The Ministry of Local development (MOLD), The Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MPPW) The Department of Urban Development & Building Construction (DUDBC), the United Nations Centre for Regional Development, (UNCRD), and the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) jointly organized a workshop on Effective Enforcement and Dissemination of Building Code” in Kathmandu during 2-4 August 2007 (17-19 Shrawan 2064). The workshop is a consultative process under an international program called Housing Earthquake Safety Initiative (HESI) which is being implemented during 2007-2009 AD in Peru, Nepal, Indonesia and Algeria by UNCRD in collaboration with the respective government institutions and NGOs like NSET. Inaugural session of the workshop was addressed by high level officers from government of Nepal, UN agencies and other institutions. In his inaugural speech, the Acting Secretary of Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, Mr Purna Kadariya informed the current policy change which recognizes and respects role of local governments and other stakeholders for effective enforcement and dissemination of building code. As all stakeholders are now set for taking the challenges, it is a high time to act.

Participants of the workshop were the Chief Executive Officers and the Engineers of 20 municipalities of Nepal, concerned senior level officials of MPPW and MOLD and the UNDP Nepal, and representatives of engineering colleges and professional societies working in aspect of disaster risk management including implementation of the building code. International participants included representative from Hyogo prefecture , Japan, Japanese university, international agency stationed in Japan like International Recovery Platform (IRP).

The workshop objectives were to contextualize the problems of building code implementation in Nepal in terms of the requirements of policy interventions, to define optimal administrative and technical framework for effective implementation by the municipal governments, and to identify the key steps required for building capacities of the local governments for effective building code enforcement and compliance.

The workshop was aimed to define the building code enforcement as a policy issue, develop a model framework for building code implementation by the local governments including defining the main directions for capacity building of local governments, and charting out an action agenda expressing commitments and clear-cut definition of roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders.

The two days workshop was divided into seven different sessions as:

Session I: Policy Framework for Building Code
Session II: Panel Discussion on Role of Stakeholders
Session III: Round Table Discussion on Building Code Policy
Session IV: Problems and Opportunities in Building Permit Process
Session V: Development of Municipal Building Permit Process
Session VI: Break Out Session: Municipal System for Building Code implementation
Session VII: Round Table Discussion on Building Code Implementation in City Governments
Session VII: Way Forward and Closing

The policy consensus enhanced by the workshop is expected to form the basis for subsequent implementation of field-level works for the enhancement of building code implementation thereby making Nepal safer against natural hazards including earthquakes.