Ram Kishan: Preventing child marriage brings transformative change

Ram Kishan has been the Country Director of Plan International Nepal since May 2022. With over 26 years of experience in humanitarian and development programming, he has worked in various countries, including India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Malawi, and Nigeria. Shreya Shrestha from ApEx talks to Kishan regarding Plan’s initiatives in Nepal. Excerpts from the interview:

How does Plan International Nepal’s vision for all girls and women standing strong to create global change translate into actionable strategies?

At Plan International Nepal, we are committed to supporting girls, and the focus of all our programs is to ensure they are gender-transformative, especially focusing on young girls and young women. We achieve this by implementing inclusive, transformative, and empowering processes within a lifecycle approach. We work across the lifecycle of a child, starting from conception to birth, addressing early childhood development and cognitive development, and providing education. Our programs aim to create a better space in society for their empowerment. As they transition from childhood to adulthood, we focus on skill-building to ensure they can secure meaningful employment and delay the age of marriage. At Plan International, we believe that addressing Child, Early, and Forced Marriage requires collective action from all stakeholders. We strongly urge everyone to work together to ensure that the legal marriage age in Nepal is not reduced.

One of our fundamental beliefs is that preventing early and forced marriages leads to transformative change for girls and women. While we aim to make Nepal free of child, early, and forced marriages, the issue encompasses various social, economic, and gender-related aspects that must be addressed. Often, girls marry early due to economic pressures and entrenched social norms. To tackle these challenges, we adopt a comprehensive, transformative approach embedded within the lifecycle framework.

Can you share a success story to demonstrate  how your program has fostered leadership among girls and young women in Nepal?

We have a program called ‘Champion of Change (CoC),’ which is an 18-month module that we normally run with children aged 10-24. There are two different cohorts: one for ages 10-15 and another for ages 16-24. This program creates a space where young girls, boys, and women come together to discuss their issues. They undergo lifecycle training, which is part of their education and also supports their empowerment. This program has brought transformative change in the lives of girls. They have come together to prevent abuse, work with authorities to report cases of abuse, bullying, or family issues, and, in many cases, fight against child marriage. When they find themselves being forced into marriage by their families, they feel empowered to report it to the authorities.

For example, in Bardiya, within a minority Muslim community, I met a girl who was actively campaigning to prevent child marriage in her community. She herself successfully convinced her parents not to marry her off early. As part of the CoC campaign, she is now an ambassador in her community, engaging with religious leaders, municipalities, and others to ensure that child marriage does not occur. From what we have observed, the CoC program is empowering young people to stand up for their rights and fight for them. It is one of our initiatives that I believe is bringing very visible changes.

What are the biggest challenges faced by the young women in Nepal when it comes to becoming leaders, and how does the plan address these obstacles?

As we know, gender norms are an issue we need to address. In a patriarchal society, it is primarily male-dominated, where girls and women often do not have an equal voice. While we aim to bring about changes for girls and women in society, we must work with men, boys, girls, and women together to tackle these issues collectively. There are many ways to do this. For instance, Nepal has laws that treat everyone equally, with no discrimination. The constitution guarantees equal rights. However, social norms often hinder equal opportunities for girls and women, requiring transformative change at the community, family, and societal levels. Religious and community leaders play a crucial role in creating space for such changes. Nepal’s local government act reserves seats for women in local government. However, we often see that women holding these positions, such as deputy mayors, are not directly elected as mayors. This is partly due to a lack of support from families and communities. While this representation is a good start, achieving true transformative change will take time. Historically, even in Europe and America, women were denied the right to vote for many years, whereas Nepal granted this right from the beginning.

Nepal has the right policies and laws in place, but the challenge lies in addressing social norms and creating a more positive environment for everyone to thrive. Promoting women’s leadership must begin early; we cannot wait until they are 18 or 20 to encourage them to become leaders. Efforts should start at the school and family levels, ensuring boys and girls are given the same opportunities. For example, when girls speak in public forums, they should not be silenced simply because they are girls. Both boys and girls have equal capabilities, but the difference lies in the opportunities provided to them. We need to create an environment where girls and women can advocate for their rights, address their issues, and gain leadership and representation in local, provincial, and federal governments.

As I mentioned, we follow a lifecycle approach. From the beginning, we work at the school level, engaging with child clubs to include girls in leadership roles. Many child clubs now have girls as presidents, and we have seen girls taking on mentorship roles. These mentors address larger operational issues and engage with authorities to bring about change. For economic empowerment, we focus on livelihood opportunities, skill-building, and entrepreneurship for women aged 18 and above. One of our theories of change is that an economically empowered girl has a stronger voice. In families where women work, they often have greater influence in decision-making, particularly regarding their children. 

How do you engage male allies and the broader community in promoting girls leadership?

While we work with girls and women, we cannot ignore the importance of boys and men in their lives. Our approach includes working with fathers and brothers. In the ‘Champion of Change’ program, we involve both boys and girls. This ensures we are not working in isolation with only girls but fostering mutual understanding of each other's rights and the challenges they face. In the Early Childhood Development (ECD) program, we have a fathers’ group because early childhood development involves aspects like nurturing children, nutrition, and managing family resources—responsibilities that cannot fall solely on mothers. Fathers must also be involved.

We also work on sexual and reproductive health and rights, ensuring fathers are aware of the menstruation cycle and the needs of girls, as there is significant discrimination during menstruation. We involve fathers and educate them on how to support the women and girls in their families. The fathers’ group we work with has become sensitive and empowered, actively supporting their children during menstruation and throughout their lives. Everyone’s role is essential, but at the family level, fathers hold a particularly important place. 

How does the plan ensure gender responsive humanitarian programming during a crisis?

We understand that humanitarian crises affect everyone, but they disproportionately impact those who are more vulnerable and have less voice. For example, during the 2015 earthquake, the number of women and children who died was significantly higher than that of men. This disparity can be attributed to various factors, such as a lack of preparedness and the fact that many women, as homemakers, were inside their homes when the disaster struck. To address this, we must ensure that community-level disaster preparedness plans include everyone. These plans should not only focus on men and boys but also actively involve women and girls including children with disabilities, enabling them to contribute effectively when a response is needed.

Here’s a simple example: more men know how to swim compared to women and girls. In the event of a flood, this increases the likelihood of women drowning. By including swimming lessons for women as part of disaster preparedness, a small intervention can have a long-term impact. Similarly, when considering what to pack in a grab bag during a flood evacuation, it’s crucial to account for women’s needs, such as sanitary pads, to ensure their safety and comfort in crisis situations. In relief camps, if shelters are designed without privacy considerations—for instance, providing community shelters that lack private spaces for breastfeeding mothers or those who need personal areas—we fail to address gender-specific needs.

At Plan International Nepal, we believe it is essential to consider the needs of everyone in our planning. Disaster response must be gender-sensitive, ensuring that relief materials, program approaches, and community engagement are inclusive. By involving everyone in the process, we can create transformative, inclusive responses that address the needs of all individuals.

Can you share examples of recent humanitarian  efforts where the Plan International has scaled up effectively in Nepal?

Firstly, let me give you an example of the Jajarkot earthquake that occurred last year. We responded by providing support to over 4,000 households with relief kits. There could have been a standard approach of distributing hygiene kits to everyone, which typically include hygiene materials for a family. However, we conducted a more detailed analysis at the micro level to identify the specific needs of mothers who were breastfeeding and required specialized relief items. As a result, we developed a separate kit called the ‘dignity kit’, which included sanitary pads and specially designed gowns for women to make breastfeeding easier. These kits also contained materials tailored to their unique needs, which were not necessary for everyone. These thoughtfully designed kits were targeted and distributed to the households that needed them most.

Another example is from when we were designing buckets for water collection. Typically, women are the ones who fetch water, and in the market, buckets are often larger, designed to carry more water at once. However, we decided to reduce the size of the buckets from 20 liters to 14 liters, considering the physical burden on women.

How does the plan collaborate with local NGOs, community based organizations and the government to achieve its goal?

It’s not easy to address humanitarian and development needs without the support of organizations and the government because the scale of the requirements is so vast. That’s why we collaborate with other international and national NGOs in Nepal to ensure coordinated efforts. When we work together, we avoid duplicating efforts; for example, if someone is already working in the education sector, we don’t replicate their work. This is the essence of coordination. We also engage with the local government before starting our work. We ensure that we have a clear understanding with them, explaining why we are coming, what resources we are bringing, and the issues we aim to address. This level of coordination with local governments and partners is critical.

Our organization follows a localization approach, recognizing that local actors and NGOs understand their context better than international organizations. We leverage their knowledge and focus on building transformative partnerships rather than transactional ones. We don’t believe in simply transferring resources and moving on. Instead, we aim for partnerships that lead to long-term impact. In these partnerships, we provide support to local NGOs that may lack certain capacities. This includes assistance with strategy development, government engagement, and program delivery. While we step in when necessary, we allow our partners to take the lead because they have the legitimacy to address issues of local importance, including advocacy and policy work.

What is your vision for Nepal in the next decade in terms of gender equality, girls leadership and ending child marriage?

The vision is to create a more inclusive, equal, and safe society for girls and women, where everyone can thrive and reach their full potential. This vision is strongly reflected in Nepal’s constitution and is embedded in all relevant laws. We aim to align our work with the Government of Nepal’s commitment to its citizens, not to create something parallel but to build upon this commitment.

The government has developed the 16th Plan and committed to the Sustainable Development Goals. We aspire to be a partner in helping the government achieve these goals, particularly the 16th Plan. At the same time, we want to ensure that gender-inclusive and gender-transformative work becomes an integral part of the broader global agenda. Ultimately, we envision a society that is inclusive, safe, and equal for all.

How can the global community contribute to and support those efforts?

Plan International is a global organization working in 85 countries around the world. We raise resources to support our work in Nepal through the contributions of individual supporters, corporations, philanthropists, and international governments. These resources allow us to continue our efforts. Although Nepal is set to graduate from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) category in 2026, the realities on the ground will not change overnight. Of the three indicators for LDC graduation, Nepal has met two, but the most important economic and social aspects have not been significantly impacted. This highlights the continued need for resources.

The international community must remain aware that poverty persists in Nepal. While hunger may not be as widespread as in other countries, it remains a concern, particularly in a remittance-based economy like Nepal’s. 

What message would you like to share with stakeholders, partners and communities to support Plan International’s mission?

One of the key messages is that we have been working in Nepal for forty-five years, and we are committed to continuing our work here. However, this would not be possible without the support we receive from our stakeholders. These stakeholders include our partners, the government at all levels—federal, provincial, and local—the communities we work with, and, importantly, our supporters in national organizations across Europe, America, and Asia. Their support is crucial to ensuring that we meet our commitments and achieve the strategic goals we have set for ourselves. The next five years will continue the strategy that has already completed its first year. We are committed to ensuring that the changes we are working toward are achieved in the remaining four years.