VSO Nepal

DFID RESTRICTED FUNDS -

Beneficiaries included vulnerable and marginlised people (especially women and girls, the young and people with disabilities), Civil society

STRENGTHENING ACCESS TO HOLISTIC, GENDER RESPONSIVE, AND ACCOUNTABLE JUSTICE IN NEPAL (SAHAJ) Problem Statement Deep-rooted social and gender norms that perpetrate unequal gendered power dynamics at inter-personal, family and community levels in Nepal hamper women and girls’ ability to challenge the widespread social acceptance of violence, and negatively influence their reporting and service-seeking behaviour. The lack of a conducive environment for service-seeking behaviours and poor knowledge of available security and justice services, coupled with constraints to the adequate and inclusive provision of such services, further exacerbate underreporting of GBV incidents in a context of mutual mistrust between communities and security and justice service providers (JSP). The project has been designed to provide learning and base of evidence on what works to change social norms around GBV in a politically and administratively evolving context such as the one Nepal currently offers, in its shift towards federalism. Operationally-relevant research underlies this project to capture learning and produce knowledge about what works to inform development actors and donors in three domains: 1) gender transformative social norms approach selection, 2) intervention design and integration, and 3) project delivery and adaptation. SAHAJ will test social norms change packages of interventions in multiple project localities and document what works to influence social norms change. Considering its limited implementation period, it is expected that the project won’t be able to gather comprehensive data on social norms change results, but will collect and analyse indications of progress towards social norms change.

ENGAGE addresses critical factors of marginalisation identified during participatory stakeholder consultations, including: socio-cultural norms that place a low priority on girls’ education; lack of awareness and support services for girls with disabilities or functional impairments; poorly equipped teachers/educators and educational institutions to support the needs of OOSM girls and girls with disabilities; and poor implementation of inclusive policies by local service providers and duty-bearers. Through a people-centred approach, ENGAGE enlists and empowers a support system of 600 peer girls, 100 teachers/educators, 90 BE/d and ME/d student teachers, and 30 International Volunteer Experts (IVEs) to play key roles within the intervention and become champions for girls’ education.

The project’s Theory of Change (ToC) posits that the inequity in education and learning achievement gaps for Nepal’s most marginalised girls can be addressed by ensuring equitable access to quality learning and skills development across the education continuum. Inefficiencies in Nepal’s education system and social, cultural and geographical barriers to access have led to poor learning outcomes for marginalised girls, which inhibit individual and community agency and leadership and ultimately hinder socio-economic improvements in the country. Transitioning girls forward, VSO’s SfS (GEC-1), Teaching to Learn and various International Citizen Service (ICS) education projects in Nepal have proven that increasing the engagement of local actors is a powerful pathway to change in contexts where the realisation of inclusive national policies fall short. Increased engagement through ‘people to people’ interventions transforms education system stakeholders from bystanders into actors who are inspired to participate and contribute to safer and healthier schools, better engaged learners, more skilled teachers, improved school management, increased government capacity and better networks and knowledge sharing. People to people interventions in SfS include big sister-little sister mentoring, peer learning support, teacher and District Education Offices (DEO) staff accompaniment and coaching, and community engagement through a wide variety of volunteering roles and expertise sharing from implementing partners and resource partners. Through working in partnership with DEOs and existing government education systems from school and community level to the Ministry level, the project will contribute to changes to school, community, district and national inclusive education policies and practices. We will be working in partnership with Global Action Nepal (GAN) and Aasaman Nepal as implementing partners, and British Council Nepal and Mercy Corps as resource and collaboration and partners, respectively.

This programme will work with more than 4000 volunteers and 5000 VSO alumni to support 350 partner organisations to improve education, health and livelihoods outcomes  for up to 2 million people across 24 developing countries