Creating Change in Children’s Lives: An Evaluation of Save the Children’s Child Rights Governance Programme, Nepal Case Study

Background   
Save the Children first initiated its operations in Nepal in 1976 with the establishment of SC UK, followed by US in 1981 and Norway in 1984. In 2011, SC unified into Save the Children Nepal (SC Nepal) and is active in 62 (of 75) districts. The Nepal country strategic plan (2010-2015) outlines work in seven themes: 1) Child Rights Governance, 2) Protection, 3) Education, 4) Health and Nutrition, 5) Livelihood, 6) HIV and AIDS, and 7) Emergencies.

Purpose/objective (including evaluation questions)   
This report is one of 4 country studies focusing on Child Rights Governance (CRG) theme and informs the overall evaluation of CRG globally. The purpose of the overall evaluation were to:
• Provide an overview of types of CRG interventions, including a system to classify types of outcomes and impacts.
• Provide SC with evidence of outcomes and impacts (positive, negative, intended, and unintended) and establishing the causal link between outcomes at system level and outcomes and impacts in children’s lives.
• Provide SC with a manageable methodology to capture outcome and impact from various CRG programmes.

Methodology   
This case study was a 10 working days assignment, which delimited the scope and coverage of the study, as well as the field visits and number of respondents engaged. The findings presented here are based on secondary and self-reported data (taken from reports by SC Nepal and gathered through interviews) and presents the key interventions under the CRG program and its contribution to results (outcomes) in Nepal. A literature review was the principal methodology used for the study in addition to in-depth interviews with the key informants and focus group discussion with the children (of one Child Club). Individuals closely linked to and/or supporting the child club was also interviewed, which included head teacher, teachers who are members of the school child protection committee and the field staff (from the local SC partner). Tools such as timeline and Venn diagrams were also used to solicit information and engage the children of the Child Club in discussions.

Key findings   
The focus of the sub-theme Strengthening National Systems in Nepal is on policy reforms and strengthening government structures and includes initiatives such as support for the Child Rights Officer (CRO), implementation of action plan, capacity building and financial/technical support for policy review and reforms. SC Nepal primarily works with the Central Child Welfare Board/Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare for this sub-theme. The sub-theme Child Rights Monitoring focuses on supporting the government, civil society actors and independent institutions like the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), to conduct child rights monitoring, follow up on the Universal Periodic Reporting (UPR) recommendations and to fulfil the reporting obligation of Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The sub-theme Building Awareness and Capacity focuses on building the awareness of the general public to seek popular support and enabling civil society organizations (networks and child clubs) to organize and collectively act to promote, lobby and advocate for compliance with child rights.

Key findings:
1. The government of Nepal has recognized and formally adopted various initiatives that SC Nepal has contributed towards, such as integration of Child Rights Officers (CROs) and Village Child Protection Committee (VCPC) in the national mechanisms and institutionalization of child rights and child participation formally within national provisions.
2. District Child Welfare Boards (DCWBs), the mechanism supported by SC Nepal together with other partners, are increasingly accessing local resources, which gives indication of progress towards continued functioning and access of the state’s child rights mechanisms.
3. Increased political interest at the national and international level and an increasing sphere of engagement of national actors in the monitoring and reporting process (including building up capacity among the agencies engaged in lobby and monitoring) further indicate sustainability of the child rights monitoring processes.
4. Considerable progress towards institutionalizing the process of CRC reporting within civil society for supplementary reporting can also be noted as major milestones: the CRC reporting now is more collaborative (with wider participation), consolidated (where earlier it was fragmented) and with increased involvement of children (with progress towards child-led reporting).
5. There is also indication that the government is increasingly committed to regularizing the CRC (and UPR) reporting, hence indicating potential for institutionalizing the CRC reporting within government mechanisms as well in future.
6. The increased political attention placed on the UPR process and acceptance of the recommendation (31 out of the 34), also need to be noted as key results. The process was instrumental in opening up dialogue among government and civil society actors, other member states, and the NHRC, regarding the child rights situation in Nepal, and it also speeded up the follow up action such as passage of the Child Rights Bill and review of the National Plan of Action for Children. Increased awareness and capacity of the civil society organizations and the Child Clubs to lobby and advocate for child rights, were also instrumental in achieving the results discussed above.

Constraints:
1. Progress beyond the outcomes noted at the systemic level, may be difficult to achieve. Achieving results (beyond system level), which impacts the lives of children sustainably, is a challenge in a country context like Nepali given socio-cultural and economic constraints. Any long-term impact would require major social and political reforms (in terms of addressing power dynamics and structural inequalities), which stretch beyond any specific policy and system reform. See recommendations below. 
 
Recommendations   
1. Strengthen national monitoring mechanisms with consolidated reporting so that continued surveillance/monitoring can be undertaken, given the fact that cases might not always be reported in the Nepalese context and hence the government mechanism needs to have its own surveillance system to trace any cases of violation or potential violation (instead of relying on only reported cases).
2. Support stronger multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration aimed at addressing the issue multi-dimensionally. This would require lifting the legitimacy of the national coordination mechanism to a much higher level. General Measures of Implementation can be the basis for promoting this agenda.
3. Build and support a social movement that has sufficient legitimacy and credibility to challenge social norms and address structural barriers towards child rights by engaging with a wide range of civil society actors. For this SC Nepal needs to reflect upon the need for additional partnerships with wider civil society (in addition to NGOs and government), especially at the local level, which needs to include individuals and institutions close to the community, such as mothers’ groups, youth groups, community volunteers, religious leaders and even political party representatives. This would require re-thinking of civil society beyond what is conventionally defined in Nepal (where civil society is often equated to development agencies/NGOs).
4. Monitor results at impact level by creating a stronger interface between CRG and other thematic areas. The impact level indicators of CRG programme have to be built, captured and measured within the framework of other thematic programmes (e.g. the effectiveness of policy reforms needs to be assessed in terms of how the policy affects the governance and service delivery of health or education thematic programmes, and how it impacted individual lives. It is difficult to measure this change within the framework of CRG, and hence can be considered to be measured within the framework of other thematic programmes).

Follow up (with reference to Action Plan) 
A follow-up plan of the CRG evaluation with SCN Management response has been developed and is currently being implemented. See document #269796.

Specific follow up point for Nepal:
• Continue the support of national coordination.
• Undertaking a light mapping of other actors engaging in the child right discourse outside the organized civil society.
• Address a wider civil society with child rights messages to support a broader social movement.
• Make plans that demonstrate integration between CRG and other thematic areas, and creat M&E tools that support plans like that.