Girls' Advocacy Alliance Nepal SUMMARY 
The Girls Advocacy Programme of Plan Nepal is part of a broader initiative by an alliance comprising of Plan International Netherlands, Defence for Children – ECPAT Netherlands and Terre des Hommes Netherlands. It promotes equal rights and opportunities for girls and young women, reducing poverty and stimulating inclusive economic growth. Particular emphasis is being placed on improving policies and practices for the eradication of violence against girls and women and ending their economic exclusion. In Nepal, the Girls Advocacy Programme is being implemented by Plan Nepal, it will run from January 2016 to December 2020. It will be implemented in a number of districts by Plan Nepal and its implementing partner, WOREC. Working with civil society organisations (CSOs), community leaders and members and governmental and private-sector actors, the Girls Advocacy Programme aims to eliminate child marriage, menstrual seclusion, child trafficking and (sexual) exploitation and abuse. Violence against girls and young women and the denial of their economic rights stand in the way of achieving meaningful gender equality. Serious violations of these human rights are affecting millions of girls and young women. Societies pay a high price for not tackling these issues. 

A 2011 Nepalese demographic and health survey found that 22 per cent of women between 15 and 49 have experienced physical violence at some point. Another study in six selected districts revealed that almost half of the women questioned (48 per cent) have experienced violence at some time in their lives. The study also revealed that one in ten adolescent girls (9.8 per cent) experience sexual violence (OPMCM, 2012).  In Nepal, several factors contribute to gender-based violence (GBV) and the denial of women’s economic rights. These include women’s legal subordination, their economic dependency on their fathers and husbands, their unequal position in society, what men see as their entitlement to sex, women’s lack of education, insufficient knowledge of their sexual and reproductive health and rights, customary marriage practices, and a lack of family and legal support.

Physical and economic aspects of gender-equality are intertwined. A lack of economic opportunities makes it very difficult for girls and young women to refuse child marriage and makes them more vulnerable to child trafficking and commercial and sexual exploitation. The Theory of Change for the Girls Advocacy Programme in Nepal follows four interrelated paths. 

Three of these lead to legislation, understanding, adherence to and the monitoring of public and private policies and practices regarding violence against girls and young women and their economic empowerment. Each of these paths focuses on a specific type of actor: (1) government officials at national, state, province, district and community level, and representatives of customary systems; (2) private-sector actors; and (3) girls’ and women’s organisations and other CSOs and CSO networks with enhanced organisational and advocacy capacity. 

The fourth path leads to the abandonment of social norms and practices that discriminate against gender. It also leads to a change of deeply rooted and widely upheld beliefs that negatively affect policy makers, local government officials, local courts and/or service providers’ willingness to adopt and implement gender-equality policies. The main actors are community, traditional and religious leaders and other key opinion leaders. 

Each of the paths will entail three levels of change: agenda setting, policy setting and, ultimately, changes in practices. The Girls Advocacy Programme builds on the outcomes realised, lessons learned and relationships built up by the three alliance organisations during various programmes. An example in Nepal is the Girl Power Programme that was implemented from 2011 till 2015 by an alliance of six Dutch NGOs, including lead organisations Plan Nederland and Defence for Children – ECPAT Nederland.  

The Girl Power Programme focused on the political and economic empowerment of girls and young women, making them better protected against sexual and other forms of GBV and improving their access to secondary education. The Girls Advocacy Programme will build on the thematic and strategic expertise and experience that was obtained during the Girl Power Programme, including partnering, networking and lobbying and advocacy. 

Furthermore, in Nepal, the Girls Advocacy Programme will build directly on the results of Girl Power projects and the processes of change to which they contributed. The end beneficiaries of the Girls Advocacy Programme of Plan Nepal will be girls and young women (up to the age of 24) in xx districts. The programme focuses on four strategic goals.
1.	Public support for the eradication of GBV and for the economic inclusion of girls and young women, will be increased.
2.	The influence of CSOs and networks (particularly girls’ and young women’s organisations) on governmental and corporate/private-sector actors to eradicate GBV and support the economic inclusion of girls and young women, will be increased. 
3.	The policies and practices of corporate/private-sector actors that support the eradication of GBV and support the economic inclusion of women, will be improved.
4.	Legislation and public policies, as well as improved practices of governmental actors, that support the prevention of GBV and support the economic inclusion of women, will be effectively implemented.

The programme embraces two main strategies. 
The first of these involves strengthening CSOs and networks (particularly girls’ and young women’s organisations). This will make them better able to influence government and private-sector actors to eradicate GBV and support the economic inclusion of girls and young women.
 
The second of these strategies entails influencing policies to increase public support and improve the policies and practices of private-sector actors, as well as the effective implementation of legislation and public policies. It also includes improving the activities of governmental actors that support the prevention and eradication of GBV and that support the economic inclusion of girls and young women. Specific methods used to influence policies are lobbying, advocacy (including media campaigns and ICT), research and linking and networking. The changes that will be introduced by the Girls Advocacy Programme in Nepal will be sustainable. Moreover, the main strategies of the programme, which are capacity development and policy influencing, will both underscore sustainability. Institutional sustainability will be ensured by the focus on strengthening the capacity of all local partner organisations. This will be based on carrying out assessments of individual organisational capacity and then annual assessments of the progress on custom-developed capacity-strengthening plans. The financial sustainability of the programme’s outcomes and, more notably, the processes of change it will initiate, will depend on the financial and organisational sustainability of local partner organisations after the completion of the programme. These aspects will receive plenty of attention during the capacity-strengthening trajectories that will be developed and rolled out with all local partner organisations. Inclusivity is an important principle of the programme and this will also be embedded in the capacity-development activities. Learning and reflection are important aspects of the programme. In 2016 a learning agenda will be worked out and this will focus on the continuous assessment of the assumptions underlying the programme’s design and Theories of Change. These will be reviewed critically every year at country, regional and alliance levels, resulting in strategic adjustments where necessary to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the interventions. 

Learning will also be an outcome of the programme’s evaluation agenda. A baseline will be conducted in the first half of 2016 and a mid-term review and final evaluation are scheduled for 2018 and 2020 respectively. The lobbying and advocacy part of the programme and its thematic orientation on GBV and economic empowerment will provide plenty of opportunities for visibility in Nepal. This will mainly be through newspaper articles, radio and television interviews and programmes, presentations during conferences and media and public campaigns. Visibility in the Netherlands will focus on providing input for evidence-based lobbying of the Dutch government (“dialogue and dissent”) and of corporate companies and multinationals. There will also be opportunities for visibility through newspaper and magazine (Vice Versa) articles, radio interviews, and presentations during forums and conferences.