Nearly five years after signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended ten years of civil war in Nepal, key issues are still unresolved and political progress on implementation has been slow at its best. While every disarmament demobilization and reintegration (DDR) operation is unique, Nepal's DDR process has included atypical conditions such as no government support, continued military command over program participants, an unusually long time spent in cantonments prior to discharge, and the absence of an adequate pre-planning phase. This analysis is presented in the form of a case study and examines the United Nations Interagency Rehabilitation Program response to these challenges using primary documents and interviews conducted with UN staff members in Nepal. The author argues that atypical challenges acted as drivers that resulted in programmatic innovations, including dynamic monitoring and evaluation, a centralized information system, and specific gender supports, that may be applicable to more traditional DDR operations, particularly those with a large female caseload.