal state restructuring following Nepal’s 2015 constitution and has since been working with all three tiers of the government. At the federal level, it works with all the related ministries, particularly those related to multi-sector nutrition plan, and more closely with National Planning Commission, Ministry of Health and Population, and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. It has worked with all provincial governments except Madhesh and building their capacities for multi-sectoral program implementation. Helen Keller plans to work with the Madhesh government in the future.

In terms of local governments, it has already worked with 389 municipalities across 42 districts in the community-level implementation of the multi-sector nutrition initiatives.

Elevating local implementation capacity

Helen Keller believes that local partners and communities are the most suited to find better solutions to the problems that trouble their communities. Helen Keller elevates their voices and builds their capacities to explore and implement such solutions. Helen Keller has built a trusted partnership with over 45 national and local NGOs and thousands of community champions including village model farmers, community nutrition volunteers, peer facilitators, etc. across Nepal. Helen Keller will continue to give a greater role, voice, and visibility to its partners.

Public-Private Partnership

Private sector engagement has been highlighted as a critical factor in scaling up and sustaining nutrition initiatives. Helen Keller works with private sector partners in areas like marketing farmers’ products, increasing the availability of eggs, increasing access to WASH products, and introducing digital solutions to the program participants. For example, Suaahara II’s Private Sector Engagement (PSE) identified five potential models of partnership: philanthropic, marketing, service contract, management contract, and special purpose vehicle. It initiated different models and approaches of partnership at national and local levels in behavior change communication, nutrition-sensitive-WASH, and homestead food production through formal and informal arrangements towards ensuring improved access to inputs, services, and markets to benefit program beneficiaries.