Nepal

In Nepal, we collaborate with communities, civil society, the private sector, the government and international development partners to strengthen the citizen-state relationship for open, inclusive, and accountable federal governance to sustain peace.

We work with marginalised peoples, security and justice actors, and the government to transform harmful social and gender norms and enhance inclusive access to justice and public services.

We support journalists and social media activists to promote and advocate for a safe, responsible, independent, and evidence-based media. We help national and international development partners deliver aid in a conflict and gender sensitive way.

We also undertake research on security and justice, the interrelation between climate change and conflict, federal governance processes, and sexual and gender-based violence to advocate for and contribute to evidence-based policies and programmes.   

Our work aims to promote sustainable peace and create conditions for inclusion and building public trust in governance processes, social cohesion, and co-existence across social divides. Otherwise, social exclusion, horizontal inequalities, and lack of accountability and access to security and justice will continue to destabilise peace in Nepal.

We have been working in Nepal since 2001.

Conflict context

Nepal witnessed a decade long armed conflict from 1996 to 2006 demanding an inclusive state, equality, justice and a right to self-determination. More than 17,000 people lost their lives, about 1,500 disappeared and more than 8,000 became permanently disabled.

A federal constitution was promulgated in 2015, followed by federal elections in 2017. However, the new constitution is contested by marginalised communities including the indigenous, Dalit, Madhesi and sexual and gender minorities. They are raising their voices against deep-rooted structural discrimination and marginalisation based on caste, ethnicity, religion, language, gender and geography.

Over the centuries the political system has been steered by a handful of gender, caste, language and religion-based elites, which has also created deep divides across the population and created mistrust between citizens and the state. 

The new federal model promises to address centuries of exclusion and marginalisation and improve citizen-state relationships to instil public trust in the system. However, the underlying conflict drivers remain unaddressed due to consistent failure of practical conversion of policies and inclusive institutions. The agenda of inclusion, openness, accountability and social cohesion are prime factors for Nepal’s stability and to sustain peace over the coming years. 

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