Completed Projects

Project Description: The Himalayan Climate Data Field Lab was a month-long, participant-led unconference that gathered scholars, practitioners, activists, and storytellers to collaboratively examine and remake the ways climate change data was used in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. This event brought together over 120 participants from 19 different countries and a wide variety of different backgrounds. Organised around a set of key thematic areas, Field Lab participants collaborated to co-design, test, and create innovative outputs. This included analytic tools, maps and models, sensing technologies, syllabi and training materials, data protocols, artistic pieces, and communication products that addressed climate change and its impacts. The overall goals were to develop new and effective ways of working with climate change data, while also working to create a more equitable and pluralistic data landscape in the Himalayan region.

Project Description: This study will provide a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of remittances coming into Nepal and of remittance-recipient households as well as identify the factors that are associated with remittance-spending behaviours. The study will cover the topics, such as remittance inflow and outflow trends in Nepal; relation between labour migration and remittance inflow in Nepal; legal and institutional mechanisms for regulating remittances in Nepal; mapping of remittance transfer service providers in Nepal; trends in the costs of remittance transfers to Nepal from major destinations of Nepali workers; channels used to transfer remittances and preferred channel for remittance transfer (formal and informal); patterns of remittance use and the factors associated with remittance-spending behaviours; and characteristics of remitters, remittances, and remittance-recipient households.

Project Description: The primary objective of this research is to uncover changes that have occurred post-federalism at the subnational level, particularly as they relate to gains in gender equality and social inclusion (GEDSI). The study additionally aims to document the collective impact, if any, of the Nepal Subnational Governance Program (SNGP) across four study sites. More concretely, the study outcome will include: i) what changes have been observed and the value of those changes as perceived by various stakeholders in the study sites; ii) an understanding of connections, if any, between the program activities and the identified changes.

Project Description: This project explores the role of heritage in risk preparedness, disaster response and recovery, and long-term disaster risk management planning. It also focuses on how heritage can be used to better strengthen communities’ resilience, an integral part of sustainable development. Experiences across various jurisdictions in the Kathmandu Valley present contemporary understandings of stress, adaptation, wellness, and resource dynamics, which are sparsely documented or disseminated, especially due to Covid 19 pandemic. It aims to bring together existing partnerships into a wider stakeholder network to enable the flow of ideas, resources, and capacities around community-led ‘resilient’ practices for post-disaster rebuilding.

Project Description: The South Asia Centre for Labour Mobility and Migrants (SALAM) is a knowledge hub for labour migration supported by the ILO, IOM, and UN Women, with the following participating institutions:
Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), Bangladesh,
International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), India,
Centre for the Study of Labour and Mobility (CESLAM), Nepal,
Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan, and
Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), Sri Lanka.
The primary objective of the knowledge hub is to address knowledge gaps on labour migration in the five South Asian countries—Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—by conducting research and publishing on issues related mainly to labour migration.

Project Description: The primary aim of this task is to create a comprehensive learning document based on the activities carried out by SaMi during the third phase of its implementation. Specifically, the goals include capturing: a) major achievements across the programme components at outcome and output levels, including testimonies of change brought by the programme in the lives of migrants and their families; b) learning and challenges related to the modalities of programme interventions that evolved over the programme implementation period; c) policy-level interventions, including contribution to institutionalising migration-related services in Nepal, more importantly at the local level; d) learning around intergovernmental collaboration and programme implementation through local governments; and e) learnings and challenges while coordinating and collaborating with all the three levels of the government and related agencies in Nepal and in the countries of destination to support Nepali migrant workers and their families.

Project Description: The major objective of this study was to examine the policy gaps and provide recommendations to address the issue of migrant’s workers based on the data/information available with PNCC. Focusing on migration of Nepali workers to Malaysia, this study seeked to examine the situation regarding access to justice of migrant workers imprisoned in Malaysia and their economic and psychosocial reintegration upon return to Nepal. The study involved designing, planning and implementing research activities by formulating appropriate research methodologies, reviewing relevant literature, analysing data from the PNCC database management system and collecting primary data from interviews with migrant workers and returnees, developing a research report and organising a consultation program to share the research findings for wider dissemination. The report can be read here.

Project Description: The Reintegrate project is a 5-year study (2021-2026) funded by the European Research Council under a Starting Grant to Dr Katie Kuschminder. This project will develop a conceptual understanding of what is reintegration governance, its implementation and effectiveness and a new theoretical framework of how different forms of reintegration governance shape returnees’ reintegration outcomes across an in-depth comparative analysis of four different states: Nepal, Nigeria, Serbia, and the Philippines. The project is rooted in the nexus between policies and migrants’ agency and aims to illustrate the role that returnees play in their own reintegration outcomes.

Project Description: The objective of the study has two main components: a) to provide an overview of the legal status and the general situation of street vendors, including their types, modes of operation, socio-economic background, and working conditions; to identify the challenges faced by them in securing legal status and accessing social protection measures, including the Social Security Fund, and other vulnerabilities they face in fiscal space; to identify their social protection needs, including from a gender and ‘leave no one behind’ perspective; and b) to identify the possible means and measures to ensure their access to legal status and make social protection measures to ensure their full realisation of the rights guaranteed in the Constitution of Nepal 2015; to identify the challenges that the duty-bearers face in the management and/or regularisation of street vendors; and to identify means and measures to regularise and/or manage the street vendors, enabling the full enjoyment of their human rights, particularly their social and economic rights.

Project Description: This research aims to study the role of social network on migration of Nepalis in rural Nepal. The study piloted an in-person mentorship programme in the study area, which involved in-person group meetings between potential mentees and mentors at a time of year when a particularly high number of migrants were at home. The study was conducted in 174 villages in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts of Sudurpashchim province of Nepal. CESLAM/Social Science Baha conducted a baseline census survey, followed by several rounds of phone surveys and qualitative interviews with households and migrants, aspirant migrants, and non-migrant youths.

Project Description: The study/research is based on data managed by the PNCC with the support of the Open Society Policy Centre (OSPC). The major objective of this work is to publish one research report and three policy briefs on the situation and experiences of Nepali migrant workers, the service provided to them by PNCC during the migration circle. Social Science Baha designed, planned, and implemented research by formulating appropriate research methodologies, including review of relevant literature, cleaning, coding, and analysing the data maintained at the PNCC’s database management system. The research identified gaps on the policies and service delivery to the migrant workers, and the findings were presented in the consultation meetings organised by PNCC, feedbacks and recommendations were collected to incorporate in and revise the reports/briefs. Social Science Baha also provided technical support to PNCC to update its data management system.

Project Description: Social Science Baha supported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Nepal, in the drafting of the Operational Guideline for Service Delivery of Diplomatic Missions for Migrant Workers.