Education for vulnerable children in South Lalitpur, Nepal

Promoting the Right to Education and Protection of the Most Vulnerable Children (PREP)

Project location: South Lalitpur (Mahankal and Konyosome Rural Municipalities)

Partner organizations:

Loo Niva Child Concern Group

Patan Community Based Rehabilitation

Loo Niva started in 1994, when a group of school students started to run a library and a child club. Loo Niva was established in 1997 as a non-governmental organization working for child rights. Loo Niva works with the community at the grassroots level towards preventing exploitation and marginalization of underprivileged children and has been recognized by communities and local authorities as an important actor in promoting education. Loo Niva’s practices are rights-based and benefit the most vulnerable children such as girls, dalits and children with disabilities or children from extremely poor families. Interpedia has worked with Loo Niva since 2004 in Lalitpur and the Far West. Interpedia has seen Loo Niva’s developing process from a small, community-based organization to a national level advocate NGO which thematic and geographical coverage.

Patan CBR was formally established in 1999 and Patan CBR has succeeded in serving more than 1900 children with disabilities, both in urban and rural areas. Patan CBR has a center-based program with more than 50 students, where education, physiotherapy and skill development are key programs. Patan CBR is providing rehabilitation facilities in all the sectors of 5*5 matrix developed by WHO. Patan CBR has a good community network, as it has been working in local communities for the last 19 years and the majority of the staff has more than 10 years of working experience.

Promoting the Right to Education and Protection of the Most Vulnerable Children (PREP) is a cooperation project of Loo Niva Child Concern, Patan Community Based Rehabilitation and Interpedia. The project, running from 2021 to 2024, works in South Lalitpur. This project builds on previous co-operation between Loo Niva and Interpedia.

With this project, Interpedia, Loo Niva and Patan CBR wish to see that, in the long run, all children, regardless of their disability, sex, caste or religion enjoy their childhood in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment in Mahankal and Konyosome Rural Municipalities of Lalitpur District.

To achieve that long-term impact, the project aims to ensure that:

•  Project municipalities and provincial government adopt and implement disability inclusive education and child protection policies
• All 40 public schools of the project area are safe, supportive, accessible and inclusive for all, including girls, Dalits and Children with Disabilities
• Local communities are safe, supportive and inclusive to all children, specifically girls, Dalit and CwDs

Nepal has made progress in primary enrollment rate, but dropout rate and learning achievements remain critical issues. Gender and caste-based discrimination and lack of disability inclusion are major concerns. Girls, Janajatis and Dalit students are more likely to drop out and repeat grades, whereas children with disabilities do not get to school at all or results are very poor.

The project will take place in ten wards (smallest administrative unit of Nepal’s governance structure), covering 40 schools and all villages. The project takes a human rights progressive approach to development, creating a systems-level dialogue between rights holders and duty bearers, raising the capacity of local duty bearers and rights holders to ensure the sustainability of results.

Work is done with elected members of wards, rural municipalities and provincial government, officials in rural municipality and provincial level education and social affairs offices, school teachers, principals, hired staff, students, parents, community leaders, parents of children with disabilities and out-of-school children with disabilities, Dalits and girls.

Nepal’s federal structure and administration have been operational only since 2018. The project works at ward, Rural Municipality and Provincial levels, focusing on developing local structures together with duty bearers. Mandatory school-level structures – SMCs and PTAs – will be engaged to formulate and implement school-level policies. Children are activated through child clubs as one main actor in school-level interventions, raising their voices against discriminatory practices, violence and teachers’ absenteeism.

The final beneficiaries are children with disabilities and their families, Dalit children and girls.

• In total at least 214 children with disabilities will be reached. The most vulnerable are CwDs who are not in school. Fulfilment of their right to education and protection is one focus of our intervention. An individual rehabilitation plan will be made for each child. Once in school, special emphasis will be given to the CwDs’ participation in school activities, so that they will also be socially included. Families of CwDs will be trained and form & manage themselves saving & credit groups.
• Another project focus is to socially include Dalit children and make schools free of discrimination. Out-of-school Dalit children will be identified and encouraged to join school.
• Girls will be focused on to continue their education. 50% of child club members will be girls, who will learn to plan and implement their own activities to promote child rights.

The project will reach 40 teachers, as well as a 100 SMC members and PTA members and non-teaching staff. At least 3 300 community members will be reached through innovative Pidhi Kakshya -awareness raising method in villages. Government elected members and officials will also be trained.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland is financing 85 % of the project and 15 % is covered by Interpedia.