Project Information
| Project Name: | Addressing Child Marriage in Nepal through Behavior Change Communication and Social Mobilization: Chunauti |
| Project Description: | |
| This project is a three year project (2008 - 2011) is to advocate for the reduction of Child marrige. CARE Nepal will be the implementing agency for this project. It will engage local NGO partners as sub-grantees to implement the project in different districts, based on their community level presence and capacities. The project is funded by USAID's Women in Development Office. The proposed project titled Chunauti, which is a Nepali word and means "challenge", aims to change the harmful traditional practice of child marriage that is both a cause and a consequence of GBV. The overall goal of the project is to “decrease the harmful practice of child marriage in the three districts of Dhanusha, Mahottari and Rupandehi, and strengthen the enabling environment at the national and district levels to combat child marriage and other forms of GBV". Child marriage is a gross form of child rights violation and is punishable by state law machinery. The project specific objectives are to a) transform community norms that underpin child marriage through multiple channels: peer educators, formal and non-formal leaders, community-based organizations, the school system and a behavior change communication (BCC) campaign; b) scale-up promising practices through integration of these interventions in CARE Nepal's ongoing multi-sector programming, and c) advocate for the establishment and enforcement of laws and policies that address child marriage and other forms of gender based violence at the district and national levels. Project efforts will lead to different tangible outputs, the major ones including: - Creation of active P Educators in all 1008 wards who making regular home contacts - Establishing of active CMECs in all 112 VDCs who are regularly meeting and reviewing the situation - Active anti-GBV forums in every school in 112 VDCs that address child marriage and GBV issues - Development of young women leaders in the project areas - Active engagement of community volunteers and community based organizations in anti-child marriage issues in the seven scale up CARE-Nepal projects - National level advocacy efforts leading to better law enforcement The Chunauti project will share, at this higher level, best practices and lessons learned at the community level to prevent child marriages and will advocate for their scale up across the country and the effective implementation of policy measures Major activities: Social mobilization - Social mobilization initiatives will be directed to increase awareness, create an enabling environment that promotes and rewards families delaying age at marriage and contribute to developing young female leaders in the community. The Chunauti project will engage already existing community-level volunteers and community based organizations formed by various government and NGO development initiatives. Peer Education - Peer education is one of the most critical interventions in achieving behavior change outcomes and sustaining efforts beyond the project life. There are about 32 VDCs in Dhanusha district that already have active peer educator couples who are focusing on child marriage prevention efforts. Similarly in the VDCs of Rupandehi district, the SAMANATA project of CARE has engaged active volunteers called Change Agents to facilitate social equity. As part of the Chunauti project, suitability and willingness of these community volunteers to act as peer educators to stop child marriages and address GBV in their communities will be considered, and new peer educators will be selected by the respective communities as needed. Strenghtening Child Marriage Eradication Committees (CMECs)- With support from local NGO partners, the project will establish committees to help stop child marriages and prevent GBV in each of the 112 VDCs. The formation and functioning of these committees in the earlier reproductive health project in 32 VDCs of Dhanusha district will offer significant lessons that guide the formation and scale up of the Chunauti Project. As part of the Chunauti project, the existing committees in Dhanusha district will be further strengthened and their members will be involved in establishing similar committees in newer areas Anti-GBV forums in schools - The Chunauti project will initially map all schools (especially targeting children above ten years of age) and colleges in the project areas. The Parent-Teacher Committees of selected schools will be activated by the NGO staff and their scope will be enhanced with inclusion of selected students to form an anti-GBV forum in each school. NGO staff will establish periodic meetings of these anti-GBV forums to identify potential children at risk for early marriage. Through these forums the Chunauti project will also establish a child-to-child mechanism to reach the families and children who are outside school. Child clubs and developing leadership among young girls - With adequate orientation, older children in the anti-GBV school forums will be formed into solidarity groups called child clubs in their communities which will be supported by the peer educators. The Chunauti project will train and prepare a select group of adolescent girls in the child clubs as leaders among their peer groups. Behavior Change Communication - Behavior change communication is another important strategy that will contribute to rapid normative change in the selected communities. CARE will conduct an assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) during the initial phase of the project. Findings from this study will form the basis for segmentation of the BCC audience, developing of district-specific BCC strategy, and participatory development of messages and communication products. The Chunauti project will develop a multi-channel communication approach with equal emphasis on mass media, local or other types of media (including traditional and modern communication aids) and inter-personal communication by PEs Advocate for the establishment and enforcement of laws and policies - Leveraging its national level presence and existing relationships with the Government and other international and national development agencies, CARE Nepal will make substantial efforts to highlight the issues of child marriage and GBV at critical levels. Public - Private Partnerships - Public-Private Partnerships will be piloted to enhance the effectiveness and reach of the BCC strategy. Private sector involvement will be pursued in areas such as organizing communication campaigns, school based competitions and reward-recognition forums. Private and public enterprises with greater rural market reach will be involved in printing anti-child marriage messages and legal information Community-financed social security plans or insurance schemes for girls - The Chunauti project will pilot financing schemes like scholarships, insurance or community-guaranteed educational-loans. The project will utilize some resources of this grant to attract VDCs, private individuals and the corporate sector to pool funds and initiate this innovation in select areas of each district. | |
| Country: | Nepal (View Country Profile) |
| Sector: | Other |
| Type: | Development |
| Project Number: | NPL072 |
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