active· Governance

Strengthening Child Rights Monitoring System through Civil Society Organizations in Nepal

CWISH and Interpedia have cooperated to create a foundation among civil society organizations in Nepal to monitor the situation of child rights and strengthen the government mechanism to be accountable in protecting child rights. Through the cooperation th e National Child Protection Alliance (NCPA) a confederation of 37 CSOs was formed. In 2015-2017 CWISH and Interpedia are working in 35 districts to capacitate 85 CSO members. The proposed 2017-2020 project is designed as a supplementary to current cooperat ion to extend membership of NCPA to all 75 districts. In addition it seeks to mobilize 50 CSOs in at least 65 districts to monitor the child rights situation in Nepal through a new monitoring system.In the proposed project CSOs will utilize an online softw are database system and mobile application through which 50 member organizations in 65 districts receive record respond refer and report cases of child rights violations to the government. Member organizations will follow up with the state mechanism for re sponding to cases. CWISH will have a centralized database for the system and produce the Child Rights Status Country Report as well as segregated district-level reports providing recommendations to the government for formulating contextual and relevant pol icies and programs. This will also reflect the situation of child rights in Nepal to the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child and Universal Periodic Review in 2019. It is mandatory for Nepal to send a status report to UNCRC as a member sta te ratifying the convention. Through the new system CSOs can produce a supplementary report with a civil society perspective.Extension of NCPA to all districts and their capacity development of CSOs offers an opportunity to consolidate information on the s ituation of children throughout the country and help to prepare a complete map on the status of child rights in Nepal. Further capacitated government and strong civil society will bring a balance in respect to child rights act as an accountability tool for government and facilitate to provide legal and social justice to victims of rights violations.