Completed Projects

Project Description: The major objective of this project is to produce a report by applying a range of appropriate research methodologies to conduct survey/interview in consultation with various stakeholders such as GoN, PNCC Officials, volunteers, local organizations in destinations including Nepali migrant workers in Nepal as well as in destinations.

Project Description: This study aimed to use the narratives of migrant workers to document the migration experience and identify the various intermediaries involved in facilitating migration for foreign employment. It examined the interaction of migrant workers with various actors in the recruitment process, estimate the cumulative costs of transactions incurred as they work through agents and other intermediaries, identify various other services these intermediaries provide to migrant workers, such as lending money, and understand the strategies workers use to meet these costs. The study also examined existing policies that govern and regulate the activities of the above-mentioned actors, and the actual practices, while taking heed of non-regulatory measures such as community-driven interventions, and examine how they help or hinder fair recruitment.

Project Description: The proposed study aims to identify existing gaps, barriers and challenges that both prohibit and inhibit men and women migrant workers from accessing justice with complaints related to recruitment, and also identify practical solutions and policy changes to address these issues. The findings of the study can also facilitate the objectives and commitments made in the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), and also help attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially (SDG 10.7) to facilitate fair and ethical recruitment and access to justice in case of violation of rights of migrant workers.

This study assessed the functioning of labour administration in Nepal by analysing the current gaps (technical, human, financial, knowledge) as well as challenges and opportunities in labour administration practices at the federal, provincial and municipal government levels, the labour offices, labour departments, and labour courts, among others. Based on the evidence generated through this assessment, a practical strategic plan of action with clearly defined roles and responsibilities of relevant agencies and actors for a stronger labour administration system will be prepared. It is expected that the perceived Strategic Plan of Action for Labour Administration will be useful for all relevant governments and their agencies, trade unions and civil society organisations, the business community, and development partners.

The main objective of this study is to assess the impacts and contribution of the Civil Society: Mutual Accountability Project (CS:MAP) on enhancing and promoting inclusive, participatory and effective governance through civic engagement. It tries to address the broad questions about how and whether civil society and the media are advancing public interests in the programme intervention areas. The more specific objectives of the study are:
● to identify how the project interventions have contributed to aligning laws and policies with human rights and principles of gender and social inclusion;
● to explore how and to what extent the project has contributed to ensuring and strengthening public participation and accountability in public service delivery at the local level; and
● to understand whether and how the capacities and influences of civil society and media have transformed and to what extent they are contributing to the improvement of local governance.

Project Description: The overall objective of this study was to understand the flows of returnee migrant workers from industrialised countries such as Japan and identify their interests and skills to work in the industrial sector of Nepal as well as the factors preventing and supporting their reintegration into the Nepali labour markets. The study also aimed to identify the initiatives and the policy measures of the Nepal government to involve returnee migrant workers from countries like Japan in industrial or any other sectors of Nepali economy. The study also explored the current situation of the industrial sector in Nepal, including the capacity and interest of Nepali employers in accommodating the skills and experiences of returnee migrant workers.

Project Description:  This research project had the goal of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of screening and service provision to victims of trafficking in persons (TIP) and gender-based violence (GBV) in diverse contexts. The primary objective was to identify promising practices and challenges in integrating or separating services for victims of human trafficking and GBV.

This main objective of this project was to understand better and develop routes to successful energy transition for the poorest and most disadvantaged in four low-income countries: Nepal, Bangladesh, South Sudan and Nigeria. We focused on the live experiences of marginal women, men and youth who persistently fall outside current market development mechanisms, un-connected with normal urban infrastructure networks or services. They must also cope with challenges of climate change and other environmental disasters in conditions of political fragility. In this one-year pilot study [shaped by the budget and time frame available] we focused on a capital city peri-urban site in each country where there were many recent in-migrants living in extreme poverty and beyond current infrastructure networks. The project provided vital lessons for subsequent wider investigation by this or other research groups.

Social Science Baha worked with Dr Sohela Nazneen of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK, on the Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre project entitled ‘Negotiating gender equitable change: role of informal practices and networks’ as outlined in the proposal and according to further methodological refinements as discussed with Dr Nazneen and captured in the document titled ‘Response to Reviewers’. In particular, Social Science Baha will undertake the case study for Nepal and contribute to the comparative analysis of case studies.

GAGE (Gender and Adolescence Global Evidence) is a 9 year (2015-2024) longitudinal research programme that focused on understanding what sorts of interventions at what junctures work to advance adolescent girls capabilities involving three broad research components. The evidence gap maps and synthesis reviews on best practice in tackling adolescent girls vulnerabilities (from child marriage to adolescent suicide to economic asset deficits). It was a longitudinal mixed methods study of adolescent girls and their families, tracing changes over time into early adulthood in four countries (Bangladesh, Nepal, Ethiopia, Rwanda).

This study analyses media reports to understand the changes in the patterns and routes of human trafficking from Nepal in the guise of migration. The study will also identify perpetrators, victims and trafficking-stoppers as reported in the media and analyse biases in the media reporting of human trafficking. One of the objectives of the study is to inform anti-trafficking policies and programs, and provide insights for the improvement of interventions to address human trafficking and support at-risk population in Nepal.