Restless Development Nepal

Towards the Abolition of Chhaupadi in the Far and Mid-west Regions of Nepal

Focus area: Preventing and addressing violence against adolescent girls

The chhaupadi system is a social tradition in Nepal whereby menstruating women are segregated from their families and communities. Despite the Supreme Court of Nepal outlawing the chhaupadi system in 2005 and the 2010 National Plan of Action against Gender Based Violence recognizing chhaupadi as a traditional harmful practice and a form of violence against women, policy has not translated into practice at the local level. Chhaupadi presents grave physical and psychological risks for women, and continues to affect up to 95 per cent of women in rural areas in the Far and Mid-Western regions of Nepal. Under this practice, menstruating women of all castes are physically segregated from society and forbidden to enter their own homes, interact with others, or eat adequate food. They are often prevented from bathing, using the toilet or going to school and are deprived of basic facilities such as clean water, sanitation and shelter.

Using Restless Development Nepal’s proven peer-led direct delivery methodology, the proposed programme will deliver sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence education to adolescents and youth in and out of school, as well as the wider community, in four districts. The programme will also seek to influence district and national levels of government in terms of their planning and investment in chhaupadi-elimination activities, as well as building the capacity of civil society organizations as service providers and advocates against Chhaupadi and gender-based violence in a further three districts.