Dilip BLOGS......................

Peripheral Perspective for Advocacy

2014-12-27T13:34:00.001-08:00

Advocacy campaigns are planned, designed or executed for specific purpose of change or modifications. So, the analysis of peripheral context has to be made regarding the socio-political perspective of the country, state or region.

Bulk of this analysis need to scan the recent context through your analysis of the problems and the solutions and the research you have conducted on the issue. Yet, more analysis is needed in order to ensure your advocacy strategy is tailored to the context of your campaign

You can identify the following after thorough scanning of the situation.

Ø Prospective targets – those with the power to effect the change you are seeking and those to whom you will direct your advocacy efforts.

Ø Prospective alliances that may help you bring about the change you are seeking.

Ø Potential opponents who you may need to confront, neutralize or convert to your cause if you are to succeed.

Ø The most appropriate policy channels and processes to focus on.

Ø What tools are most likely to influence those with power in your context (i.e. discreet private lobbying? Or public campaigning, media work, awareness-raising, alliance-building – or all of these).

Peripheral context you will need to be aware of:

Ø Which are the institutions, organizations, and individuals you need to influence in order to bring about the change you are seeking?

Ø Who are your allies and will they work with you?

Ø Who are your adversaries and will they try to weaken or mute your advocacy initiative?

Ø Which actors have initiative? Responsibility for fulfilling the rights relevant to this issue (i.e. the duty bearers)?

Ø What are the upcoming political opportunities for getting your issue onto decision makers’ agendas? And what are the policy processes and procedures relevant to this issue?

Ø Does the current political context pose any risks to your organization, staff or to rights holders if you were to engage in advocacy on this issue?

Ø What is the political culture you are operating in and will this affect the approach you take?

Ø Is there space – and are there mechanisms – for civil society to engage with and influence the political process?

Ø Do the current priorities of the national or local government fit with our advocacy priorities?

Challenges in Impact Assessment of the Development Interventions

2014-08-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

What is impact?

Impact is a widely used but rarely defined term. In general, impact assessment focuses more on the implications of development and relief interventions in the medium and long-term, as opposed to their immediate outputs-although documenting these is still an important part of the process. Impact is the extent to which our work has produced lasting or significant changes in the lives at-risk and vulnerable communities. These changes can be positive, negative, intended or unintended.

Why to Assess Impact?

Assessing the impact of the work is critical. It allows us to:

· determine the extent to which objectives are being fulfilled

· improve accountability to those we work with –targeted populations, partners, the international development community, trustees and donors

· feed learning from the work into strategic policy and planning processes and advocacy in order to enhance the quality and impact of the work

· share learning with others (e.g. nonprofits, civil societies, bilateral and multilateral aid agencies, governments, partners) who can use it to inform their own efforts

Why Impact Assessment is challenging?

Attempting to ‘measure’ the impact of change and relief work is rarely straightforward. In the complex economic, social and political environments in which development agencies work, identifying a causal relationship between a particular activity and a particular outcome is usually difficult and sometimes impossible. Numerous factors contribute to change and attributing change to the actions of one agency is fraught with difficulty. This becomes even more challenging when examining the impact of long-term development processes, where impacts may occur only years after interventions have been completed. Moreover, impact is largely subjective – a positive change for one person or group may not be so for another. As nonprofit organizations increasingly engage with policy processes they are encountering particular problems with assessing the impact of their advocacy work, and more problematic still, demonstrating that policy change will indeed provide positive impacts for the most vulnerable.

Contemporary Moves from the International Development Communities

2014-07-31T14:15:00.001-07:00

The Approaches of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from International Aids

Recent moves of Official Development Assistance (ODA) are strongly influenced by the United Nations Millennium Development Declaration in 2000 and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2005. At the same time, there is a rising prominence of human rights as an integral part of aid policy. Sometimes these new initiatives and approaches converge, while sometimes there are tensions between them. The Millennium Development Declaration sparked a number of commitments by industrialized countries to increase and to better target their international development budgets. Net disbursements of ODA increased to US $119.8 billion in 2008, the highest figure ever recorded (in 2009 it was US $119.6 billion). The total, however, remains well below the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income which was only reached by five countries in 2009. The impact of the global economic crisis on international development assistance has not yet been fully assessed, but it is expected to lead to significant reductions.

The process that started with the Millennium Development Declaration revolves primarily around aid volumes and the targeting of aid to countries most in need. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, and the ensuing process that included the adoption of the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action, focuses primarily on the modules of aid delivery. One of the most significant commitments is: “Developing country governments will take stronger leadership of their own development policies, and will engage with their parliaments and citizens in shaping those policies. Donors will support them by respecting countries’ priorities, investing in their human resources and institutions, making greater use of their systems to deliver aid, and increasing the predictability of aid flows.

There is apparent tension between the trend towards country-led initiatives inspired by the Paris Declaration, and the agenda of global programs inspired by the Millennium Development Goals such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) and the Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI). This has sparked a vibrant debate about the international aid architecture. Several global programs are now negotiating joint initiatives supporting the development of national systems in health and education.

Another major change in international cooperation is the rising prominence of human rights as an integral part of aid policy. A growing number of multilateral and bilateral agencies, including the United Nations, apply a human rights perspective as an integral part of their development work. This does not mean that they have fully abandoned traditional needs-based financing and program practice but there is a growing recognition of the intrinsic link between poverty and human rights at the policy and strategy level.

Reorganization of the United Nations

At the 2005 World Summit leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a strengthened United Nations with enhanced authority and capacity to effectively and rapidly respond to the full range of global challenges of our time. On taking on the position of Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon stated that the priorities for reform were peacekeeping, pre-emptive diplomacy, climate change and improving the lot of poverty hit countries, as well as internal reform. As part of the reform agenda the Human Rights Commission was transformed into the Human Rights Council and a new Peace Building Commission was established. Among, the latest reform topics are peacekeeping reform, a broad area that includes incremental changes and even large leaps such as the proposed creation of a UN Standing Force. UN humanitarian reform has included both reforms to financing of emergencies but also the introduction of the cluster system. It sought to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian response by ensuring greater predictability, accountability and partnership. For instance the Country Coordinating Mechanisms, a national institution of the public and private sectors established to govern the programs funded with grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. The goal of the changes was to reach more beneficiaries, with more comprehensive needs-based relief and protection, in a more effective and timely manner.

Present Aid Environment for International Nonprofit Organizations

New moves described earlier have major consequences on the working environment for International NGOs. Increasingly, development funds are made available to governments or other national bodies in developing countries. Fewer and fewer ODA agencies are directly contracting International NGOs for project implementation and more and more International Nonprofit Organizations are being contracted locally. At the same time, local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are becoming stronger and have increased legitimacy.

These changes are bringing Nonprofit Organizations closer to the workings of government than ever before. New space is being created for Nonprofit Organizations and in many countries there is increasing consultation between government and civil society. However, at the same time, many governments view International Nonprofit Organizations with suspicion as they may challenge government’s accountability and transparency or compete for funding. The contracts under which governments engage Nonprofit Organizations may be limiting and primarily service-oriented, leaving little space for programs to support the voices of rights holders. It is a balance that needs to be negotiated and is one of the reasons for the publication of this Program Guide.

Other trends include the establishment of large philanthropic foundations, social entrepreneurship and the increasing investment by the corporate sector in social corporate responsibility programs. These programs pursue objectives that generate common public goods in the social and environmental sectors. These developments provide new opportunities for International Nonprofit Organizations and at the same time require them to adjust the way they operate in order to optimize the use of this potential.

And finally, the transition of some countries from low to middle-income status offers new opportunities that require International Nonprofit Organizations to revisit their traditional business model to effectively capitalize on the local potential, raise funds and mobilize civil society to address most vulnerable issues for in the country.

Newborn and Maternal Health Issues in Developing Countries

2014-07-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

Numbers of barrier stand in the way of the rights of the children to a healthy start in life in developing nations especially in most countries in Africa and South Asia: High neonatal mortality, and maternal mortality rates, the growing rates of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and very little attention to the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of children with disabilities. The structural causes for the high maternal mortality are low social status of women, frequent child bearing during under age, heavy workload, less decision making power during seeking health care services resulting their poor health and malnourished. The most critical medical causes for the same are heavy bleeding after delivery, obstructive labor, eclampsia and puerperal sepsis. The structural causes are the same as neonatal mortality as for maternal mortality. The most critical medical causes for neonatal mortality are preterm birth, low birth weight, infection, low body temperature and asphyxia. Availability and accessibility of quality health care services to the women and newborns are very limited due to very low resources though Government services. Mother and child health are the prioritized key elements of its overarching framework with its several strategies. Therefore, government has sought the support from supporting organizations i.e. International Nonprofits and Multilateral/Bilateral Donor Agencies. A second major health problems being faced are the sharp increase in the rates of mother-to-child HIV transmission. Currently, women in these parts of the world constitute the second largest group of people living with HIV/AIDS and the prevalence of HIV transmission from mother to child are vulnerable. The number newborns who are HIV infected each year are increasing despite the fact that the risk of transmission can easily be reduced to negligible levels with appropriate interventions. Though the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission component of the Government’s HIV/AIDS prevention strategies does target some high-risk women, particularly female sex workers and the partners or wives of intravenous drug users, the wives of migrant workers are often not reached. Certain disabilities are most prevalent among marginalized. The physical disabilities occur due to the improper treatment or unavailability of health care services, and due to lack of awareness and the dependence on traditional healers. Approximately 50% of disabilities are preventable if these could be addressed early stage. The service delivery is by and large confined to the urban areas, while most of the remote rural areas have been left out.

Slits in Legislation, Law Enforcement, National Policies and Programs that are Contributing to those Gaps and Problem

Government’s body of Health and Population has programs for newborn and maternal health. But it limited to capital city or other major cities/towns. Developments of guidelines on integrated mother/child health monitoring are absent or very weak. It has to be rolled out at implementation level to address the weak supervision and monitoring system so that supporting organization could support in this concern. Governments have to expand high impact interventions of community based new born care program throughout the country. Governments in some South Asian and African countries have just started to introduce childhood disability services as a part of the child health. It is necessary to support the government to help implement the strategy on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of children with disabilities. Children with disabilities have rights to be cared for by their family members, have access to free treatment, have assistive devices and receive reconstructive surgery and physical, psycho-social and family rehabilitation. Some of the governments in South Asia and Africa have just initiated piloting the local health governance strengthening program to capacitate the communities for the sustained health care services.

Issues of Advocacy at the National Level

Specifically four issues have been identified at national level for advocacy in most of the South Asian and African nations through the technical support of WHO (World Health Organization), International Nonprofit Organizations and Health Foundations. These are –I)Integration of services for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of children with disabilities within the child health in the government health system 2) Replication of the pregnant women group - one of the best approaches for behavioral change communication at the community level for maternal and child health, 3) Scaling up the local health governance strengthening program in the country for sustained health service care at community level and 4) Introduction of prevention of HIV from mother to child transmission (PMTCT+) at the level of family care and community.

Gaps in Capacities at National Level

The monitoring and evaluation of the community based newborn care is weak. The community based newborn care has not equally distributed to all parts of the nation. There is a lack of dedicated policy and programs. A childhood disability service unit is felt needed within the Government’s body of Health at the national level.

Advocacy, for positive change

2014-07-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

Advocacy is a set of organized actions around a specific issue to bring about changes in the policy and behaviors of institutions and/or specific public groups in order to effect an identified and desired social, economic, environmental or political change.

In other words, Advocacy is action aimed at changing the policies, position and programs of governments, institutions or organizations involving an organized, systematic influencing process on matters of public interest. In addition, advocacy can be a social change process affecting attitudes, social relationship and power relations, which strengthens civil society and opens up democratic spaces.

Advocacy is also defined as actions designed to draw a community’s attention to an issue and to direct policy-makers to a solution. It consists of legal and political activities that influence the shape and practice of laws. Advocacy initiatives require organization, strategic thinking, information, communication, outreach and mobilization.

Advocacy involves different strategies aimed at influencing decision-making at the local, states, provincial and national levels, specifically:

• who decides – elections, appointments, ministers, boards of advisors, judges, managing directors, etc

• what is decided – laws, policies, national priorities, programs, services, budgets, etc

• how it is decided – accessibility of information, consultation and/or involvement of people in decision-making, responsiveness to citizens/stakeholders, accountability for decisions

Put simply, advocacy means fighting for our rights. Advocacy includes figuring out how bureaucracies and systems work, and fighting decisions that deny us things we are legally entitled to – protection from discrimination, access to social assistance, education, employment and health care, fair treatment by the justice system, etc. Advocacy also includes lobbying organizations, institutions, and various levels of government to change their rules and regulations that deny people the full economic, political, and legal rights set out in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Advocacy for what?

· To address injustices and power imbalances and effect changes that improve the lives of excluded, vulnerable and underrepresented communities

· To secure the human rights

· To defend the excluded and struggling populations from adverse policy changes

· To effect a bigger change than is possible with grassroots programs alone

· To scale up the impact of individual programs and make them more sustainable

· To encourage the participation of citizens in the capacity building of state institutions and in holding those institutions to account over their human rights obligations

· To establish the legitimacy and credibility of civil society organizations – including community-based organizations – through their interactions with decision-makers

· To build and strengthen cooperation between nonprofits, governments, corporations and others with a stake in the realization of human rights

KMSN Tool

2014-07-18T18:45:00.002-07:00

K=Keep

M=Modify

S=Stop

N=New Initiatives

This tool is practiced within a team for internal assessment. Can also be practiced with larger team including grass-root partners, donors and other stakeholders;

KEEP	MODIFY	STOP	NEW INITIATIVES
List of the activities that we have been practicing and are very effective. We should keep it continued.	List of the activities that are existed but can be continued with some modifications.	List of the activities which are being practiced but are not effective at all. Let’s stop them.	The activities which are never practiced within our program. Let’s plan, design and implement it.

Grassroot Partner’s Capacity Assessment/Development Plan for Foundations and International Nonprofit Organizations

2014-07-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

Since partnerships are relationships entered into by two or more organizations in order to achieve results that are committed to and where responsibility is shared. The parties involved generally share a vision and posses’ mutual values. Each party makes a contribution of value and these are clearly defined by the parties in a formal agreement, as are issues of shared resources or mutual accountability and influence. If there is risk involved, it is clearly defined and articulated with a statement of accountability and/or liability. The relationships are long-term and generally evolve over an extended period of time and the level of intensity may vary throughout the duration of the partnership.

Characteristics of partnerships include:

The long-term benefit to each party outweighs the significant investment in time, human and financial capital to build relationships.

An investment in capacity building will produce effective, poverty-focused institutions that address the needs of communities.

Each party brings and gains a comparative advantage from the partnership.

Tasks and/or results either cannot be achieved alone, or success is more likely by combining resources and expertise.

Systems that promote inter-organizational cooperation.

Organization’s systems and procedures need to be reviewed aligned with the Strategic Directions for Partnerships. Following are examples of points for consideration:

Legal Implications and Accountability

• Determine legal issues and implications of working through partnerships and ensure your approach is consistent with applicable laws and accountability to all stakeholders.

• Review approaches and formats of formal agreements to address legal requirements while at the same time reflecting a move towards more mutual obligations and removing unnecessary prohibitive restrictions and clauses.

Financial Management/Administration

• Formats and procedures for agreements those are not intimidating to partners.

• Timely follow-up on signing and processing of agreements.

• Accounting and financial reporting that provides accountability but is not overly burdensome to partners.

• Timely release of funds to partners.

Monitoring and evaluation

• Increase staff accountability for development results.

• Educate donors and advocate with them for policies and practices that address partners’ and partner stakeholder needs.

• Develop monitoring and evaluation systems focused on bottom-up as well as top-down accountability.

Structures/Functions and Roles

• Recognize the viability of the partnership approach and respect the integrity of partner organizations in all phases of the audit process.

• Consider implementing a process of partner certification using due diligence reviews to reduce risk and ensure accountability.

• Institute an internal review of ‘readiness and ability’ of staff for working in partnerships based on the principles in this framework.

• Entrust implementation to indigenous organizations.

• Clarify roles and authorities of all players including accountability for effectively working through partnerships and strategic alliances.

• Institute a process of joint evaluation and adjustments of partner relationships.

• Reward experimentation and calculated risk taking.

• Clarify minimum needed or maximum possible control in partnerships and alliances.

Assessment of partnerships will include measures on each of the following dimensions

• The extent of shared or common vision for the work.

• Strong and shared leadership.

• Shared problem solving.

• Mutual accountability.

• Transparency.

• Attention to process.

• Communication.

• Decision-making / Power Equity.

• Mutual Trust.

• Mutual recognition and credit.

It is not always realistic to expect complete congruity on vision, goals, interests and values at the level of each organization as a whole. Partnerships will, at a minimum, be characterized by a shared or common vision or purpose at the level of the shared work. This in part will be determined through a process of mutual ‘due diligence’. Due diligence is a mechanism to determine compatibility, identify risks and opportunities and define the way of working together. To achieve the desired results we would make long terms commitments. However, partnerships are not open-ended and require negotiation and agreement up-front about the conditions under which the agreement will be terminated or the intensity reduced. Periodic reflections to reassess external and internal factors are necessary and adjustments should be made as needed.

My experience on Cultural Integrity and Cross Cultural Communications

2014-07-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

I have closely worked with Asian, African American, White and Latino communities and I am totally aware about their set values. I have practical experience of respecting their way of living, languages, diets and dresses. Having worked in two extremely different zones on the planet with diverse populations, I am very much aware that culture plays a special role in the blossoming of life and in upholding peace, progress and prosperity in society. This is because culture, including language, dress, diet, customs and traditions, is the expression of the underlying intelligence of nature that promotes growth and peace in a particular area.

Not only I have been associated with those diverse populations but also was able to accomplish the targeted goal by bringing them in to the program and fully involve them. Just respect to their self being and being themselves while in a group made it possible. My skill to make them feel “he belongs to us” has also helped so far. I also do the deep online and offline research about the values of different cultural groups.

I have also worked with youth, women, seniors, disables, immigrants, incarcerated and LGBT individual, groups or institutions and have always maintained professional bonding without hurting their feelings. Sometime I have also maintained silence, peace or neutrality when there were more or less conflicts on the cultural, racial, ethnic, gender or sexual issues. I know how to get going using different life experiences and evidence based practices. I consider myself a global citizen and learning more towards it. I can represent myself being “they” as per the demand of the situation yet being myself.

Corruption in Adoption System in Nepal

2012-09-24T17:13:00.002-07:00

Nepal is the second most corrupt country in South Asia after Afghanistan, with Bhutan being the least corrupt in the region, if one goes by the Corruption Perception Index- 2011 released by Berlin-based Transparency International.

According to Transparency International, the world’s most credible measure of domestic and public sector corruption, Nepal is ranked 154th with a score of 2.2. It was ranked 146th last year. The index had scored 183 countries and territories from 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean) based on perceived levels of public sector corruption. Two thirds of the ranked countries have scored less than five.

A press statement issued by Bishnu Bahadur KC, chairperson, Transparency International-Nepal, states that any country that scores less than three shows that corruption is all-pervasive there.

In South Asia, Bhutan has scored 5.7 followed by Sri Lanka 3.3, India 3.1, Bangladesh 2.7, Maldives 2.5, Pakistan 2.5, Nepal 2.2 and Afghanistan 1.5.

The index is based on expert assessment and data from six international surveys commissioned by six independent institutions, covering issues such as access to information, bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, and the enforcement of anti-corruption laws and their outcome, action against the corrupt, political corruption, and bribery in export and import of goods

CORRUPTION IN ADOPTION SYSTEM

The abuse of adoption system is not new to Nepal. Following accusations of falsified documents and unregulated orphanages, the Nepali government shut down its international adoption program three years ago. New legislation later in 2008 banned the adoption of street children, required better verification that a child is an orphan, and established an oversight body to regulate existing orphanages. Under its new program, Nepal now allows two kinds of inter-country adoption: orphans and children voluntarily surrendered by their parents.

The U.S. State Department said that the past various cases have exposed flaws in Nepal's inter-country adoption system. Consequently, the State Department has cancelled its participation in the program and says it will not renew it until Nepal assures all adoptions are legal and ethical.

Another reason the number of adoption scandals has risen is the steep fee that foreigners must pay to orphanages. It learned orphanages can make up to $5,000 per child. Some other orphanages say foreign parents are willing to pay as much as $10,000. This opportunity for easy money led to an increase in the number of orphanages in Nepal, and with limited government oversight, children from the streets and others who had not been volunteered for adoption were put on the adoption market.

Adoptions were always big business in Nepal, with corrupt go-betweens pocketing up to $20,000 from would-be adopters, usually arranged illegally. For the most part, the children are not really orphans, but were wheedled from their parents who feel they do not have the money to raise them. The business creates tragedies that cannot be made good again. There are plenty of examples of mothers still searching for their children after years. It is a rewarding business for the children’s homes though.

IMPACT MAPPING

1) Investigation and enforcement duties: Independent investigative power is a common role among the vast majority of Anti Corruption Agencies and undeniably an essential one for maintaining the credibility of the body’s assessments and findings of corruption in a society.

2) Corruption prevention responsibilities: Most scholars agree that ideally, prevention is the most salient function of an anti-corruption agency. Most Anti Corruption Agencies offer advice on macro and micro strategies for averting corruption via corruption prevention departments. Furthermore, education and training provide evidence that knowledge about corruptive behavior beforehand can aid in preventing the act. Such capacities include workshops on anti-corruption and consultative and assistance aid to public and private sector employees.

3) Public awareness and responsibility to educate on matters of corruption: In addition to prevention and investigation, certain agencies undertake a broader role to conduct research and monitor and promote reform in the public service and/or the criminal justice system generally. Clearly defining what is meant by corruption and disseminating such information to the public and private sector employees susceptible to corrupt behavior as well as the general public is a critical role for any Anti Corruption Agency.

Rural Women in Nepal

2011-05-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

When women’s development initiative incorporates aspect of social awakening then people at all level are aware of the need for inspiring positive changes for greater gender equity. Women can only feel authorized when they are economically self-reliant, take part actively in all social, community and political activities and are able to decide themselves.

Nepal's largely patriarchal social system treats women of lesser value than men. In general, it puts them in the custody of men. Although in several instances, girls and sisters are worshiped, it is the indirect and tricky reflection of their sub-equal status. Looking at Nepal's history, women have even fought or assisted as warriors against foreign aggression.

Women comprise about 50 percent of approximately 29.3 million Nepali populations. Therefore, their status is a determining factor in Nepal's development.

The first concrete step towards bringing women in the equal footing began in 1975 when Nepal also declared International Women's year on the auspices of the United Nations. Following this, Nepal has declared women's decade for 10 years between 1975 and 1985 and women's welfare program were included in the government mainstream. Although many efforts were made to narrow down the gap between men and women through the initiation of government and donors, a vast disparity still exists between men and women in all walks of Nepalese life.

Nepal government has sanctioned the CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forums of Discrimination Against Women). On reducing gender discrimination at all levels and all sectors of program (e.g.: trafficking, child marriage and domestic abuse and violence). Nepal has prepared a plan of action on 12 critical areas of concern identified by the Beijing world conference on women.

There has been a growing realization on the roles and contribution of women in the economy in Nepal. It is estimated that on an average, women work three hours longer per day than men do. It is reported that women contribute 58 per cent of their labor in agriculture. However, only 48 per cent of women were reported to have been active population. It means that women's works are not well recognized.

The social norms forbid women in rural Nepal to talk freely with outsiders and even with the senior members within the family perhaps in the name of discipline and respect to superiors. Women are usually not given outside responsibilities, which are done by men. They usually perform the traditionally inherited roles such as caring of household, children and family, cooking food, raising livestock, collection of fuel wood, fetching water and doing farm work. As a consequence, the life expectancy of Nepalese women is only 59.5 years, which is even 1.4 years lower than of that of men.

In general, poor accountability of government, illiteracy, lack of awareness, poor information system, limited skills and employment opportunities, lack of self-esteem, lack of access to and control over the resources, rapid population growth and sluggish economic growth are the attributing factors for the low profile of women. The intervention in this course has not been sufficient. The rural women are still very much behind and they are at various level of development in terms of empowerment, leadership capability and managerial efficiency.

The effort from the international donor community and local nonprofits in Nepal those work with and for women in the past has demonstrated that previously disregarded rural women can bring changes in their status if they are facilitated properly. One of the key steps in this direction is creation and strengthening of their institution, which offers them an organized voice to fight against social evils and other issues affecting their living.

AGEING-an issue

2011-05-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

ISSUE

In a universal family settings, the children are always expected to adore and glorify their parents and look after them with love and reverence. But in present modern era, one out of five old people, when they stop earning or sick or really invalid are neglected and finally thrown out of their houses. They are ripen into the burden by their own children and start dismissing the untainted things and sacrifices of their parents towards bringing them up and establishing them in their life.
The homelessness is entirely the result of social negligence and disconcern about what these old people actually require in the eves of their lives.
With the influence of family or social misery down the road to living and thinking as well as internal family politics, collapse in family ties is usual in our modern society. And unfortunately it is becoming more frequent among low and medium socio-economic communities

SENIOR CITIZENS IN NEPAL

It is estimated that about 17% of the total old aged people are in critical condition. Most importantly, the old age people from the so called lower castes are even more vulnerable due to cultural biasness and their poor economic status. The elderly people in Nepal spend their entire life to bring up their children. Cohabitation is the only guarantee that elderly parents will receive support from their adult children. The elderly depends on their children, particularly sons, for support and security at their old age. There is no special social and legal protection of elderly people at home and community. The elderly poor in Nepal have little or no government services and often end up on the street begging for survival. Elderly people are hidden within the family who do not get love and care when they are inactive and immobile. Poverty, inequality and exclusion are the key factors of deprivation in Nepal for elderly.

Child Poverty

2011-05-16T13:22:00.001-07:00

Connecting child rights to poverty

Almost half of the world’s children – more than one billion – live in poverty. Many large-scale poverty eradication efforts focus primarily on income (usually household income). They often fail to address child poverty because it remains hidden within households, or because children live outside households, for example, on the streets. Children often have the least influence on how income is spent or distributed, and available resources are often not directed at the fulfillment of child rights. Experience has shown that income or welfare-focused efforts to tackle child poverty by themselves are often ineffective or unsustainable because they do not address the underlying causal factors that create and perpetuate cycles of poverty over generations. Children need to be recognized as active social, political and economic actors in their own right, playing a key role in shaping tomorrow’s society.

In recent years, the international development community has come to understand that processes of exclusion and discrimination lie at the heart of tackling poverty. Poverty eradication and development has come to be viewed as a process of realizing people’s rights, rather than distributing welfare. Many agree with the United Nations’ definition of poverty as “sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights”. We need to apply this definition to children and youth, as well their families and communities. Lasting solutions to address poverty must therefore start with an understanding of the unequal power relations that exist in our social, political and economic systems.

My understanding of how the failure to protect and ensure child rights perpetuates child poverty underpins all our programming. It is recognized that there are a number of key dimensions of a child rights approach to addressing child poverty that can make the task effective and sustainable:

A rights-based approach should empower children and youth to know, claim, exercise and enjoy their rights.
A focus on working with rights-holders (those who hold rights) and duty-bearers (those who are responsible for fulfilling rights) to address root causes of poverty and inequality helps to secure the progressive realisation of all rights.
Working on child rights with a wide range of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) allows us to enhance the collective voice of excluded groups, to promote and support accountability mechanisms for better governance and a more responsive State.
Child service providing organizations should address child rights at multiple levels: community, district, national, regional and international.
International human rights instruments help us analyse the different dimensions of child poverty.
The principle of non-discrimination draws attention to children more likely to be excluded, and ensures that we make special efforts to include all children.
The recognition that children and youth can actively contribute to society enables us to focus on their empowerment – so that they can have a voice in decisions which affect them.
Gaps as well as violations of child rights are revealed, alerting organisations to issues that are putting children at risk – and allowing for preventive actions before situations deteriorate further.

Discrimination and social exclusion have many different dimensions: gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, class, caste, sexuality, health status and a range of other identities. These can all affect the ways in which individuals, including children and youth, participate in society. Discrimination can be compounded: a disabled girl from a low caste family for example may suffer extreme levels of exclusion and the denial of rights.

In particular, gender remains one of the main causes of child rights violations, poverty and exclusion, since the relatively lower social status of women and girls in many societies results in differential access to power and resources. Because of the interconnected nature of child rights and those of women, a development approach which combines child rights and gender perspectives is more likely to be effective in breaking the intergenerational cycles of poverty.

Global human rights instruments set out a range of international standards and principles. These both guide development activity in terms of rights, and enable States to be held to account. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has been ratified by the governments of almost all countries in the world. It provides the key structure in working along with other important human rights instruments.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015 have an impact on children. All governments are signatories to the MDGs and this provides a global focus for political will and development action for achieving poverty reduction. In the lead up to 2015, efforts and resources to achieve them will intensify. A rights-based perspective complements and strengthens the MDGs, introducing the concepts of non-discrimination, accountability and legal obligation, and setting out clear parameters for working with rights-holders and duty-bearers. MDG goals primarily describe totals and averages, but applying a child-rights lens extends and deepens the focus, going beyond the averages to ask: which children are included, which are left out, and why.

National development plans, such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, constitute countries’ own action plans for poverty reduction, as well as the policy and investment decisions of multilateral and bilateral donors. In many cases, children and youth are on the edge of these initiatives. Their opportunities for participating in the development process to realize their rights and get their fair share of resources and services are very limited. My understanding of, and engagement with, such national strategies and plans and their delivery is critical. Some major global development actors i.e., UNICEF, Save the Children, Plan International or Room to Read have the responsibility to play a key role in this new agenda. They need to focus its work at all the different dimensions of the development process: to support governments to deliver on their obligations, to advocate for a child and youth focus within strategy and planning, and to act as part of the global watchdog systems seeking to ensure proper accountability of those with duties to perform.

The changing global context for children and youth

Those organizations serving youth with a global reach, their development efforts need to be situated within a rapidly changing international context.

Children and youth across the world are facing a whole range of challenges to their basic rights. Over nine million children under the age of five die each year. Poor and inadequate water quality and lack of good environmental sanitation kills over 1.6 million children every year. 93 million children of primary school age are out of school and 158 million children are working rather than studying. Violence and harm against children is widely practiced and experienced. Tackling these issues has been at the forefront of development work for several decades, but much more still needs to be done.

The world has its largest-ever cohort of young people, with 90% of all children now living in developing countries. In the next decade, one billion young people will enter the global labor market and constitute the next generation of parents. This represents a huge potential resource for positive change in a world which is already experiencing vast global shifts. Youth can provide the bridge between children and adults, as well as setting trends in the use of new technology and communication. To capitalize on the enormous potential of this demographic ‘youth bulge’, young people’s rights should be met, opportunities available to them expanded, and their confidence to make positive choices built.

Globalization means that we are increasingly interconnected through changing geopolitics, technology and economics. This comes with both positive and negative consequences. It can bring vast rewards to those who are best placed to reap the benefits of positive change, such as those who can access new markets, technology and political power, but it can also marginalize further those who are poorest and most excluded. In general, inequalities between rich and poor are widening; so are gaps between urban and rural communities. Migration, population displacements and urbanization are also affecting issues such as infrastructure, and the delivery of essential services. Significant rises in energy and staple food prices are exacerbating these inequalities, making adults and children who were already at risk even more vulnerable and excluded.

Exercising the right to sexual and reproductive health is a key challenge for youth. They often lack access to information, education and services to keep them safe and help them deal with entrenched beliefs and attitudes surrounding sexuality. Young women are especially affected and vulnerable to HIV because of unequal power relations between the sexes. Consequently, the global HIV epidemic is increasingly affecting children and youth (45% of the 2.5 million infected annually). Stigmatization, discrimination and abuse continue for those infected or affected by the epidemic.

The biggest challenges for children and youth are not technological, however – they are political. Governance has become an increasing focus of development efforts, meaning that the role of the State and the concept of citizenship have come under closer scrutiny. Good governance means that government-citizen relationships for both adults and children work well: the State responds to the rights of its citizens through effective and responsive policies; democratic and accountable resource allocation decisions are made and implemented; and strong accountability mechanisms are in place.

If accompanied by the effective devolution of power and resources, trends towards decentralization in many developing countries present real opportunities to promote child rights by increasing the voice and visibility of children, youth and their communities. Working through a strengthened civil society, children and young people can play a role as citizens to help shape decision-making, to support and organize excluded groups, to assist in the fight against corruption, to help hold the State to account for delivery on its obligations, and to act as an important source of alternatives and innovation.

Despite the prevalence of global rights instruments designed to protect children, violence continues to have profound implications for children across the world. Violence occurs in homes, schools, communities and by institutions – all which should constitute safe environments for children. Together with mitigating the effects of the more extreme forms of political violence such as civil unrest and terrorism, child protection is paramount.

Finally, conflicts and environmental disasters, some caused by climate change, are increasingly resulting in humanitarian emergencies, with children and young people often finding themselves the most vulnerable in these situations. In the worst forms of disaster, States may collapse and actors such as International NGOs may temporarily need to take responsibility for basic service delivery. Disaster preparedness and building resilience to mitigate the impact of crises needs to be part of development programming, and responses should be shaped by these same principles of rights and accountability. The role of children and youth can often be very effectively harnessed to increase this resilience.

In an increasingly complex world, the lives of children and youth are being shaped by global, national and local trends and circumstances. It is this demanding and fluid global context that challenges to mobilize all of its financial, institutional and human resources, to build on its many years of experience and knowledge, and to shape all this into a programmatic approach that will support, advocate, deliver and report on, the realization of child rights.