Summary of US Government Assistance to the Constituent Assembly

Training for Women CA Members    

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) is implementing a program with four main components: the creation of a Women’s Leadership Academy for women leaders; community dialogues enabling women CA members to interact with constituents; working with women CA members to provide constituency services; and working with the Inter-Party Women’s Alliance to expand their reach into more districts throughout Nepal. The Women’s Leadership Academy will begin offering training to CA Members in late August.

Media-related Support to the CA

There are three components: creation of a Media Resource Center, establishment of a Press Conference Hall, and creation of an Internal Broadcasting System. The primary point of contact at the CA is Manohar Prasad Bhattarai, Acting Secretary General, Legislature-Parliament Secretariat.

Constitutional Development Support

i) Support to the CA in developing a constitution that reflects the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement by providing models drawn from countries that have implemented federal systems and assisting political party leaders, government officials, and civil society leaders in developing strategies for successful constitution drafting.

ii) Support to the CA in developing a constitution by: 1) building capacity within the CA Secretariat to support informed and technically sound deliberations; and 2)  providing CA members with options for restructuring the Nepali state. This support is being provided in the following ways: developing a CA procedural manual; establishing support units for constitutional drafting sub-committees; producing analytical policy briefs on key restructuring issues; and procedural training and thematic workshops for newly-elected CA members.

Youth Engagement in Constitutional Development

An effort is being made to encourage youth to participate in the constitutional development and democratization process in Nepal through civic-education and leadership trainings for students, publishing a youth magazine, and facilitating the establishment of a National Youth CA and a Youth Federation.

Building Grassroots Support for Democratic and Legal Reform

Assistance in building informed citizen networks at the community level; through roundtables, public outreach and media activities; to ensure that grassroots participation is an integral component of the reform process, particularly the constitution-drafting process.

Planned Support

Training and Technical Assistance

USAID is designing a rapid reaction mechanism to provide targeted technical assistance and training to the Constituent Assembly and related GON institutions.