Completed Projects

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.

The purpose of this study is to explore and better understand the social and economic impacts of the global pandemic related reverse migration of an unprecedented number of migrant workers to Nepal. The proposed research has its policy relevance in identifying the immediate, mid-term, as well as long-term needs and concerns of returnee migrant workers and their families. This research will contribute empirically by conducting a comparative analysis of the impacts observed between the cross-border (India-Nepal) returnee migrants and international (besides India) returnee migrants.

Project Description:  The main objectives of this study was to identify the needs and vulnerabilities of returnee migrants through research for the advocacy at the national level; advocate for the delegation of labour migration-related authorities and institutions at the local level to establish the complaint or referral mechanism, compensation, regulation of agents and sub-agents; recommend the Government of Nepal for the formulation and implementation of plans and strategies related to effective rehabilitation and socio-economic reintegration; and liaise with different state and non-state actors relevant to the labour and migration and build a partnership for effective advocacy for the creation and exploration of employment opportunities in the local and foreign markets in post-COVID-19 situations.

This study aimed to understand the socio-political effects of Nepal’s 2015 earthquakes and post-earthquake reconstruction. The main objectives were: 1) To build an international network of scholars, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations focusing on post-earthquake reconstruction and social transformation in Nepal, with strong nodes in Canada, Nepal, and Denmark (with the Danish connection furnishing links to the Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research); 2) To collaboratively develop and deploy mixed ethnographic and survey methods through three pilot research projects in selected earthquake-affected areas of rural and peri-urban Nepal where team members have existing relationships. These focused on three domains of expertise critical to post-conflict and post-disaster transformation: construction (engineers, architects, and traditional builders); law (politicians, civil servants, and lawyers); and finance (bankers, corporate investors, and microfinance/cooperative fund managers); 3) to enhance training and research capacity in Canada and Nepal, with an emphasis on field-based methods; 4) to build foundations for a larger Partnership Grant application to investigate and improve post-disaster reconstruction in mountainous regions with a focus on the trans-Himalayan region, using a framework that addresses both Connection and Insight approaches.

UNFPA was piloting innovative approaches in Okhaldhunga and Udayapur districts to address social norms that are at the root of gender-based discrimination and violence. The pilot also focused on building capacities of locally elected representatives and their offices (municipalities) in understanding gender inequalities and in supporting/institutionalising prevention and response mechanisms. Social Science Baha conducted operational research to accompany the pilot throughout its life cycle, from inception to completion, to identify approaches that have worked.

Project Description: This project is about a study of the Provincial and Local Government Support Program (PLGSP), a multi-faceted intervention to build the capacity of local government units (LGs) to effectively administer their new powers. The programme is part of Nepal’s 2015 new constitution designed to transition the country to a federal state with three levels of government at federal, provincial and municipal level. This is the first study to provide a rigorous study of a nation-wide federalization on long-term outcomes. In this study, Social Science Baha is collaborating with Carolina Population Centre, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The study team includes Co- PIs Sudhanshu Handa and Brigitte Seim (Zimmerman), Public Policy, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Dr. Jeevan Baniya, Assistant Director, Social Science Baha, and Daniel Pamstein, Political Science, North Dakota State University (2020-2023). For more detail, please visit: https://cedilprogramme.org/funded-projects/programme-of-work-1/evaluating-governance-reform-using-a-case-control-approach

Project Description: The overall objective of the project is to take a critical look at the limitations of the existing data and highlight how the documentation on death, ill-treatment and injuries of migrant workers during transit and their employment in the destination countries can be improved. The findings from this study will be put in broader academic and policy conversation on death, injury and ill-treatment of migrant workers.

Project Description: Nepal emerged from a ten-year civil war in 2006, and the country’s main political players then embarked upon the long process of transition political transition. The 2015 earthquakes had a major impact upon this process. The project investigated and documented the long term cultural and political impacts of Nepal’s 2015 earthquakes. It explored the ways in which they influenced the ongoing political, media and literary discourse on a number of key cultural, social and political issues. It showed how the restoration of destroyed physical heritage is carried out. It also draws historical comparisons between the sociocultural and political impacts of the 2015 quakes and those of the major quakes that struck Nepal during earlier periods of political and cultural transition in 1833 and 1934. It also archives material to identify the permanent marks left by previous disasters.

Project Description: This research aims to experimentally test whether seasonal a migration subsidy programme has positive impacts in addressing seasonal food insecurity in rural Nepal. It will also explore how migration may transform rural, agricultural labour markets by studying the effects of seasonal migration on both rural labour supply and labour demand.