Social Service Centre (SOSEC), Nepal, Dailekh Initiatives to Stop Child Marriage in Dailekh District, Nepal Good Practice Documentation 12/19/2017 Table of Contents 1. Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................................ 1 2. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 2 2.1. District Background ...................................................................................................................... 2 2.2. Organizational Background ........................................................................................................... 3 2.3. Objectives of the Document ........................................................................................................ 3 3. Problem Statements .............................................................................................................................. 3 4. Motivating Factors to Work against the Issue ...................................................................................... 5 5. Key Actions-Good Practices ................................................................................................................. 5 5.1. Putaliko Bihe (Marriage of a Doll) - Street Drama ....................................................................... 5 5.2. Support to Empower and Mobilize the Child Clubs .................................................................... 6 5.3. Motivating and Mobilizing the Priest ............................................................................................. 7 5.4. Execution of Legal Provisions by Mobilizing Nepal Police ............................................................ 8 5.5. Model Couple for Work ............................................................................................................... 8 5.6. Public Hearing about Child Marriage ............................................................................................ 9 5.7. Media Mobilization ........................................................................................................................ 9 5.8. Toll-free Numbers and Communication Incentives ................................................................... 10 5.9. Bal Help Line 1098(Ten Eight Nine) ........................................................................................... 11 5.10. Institutional Ownership of the Partners ..................................................................................... 11 5.11. Recharge of Mobile, Pocket Money ............................................................................................ 11 5.12. Recognition to the Campaigners ................................................................................................ 12 5.13. Leader for Action ........................................................................................................................ 12 6. Partners for the Action ....................................................................................................................... 13 7. Results and Evidences ......................................................................................................................... 13 7.1. Trend of Child Marriage; Then and Now ................................................................................... 13 7.2. Numbers of Child Marriage Stopped .......................................................................................... 14 8. Challenges Faced ................................................................................................................................. 15 9. Learning's for the replication .............................................................................................................. 16 10. Sustainability .................................................................................................................................... 16 11. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 17 12. Annexes .......................................................................................................................................... 17 12.1. Stories Child Marriage stopped ............................................................................................. 17 1. Acknowledgement All we are known, that this document is all about deep research, endeavor activities based on anti-child marriage campaign across the Dailekh district by SOSEC Nepal and proactive staff and stake holders and their invigorating contribution. This document inspires to continue good practices in coming days. This is a best practice document throughout proactive endeavor of all direct and indirect helping hands. And this document also helpful for student, researcher, social worker and others who are interested in the area of anti child marriage. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who provided us the possibility to complete this anti-child marriage good practice document. We want to give a special gratitude our partner staff, District Project Coordinator Mr Ambika Prasad Timilsina of Save the Children for his contribution to prepare this document and also the partners AEIN, TDHG, whose contribution made this publication come true through financial support. Furthermore, we would also like to acknowledge with much appreciation the crucial role of the Board and staffs of SOSEC Nepal Dailekh, who did all the hard work. Special thanks go to our team mate, who helps us to assemble the parts and provide feedbacks. Due to the mobilization and support of CFLG Campaigners, Child Club, Youth Club, Women group, VCPC, Police office, PSWs, LRPs and Pandits, the campaign has become successful. SOSEC Nepal Dailekh want to many thanks to the Chief District Officer Prakash Chandra Adhikari, Local Development Officer Dilaram Panthi , Deputy Superintendent of Police Kedar Rajaure, Women Development Officer Anita Gyawali, Binu Shrestha (SC- Child Protection Officer), Dambar Bahadur Rokaya (CCWB-CRRP), Manju Khadka (President of SOSEC Nepal) who invested their full effort in guiding the team in achieving the goal. We have to appreciate the guidance given by other supervisor as well as the panels especially in our project implementation that has improved our preparation skills due to their comment and advices. I would like to thank to CCWB, DCWB, WCO, Save the Children, AEIN,TDHG for kind support to conduct the anti child marriage campaign in dailekh district. SOSEC Nepal Dailekh has become success for scale up the anti child marriage campaign in Dailekh and which document has become the best practice in social work. 1 2. Introduction 2.1. District Background Out of the total population of Nepal (26,494,509), 38 percent are children (CBS, 2011). Approximately 45 percent of children die before their 5th birthday whereas 21 percent are under weight. Only 84 percent children attend the schools after their 11th birthday. Child labor has also been the real issues in Nepal. About 25 percent girls and 17 percent boys work as the child labor. 51 percent of girls are married before 18 years old. Children remain to be a vulnerable sector of society. Dailekh District is located in Bheri Zone of the Mid-western Development Region of Nepal. It borders with Jajarkot district to the East, Achham district to the West, Kalikot to the North and Surkhet to the South. The district has four municipalities & seven rural municipalities, and two constituency areas. The total area of the district is 1,502 km2. The district lies mostly in the Mid-Hills. The lowest elevation point is 544 meter whereas the highest is 4,168 meter from mean sea level. Because of the elevation differences, the district has three different types of climate: tropical up to 1,000 m (16% of area), subtropical from 1,000-2,000 m (69%) and temperate above 2,000 m (15%). The annual rainfall is about 1,500 mm and temperatures vary from 4 ºC to 34 ºC. Subsistence agriculture, mainly small-scale livestock, is the main source of livelihood of the majority of the population (79%). Due to low level of agricultural production, the majority of the households face acute food shortages for a large part of the year. According to the National Census 2011, the total population of the district is 261,770 comprising with 48% female and 52% male residing in 48,915 households. Dailekh district has an average population density of around 174 people per square km. The average family size is 5.35. Life expectancy of the people is 58 years. The average literacy rate is about 48% (32% female and 65% male are literate). Dailekh district has a multi ethnic composition with Chhetri, Kami, Thakuri, Brahman, Magar, Damai, Sarki, Newar, and Sanyashi (Giri and Puri). The most common language is Nepali (98.98%) followed by Magar (0.46%) and others (0.56 %). Although accessibility to Dailekh is limited, this is improving rapidly. The district has access to the Karnali Highway (Surkhet-Jumla) which is currently being upgraded to bituminous standard by Department of Road (DOR). The DOR is also currently upgrading a 67 km feeder road between the district headquarters and Surkhet to bituminous standard. Mid-Hill highway is under construction. 2 Besides this, there are many cultural and traditional mal-practices prevailed in the district.