This article explores the history and impact of affirmative action in Nepal's civil service and political parties. Affirmative action was part of a broader social inclusion agenda introduced after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2006. Affirmative action will always have associated costs and trying to minimize these requires concerted effort and leadership. Affirmative action is difficult to do well in a country like Nepal because it challenges centuries of discrimination that is reinforced daily and involves confronting clientelistic practices and social norms of entitlement. Quotas alone will be insufficient in such a context. This article argues that affirmative action can have wider good governance outcomes by improving accountability and meritocracy if it is combined with other initiatives aside from quotas. Some of the positive governance gains achieved through affirmative action warrant a bigger investment from development partners in this area.