Preventing school dropout and early marriage in Nepal

Discriminatory gender norms continue to impact the lives of girls and women in Nepal. This research assesses how to strengthen girl-focused social protection programmes in two of the country's provinces. This report highlights the objectives and key components of two girl-focused programmes in Nepal: Beti Padhau Beti Bachau (BPBB) and Bank Khata Chhoriko Suraksha Jivan Variko (BKCSJV), exploring their main successes and challenges. Both programmes aim to address gender discriminatory norms, namely early marriage, school dropout, sex-selective abortion, and gender-based violence in the home, community and school. The aim of this scoping report is to provide recommendations to programme implementers (UNICEF, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and other social protection partners) as to how they can best support provincial governments to continue to implement these programmes.​​
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Changing Patterns of Commercial Sex Work Amongst Adolescent Girls in Nepal: The Role of Technology

The introduction of technology, particularly mobile phones, in the mediation of commercial sex work (CSW) has meant that sex work is expanding from traditional venue based (such as through hotels and massage parlors) work to freelance sex work. It has also changed the face-to-face negotiation in commercial sex work to negotiations mediated online or by phone. Apart from a few programmes, interventions largely use establishments as entry points for their programming and are therefore excluding many girls and women who engage in CSW through personal contacts or facilitated by social media. This article is based on a two-year qualitative study in four districts of Nepal, in Delhi (India), and the Indo-Nepal border in eastern Nepal. It gives a short overview of the girls and their life in the adult entertainment sector (AES), which is the main entry point for CSW, and discusses how technology is increasingly used to mediate CSW. ​
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The effects of covid-19 on the lives of adolescent girls and young women in the adult entertainment sector in Nepal

As is the case globally, lives and livelihoods in Nepal have been heavily impacted by covid-19. This report discusses the impact of covid-19 and the measures taken to address it on adolescent girls and women working in the adult entertainment sector. It focuses on covid-19’s effects on food security, shelter, health and employment for girls working in this sector. It also explores coping mechanisms and ends by recommending measures and policies that could be adopted during and after the pandemic to support the livelihoods and broader well-being of women and girls working in this sector.​

The gendered experiences of adolescent girls working in the adult entertainment sector in Nepal

While existing studies look at the issues of violence and harmful practices such as child labour in the AES, there is a dearth of information about how the industry is changing (such as in mediation activities, customer–client relationships and the location of services in establishment based/non establishment based venues) as well as the gendered experiences of girls in these circumstances. The study aimed to fill this knowledge gap by using a gender and social norms lens to examine the context of girls’ lives before they enter the AES, the factors that influence girls’ entry into the AES, and the emerging activities and avenues of the AES in Nepal.
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Nepal COVID-19 Rapid Gender Analysis

Since the onset of the global Coronavirus Pandemic, the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens (MoWCSC) identified the need to highlight the gender and intersectional impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. A Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) was conducted to understand the gender differential impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable and excluded groups. The RGA was also conducted to comprehend how existing gender and social inequalities have been exacerbated by the pandemic in the community and in quarantine situations in Nepal.

Adolescent girls’ experiences of cross-border and international migration in the adult entertainment sector in Nepal

Human trafficking is a global issue and continues to be a challenge in Nepal. According to the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal (NHRC) report (2019), nearly 1.5 million Nepalis are at risk of being trafficked. Around 35,000 people were trafficked in 2018/19 to work in different sectors, including the adult entertainment sector (AES) (ibid). While work in the AES does not necessarily always involve commercial sex work (CSW), a large part of it is related to CSW, either directly or as a space to link the client and the sex worker.

The proliferation of AES activities in Nepal, the country’s linkages to the global AES market and the growing use of technology seem to have increased the international migration of Nepali women and girls who voluntarily travel to work in the AES.

Use of digital technology among adolescents in the adult entertainment sector in Nepal

While digital technology can help adolescents promote their rights, access information and participate in society, it also comes with risks of exploitation and abuse. There is a dearth of information on how adolescents working in the adult entertainment sector (AES) use the digital technology and its impact on their well-being. This brief aims to bridge the information gap to safeguard vulnerable adolescents working in the AES from the negative impacts of technology use and help them to leverage technology for their protection.

This brief is part of a series of publications on adolescents working in adult entertainment in Nepal. 

A tale of contradictions:
understanding the impact of social norms on Nepali men and boys

Providing the country-specific context to GAGE’s global synthesis of how to work effectively with adolescent boys in LMICs to promote gender-equitable masculinities, this policy brief discusses some rarely explored issues. It addresses the complexities, contradictions and deprivations in the lives of men and boys, highlighting how fathers and brothers can also experience harmful norms in the family, community and school, in relation to their adolescent daughters/sisters/peers.
This brief is based on qualitative data collected between 2018 and 2019 as part of a baseline study of World Vision’s Rupantaran programme, a peer-to-peer life skills education initiative in Biratnagar Nepal.

Gendered experiences of adolescents
​Baseline findings from World Vision's Rupantaram adolescent lifeskills curriculum

Adolescence has powerful impacts on children’s capabilities –partly because of the physical transformations wrought by puberty and partly because children’s place in their family and broader community shifts as they approach adulthood (Jones et al., 2018). In South Asian cultures where there is a belief that female sexuality needs to be controlled, the onset of adolescence is more difficult, as the physical changes brought about by puberty invite stigma and censorship, and social (gendered) norms and expected behaviours become more stringent (Samuels et al., 2017). This has particularly strong impacts on women and girls in patriarchal societies where female sexuality is a taboo and where control over women’sand girls’ sexuality is the norm. ​This study presents on finding of the study.

​Intimate partner violence in Nepal:  not just a women’s issue 

This brief explores the relation between training to men and boys and trend changes in their perpetriation of discriminatory gender norms and intimate parter's violence.

Bridging the Gap to Understand Effective Interventions for Adolescent Well-being:  An evidence gap map on protection, participation, and financial and material well-being in low- and middle-income countries

A continued focus on adolescents is necessary to sustain the investment and significant
achievements made in child well-being over the last two decades. Understanding what works to improve adolescent well-being, and how and when to deliver these services, is integral to effective policies and programmes.
​This evidence gap map (EGM) collates the evidence base for adolescent interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).The thematic scope broadly corresponds with the UNICEF adolescent well-being outcome domains of protection, participation and livelihoods (excluding transferable skills and youth employment-related interventions and outcomes since EGMs address these). Outcomes relating to the enabling environment for adolescents are also included to capture the contextual influences that might affect the well-being of adolescents

Understanding intimate partner violence in Nepal:
​Prevalence, drivers and challenges

This report presents the prevalence and drivers of Intimate Partner's violence, current challenges to access justice  and  impact of training men and boys on their possible perpetration of violence to their intimate partner in adolescence and adult life. .

Understanding intimate partner violence in Nepal through a male lens

Gender norms are important drivers of male perpetration of IPV. While gender norms themselves are underlying causes of IPV, they also tend to suppress and discourage discussion and reporting on this issue. The report presents  findings on  discriminatory gender norms, as well as practices particular to some ethnic or religious groups that foster IPV. T

Change and continuity in social norms and practices around marriage and education in Nepal ​

This report presents the findings on the supporting and hindering factors of norm change.

Communication strategies for addressing discriminatory social norms in marriage and education for adolescent girls in Nepal

This reports presents what interventions and communication strategies work in addressing discriminatory norms in education and marriage.

‘Cultural norms are strong and will fight back’:
narratives of change and challenges in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in Nepal

The History and Change research seeks to pull together and draw lessons from personal
narratives and analyses of change and resistance in gender norms, expectations and
behaviors as these play out against a backdrop of broader social, economic and political
processes in selected country settings.

Narratives of change and challenges in overcoming discriminatory gender norms and practices in Nepal

This briefng note summarises fndings from a qualitative study undertaken in Nepal as part of a History and Change research series of the Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN) project. It draws draw lessons from personal narratives and analyses of change and resistance in gender norms, expectations and behaviours as these play out against a backdrop of broader social, economic and political processes. 

SPRING:
​Nepal Girl Landscaping Report

Prevailing social norms hinder employment opportunities for girls even when job opportunities have opened up for girls. This report discusses norms and vulnerabilities of girls in employment including of those Nepali girls who are working in India.