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अन्वेषी नेपालमा महिलामाथि वर्षभरि भएका हिंसाका घटनाहरू संकलित, अंकित एवं विश्लेषणसहितको एक महत्वपूर्ण वर्ष पुस्तक हो। सर्वेक्षणमा आधारित यो पुस्तक ओरेक नेपालले सन् २००८ बाट वर्षेनी प्रकाशन गर्दै आइरहेको छ । महिलामाथि हुने हिंसाका घटनाहरूको द्ध नक्साङ्कन गर्ने, सरोकारवाला एवं सम्बन्धित जिम्मेवार निकायसमक्ष महिला हिंसाको वास्तविकता प्रस्तुत गरी आवश्यक कदम चाल्न दबाब सृजना गर्ने उद्देश्यले अन्वेषी प्रकाशन, वितरण एवं प्रचारप्रसार कार्यलाई प्राथमिकताका साथ निरन्तरता दिँदै आइएको छ । अन्वेषीले विभिन्न भू– भागमा बसोबास गर्ने भिन्न–भिन्न सामाजिक समूह र समुदायका महिलाहरूमाथि भइरहेको हिंसा, तिनको स्वरूप र त्यसका प्रभावहरूबारे जानकारी दिन्छ । महिलामाथि हुने अनेक प्रकारका हिंसाहरू सार्वजनिक रूपमा बाहिर आउन सकेका छैनन्। नेपालको न्याय प्रणालीले पीडित÷प्रभावितहरूलाई पूर्णतः न्याय दिन्छ भन्ने कुराको विश्वसनीयता आर्जन गरिसकेको छैन । प्रभावितलाई नै घटनाको दोषि देख्ने सामाजिक संरचना परिवर्तन हुन सकेको छैन । त्यसैले पनि धेरै पीडितहरू न्यायिक प्रक्रियामा जान हिच्किचाउने गरेका छन्। हिंसाबाट मुक्त हुनका लागि पीडित÷प्रभावित पुग्ने पहिलो थलो न्यायिक निकाय हुन सकेको छैन । हिंसा भोगेका तर कानूनी प्रक्रियामा जान नसकेका वा नगएका र त्यसबाट सिर्जित अनेक प्रभावहरूसँग जुध्दै आइरहेका घटनाहरूको दस्तावेजीकरणमा अन्वेषीले विशेष भूमिका खेल्दै आइरहेको छ । ओरेक नेपाल र अन्वेषीले सोही भूमिकाको निरन्तरता यसपाली पनि कायम राखेको छ । पुस्तकमा प्रस्तुत हिंसाका तथ्य–तथ्याङ्कहरूले हाम्रो जटिल सामाजिक संरचनाभित्रका सबै पाटाहरू केलाउने पर्याप्त आधार नदिएपनि महिला हिंसाका मूल स्वरूप, प्रवृत्ति र त्यसको प्रभावबारे एक तहको सूचना प्रवाह गर्न सक्षम छ भन्नेमा ओरेक नेपाल विश्वस्त छ । साथै महिला हिंसा रोकथाम र समाधानका निमित्त चालिनुपर्ने कदमहरू पहिल्याउनको लागि अन्वेषी एक उपयोगी दस्तावेज हुनेछ भन्ने अपेक्षा राख्दछ ।
जबसम्म महिलामाथि हुने हिंसाको वास्तविकता वाहिर आउन सक्दैन तवसम्म समाधानको लागि वास्तविक योजना, नीति तथा कार्यक्रमहरू बनाउन सकिंदैन । बनाएपनि कार्यान्वयन गर्न सकिंदैन । राज्यका संयन्त्रलाई यस्ता आधारभूत जानकारीको अभावमा महिलामाथि हुने हिंसा रोक्न, प्रभवितलाई सहयोग गर्न, समस्या अनुरूपको आवश्यक योजना तर्जुमा गर्न तथा यस सम्बन्धी कुनै पनि काम गर्न असहज हुन्छ र भइरहेको छ । व्यवस्थित र वास्तविक आँकडा र तथ्यगत प्रमाणले घटना पुष्टी गर्न, गराउन सक्दा नै विशेषतः सम्वन्धित निकाय र नीति निर्माणकर्ताहरूलाई समस्या समाधानका लागि पहल गर्न नीति तथा कार्यक्रम बनाउन सहज हुन्छ । तथ्य र तथ्याङ्कले अपराध अनुसारको वास्तविक र कार्यान्वयन गर्न सकिने कानुन बनाउन र पीडक वा अपराधीलाई उसले गरेको अपराधको भार अनुसारको कानुनी कार्वाही गर्न पनि सहयोग पु¥याउँछ । यही अवस्थालाई आत्मसात गर्दै महिलामाथि भएको हिंसाको यथार्थ अवस्थालाई प्रस्तुत गर्ने मुख्य उद्देश्यले महिला पुनस्र्थापना केन्द्र (ओरेक) ले सन् २००८ देखि हरेक वर्ष महिला हिंसाविरुद्धको वर्ष पुस्तक अन्वेषी प्रकाशन गर्ने क्रमलाई निरन्तरता दिँदै आएको छ
22nd July 2021 
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Adolescence is the period of physical, psychological, and social maturing from childhood to adulthood. Generally the term "adolescent" refers to individuals between the ages of 10 to 19 years. (WHO, 1989). There is growing recognition that because of a combination of biological, psychological and social factors adolescents face many different health risks and problem such as sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS early and frequent pregnancy, accidents and violence. On the other hand adolescents are usually very energetic and curios to information that pertains to them and are anxious to become more autonomous in their decision making. Such curiosity and interest in learning offers great opportunities for improving health and development. The health of adolescents is profoundly linked to their development since their physical, psychological and social abilities help to determine their behavior. The young people of today are tomorrow's adults. It is of paramount importance that an environment be created and adequate support provided to enable adolescents to develop their full potential and to enjoy a healthy and responsible adulthood.
This study was conducted by WOREC in technical and financial support of Grand Challenge Canada (GCC) and Memorial University of Newfound land, Canada. This study sought to provide new ways of teaching and learning methods to adolescent in sexual and reproductive health so that they can be well prepared for their future life. Present study has tried to look at ways to improve ASRH (adolescent sexual and reproductive health).
Study was conducted from May 2018 to December 2019 (20 months) where intervention period was from December 2018 to September 2019 (10 months). Study was conducted in Nuwakot and Rasuwa district which was badly hit by earthquake of 2015. Study site were chosen where government has taken initiative to promote delivery of adolescent friendly service (AFS). Study design was mixed methods, explanatory and exploratory sequential approaches with peer ethnography. Survey, focus group discussion (FGD), in depth interview (IDI), gallery walk were methods used to collect data.
In the study, five site as intervention site and five site as non-intervention site from both district were chosen purposively i.e altogether 10 intervention site and ten nonintervention site were chosen. Peer education program was conducted among intervention site where teachers and students were trained on SRHR. Tablets with SRHR app called “Sahayogi” were provided to schools of intervention sites. Peers were made main focal person who taught their friends on using tablet and kept observing their behavior throughout the intervention period. After the intervention, difference between knowledge and health seeking behavior of adolescent in these two groups were compared. Study has tried to see what actually worked and what did not works with adolescent to receive safe information and seek health services. The study has tried to look at various social aspect, lack of access to education and health in a post disaster recovery context and also the effectiveness of adolescent program run by government.
Major findings of the study
- Early marriage is common in both Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts. Among Aryan community (Brahmin and Chhetri), marriage by parent’s wish (arranged marriage) used to be common, but now self-initiated marriage has become common. Whereas among Mongolian community (Tamang), self-initiated marriage is a part of culture.
- The main reasons for early marriage identified were lack of awareness, early marriage as a culture and lack of social support for inter-caste marriage.
- Very few adolescents return to school after marriage. Because of shyness they did not continue their school. There is not a welcoming environment in school and community where adolescents can come and continue their study after marriage.
- There is an awkwardness and hesitation among teachers while teaching ASRH.
- Peer education program was found to be effective program for students. Students got more knowledge on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) which was not included in their curriculum.
- Participants stated that, sahayogi app has full information on ASRH. Students were excited to use the technology because they have not used such technology before and due to games and videos it was also fun to use.
- Topics such as masturbation, nightfall (nocturnal ejaculation) and information on LGBTQ, sexualities were completely new topic to participants.
- At the end of intervention, 66 peer educators felt that their expertise was recognized and they were in a position to be agents of change. These peer educator performed, used a variety of media such as theatre, songs and games to generate awareness and raise interest, not only amongst their peers but also at the community level.
- As an effect of peer education program, students has become less shy and they can deal with issue of ASRH comfortably. This shows peer education program is a good method of educating young adolescents on ASRH.
- In all 20 schools an Adolescent Friendly Service Corner (AFS Corner) for education were not established.
- Uptake of SRHR services by adolescents was very low. Study shows there is a lack of trust with health care provider. Only married adolescent sought ASRH service. Adolescent girls seek more services than boys.
- Out of 20 health institutions, 17 institutions do not have separate adolescent counselling corner. Some health institutions had provided counselling service by taking another room where there is privacy. Because of the earthquake most of the health institutions were in temporary buildings with insufficient space.
- Most of the health care providers think their health post is not fully adolescent friendly. They mentioned, lack of proper building and lack of staff as main challenges for establishing adolescent friendly health services. They themselves were not satisfied with the service they are delivering.
- After intervention number of students increased who gave correct answer on issue like LGBTIQ, concept of homosexuality, menstrual exclusion, causes of uterine prolapse and cybercrime.
- Study shows, parents identified the challenges they face both culturally and with regard to their own lack of knowledge in sharing information with their own children. This shows clearly that parents are not a viable source of sexual and reproductive health information in many rural communities.
- Best way to educate adolescents on ASRH is using a multiple approach that includes both mobile technology (apps), other media such as videos, arts based media such as theatre and songs and classic educational approaches that included an updating of the curriculum. This recognizes the different needs of various learners and provides a number of opportunities for people to gain access to the information.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of human life. In Nepal, a strict lockdown was imposed by the government starting on March 24, 2020. This resulted in all citizens having to be confined to their respective homes. Families who could afford domestic household staff and had arrangements for live-out domestic workers were then left on their own, since the commuting housemaids could not travel to and from work. In this climate of home confinement, the burden of all the household work – ranging from cooking, cleaning, washing, and managing children – most likely fell on the women in the household.
We postulated that one of the consequences of the lockdown is an increased workload for women in the household. For the purpose of assessing this hypothesis, we designed and implemented an online survey (spanning 3-5 minutes), and also conduced telephone interviews with respondents who did not have access to the internet. We collected data for eight days in early May (in 2020). We obtained a total of 317 responses from 29 districts in all seven provinces in Nepal.
The average age range of the survey respondents was 21 to 35 years. Three-fourths of the respondents were married women. Just over 50% of the women had completed a post-bachelor degree. A large percentage of them were engaged in the non-governmental (NGO) sector.
Obviously, the survey included responses only from those women who wished to respond, and had access to the internet or a telephone, and furthermore, were interested in responding to the request. Mindful of this limitation in the data obtained, we summarize the main findings that emerged from the survey below.
Nearly half (48%) of the women reported that household/ care work during the lockdown has been challenging because of the increased work burden. Similarly, 47% of the respondents stated that they also had to extend their office work hours. Nearly two-thirds (65%) claimed that balancing work for both home and professional career had been a challenge. Further, the working office hours were extended for the majority of unmarried women. However, doing household work had been comparatively more challenging to married women than single women (50% v 32%). Overall, the overwhelming
majority of the women (80%) reported increasing their working hours, from one hour to more than four hours.
Nearly one in 10 women did not get any help from their family members in undertaking household chores. Consequently, they needed to increase their workload, particularly during the lockdown. Nearly half (47%) reported that they had the burden of multi-tasking. Likewise, one-third felt they had an increase in stress. They also stated that other family members were expecting all the household chores to be done by them. Some women (4%) also experienced having to spend a lot of time dealing with an abusive spouse.
Despite having had the additional burden of household chores during the lockdown, the overwhelming majority of respondents (82%) felt that they did not have any particularly bad experience, but that they had a good experience in being together with family and being confined in the house. Three out of five respondents felt that they were protected from the coronavirus by being confined to their homes. They did not have to spend time commuting to and from work, they were able to apply their discretion in managing office work from home, and they were able to balance and manage time between home and office work while at home.
The lockdown also adversely affected the health of the respondents. Nearly two in five reported having faced some kind of psychological health issues. About 31% reported having had physical health issues, and additional one in 10 reported to have experienced sexual and reproductive health issues.
The above data make it clear that the protracted lockdown period in Nepal has placed an additional burden on women, and particularly on married women. The women were multitasking as a coping mechanism to accomplish the work of both home and office during the lockdown. It is also clear that the women have felt additional stress, and have experienced additional mental and psychological health problems during the lockdown period.
Clearly, domestic work is still considered a gendered work; primarily a female’s work, and married women share more burden than single women in their households. Conscious efforts, through discussions and awareness, need to be made so that domestic work such as cooking and cleaning are not a gendered role, but rather viewed and treated as basic life skills. Such an orientation can and should begin with the family at an early age. Expectedly, a change can come about easier and faster in urban and educated households, than in the more rural and less educated households.
Communities and public entities should be engaged in addressing the inequalities and identifying strategies for reforms. It does take time for the century-old gender- based roles in the organization and management of households and community to shift, but it is never too early to begin making changes in the right direction. The data, as presented here even with its limitations, stress the areas that need attention. The current pandemic has provided the opportunity to revisit some of the areas of gender inequalities. If anything, the confinement period during the pandemic has aggravated the inequalities and inequities even more strikingly
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