Education & Empowerment for Musahar Girls in Nepal

Many of our activities were suspended abruptly in March 2020 with COVID-19 lockdown and school closures. This has had a huge impact on Musahar girls and families. In-person instruction is impossible. 100% have lost earnings, 21% have received no hygiene or sanitation support, and 75% have received no food support due to government discrimination, so many girls have eaten the ducks they received for a duck farming enterprise. There have been several beneficiary suicides due to the starvation and increased domestic violence/exploitation girls are experiencing, including male anger at the loss of income, forced marriage to reduce household expenses, sex trafficking, and forced transactional sex. Street Child spent the first months of lockdown providing food relief and key prevention measures (handwashing stations, hygiene supplies and education), but learning is the fundamental basis for change in earning and wellbeing and we are pivoting to remote instruction as soon as possible. Without the psychosocial support to build confidence and skills to resist harm, and without the ability to earn income for prosperity and protect against future shocks, the risk that Musahar girls will experience harm and/or starve without access to the program is extremely high.

Case Study: Before the national lockdown forced all schools and educational centres to close, fifteen-year-old Reenku* attended classes as part of the Breaking the Bonds programme for Musahar girls in Nepal. Her parents work as daily wage labourer’s, but due to the lockdown in Nepal, her parents are finding it tough. Without their only source of income, Reenku and her family cannot afford to buy food and basic essentials.     

Unfortunately, this tale is all too familiar for many of the marginalised Musahar families in Nepal who are already facing the long-lasting impact of the pandemic. “Most of the people from my community are surviving on only rice and salt. We don’t have money to buy food,” says Reenku, fearful that her fragile community will never recover from the damages the pandemic has already caused. 

Prior to the lockdown, Reenku’s family had managed to store rice and lentils but with so many mouths to feed in the home their supply has quickly depleted and with restrictions on movement still in place, Reenku cannot even go out to collect firewood for cooking from the nearby forest. 

*Name has been altered to protect identity.

Thank you again for your support of this crucial work and Street Child! 

Revati - The student determined to change her future.

When eighteen-year-old Revati first joined Street Child’s programme for Musahar girls she was very shy and would not speak in class. Now, her story could not be more different. Revati is an active member of her class, showing a keen interest in literacy, numeracy, learning English, and communicating with her peers.

Before attending the life skills component of the programme, Revati says she was ashamed by her menstrual cycle. Now, this has changed. Revati now knows how to maintain good menstrual health hygiene and know knows how to use sanitary towels, knowledge which she has passed onto her friends, diminishing the taboo which surrounds this topic.