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Nepal
Nepal's decade-long conflict has hampered the delivery of basic services causing a breakdown of family and community networks. Women and children, who rely most heavily on these essentials, have particularly felt the negative impacts. Recently, there has been some improvement in the socio-economic indicators for Nepal. Yet, children's situation in Nepal is of serious concern. Infant and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world.1 Children migrate from the poverty-stricken rural areas to the cities, ending up homeless in the streets. There are an estimated 5 000 street children in the cities of Kathmandu, Pokhara, Dharan, Narayanghat, Butwal and Biratnagar alone. In Nepal, an estimate of over 55,000 children work as domestic labourers; almost two thirds are aged 10 to 14 years with a preponderance of boys (57 percent).They work for long hours with little or no pay.2
Trafficking
Working children in Nepal are sexually exploited and abused and girl trafficking is one of the major forms of sexual exploitation. Every year hundreds of Nepalese girls are trafficked and sold into prostitution in India.3 Close to two million Nepalese children are recruited to work in factories, hotels, restaurants, domestic households and construction sites; around 127,000 child labourers work in high risk labour sectors, including mining, and4 at least 40,000 children are bonded labourers.5
Equality
The problem of structural gender inequality in Nepal makes women and girls exceptionally vulnerable to juridical and social discrimination. Girls aged 10-14, for instance, work twice as many hours compared to boys in the same age group. More than 25% of girls aged 14-18 are married and, therefore, likely to get pregnant and give birth before the end of adolescence.6 In the public education system these social and cultural practices lead to poor enrolment and high dropout rates for girls compared to boys. In Western Nepal, Badi women are descendants of traditional women entertainers – singers and dancers – who performed during marriages and other ceremonies. They and their children still live outside mainstream society. The Badi tradition forces women into sex work just because they are Dalit. In Doti (Western Nepal), the Dalit community cannot access property and serve as bonded labour to the upper-castes. This leads to greater economic stress in communities and families, leading to increased vulnerability of children to violence.7 Often Dalit children are made to sit at the back of the class or on the floor, and their homework is unchecked by teachers. They also are made to clean the yard, fill water buckets, and clean toilets– even though often Dalit girls are not permitted to use school toilets.8
Traditions and harmful practices
Cleansing and initiation abuses occur throughout South Asia, especially in Nepal. Many of these practices centre around menstruation and focus on either first menstruation and coming of age, or practices which interpret girls as polluted during the menstruation period. Although legislation prohibits the practice, many poor women in western Nepal are forced to stay in dirty cow-sheds outside the home for four days during their monthly period. These women are often not provided proper food and may suffer various forms of abuse.9 In some communities in India and Nepal, young girls are dedicated to God by their families. Deuki is an age-old custom still practised in many districts of Sethi and Mahakali zones in the far western region of Nepal. Deuki means to consecrate one’s own or a poor family’s newly born female child to God in order to gain a son, to cure a sickness, or to fulfil any other desires. It is estimated that around 2,000 such deukis exist in the various temples in Nepal.10
Child Soldiers
The use of child soldiers in Nepal is another human rights issue. During the armed conflict, somewhere between 6 000 to 9 000 children were believed to have served in the Maoist forces. As many as 3 000 child recruits are still suspected to be serving in military camps.11 Despite assurances from the government to end future recruitments and promises to rehabilitate children who have suffered from war and conflict situations, reforms to date have been insufficient.
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How Families Cope With Poverty in Asia: Lessons from a multi-country review of Household Economy Analysis and Cost of the Diet Assessments, 2011-15
In order to understand better the food security and livelihoods challenges in Asia, and how these relate to undernutrition and broader child wellbeing, Save the Children has conducted a retrospective synthesis review of its analyses in the region. This re
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Nepal Earthquake Response: Two-year report
On Saturday, April 25, 2015, a powerful earthquake of 7.8 magnitude on the Richter scale hit Nepal. It was the largest earthquake in Nepal in 80 years. Less than three weeks later, on Tuesday May 12, another earthquake measuring 7.3 in magnitude struck. S
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Primary Health Care First: Strengthening the foundation for universal health coverage
Universal health coverage (UHC) promises a world in which all people have access to the health services, vaccinations and medicines they need, without risk of financial hardship. A world where the right to health is realised for the 400 million people who
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Pragati: Fertility awareness for quality of life
Project brief summarizing the Pragati "Fertility Awareness for Quality of Life" intervention under USAID's Fertility Awareness for Community Transformation project, implemented by Save the Children and Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Heal
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When Merely Existing is a Risk: Sexual and gender minorities in conflict, displacement and peacebuilding
International Alert presents an in-depth review of research conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Columbia, Lebanon and Nepal on the vulnerabilities of sexual and gender minorities (SGM) in peacebuilding and post-conflict settings. Gender identify and sexu
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The State of Conflict and Violence in Asia
The State of Conflict and Violence in Asia was produced in response to crucial gaps in conflict data of the region. The Asia Foundation draws on its extended involvement and experience in the region to provide a thorough, evidence-based overview of violen
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Lessons from Inclusive Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction in Earthquake-affected Areas of Nepal
When two earthquakes hit Nepal in 2015 with devastating consequences. the need for greater disaster preparedness on a community level, increased capacity for information management, and disaster response coordination became clear. Mission East, partnerin
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Disaster Risk Reduction in the Education Sector: Nepal
Save the Children Nepal is currently working with the Government of Nepal in the development of their School Sector Development Programme (SSDP) – the education sector wide approach (SWAp) for Nepal. SC Nepal is drafting, with government stakeholders and
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Did the Humanitarian Response to the Nepal Earthquake Ensure No One Was Left Behind?
In April and May 2015, two large-scale earthquakes struck Nepal, killing almost 9,000 people, damaging over half a million houses and displacing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Natural hazards are indiscriminate: earthquakes have no rega
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One Year On Nepal Earthquake Response: Progress Review
Throughout the year, Save the Children has committed itself to providing relief, response and recovery support to affected children and their families quickly and efficiently. To keep children safe from possible abuse and trauma, Save the Children set up
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Improving Social Protection’s Response to Child Poverty and Vulnerability in Nepal
Social protection in Nepal has rapidly expanded to become part and parcel of the response to poverty and vulnerability. It is also considered a key policy option for addressing issues of child poverty and deprivation. Evidence that social protection inter
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Ending Malnutrition for Every Last Child in Nepal
Nepal's progress in reducing malnutrition has not been inclusive and many disadvantaged groups lag behind. The most disadvantaged groups include women, Dalits, indigenous communities, linguistic and religious minorities, people with disabilities, people i