Down to Zero / Building Back Better - Nepal SUMMARY
The Down to Zero Building Back Better programme in Nepal will be implemented by the consortium of three organisations: Plan International, Terre des Hommes and Free a Girl. Plan International will work with a local NGO to implement the activities in the Bardya district. The objective of the project is to promote digital safety for children and youth from (online) sexual exploitation, (O)SEC, who are at risk during and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Plan will work with them to advocate for continued SEC prevention and response. We will also work with parents, caregivers and community leaders to strengthen their capacity to provide a protective shield around children. Child Protection System actors will be strengthened to prevent and respond to SEC. At a national, regional and international level we will urge governments, intergovernmental organisations and the private sector to support and prioritise the prevention of SEC within the wider child protection agenda. This activity forms part of the Building Back Better (BBB)  in times of Covid-19, Fighting SEC on the Rise programme. The programme will work in 12 countries in Latin America and South and South East Asia: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, and the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The selected countries have particular high risks of SEC as well as compromised capacity of the child protection system. They are highly affected by the Covid-19 related trends, with the impact of travel and tourism being an integral part of their context. The programme will also address cross-border SEC such as along the Colombia Peru, Brazil-Bolivia-Peru and India-Nepal-Bangladesh borders. In the BBB  Programme the overall goal is to ensure that children and youth are better protected when at risk or victim  of sexual exploitation in times of crisis, such as currently with Covid-19. This will be achieved through five (5) outcomes:
1.	Children (in particular victims and those at risk of SEC) are able to access specialised services that protect them, help them rehabilitate, reintegrate and reduce their vulnerability to SEC in the context of Covid-19.
2.	Children and youth are able to advocate for continued SEC prevention and response in the context of Covid-19.
3.	Parents, caregivers, and community leaders are strengthened to provide a protective shield around children against SEC, in the context of Covid-19.
4.	Actors in the Child Protection System are strengthened in multi-stakeholder settings to prevent and advocate for protection from SEC, in the context of Covid-19.
5.	Intergovernmental bodies at regional and international level, governments and the private sector prioritize SEC within the wider child protection agenda in building back better during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It contributes to a functional, inclusive, gender and age responsive Child Protection System. More efficient and effective services will be delivered by promoting coordination and networking and catalyzing joint actions between actors working on child protection and violence against children (including health care, law enforcement and judiciary, and education). The Building Back Better programme in Nepal builds on the Girls Advocacy programme and will build and expand on the Alliance’s collective achievements to date, scaling up the 2016- 2020 Down to Zero (DtZ) programme and being complementary to the 2020-2021 Voice for Change (VfC) programme. This will allow the Alliance and its partners to effectively address SEC in the rapidly evolving context during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. In the GA programme, capacity of CSOs has been built to address harmful practices and youth have been supported to become active agents of change and youth advocates. 
Plan International Nepal has joined the Down to Zero alliance as a new member and brings to the country team a rich experience of working with schools, children and youth, local communities, government at local and national level, CSO networks, and service providers. The key target group (and final beneficiaries) of the programme are girls and boys up to 18 years old, who are victims and survivors and those at risk of SEC. We will mostly work with them through children and youth groups. Under the 5 outcome areas the following activities will be carried out:
- Awareness raising event for children and parents using various SBCC materials
- Social media campaigning
- Develop tailor made IEC and BCC materials on SEC
- Train to children and youth on ways to prevent and protect themselves from human trafficking, drivers of trafficking and mitigation measures, support mechanism and how to access specialised services
- Support the OCMC (One Stop Crisis Management Center) to identify service gaps and challenges
- Support OCMC to overcome these challenges and gaps in order to provide child, youth, gender and age appropriate services to victims and children and youth at risk
- Support to victims of sexual exploitation
- Training of Trainers for teachers/ community volunteers of targeted schools on Stone and Stick package for child and youth protection (F2F or virtually as per context)
- Provide training to children and youth on Sticks and Stones package for self-protection (F2F or virtually as per context)
- Roll out and review, monitoring and follow up of Sticks and Stones / peer to peer programme
- Form/Reform Child Clubs (8-18) and Youth Clubs (16-25)
- Provide training to the members of these clubs on self-protection, associated risk, prevention and mitigation measures in terms of protection including trafficking and sexual exploitation
- Support child and youth clubs to develop their own action plans
- Children and youth clubs roll out their action plans
- Conduct peer to peer education programmes
- Awareness raising sessions with parents and caretakers on SEC
- Awareness raising sessions with social and community leaders on SEC
- Support for strengthening the capacity of child right committee and other committees working on anti-human trafficking as mandated by law
- Awareness raising sessions with the local government and other concerned stakeholders on sexual exploitation of children
- Lobby and advocacy to ensure priority, policy implementation and budget allocation for anti – sexual exploitation of children and anti-trafficking initiatives by local government
- Support to develop strategies and action plans against sexual exploitation of children at local level government
- Interaction programme with School Management Committees on Child Protection
- Support schools in the formulation of child protection policies and programmes at school
- Technical and vocational (including life skill) training to families with children vulnerable to sexual exploitation
- Business skills development training, mentoring and support to families with children vulnerable to sexual exploitation
- Start Up support
- Support local government to respond to COVID-19 with adjusted action plans
- Support local government / Child Rights Committee to respond to COVID- 19 pandemic with adjusted action plans
- Coordination meeting between agencies at the local and district level
- Work closely with the district police to strengthen and support CSEC services (women and children service centers).

The Alliance sees capacity building as a key intervention strategy and achieves this in multiple ways. We continue to build the capacity of our implementing partners on e.g. gender (including implementation toolkit boys and SEC), child safeguarding and adaptive programming. We are strengthening the capacity and role of CSO’s, e.g. in influencing and holding duty bearers accountable, monitoring the implementation of child protection policies and gender responsive SEC response services. We are strengthening the capacity of local government actors to budget and implement policies in a gender responsive and inclusive way. We are strengthening the environment of children by building the capacity of families to provide care and protection. We are supporting communities to work together to protect children through community based child protection mechanisms. We are empowering children and youth to take on an active role in their own protection, strengthening their advocacy skills and peer-to-peer work. Lobbying & Advocacy is built into the programme at all levels, focusing on the urgency of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and building on the L&A achievements of 2016-2020. Where safely and meaningfully possible, children and youth collaborate with partners in advocacy, or even lead advocacy themselves. Together with, or led by our local partners, we aim to influence stakeholders at various levels. 

The programme will mobilize and influence parents, schools, community leaders and service providers to ignore this role in SEC prevention and response, including reintegration of victims and promotion of community based CPS. The programme will influence governments including LEAs and private sector actors through multi-stakeholder collaborations to jointly prevent and respond to SEC. We will influence regional and international intergovernmental bodies to prioritize the issue of SEC. We will bring local perspectives to the regional and in Capacity strengthening: The programme strengthens CPS (at national and community levels) to deliver positive lasting change for children at risk or victims of SEC and their families, beyond the programme’s lifetime. Strengthening the agency of children, parents and community child protection committees will last beyond the programme as well. 

Policy and practice change: The programme works towards institutional monitoring, referral and coordination mechanisms across stakeholders, e.g. by developing National Action Plans to which partners commit. It further aims for policy change and implementation. Businesses adhering to The Code will do so beyond the duration of the programme.