KATHMANDU, July 29: Nepal’s development partners and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), which bring billions of rupees into the country every year, have been relying on middlemen for the process of choosing a non-governmental organization (NGO) to implement their programs, according to informed sources.
INGOs cannot carry out their work in Nepal on their own; the procedure is for them to select a local NGO as a partner. According to this system, INGOs choose NGOs and invest in the target sector through them, but irregularities and the dominance of middlemen have been found in NGO selection. It has been found that employees of the Social Welfare Council (SWC) and other individuals act as middlemen. The Council’s former Vice-Chairman, Nanda Lal Majhi, says that he too felt that middlemen dominated the selection of NGOs.
“I also found that in most situations, NGO selection was dominated by middlemen. This requires monitoring and regulation,” Majhi told Republica. “The dominance of middlemen means that the money may not be used for its intended purpose,” he said.
“When selecting NGOs to facilitate the implementation of programs at the local level, INGOs first publish a notice of their intention in Gorkhapatra. The notice itself has the criteria to make it easier for NGOs to partner with them,” an employee at the SWC said.
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An INGO has to partner with at least one NGO. If the project will take place in many districts, the guidelines allow for 10/15 NGO partners district-wise.
NGOs that the INGO partners with compete with each other. “Middlemen get some benefit if the INGO chooses the NGO as a partner. Employees recommended by the middlemen are also hired,” a SWC employee stated.
According to the employee, there are irregularities in the choice of location, programs, and recruitment of employees by the INGO. The Council has not carried out an official study into the areas where irregularities frequently occur. Another employee said, “INGOs bring foreign money into the country, claiming to partner in the development of all sectors besides the Nepali Army. They spend more on administrative costs than on the target sector. The Council’s rules enforce that at most, 20% can be spent on administration and 80% has to go to the target sector. However, there are irregularities because the amount they are supposed to spend on the target sector is reduced. Irregularities have also been found in its monitoring.”
In the fiscal year 2025/26, 130 INGOs received permission from the SWC to bring Rs. 31.61 billion into the country. Of that amount, approximately 90% was brought in. In 2024/25, they received permission to bring Rs. 19 billion to Nepal. Council employees say that after Nepal Rastra Bank made the banking system stricter, the tendency for INGOs to bring money through fraudulent means has decreased.
INGOs have been bringing money to Nepal since the Panchayat era. The Council does not have records of how much INGOs have brought till date. According to one employee, INGOs have been bringing money to Nepal in the name of development for more than 50 years. Calculating at a rate of 10 billion a year, 500 billion must have been received throughout this period. However, former officials at the SWC say that the amount brought into the country in this way tends to be misused. The Auditor General’s report also raises questions on this subject.
Majhi, who was Vice-Chairman of the Council from 2023 to 2026, was asked, “During your tenure, did you attempt to stop irregularities?” His response was, “I tried to stop middlemen, but because they were already deeply rooted, I could not.”
Council to be dismissed
The Social Welfare Council, whose role has been non-governmental management and monitoring, will not continue in this way. The Ministry of Women, Children, Gender and Sexual Minorities and Social Security is preparing to dismiss and reform the Council. At present, there are provisions for the Council to have 18 office holders. Among them, eight are ex-officio members. The Council’s Chairperson is the Minister for Women, Children, Gender and Sexual Minorities and Social Security. The member secretaries are politically appointed.
“The Council should not be dismissed. It is necessary to restructure it,” former Vice-Chair Majhi said. A senior employee at the ministry said that it remains to be decided whether the SWC will be made a department within the ministry, dismissed and reformed as a board, or continue in a different direction.
The employee said that this decision had to be made because the Council had not been completing its work effectively. The Council was established in 2034 BS under the name of the Social Service National Coordination Council. The name was changed in 2049 BS to the Social Welfare Council, and the same year, the Social Welfare Act came into effect.
