Evaluation of the South-Eastern Nepal hotspot to reduce the prevalence of bonded labour Institute of Development Studies, UK in partnership with ActionAid Nepal Pauline Oosterhoff Bishnu Prasad Sharma Danny Burns Evaluation of the South-Eastern Nepal December 2019 Citation: Oosterhoff, P; Sharma, B and Burns, D (2020) Evaluation of the South-Eastern Nepal hotspot to reduce the prevalence of bonded labour, Brighton: IDS Authors Pauline Oosterhoff, Bishnu Prasad Sharma and Danny Burns Published February 2020 The Institute of Development Studies and Authors cannot be held responsible for errors or any consequences arising from the use of information contained in this report. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the IDS and Authors. © Institute of Development Studies; Freedom Fund 2020. © Institute of Development Studies 2020. This is an Open Access report distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-ND), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited and no modifications or adaptations are made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/legalcode Photos © Institute of Development Studies and Action Aid Nepal Funding Freedom Fund Institute of Development Studies Brighton BN1 9RE UK www.ids.ac.uk IDS is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England Charity Registration Number 306371 Charitable Company Number 877338 2 Purpose of report This evaluation report was produced by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and ActionAid Nepal, for the Freedom Fund. It is an output of the programme ‘Planning, Learning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Activities for the South-Eastern Nepal hotspot’. The project aims to support learning about the most effective community and NGO activities in combating modern-day slavery and bonded labour in the Freedom Fund South-Eastern Nepal hotspot. The project is funded by the Freedom Fund and directed by IDS. The evaluation process has also been designed to support learning about the most effective community and NGO activities to combat bonded labour in the Freedom Fund South-Eastern Nepal hotspot. While the report offers important evaluative findings, the IDS programme was rooted in a participatory research approach and was not designed as an evaluation. The feedback in this report is part of an overall, independent assessment of the hotspot, particularly in regard to the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of the hotspot model in reducing bonded labour in the area, and the sustainability of the hotspot model, in three districts in South-Eastern Nepal, with documented evidence of adults and children working through a system of agricultural bonded labour known as Harawa-Charawa.1 1 In Maithili, Charawa denotes a landless person who grazes cattle. Harawa denotes a landless person who works on other people’s land. Both terms have connotations of bondage. 3 Contents Purpose of report Acknowledgements Acronyms 2 5 6 1 Executive summary 7 1.1 Background to this evaluation 7 1.2 Context of the programme intervention 7 1.3 Main findings from this evaluation 8 1.4 Recommendations for the Freedom Fund’s hotspot programme 9 1.5 Policy areas that should form the focus of future advocacy efforts, by the Freedom Fund and other anti-trafficking organisations 2 Background 10 11 2.1 Background to the South-Eastern hotspot programme 14 2.2 Changes in local implementing partners 16 2.3 Changes at the Freedom Fund 18 2.4 Freedom Fund taking over full management of the hotspot from Geneva Global 18 2.5 Changes in contract and scope for the research and evaluation led by IDS 18 2.6 Contextual changes in the programme 19 3 Methodology 23 3.1 Direct and indirect community beneficiaries 23 3.2 NGO staff 25 3.3 Other concerned stakeholders and Freedom Fund staff 25 3.4 Data recording and analysis 26 3.5 Limitations of the review 27 3.6 Ethical considerations 28 4 Feedback on the hotspot programme activities by staff, community-based volunteers, and peer educators on the usefulness of the project activities 28 4.1 Relevance 4.1.1 Educational support 4.1.2 Credit and saving programmes 28 28 30 4.2 Gender and relevance 32 4.3 Effectiveness 4.3.1 Caste 33 33 4.4 Efficiency 37 4.5 Sustainability 40 5 Conclusions and recommendations 43 References Annexe 1 Terms of reference 46 47 4 Annexe 2 Critical path from the 2014 strategy Annexe 3 Employment profiles Annexe 4 Overview of NGO partners and technical service providers Annexe 5 Changes in staff Freedom Fund HQ involved in the implementation of the programme Annexe 6 Questions and recruitment strategy community participant Annexe 7 Questions and recruitment list for NGO Annexe 8 Questionnaire for other stakeholders Annexe 9 Employment profile of community respondents 51 53 54 56 57 70 81 88 Boxes Box 2.1 Definition of forced and bonded labour 13 Tables Table 2.1 Current and past implementing partners 17 Table 3.1 Planned and actual recruitment of direct and indirect community beneficiaries 24 Table 3.2 Planned and actual recruitment of local NGO staff 25 Table 3.3 Planned and actual recruitment of other concerned stakeholders and Freedom Fund 26 Table A2 Critical path 51 Table A3 Employment profiles 53 Table A4 Overview of NGO partners and technical service providers 54 Table A5 Freedom Fund Staff from 2014 to 2019 56 Table A9 Employment profile of community respondents 88 Acknowledgements The team would like to extend its gratitude to all the partner organisations that participated in the research process – attending the training, sharing feedback with their respective teams, coordinating the quality assurance visits and spot checks, and helping to draw this process to a close. We are thankful to Ramu Shah from ActionAid Nepal who supported the conducting of interviews. We are also grateful to the community members who gave their time to be part of the process and the discussions that followed. The team would also like to record its gratitude to the Freedom Fund, especially Pauline Aaron and Ginny Baumann, for supporting the team, from the initial design phase of this process, and to the finance and administration teams at ActionAid Nepal and IDS for providing their support throughout the field process. Great effort has gone into producing an accurate and balanced report. We apologise for inaccuracies, should there be any, and would be pleased to rectify them. Cover photo credits (left to right): ActionAid Nepal. 5 Acronyms AAN BIDC CDF CIC CMC DDC DJKYC DRR DSAM FF GG HH HURYC IDS JDS LGCDP MoL MoLRM NGO OBC ODF PAF TAP TWSO UDS VDC ActionAid Nepal Bhawani Integrated Development Centre Community Development Forum Community Improvement Center Centre for Health and Counselling District Development Committee Dalit Jana Kalyan Yuba Club disaster risk reduction Dalit Samrakshyan Aviyan Manch Freedom Fund Geneva Global household Human Rights and Rural Youth Change Institute of Development Studies Janachetana Dalit Sangam Local Governance and Community Development Programme Ministry of Law Ministry of Land Reform and Management non-governmental organisation Other Backward Classes open defecation-free Poverty Alleviation Fund Technical Assistance Provider Tapeshwori Social Welfare Organisation Utpidit Dalit Samaj Village Development Committee 6 1 Executive summary 1.1 Background to this evaluation The Institute of Development Studies (IDS), in partnership with ActionAid Nepal (AAN), has been carrying out a programme of research, learning, and evaluation in relation to the Freedom Fund’s ‘hotspot’ in South-Eastern Nepal. The hotspot programme was established in 2015, and at the time it was the first coordination action to specifically target a form of inter-generational bonded labour in agricultural and domestic work, known as HarawaCharawa. The main objectives of the programme are: (1) sustained liberation of HarawaCharawa community members, (2) wider social mobilisation and government action against Harawa-Charawa bonded labour, and (3) increasing civil society’s capacity. The objective of this evaluation is to provide an overall, independent assessment of the hotspot, particularly in regard to the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of the hotspot model in reducing bonded labour in the area, and the sustainability of the hotspot model. The findings in this report primarily draw on 55 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders internal and external to the programme, plus a review of key programme documents. The findings also reflect a larger body of research conducted by IDS starting from 2014, including: the participatory collection and analysis of 152 life stories; participatory prevalence statistics based on 1,660 randomly selected households across 52 hamlets in programme areas; a systemic action research programme with five action research groups, in which community members analysed and developed solutions to their problems; and a desk review of key programme documents. 1.2 Context of the programme intervention During the early phase of the programme, a baseline prevalence study conducted in 2016 found that the interventions were mostly in the right location. There were significant variations in the prevalence of bonded labour in the different NGO intervention areas – with prevalence ranging from 15 per cent to 72 per cent. In some villages, bonded labour did not seem to exist. Nevertheless, in all intervention areas, levels of bonded labour are significant. Almost a third of all households (29 per cent) had members in bonded labour, with households split between 17 per cent with all working family members in bonded labour and 12 per cent with at least one bonded family member. The prevalence of bonded labour correlated strongly with caste and religion. Among Hindi households, 38 per cent of families from dalit backgrounds were in bonded labour, and 45 per cent of Muslim households were in bonded labour – significantly worse than the average across the intervention areas. A follow-up prevalence study was originally planned but was later deemed unfeasible due to major changes to the hotspot programme and NGO partners, which would have meant that the results would not have been statistically comparable to the baseline study. The hotspot programme brought together a new group of NGOs, some of whom had no prior experience working on the issue of human trafficking or meeting the requirements of international donors. Over the past five years of the programme, progress has been observed alongside notable challenges. In particular, the hotspot programme has experienced a high turnover of NGO partners: of the original eight NGOs, only four of them remain as partners today. The other partners had their grants discontinued by the Freedom Fund as the NGOs did not make sufficient progress on their programme activities to justify further funding, and audits found financial irregularities. In addition, there were a number of external factors that affected the programme. The intervention area was hit by a major earthquake in 2015 and by deadly floods in 2019, which led to NGOs diverting their efforts to urgent humanitarian relief rather than anti-trafficking 7 activities. The devolution of political power from a centralised, unitary system to a more decentralised federalist system also lead to many new government officials being introduced to the programme. Although the long-term goal of the hotspot remained the same, the Freedom Fund and its partners revised the programme strategy and targets towards the end of 2017, focusing more on advocacy and policy change and less on community-based interventions and change. 1.3 Main findings from this evaluation At the heart of the hotspot programme are community-based groups, or freedom groups, which this evaluation found to be highly appreciated in a context of bonded labour. The immediate benefit of these groups includes the provision of NGO services such as credit and savings and educational support for children, as well as referral to government schemes such as access to land titles. These are relevant activities because they respond to some of the key causes of bondage, such as access to information and safe credit. Over the longer term, the community-based groups have helped mobilise local residents and give disadvantaged groups a stronger voice – many interviewees mentioned that people are now willing to raise their voice when their rights are violated, and more women are speaking and sharing their views. However, we also observed that the gender pay gap and drop-out of girls in school remain issues. Women’s increased ability to speak out in public also occurs in places with high levels of male migration which is leaving more women de facto in charge of households, reshaping women’s roles. People also reported that caste-based violence (including sexual servitude of lower caste women) and discrimination in public places have both reduced. Yet, some private norms regarding caste remain entrenched; for example, some so-called lower caste people are still barred from entering temples, and respondents reported a low acceptance of inter-caste marriage. These observed norm changes are arguably an important step in challenging the root causes of structural inequalities, but clearly more work is needed to fully end gender- and caste-based discrimination. One of the goals of the programme is to reduce harmful child labour by keeping children in school, as well as helping existing child labourers transition back into formal education. The prevalence study found very few children in bonded labour, perhaps because when children are working alongside their parents they are not seen as child labourers. These findings were quite different from the life stories during which child labour and child marriage were reported as problems that needed more attention. From the interviews for this evaluation, it was clear that the educational support provided through the programme was highly appreciated by a diverse range of respondents, with education being viewed as a step towards more lucrative earning opportunities working abroad or in a government position in Nepal. Interviewees reported their desire to keep their children in school but not necessarily having the means to do so, and the support provided by NGOs in the form of scholarships, stationary, and tuition classes has played an important role in keeping Harawa-Charawa children in school. Respondents mentioned the lack of employment as a key issue and demonstrated a strong demand for vocational training. However, they also noted that the training provided by local NGOs was not always successful because of a subsequent lack of start-up capital or a limited demand for the products. Other issues mentioned were the long duration and lack of financial compensation to attend the trainings, making it difficult for people in bondage to attend. Trainings provided by the more specialised organisations appear to have been more appreciated, although people still had to somehow find time and forego other earning opportunities to attend. 8 The programme has worked with the national government to enact policies and legislation to address bonded labour, as well as with local government to implement services that increase the resilience of at-risk communities. There are clear examples of government commitment; for example, three municipalities have funded NGO partners to conduct surveys on the Harawa-Charawa families in their constituencies, with the aim of providing those identified with additional social support. At the national level, there has been recognition of the Harawa-Charawa as a group with special needs. In the 2019/20 budget speech, the Minister of Finance announced that the Special Employment Programme will also target the HarawaCharawa communities. While this commitment cannot be attributed to the programme, it is likely that the programme has made a contribution. NGO partners recognise that they cannot provide all the services for citizens in lieu of the government. Their tangible role in activating public schemes in the programme areas, and connecting Harawa-Charawa households to these services through the community-based groups has a sustainable effect – the benefits of these households obtaining identity cards which then unlock access to other available benefits such as the government’s nutrition scheme will serve these individuals well beyond the programme. Many respondents living in Harawa-Charawa communities are aware that bonded labour is illegal, and they also see the aforementioned important changes. However, their understanding of bonded labour and associated legal protections still seems to be incomplete. Community members appear to consider bonded labour to involve severe forms of abuse and physical coercion, but when people are confined to work for a landlord due to high-interest loans or threats of violence, community members tend to tolerate and accept this, even though these are in reality also conditions of bonded labour. This suggests that more work is needed on collective action in these communities to support individuals and their families to recognise and protect their rights, as well as access government and NGO services to improve access to safe credit, as well improve as their general working and living conditions. 1.4 Recommendations for the Freedom Fund’s hotspot programme ● Support those in debt bondage to get out of their situation by accessing alternative, more affordable sources of credit that do not tie them to their employer or debt-holders. Although Harawa-Charawa communities are now more aware of their rights, currently there is a lack of alternative loan options which means that those in debt bondage often continue spiralling into debt. The Freedom Fund could consider stepping up its efforts in connecting Harawa-Charawa communities to fairer, formal loan schemes and/or to support more legal cases to prosecute employers who enter into predatory, illegal loan arrangements. Critically examine the gender benefits and burdens of micro-credit interventions, especially on unpaid care and the demand for labour of small enterprises in a context of high (male) migration. ● Support the implementation of relevant and realistic vocational training and employment programmes. Vocational training programmes have trained members of the Harawa-Charawa communities. To benefit from these trainings and generate income, there should be a market for the products or services. Micro-enterprises require investment capital and interest, knowledge, and skills to run a small enterprise. Assessing those aspects should be prioritised with the candidates before they commence vocational training. The new Prime Minister Employment Programme could be an important opportunity for increased employment options among HarawaCharawa communities. In particular, ensure that NGO partners are aware and know 9 the practicalities of supporting members of the Harawa-Charawa community to access this newly announced scheme, which will help unlock entitlements such as subsistence allowance and a minimum of 100 days of employment annually, as well as access to vocational training and seed funding. ● Support the national government to develop practical and acceptable criteria for Harawa-Charawa. Harawa-Charawa is both a political-economic and a cultural identity. There should be a clearer system to identify whether a person is a HarawaCharawa and whether they can claim benefits, and who may not want to be identified as a Harawa-Charawa. The Freedom Fund is currently working with three municipalities to develop criteria for Harawa-Charawa and supporting a governmentadministered survey to identify Harawa-Charawa households. The process, tools, and lessons learned from these three municipalities should be shared and validated with the communities before scaling up to more areas. Within the partner NGOs, there are also differences between management, office-based staff, and field staff in their definitions and understanding of Harawa-Charawa, which need to be ironed out. ● Strategic advocacy needs to be rooted in local realities and deliver concrete benefits for Harawa-Charawa communities. At the hotspot level, respondents from different backgrounds agreed on the general priorities although the rationales were slightly different, with community-level respondents emphasising practical needs more and NGOs and other stakeholders emphasising strategical needs more. These are complementary and can strengthen each other. Priority should be given to activities that are mutually agreed and based on consultations with (elected) representatives from the Harawa-Charawa communities. ● Ensure that the Harawa-Charawa Network is more rooted in the Harawa-Charawa communities. Local NGOs and organisations can facilitate making this network a locally rooted and accountable people’s organisation. The sharing of experiences with local government and trying different ways to improve local accountability, such as paid membership, majority, or threshold voting can be very helpful. The Harawa-Charawa Network has to be led by the Harawa-Charawa, unless they decide otherwise during a process, with clear informed consent. ● Improve gender equality, especially in advocating for women and men being paid equally for the same work. Actions should be planned to address this issue; for example, by working with municipality officials to implement a daily minimum wage. Minimum wages are by definition for all workers – regardless of gender or caste. 1.5 Policy areas that should form the focus of future advocacy efforts, by the Freedom Fund and other anti-trafficking organisations ● Declare the Harawa-Charawa free and establish a government rehabilitation package comparable to those provided for ex-Kamaiya and Haliya bonded labourers. ● Support the implementation of land reforms that can benefit Harawa-Charawa. The government should take its responsibility to prepare and implement land reform policy and increase access to land to Harawa-Charawa. Announcing what constitutes an ‘unfair or undocumented’ loan, explain that these loans do not need to be paid back, and encourage and support people to put their loans on paper. ● Invite representatives of Harawa-Charawa communities to participate in the formulation of new policies and reviews or evaluations of the implementation of 10 existing schemes, benefits, and laws. There are various existing and new schemes that aim to support the poorest. Working with target communities such as the HarawaCharawa can help to improve the general relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of existing and proposed schemes and enhance the ways in which they are implemented. ● Regulate safe migration. Migration is seen as an effective way out of poverty, but local intermediaries have too much power because the communities do not know the rules and how to enforce those that could protect them. Government officials need to be better trained on supporting safer migration and law enforcement personnel needs to be more equipped at investigating and prosecuting cases of trafficking. ● Implement policies on gender equality, especially on equal employment, equal pay, child marriage, girl’s education, and unpaid care. Nepal has signed and ratified many international policies to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination such as ICCPR-1966, ICESCR-1966, and CEDAW Convention-1979 and have taken active steps to support gender equality. Nevertheless, gender inequalities such as the gender pay gap do persist, which suggests that government officials need to be more motivated and equipped to implement these policies. 2 Background The Institute of Development Studies, UK (IDS) has been carrying out a series of research projects on the Freedom Fund’s South-Eastern Nepal hotspot programme since 2015. Collectively, the research aims to examine the root causes of bonded labour in the programme locations and to assess change in the nature of vulnerability and exploitation over time. A detailed account of the work carried out to date as well as key findings can be found in the following documents:       [Report] Participatory Research, Planning and Evaluation Process in Nepal Summary Results: Participatory Action Research, August 2019, https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/14652 [Blog] Dowries, Education and Girl Brides – The Perverse Incentives Perpetuating Child Marriage in Nepal, November 2018. www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/dowries-educationand-girl-brides-the-perverse-incentives-perpetuating-child-marriage-in-nepal/ [Blog] When Farmers Owe Their Souls to the Landlords They Call Friends, November 2018, www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/when-farmers-owe-their-souls-to-the-landlords-theycall-friends/ [Policy briefing] The Modern Slavery Trap: Bonded Labour, May 2018, www.ids.ac.uk/publications/the-modern-slavery-trap-bonded-labour/ [Report] Patterns and Dynamics of Bonded Labour, Child Labour and Child Marriage in the Nepali Eastern Terai: Findings from Life Story Analysis, October 2017, https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/13398/Nepal_Lif e_Stories_report_FINAL_301017.pdf [Report] Participatory Statistics to Measure Prevalence in Bonded Labour Hotspots in Nepal: Report on Findings of the Baseline Study, July 2017, https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/13399 The overall objective of this evaluation is to provide an independent assessment of the hotspots, particularly in regard to the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of the hotspot model in reducing bonded labour in the area, and the sustainability of the hotspot model. This evaluation has the following key research questions: 11 Relevance a. To what extent do the design and activities of the hotspot reflect the current needs and priorities of the community members? Are they relevant to the objectives of the hotspot? b. What are the views of relevant stakeholders (primarily programme participants, with selected inputs from community leaders, government representatives, and private sector employers) towards the programme? For example, do they consider it an opportunity, a threat, or are they indifferent? Effectiveness c. To what extent has the programme achieved its aim of reducing bonded labour in communities in the target areas (as a source for bonded labour)? d. Based on the qualitative feedback from the community and NGOs: (i) how has the programme contributed towards the measured change including tackling root causes, (ii) what are the observable links between programme activities and wider systems change (e.g. wider government policies and practices, strengthening civil society collaboration, and generating evidence for anti-trafficking sector)? e. What have the NGO partners undertaken together that they might not have done outside of the hotspot model, especially in terms of systems change? Efficiency f. Based on the NGO’s assessment of impact achieved through (i) the different types of programme activities of local NGOs and (ii) the main work streams within the Change Strategy: to what extent do these align with the programme’s investment of time and resources? Sustainability g. To what extent has the programme influenced the approach, organisational capability, and quality of activities (including monitoring and evaluation) of the NGO partners? h. What is the key knowledge and skills that NGOs have learned from programme interventions and can they give examples of how this can be applied elsewhere? i. What can the community members and adolescents now do for themselves? 12 Box 2.1 Definition of forced and bonded labour According to the International Labour Organization, the definition of forced labour has been consistent since the passage of the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). However, the focus on particular types of forced labour have shifted as new forms of exploitation of labour have emerged; similarly, the indicators of forced labour have evolved over time (ILO 2014). The ILO (2014) indicators of forced labour are aimed at providing guidance in identifying situations of forced labour. These include: abuse of vulnerability; deception; restriction of movement; isolation; physical and sexual violence; intimidation and threats; retention of identity documents; withholding wages; debt bondage; abusive working and living conditions; and excessive overtime (ILO 2014). These indicators are proffered as a useful means to operationalise the concept of forced labour. Bonded labour is generally described as a type of forced labour and is also known as debt bondage or debt labour. It occurs when a person is forced to use their physical labour to pay off a debt acquired by them or their family, or inherited from their antecendants. They are forced into working for little or no pay, with no control over their debt and the value of their work invariably becomes greater than the original sum of money borrowed. Within this evaluation, and throughout IDS’ body of research on the Freedom Fund’s SouthEastern Nepal hotspot programme, we use the following definition as developed for the participatory statistics based on the life story analysis (Oosterhoff, Sharma and Burns 2017):2  The presence of an advance or agreement. An advance, whether completely or partly in cash or in kind, made by one person who is also demanding the labour of the borrower as a means of repayment for a loan. Plus at least one of these remaining four:  No freedom of movement: physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.  Paid less than the minimum wage: a remuneration which is less than the current notified minimum wage under the minimum wages act.  No freedom of employment: absence of freedom to choose one’s employment or other means of livelihood.  No freedom of marketplace: loss of freedom to sell one’s labour in an open market. Source: Authors’ own based on Freedom Fund information. 2 Some people argued that the migration of poor illiterate rural persons is always risky – or even that it is always a form of bonded labour involved because people need to borrow money for the journey, but others pointed out that there are also success stories. Agreement was reached that somebody could only be marked as a case of ‘risky migration’ if he/she has gone overseas with false documents or he/she is treated contrary to his/her agreement with the agent or if he/she is paid less than that of the agreed salary or if he/she is given other work than was agreed. 13 Team The evaluation has been conducted by an international multi-disciplinary gender-balanced team of researchers from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Brighton, UK, in partnership with ActionAid Nepal. The Institute of Development Studies has a global reputation for its work on international development (www.ids.ac.uk). ActionAid Nepal is a not-for-profit organisation with one of the longest track records for participatory work in Nepal (and across the world) and a long and productive relationship with IDS (http://nepal.actionaid.org). 2.1 Background to the South-Eastern hotspot programme The Freedom Fund (FF) started its intervention in the South-Eastern Terai of Nepal as the South-Eastern Nepal hotspot in November 2014. In South-Eastern Nepal, an ILO survey in 2013 found that 97,000 adults, mostly men, and 13,000 children are in forced agricultural labour, through a system called Harawa-Charawa (Kumar KC, Subedi and Suwal 2013). The initial selection of intervention areas was based on an ILO (2013) survey report, the numbers of dalit and landless amongst the population, the presence of landlords, the prevalence of landlessness, and observations of traditional agricultural bonded labour in these communities.3 Within these families, men work growing crops, and women, children, and the elderly work as cattle herders or as domestic servants. Most of the people are landless Hindus from the lower castes – Tarai dalits and Tarai Janjati. Some landless Muslims are also involved in forced agricultural labour. These households lack access to safe and legal credit. When they face financial emergencies they are dependent on moneylenders, relatives, and landlords for loans.4 Once a loan is taken from a landlord, they expect families to provide labour to pay off the debt – often with exceptionally high interest rates. Failure to do so is responded to with threats of physical and economic violence, abuse, or restrictions on freedom of movement (Kumar KC et al. 2013). The South-Eastern Nepal hotspot is a comprehensive community-based programme to contribute significantly to the eradication of bonded labour. This approach is quite similar to the hotspot approach taken by the Freedom Fund in Tamil Nadu in South India and in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in North India, where it has contributed to a dramatic reduction in the prevalence of bonded labour. This community-based hotspot approach builds on earlier community-based work of other organisations in India and Nepal which the Freedom Fund and its staff are familiar with.5 As of November 2019, the programme is supporting ten local NGOs and four specialist organisations. Of the ten local NGOs, five have been part of the programme since it started. 3 4 5 Selected partners also undertook discussions with Village Development Committee (VDC) and District Development Committee (DDC) stakeholders to identify the most vulnerable VDCs and wards. One of the local NGOs, NGO 5, had already conducted a baseline survey which attempted to understand whether minimum wages were being paid, the prevalence of landlessness, poverty levels, loan levels, and ethnic composition. Based on this information, partners selected their working areas. This dependency on moneylenders, relatives, and landlords is similar to other Nepali who need (emergency) credit and who do not have access to land or assets. Freedom Fund staff member Ginny Baumann is, for example, a veteran in the field of modern slavery and has extensive experience with community-based approaches in South Asia, including in Nepal. See Baumann, G. and Dharel, M. (2014). Organisations such as Free the Slaves have also produced tools and approaches that have been built upon and adjusted. See, for example: www.freetheslaves.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CommunityBasedModelforFightingSlaverybooklet-web.pdf. 14 The inter-linked strategies of the hotspot, based on communities’ and local NGOs’ understanding of the root causes include: ● Creating over 275 community-based freedom groups of those in bonded labour, beginning with participatory literacy and human rights awareness sessions; ● Enabling these groups to begin savings and be supported to develop independent sources of income. Helping them mobilise government land rights policies to access cultivable land; ● Removing over 5,000 children from hazardous child labour, helping them attend nonformal education and be successfully integrated in village schools; ● Bringing Nepali and international experts to help understand and find the best ways to help individuals cope or recover from the mental and emotional injuries of slavery; ● In each local government area, training officials, teachers, and law enforcement to implement relevant services and laws for addressing bonded labour. Supporting advocacy by the freedom groups and NGOs so that the families’ rights to identity and to government services are achieved. From the programme’s inception in 2014 to December 2019, a total of $5.4 million has been spent on the hotspot. This includes grants to frontline NGO partners, research grants, fees to technical assistance providers, plus the Freedom Fund’s personnel and management costs. The programme is privately funded and was initially managed operationally by Geneva Global (GG)6 a Philadelphia (US)-based philanthropy consulting company and funded by the Freedom Fund. In March 2018, the South-Eastern Nepal hotspot became fully managed by the Freedom Fund. The programme was designed with a strong focus on evidence-based programming as well as accompanied research and learning, with 6 per cent of the total programme funding going towards external research. In 2014, the Freedom Fund defined the hotspot goal and programme objective for 2014 in their hotspot strategy document: Overall objective: Reduce the prevalence of Harawa-Charawa bonded labour within targeted districts.  Objective 1: Sustained liberation of Harawa-Charawa community members;  Objective 2: Wider social mobilisation and government action against HarawaCharawa bonded labour;  Objective 3: Increase civil society’s capacity;  Objective 4: Support rigorous research and evaluation. The programme also identified ‘critical pathways’ which outline the Freedom Fund and its partners’ hypothesis of how to effect change through the hotspot programme (see Annex 2). 6 www.genevaglobal.com. 15 To measure and understand the results of the interventions in the hotspot, IDS conducted a baseline prevalence study for which most data were collected in 2016 (Oosterhoff, Sharma and Burns 2017). The study found that the interventions were mostly in the right location. There were significant variations in the prevalence of bonded labour in the different NGO intervention areas – with prevalence ranging from 15 per cent to 72 per cent. In some villages, bonded labour did not seem to exist. Nevertheless, in all intervention areas, levels of bonded labour were significant. Almost a third of all households (29 per cent) had members in bonded labour, with households split between 17 per cent with all working family members in bonded labour and 12 per cent with at least one bonded family member. The prevalence of bonded labour correlated with the remoteness of the community. Communities near roads had a lower prevalence of bondage. Rural communities that were more remote – and consequently less well served by slavery and poverty eradication efforts – were likely to have a higher prevalence of bondage. A remarkably low number of child labourers and child bonded labourers was reported. The IDS prevalence study confirmed many of the key characteristics of the ILO survey of this particular form of agricultural bondage, such as the importance of land ownership, lack of safe credit, and the importance of (informal) loans from money lenders and employers at relatively high interest rates. The study also found that the vast majority of loans taken are responses to health crises, with a high proportion of loans also for the purpose of covering marriage expenses, migration, and house repairs.7 Towards the end of 2017, the Freedom Fund and its partners revised the programme strategy and targets – including for the final years (2018–19). The programme areas were hit by an earthquake in 2015, shortly after it began, and the political-economic context changed significantly every year – and sometimes every month. The objectives and long-term goal of the hotspot remained the same, but the programme context has been characterised by change at almost every level. To provide the reader with some background on the interviews and findings in this report, we will describe some of the key changes below. 2.2 Changes in local implementing partners Between 2014 and 2019, Geneva Global and the Freedom Fund held three rounds of partner selection for implementation on the ground, at the beginning of the programme in 2014, towards the end of 2015 (for activities during January 2016–December 2017), and finally again at the end of 2017 (for activities during January 2018–December 2019). The Freedom Fund’s policy is to (usually) sign two-year grant agreements with NGO partners, which are subject to renewal, depending on available funding and performance of the partner. The partner selection process for the three rounds was done differently, with the final round having a much more specific set of criteria and process. The reason for the third round was a turnover of partners due to financial irregularities and poor project implementation. An overview of the changes of the partnerships with the NGOs and technical service providers are summarised in a table below. 7 These findings differed from the narrative analysis of life stories in which child labour and bonded child labour are reported to be widespread. One possible explanation is that children who work alongside their parents are not considered to be workers because they are not paid. 16 Table 2.1 Current and past implementing partners Current implementing partners Past implementing partners 1 Bhawani Integrated Development Centre (BIDC), since 2015 2 Community Development Forum (CDF), since 2014 12 Dalit Samrakshyan Aviyan Manch (DSAM) – from 2015 to 2018 13 Nepal Dalit Jagaran Kendra (NDJK) – ran from 2014 to 2016 3 Community Improvement Center (CIC), since 2014 4 Dalit Jana Kalyan Yuba Club (DJKYC), since 2018 14 Rural Development Foundation (RDF) – from 2014 to 2017 5 Dalit Society Welfare Committee Nepal (DSWCN), since 2018 15 Saundaraya – from 2014 to 2016 6 Human Rights and Rural Youth Change (HURYC), since 2015 16 Utpidit Dalit Samaj (UDS) – from 2015 to 2018 7 Janachetana Dalit Sangam (JDS), since 2014. 8 Samriddha Foundation (SF), since 2018 9 Shripurraj Community Development Centre (SCDC), since 2018 10 Tapeshowri Social Welfare Organisation (TSWO), since 2015 11 Women Peace, Research, and Development Center (WPRDC), since 2018 Source: Authors’ own (based on Freedom Fund information). The NGO selection criteria of the partners for 2014 consisted of the following criteria: (1) A track record for addressing bonded labour; (2) Established links with Harawa-Charawa or in target districts with similar populations (dalit, agriculture/land issues/poverty alleviation). Organisations that didn’t work with target beneficiaries but had an established operational presence in the districts of work were also considered; (3) An ability to directly implement a range of programme activities (such as education, awareness raising, rescue and reintegration programmes); (4) Positioning to contribute to systemic change, including through community-based reflection and collective action against bonded labour; (5) Engagement in local, district, state, and/or national-level advocacy; (6) Capacity and organisational reliability, trustworthiness, and transparency. The FF and GG also decided to invite organisations to provide technical assistance to these NGOs. In 2017, the FF and GG decided to do another round of NGO selection. The FF also invited their existing partners whose existing contracts were coming to an end to apply for an extension in the same process. This time, the selection process had a slightly different process. To select the NGO, the FF and GG used an open call, advertised publicly, inviting NGOs to submit a concept note as part of the initial application. For the third round, the FF and GG jointly invited successful candidates to submit full proposals. After the 2017 competitive proposal process, there were allegations against the FF/GG staff and programme advisors. While the investigation was being conducted in 2018, 17 programme advisors were not able to visit the field, monitor, or progress with programme activities. The programme resumed proper implementation again in September 2018, and has been in operation ever since. This programme evaluation looks at the NGO and service providers enrolled in the programme from the beginning until February 2019, based on a review of the key documents and interviews with stakeholders. 2.3 Changes at the Freedom Fund In parallel with the changes in partnership and significant contextual and structural changes, programme staff at the Freedom Fund HQ involved in the implementation of the programme also underwent several changes (see Annexe 5). In the Freedom Fund’s first few years following its creation in 2014, it outsourced day-to-day programme management and grant oversight in hotspots to Geneva Global. Freedom Fund staff focused on strategy, fundraising, approval of Geneva Global’s partner selection, and global initiatives, while Geneva Global handled direct interactions with hotspot partners. Geneva Global HQ staffing was stable during the contracted period. In the field, there were some important staff changes. Due to personal circumstances, the GG Programme Advisor had to go on leave in 2016 and this staffing gap was not filled until almost a year later. To some extent, this gap was filled by a legal/advocacy consultant who had been involved in the programme and who took up interim the Programme Advisory role8 while Geneva Global recruited for a new Programme Advisor who started in September 2017, with the interim advisor staying on as a Programme Advisor but with complementary roles mostly focused on advocacy. 2.4 Freedom Fund taking over full management of the hotspot from Geneva Global When the Freedom Fund became more established, management felt in-house operational programme management functions would improve the programme, reducing duplication between the programme management functions, and enabling more direct oversight of the programme. The Freedom Fund explained the transition to partners and provided an opportunity to discuss. The transition from GG to FF management took place on 1 April 2018. It was not envisioned as a programmatic change but there was a change in line management of GG staff in Nepal to FF. Within the FF office in the UK, Kevin Groome was hired as a Programme Officer in February 2018 to take over from Maria Horning when the transition took place in April 2018. 2.5 Changes in contract and scope for the research and evaluation led by IDS While the initial contracts in the North India and Nepal hotspots were funded until 31 December 2017 and 30 September 2018 respectively, it was decided to extend the duration of both projects until January 2020 (partly to reflect the need for a 30-month interval between prevalence data collation rounds and the delays in the programme due to the earthquake and other contextual factors). The decision was also taken to expand the scope of Workstream 3 (the evaluation of the hotspot as a whole), and to revise and move into a new contract which was a deliverables-based agreement. Thus, agreement was reached to close down initial contracts as of 11 June 2017 (hereby called ‘phase 1’) and to re-contract the remaining deliverables under the projects – hereby called ‘phase 2’. In September 2017, IDS entered a new contract with the FF.9 8 From February 2017–September 2017. 9 The budget did not allow to deliver WS 2 (prevalence) and WS 1 (action research) alongside WS 3 (evaluation) – as initially planned. IDS and Action Aid Nepal had each invested significant resources in the programme, including but not limited 18 2.6 Contextual changes in the programme Staff and management changes contributed to delays in implementation together with a range of contextual changes; notably, blockage and political instability, which hampered programme implementation, and the ability of programme advisors for monitoring and access. In 2015, Nepal was hit by a series of earthquakes, subsequent aftershocks, and significant political changes. Due to two earthquakes, which struck Nepal on 25 April and 12 May 2015, partner organisations delayed their project activities as schools were closed for three weeks and fear of strong aftershocks caused workplaces to close. Even more crippling for the South-Eastern Nepal programme implementation was the lengthy strike in the programme’s implementation area, enforced by the Madhesi political party and unofficially backed by the Indian government. In August 2015, the government’s decision to finalise a Constitution led to protests and strikes as various ethnic and political groups disputed the provisional boundaries of the federal republic’s seven states, citizenship requirements, and parliamentary representation. Despite these protests and strikes among disparate political parties, the new Constitution was signed and put into effect on 20 September 2015. Strikes continued through to the end of 2015 as the Madeshi party continued to demand amendments to the Constitution, resulting in the ongoing closure of major urban areas and highways in the hotspot’s implementing area. The situation in Nepal was further exacerbated as protesters blocked vital trading checkpoints at the Indian border, and an unofficial trade embargo imposed by India cut off vital supplies from entering Nepal, such as petrol, medical supplies, and cooking gas. Despite the continuing blockade and protests, the passage of the new Constitution also offers advancement opportunities for the programme. The Constitution of Nepal promogulated in 2015 provisioned three layers of government – federal, provincial, and local – with legislative, judicial, and executive rights provisioned at local government. The decentralisation has created various opportunities for Harawa-Charawa. Local government can, for example, identify landless people and provide land for them. Under the new Constitution, dalit community members are to receive a free education, including scholarships, and will also be provided with health services and social security. In cases of forced labour, the Constitution commits to the prosecution of perpetrators and the provision of compensation to survivors. Throughout January 2016, strikes within the South-Eastern region of Nepal continued as the Madhesi ethnic community protested the Constitution’s provisional boundaries of the federal republic’s seven states, citizenship requirements, and parliamentary representation, citing that these provisions were discriminatory against the Madhesi community. Facing public pressure within Nepal to discontinue the strike and trade blockages that caused a shortage of essential supplies and imports, the Madhesi political party lifted the strike in the first week of February. to, writing a separate report on the baseline prevalence which was not contracted or budgeted for. Hence, the decision was made that the same IDS time inputs could not be provided going forward as had been provided in phase 1. 19 The political environment in Nepal remained stable until the end of June, when Parliament expressed a lack of confidence in Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Parliament was concerned with his inability to resolve conflict over the new Constitution, improve relations with India, and jumpstart the post-earthquake reconstruction process. Consequently, the prime minister resigned in July. Following his resignation, Parliament appointed a Maoist party leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, as prime minister. His appointment was the result of a deal struck between the Maoist party and the Nepali Congress to share leadership, instating a coalitionled government. Under the coalition-led government, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will oversee local elections, currently scheduled for 14 May 2017. He will then step down, ceding power to Nepali Congress’ Sher Bahadur Deuba. The constant change in government leadership will continue to impede legislative development and economic growth in 2017. Despite the change in political power and promises that the Madhesi communities’ demands would be reviewed under the new Maoist leadership, occasional strikes and protests occurred within South-Eastern Nepal. The protesters demanded the revision of provisional demarcation to establish two states running east–west along the Indo-Nepal border, aiming to unify the Madhesi ethnic community, and to ensure that the Madhesi community’s interests would shape the states’ priorities. To address these demands, a draft Constitution Amendment bill was registered on 29 November 2016, which cited changes in provincial demarcation. Parliament did not approve the bill by the end of 2016 and will likely struggle to garner the two-thirds majority that is required to approve the change. Political changes and a lack of consensus in Parliament delayed the passage of new laws and policies. Drafted in 2015, the Bonded Labour bill, which abolishes all forms of bonded labour in Nepal, remained with the Ministry of Law (MoL) and the Ministry of Land Reform and Management (MoLRM) for review throughout 2016, making very little progress. Additionally, despite the Minister of Finance’s announcement in May that national budget would be allocated for a Harawa-Charawa rehabilitation programme, government funds were not released by the Ministry of Finance to begin the first phase of activities under the rehabilitation programme. Although the Ministry of Finance’s announcement was encouraging as it was the first time the government had acknowledged the forced labour circumstances of the Harawa-Charawa community through policy and budgetary commitments, momentum slowed through the end of the year due to political instability. On a local level, Freedom Fund projects of partner organisations were affected by flooding. Many families lost their homes, clothing, and cattle, increasing their susceptibility to greater debt and deepening their involvement in debt bondage. Partner organisations responded by distributing relief materials to flood-affected communities such as cooking supplies, clothing, and tarps. Partner organisations also faced challenges facilitating birth registration campaigns due to a national government initiative established to eliminate open defecation by 2017. Under the open defecation-free (ODF) initiative, if the community did not have a toilet, the government would not provide birth registration or social services to members of that community. This created challenges for impoverished and landless communities, such as the HarawaCharawa community, as they do not have access to the land or materials needed to construct toilets. Partner organisations met with local stakeholders, including Village Development Committee (VDC) secretaries, to lift enforcement of the ODF policy so that they might facilitate birth registration campaigns. Partner organisations were successful in their efforts and were able to facilitate birth registration campaigns during time periods designated by the VDC. With birth registration in hand, children were able to enrol in school. 20 Throughout 2017, the South-Eastern Nepal hotspot encountered programmatic interruptions as the country experienced significant political and administrative changes. This transition time in Nepal impeded the advancement of strategic policies related to forced labour, including the appropriation of funds to initiate the Harawa-Charawa rehabilitation programme. As part of Nepal’s transition to a federalist system, local elections were held in three phases across Nepal. Due to protests and strikes enforced by members of the Madhesi political party over continued dissatisfaction with the Constitution’s provisions around citizenship and provincial boundary demarcation, local elections in Province Two were postponed until 18 September 2017. For the first time in 15 years, the elections installed new local officials such as mayors and ward presidents. Following the elections, new government structures at the municipal and rural municipal level were established, granting them authority over local affairs including local legislation, policymaking, development planning, administration, and disbursement of local development funds. In addition to these changes in governance, the election process disrupted project activities as district and local government officials were unavailable due to their involvement in and preparations for the election. At first, the roles and responsibilities of new district and local municipal functions were unclear as administrative structures shifted, resulting in delayed programme activities, such as cooperative registration. Despite the confusion, decentralisation also provided new opportunities to engage with local-level officials and discuss the allocation of resources. At the federal level, staffing changes and restructuring impeded the advancement of relevant anti-trafficking legislation. For example, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Secretary changed three times within five months. The government announced that departments will continue to restructure and the roles and responsibilities of key ministries will be combined. With this constant change, the passage of drafted bills was slow, illustrated by the Human Trafficking and Transportation Control bill which was not reviewed. One of the few bills reviewed and passed was the Labour Act 2074 which was passed in September, prohibiting hazardous child labour and establishing protections for informal workers. The Bonded Labour bill was rejected by the Ministry of Law as it was submitted by the Ministry of Land Reform and Management which cannot submit a criminal bill. The bill is being redrafted by the Ministry of Labour. Financial appropriation to fund the Harawa-Charawa rehabilitation programme, announced by the Minister of Finance in 2016, was also delayed due to the transition. As a result, the 2017–18 budget included funds to complete rehabilitation programmes for the kamaiya and haliya only. Despite these challenges, an empowered local government structure can also offer an opportunity. Greater authority at the local municipal level has the potential to increase the scale and impact of partner organisations’ work within the Harawa-Charawa community. However, it can also increase competition over access to and management of these resources. On 13 August 2017, heavy rains resulted in flooding across Nepal’s Terai region. The rains cut off communication, electricity, and roads, and devastated homes and crops. According to the Nepali government, the floods killed approximately 120 people, destroyed 7,000 homes and displaced 18,000 families. Emergency relief was spearheaded by the District Disaster Relief Committee and partner organisations, Tapeshwori and Community Improvement Centre (CIC) responded by providing flood relief support such as tarpaulin, blankets, 21 buckets, rice, oil, and noodles to flood-affected families. Technical assistance provider, CMC, also provided psychosocial counselling to affected families. During 2018, the Freedom Fund’s partners played an active role in drafting amendments to the Bonded Labour Act 2002, currently under revision. If successfully passed by Parliament, the new Act will prohibit all forms of bonded and forced labour for all groups and would be a milestone for the Harawa-Charawa community. However, the greatest opportunities for the programme’s implementing partners may come at the local level. Under the new structure, local municipalities receive grant funding from the central government and also have tax-raising powers. They are relatively autonomous in their decision-making processes and can set the priorities for development and service delivery in their areas. Local-level political leaders and bureaucrats are new to their positions and still getting to grips with the needs and demands of their communities. Our partners alongside the HarawaCharawa Network are engaging with local officials to build their understanding of the exploitation experienced by Harawa-Charawa bonded labourers and the needs of their communities. Some local leaders have shown an openness to work with our local partners and are eager to tackle the Harawa-Charawa’s issues. In 2018, the government launched the Terai-Madhesh Prosperity Programme to develop the socioeconomic conditions of the region through developing and expanding infrastructure in the 21 Terai districts of Nepal, including Siraha, Saptari, and Dhanusa, where our programme operates. The hotspot has capitalised upon this growing recognition of the particularly severe poverty experienced by communities in this region to highlight illegal labour and loan practice as a root cause of poverty for the Harawa-Charawa. In addition to the numerous policies aimed at improving the lives of the poorest communities in Nepal, the government has made some steps to address the discrimination faced by the Madeshi ethnic minority and dalit population. In January 2019, Parliament appointed Vijay Kumar Datta as chairman of the Madhesi Commission. The Commission has a mandate to protect the rights of and provide opportunities for the Madhesi people in Nepal. Results from the prevalence study commissioned for the Freedom Fund in 2017 found that 96 per cent of our programme participants identified ethnically as Madhesi. The Commission creates new avenues for government advocacy. Hotspot partners recently met with the Commission and advocated for identifying Harawa-Charawa in state 2 and investigating cases of bonded labour to be incorporated into its three-year strategic plan. In 2018, the government amended the Land Act, enacting Article 40 of the Constitution which guarantees that the state will provide land to landless dalits. The government has now introduced a bill to Parliament which aims to provide dalits ownership of land which has been passed by both houses and is awaiting authentication by the president. 22 3 Methodology We collected qualitative feedback through interviews using semi-structured questionnaires from 1) direct and indirect community beneficiaries (including survivors and members of Community Support Groups 2) NGO staff and 3) other concerned stakeholders and Freedom Fund staff. AAN staff conducted the interviews with the direct and indirect community beneficiaries, NGO staff, and other stakeholders between July 2018 and February 2019 in Maitili and Nepali. AAN and IDS jointly conducted the interviews with FF staff in Nepal in April in English and Nepali. IDS conducted the interviews with FF staff UK by Skype in March 2019. The evaluation is also informed by insights from the other research, monitoring, evaluation, and monitoring activities undertaken by IDS and ActionAid Nepal in this programme: ● The scoping visits conducted in February 2016 comprising: interviews with NGOs, focus groups with community members, and field observations; ● The participatory collection and analysis of 152 life stories (Burns, Sharma and Oosterhoff 2017); ● The generation of a baseline of participatory statistics of 1,660 households across 52 hamlets in locations covered by seven NGOs (Oosterhoff et al. 2017); ● Systemic action research programme with five action research groups in which stakeholders analyse and develop solutions to their problems (Sharma, Oosterhoff and Burns 2019); ● A desk review of key programme documents. We developed three interview guides in consultation with the Freedom Fund (see Annexes 6, 7, and 8) with questions that relate to: significant changes in relation to them or people in their community being able to leave situations of forced labour over the last three years; NGO activities and services they have utilised and groups they have been involved with; how the groups have helped them and what motivates them to keep going to the group/s; how children have been helped with their education; whether there is now more, less, or maybe a different kind of caste discrimination; whether women and girls are now treated differently in the community; how access to essential services has changed; what else could be done for community members in bonded labour/child labour; examples of activities that the NGO could have done but didn’t, or could have done better; whether community members are more or less willing to talk about bonded labour/child labour/trafficking and whether people who have left bonded labour are still free (and if not, why not). 3.1 Direct and indirect community beneficiaries We recruited these respondents from six out of 11 NGO implementing partners involved in the programme – the six NGOs were selected due to their long history of involvement in the South-Eastern Nepal hotspot. These six NGOs are referred to as: NGO 1, NGO 2, NGO 3, NGO 4, NGO 5 and NGO 6. Within each of the NGOs, we selected the communities by using used random sampling from a list of all the communities in which the NGO had interventions for at least two years funded by the Freedom Fund. 23 We conducted 30 interviews with direct and indirect community-level beneficiaries in the following five categories: 1) NGO-supported groups CVC, SCG; 2) People who have been assisted with micro-enterprises and/or access to vocational training or group-based income generation; 3) People who have had legal help (we are focusing on cases with prosecutions); 4) People who have received information only (further de-segregated by whether they are a member of an NGO-supported group); 5) People who have had rehabilitation and reintegration support or parents whose children were reintegrated. The focus of the interviews is on their experience of engaging with the rights-based activities and services provided by NGOs supported by the Freedom Fund. We recruited these respondents based on a list of different types of groups of beneficiaries provided by the NGO. When the category of the respondent was not available in this community – for example, if the NGO did not (yet) support somebody with legal assistance or if there were no people who had (yet) been supported with reintegration – we asked them to recruit from the community vigilance group in that community. Table 3.1 Planned and actual recruitment of direct and indirect community beneficiaries Recruitment category Name of NGO NGO Total NGO 2 3Dhanusha Sirha NGO 1 NGO 5 NGO 6 Siraha Saptari Siraha NGO 4 Plan Actual Plan Actual Plan Actual Plan Actual Plan Actual Plan Actual Plan Actual 1 NGO-supported groups CVC, 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 4 6 13 People who have been assisted 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 6 5 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 6 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 6 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 30 30 SCG 2 with micro-enterprises and/or access to vocational training or group-based income generation 3 People who have had legal help 1 (we are focusing on cases with prosecutions) 4 People who have received information only (further desegregated by whether they are a member of an NGO-supported group) 5 People who have had rehabilitation and reintegration support or parents whose children were reintegrated Total Source: Authors’ own. Of all the respondents, nine are currently directly affected by bonded labour, and six were liberated during the project interventions (Annexe 3 provides an overview of the employment profile). 24 3.2 NGO staff Table 3.2 Planned and actual recruitment of local NGO staff NGO Planned category Actual recruitment Reason for changes NGO 3Dhanusha Project coordinator Project coordinator No change Field staff Field staff No change Project coordinator Project coordinator No change Field staff Field staff No change Project supervisor Project supervisor No change Field staff Field staff No change Project coordinator Project coordinator No change Field staff Field staff No change Project coordinator Project coordinator No change Field staff Field staff No change Chairperson Chairperson No change Field staff Field staff No change NGO 2 Siraha NGO 1 Siraha NGO 5 Saptari NGO 6 Saptari NGO 4 Saptari Source: Authors’ own. 3.3 Other concerned stakeholders and Freedom Fund staff For the recruitment of the category other concerned stakeholders (police, health officers, etc.) we randomly allocated categories to the three working areas. In these, we randomly chose an NGO and from that NGO we selected the randomly selected community from which we recruited the respondent belonging to the category. This allowed for some validation and also avoided personal bias in the recruitment of these concerned stakeholders. For the recruitment of the Freedom Fund staff, we interviewed only programme staff currently involved in the programme in the UK and Nepal. 25 Table 3.3 Planned and actual recruitment of other concerned stakeholders and Freedom Fund Planned category and No. Actual recruitment Education officers/teachers Teacher No. of actual recruitment Reason for changes 1 No change Elected official 1 No change Health officer/worker Health worker 1 No change HC network member HC Network Member 1 No change Child protection officer Child protection officer 1 No change Police officer Police officer 1 No change N/A 0 Official of rural municipality/elected official Prov. govt. reps/Fed. govt. reps/Ministry of Agriculture Tech specialist Tech specialist (Manakamana) (Manakamana) Freedom Forum Nepal representative was unable to provide a contact. 1 No change CSRC is the national secretariat of LRF and it Land Right Forum (LRF) LRF/CSRC 1 has been supporting the SE Nepal hotspot as a technical assistant partner of FF. Bonded Labour Network N/A 0 No change CMS Nepal is providing technical assistance Centre for Mental Health Not planned in the SE hotspot as the Technical Assistance and Counselling – Nepal 1 Provider of the Freedom Fund. IDS (CMS) Freedom Fund suggested this. Donor Senior Programme Officer, SE Nepal Programme Officer, SE Nepal Programme Advisor, SE Nepal Programme Advisor, SE Nepal 1 No change 1 No Change 1 No change 1 No Change Source: Authors’ own. 3.4 Data recording and analysis The questions (see Annexes 6, 7, and 8) have been generated to obtain the views of key stakeholders on the programme’s relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. For the data analysis, we therefore created an analytical framework matrix with these four aspects of the programme according to each of the three groups. We also added a dimension on the future to capture the opinions, views, and beliefs of the various stakeholders about what the programme should do to the analytical framework matrix. The responses did not always address the theme that the question had been generated for. Rather, people responded as they felt made sense to them and according to the flow of the conversation. 26 To analyse these rich data in a systematic way, assure the quality of the data analysis, and validate the findings, we have used a multi-perspective approach to create an analytical framework for the data analysis. IDS staff and the lead researcher at ActionAid Nepal each read all the interviews in each category and independently listed the main themes and findings that emerged from these interviews. We then discussed these lists of themes to establish an agreed list of themes from the interviews in that category. We then categorised these as responses and insights on relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, or future directions. We aim to understand and capture common themes and views, and avoid extreme views or ideas. We included themes and findings held by the majority in that group, or that were voiced by a significant and consistent minority. We excluded singular outliers. The two lead evaluators do not speak Maithili and there can be a bias in the translation from Maithili to Nepali and from Nepali to Maithili. To reduce this bias, the interviewers also read through all the interviews to elicit the key themes. We repeated this process for each of the three categories of stakeholders. This process allowed us to compare and jointly analyse the themes and key points across the different categories of respondents in one coherent analytical framework matrix. Once we had this framework with the key themes we went back to the texts to find the relevant sections. This process is similar to coding of texts in N-Vivo or Atlas but it can be done manually and allows for a more open and systematic discussion of the coding harmonising different perspectives in different languages. 3.5 Limitations of the review The review team has identified a number of limitations to this feedback report. ● The programme scope and scale was reduced due to programme restructuring which involved the termination of the collaboration with five NGOs. We did not interview those NGOs because of the sensitivity of the relations after the termination of the contracts. ● Due to the drop-out of half of the NGOs since the baseline survey, the size and composition of the communities in the hotspot changed considerably. This makes it difficult to understand what changes between a baseline and endline survey would mean. Therefore, IDS and FF mutually agreed to discontinue the endline. ● The sample size for the collection of qualitative feedback from various key stakeholders enabled the evaluators to draw broad conclusions about how and why changes were happening. Due to budgetary and timing constraints, however, we were unable to increase the sample of interviewees until we reached the point of saturation where no new information or themes are mentioned by the participants. ● The scope of our work did not include any verification of Freedom Fund monitoring data on the ground or on advocacy beyond the hotspot. ● Cost-efficiency fell outside the mandate of the review. ● The feedback focused on contribution, not attribution. The reasons why attribution would be inappropriate include the following: o The Freedom Fund worked carefully with partners, dalit rights groups, and other anti-bonded labour organisations to make sure that there was not duplication of ongoing, specifically anti-bonded labour work, taking place. There are multiple players at each level of the field(s) working towards similar 27 goals. There is also a history of activism, notably dalit activism in these locations prior to the Freedom Fund hotspot programme. Several NGOs might work in one community and contribute in different and indirect ways to bonded labour eradication, such as, for example, an NGO working on health or water supplies. o Most NGOs have multiple current funders. The Freedom Fund’s objective is to keep their contribution at no more than 30 per cent for each NGO. This is part of the Freedom Fund’s sustainability strategy and reduces the risk of dependency. The Freedom Fund is the only funder for the work on bonded labour eradication in the hotspot communities but activism in these communities has been supported by others including ActionAid.10 o The hotspot programme explicitly builds on the strength of these NGOs’ existing and sometimes longstanding partnerships with other stakeholders such as the government and other civil society organisations. The organisations were selected because of their existing capacities and networks. The Nepalese government has many relevant poverty alleviation and sociopolitical inclusion programmes in the area, e.g. the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) and the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP). 3.6 Ethical considerations The review is part of a larger multi-method participatory research programme that has been approved by the IDS ethical review board. The review team has in-depth and hands-on expertise working with vulnerable populations, including people in bonded labour. We are aware of some of the safety and security considerations of working on bonded labour eradication in locations where those who are actively facilitating and/or profiting from the practice are often living in the community. 4 Feedback on the hotspot programme activities by staff, community-based volunteers, and peer educators on the usefulness of the project activities 4.1 Relevance 4.1.1 Educational support The activities of the hotspot reflect various practical broader development needs and priorities of the community members. The NGO activities that community members mention are reported to have multiple benefits which can all contribute to reducing bondage. All the 10 ActionAid Nepal had worked in Saptari District during 1998–2008 which basically focused on the issue of the dalit, land, women’s rights, etc. Some remarkable achievements were made in the dalit rights movement during this period, including the successful Sino Bahiskar Aandolan, a movement/campaign led by dalit people in the 2000s in Saptari District. Similarly, the Dhanusha local rights programme ran between 2005–14, which also focused on land rights, women’s rights, education, livelihood, and disaster risk reduction (DRR). Similarly, AAN has also been running a local rights programme in Siraha District since 2005, in partnership with local NGO DJKYC. 28 participants and survivors interviewed mentioned the educational support (such as stationery, scholarship, and tuition class support to school and students) as a relevant and valued contribution of the programme. Educational support helps parents to keep their children in school and therewith out of child labour and bondage. This support is particularly relevant because of the value the respondents attach to education. The 2017 baseline prevalence study reported low levels of child bonded labour. The prevalence study also showed that households borrow money for their children’s education. This suggests that education is perceived as contributing more than preventing children from bondage or labour. The two main reasons mentioned as to why education is relevant to improve their lives are that education is necessary to be able to migrate for work abroad or to apply for a government job. These two options are seen as desirable and solid pathways out of poverty and agricultural bondage. I couldn’t provide higher education to my three daughters, due to financial crisis. I have supported the preparation of a passport to send my son abroad. I know the importance of education. I wish for my son to read at least at the level of Bachelor of Arts. I also really wish for my son to get a government job. (Community participant, 37 years old, female, Siraha) If my children get the education, then they can get good job in future or can work anywhere. After getting good education, one can work abroad or get government job which is available in [one’s] own country. So I am sending [them to] school to get knowledge. (Community participant, 27 years old, female, Dhanusha) NGO staff also found the educational support to be relevant in this context, as a way to improve the education of children of Harawa-Charawa and reduce the prevalence of child (bonded) labour. Most people, of different backgrounds, however, emphasised the material and practical aspects of the support as being a helpful and relevant activity of the programme. Our organisation helped to buy school uniforms, stationery items, and sports materials for the education of the children of the community. (NGO staff, 33 years old, female, Siraha) Other stakeholders and key informants also reported that education support such as stationery, scholarship, and tuition class support to school and students has helped to improve the education of children of Harawa-Charawa. I see a remarkable improvement in health and education services. The organisation has made a huge contribution to improve access to these services. (Other stakeholder) The organisation has supported buying school uniforms, toys, and sports to play, and stationery items for children’s education. Due to this support, children have been attracted to go to school. (Other stakeholder) 29 The conclusions on education are similar and not necessarily contradictory views, but they are reached through slightly different rationales of the various stakeholders. 4.1.2 Credit and saving programmes Credit and saving programmes are appreciated and helpful. They benefit the (mostly female) members but they are not seen as an alternative source of generating a family income. Everyone is aware of credit and saving groups and all participants – both people who are in the groups and people who are not – find these useful and relevant. Most people agreed that membership of such groups is worth the investment of people’s time to form these groups and be active members. I have been engaged in a Saving and Credit group. There are nine men and 16 women in this group. The group collects Rs. 100 per month from each member. I have taken a loan of Rs.3000 from the group. (Community participant, 53 years old, male, Saptari) I have received knowledge from groups. Joining the group has given me fair return, for the time and labour which I have invested in the group. (Community participant, 40 years old, male, Siraha) NGOs have been providing revolving funds and sometimes technical assistance – such as farmers’ training – to saving and credit group members. Community participants appreciated these efforts to improve access to low-interest credit. They found the access to credit these groups provided to members helped them to increase their income by enabling members to open up small-scale shops, start vegetable farming, and be more entrepreneurial. I have taken a loan of Rs.10,000 with an interest rate of Rs. 1 per month per 100 rupees, from the group that has been formed in our community. From that money, I have started a business to buy and sell vegetables. I have started to save money from the income generated by this business. (Community participant, 50 years old, female, Saptari) I had received support amount Rs.15,000 from the organisation to do business and I have used it to start a small grocery shop. This shop is running well, and I am getting an income from it. I have already been able to return this loan. (Community participant, 37 years old, female, Saptari) NGO and FF staff also highlighted the relevance of credit and saving groups as a way to reduce vulnerability to poverty and bondage and promote savings. Several NGO staff mentioned that they saw that their work had helped to change social norms on saving money and planning for the future: When people suffer from any trouble, they can come to the group to share and discuss. People have suffered from the behaviour of landlords after taking a loan from them. They come to the group with hope to be liberated from these loans. They think that if they [become] involved in a group, they can learn something and get a different loan at subsidised rates from the credit and saving group. They think that being involved in the group will allow them to start a small business after taking training. (NGO staff, 28 years old, male, Dhanusha) 30 I have formed the Jay Maa Santoshi Mahila saving and credit group. The group conducts meeting once a month. The financial condition of the members has improved to some extent. There are 25 members in the group. (NGO staff, 32 years old, male, Saptari) Most NGOs and some beneficiaries mentioned the relevance and importance of setting up community-based groups in addition to credit and savings groups, such as child clubs. Groups enable people to take more initiative and participate in improving their wider community and their personal lives. For NGOs, the fact that people participate regularly without prompting is an indication that these are relevant and possibly sustainable. They are particularly enthusiastic about the credit and savings groups. Saving groups and child clubs are more active than other kinds of groups. These groups have taken leadership. They have taken the responsibility to manage the meetings of the groups. (NGO staff 40 years old, male, Saptari) I have formed a Harawa-Charawa group, saving group, and child club in my community. All three groups are effective and running well. All groups are able to work independently. (NGO staff, 28 years old, male, Siraha) The NGOs support the groups with financial and technical assistance. Such technical assistance includes helping people to connect with access to government services. To obtain access to some services, people need to show birth registrations or citizenship cards, which can be particularly challenging for illiterate people. Administrative skills and some legal knowledge are also needed to manage revolving loans or calculate interest. This is one of the reasons why NGO staff reported the relevance and central role of continued legal and administrative support to individuals and groups. Group members have been able to find help and work independently. They have been able to receive government facilities at local level themselves. But they seek help from the organisation on legal assistance. (NGO staff, 38 years old, male, Saptari) The organisation has helped to make citizenship for those who were denied this service. (NGO staff, 32 years old, female, Siraha) NGOs also supported other activities such as vocational trainings. While generating income is considered highly relevant, the training provided by NGOs are, for various reasons, not seen or mentioned as particularly effective ways out of poverty and bondage by the beneficiaries, compared to migration and/or a government job. Some of the trainings are relatively long and require people to have another source of income to buy food which makes it very difficult – if not impossible – for bonded labourers and their families to attend. The quality of livelihoods provided by the organisation that provided the technical assistance was perceived as having better results compared to the training provided by the NGO themselves. In theory, these activities should be relevant, but all stakeholders find that they are not very useful in practice in the way they are currently implemented by the local NGO. 31 We know that these trainings do not work well. Lack of demand and insights in the market is one issue. Locally made soap cannot compete, partly because we are near the border with India. Asking bonded labourers to attend a three-month-long training is also not realistic. Training poor people who are not in bondage may be relevant for them, but it is probably not the most direct way to reduce agricultural bonded labour. (FF staff) 4.2 Gender and relevance Gender differences are important in understanding the relevance of the programme activities. Although men and women across the three categories of stakeholders say that boys and girls have equal educational opportunities, the goals and career options that education can offer are gendered. Respondents only mention men and boys as people who migrate and who get government jobs. Girls’ education may have less priority because they are not considered as suitable for these career options as boys. Girls drop out of school in spite of campaigns against child marriage. The 2017 baseline prevalence study found that 45 per cent of recently married brides were children age 17 or below. Early marriage also came out of the action research and the life stories as important social issues. There is still discrimination on wages between men and women for the same work. There is still a different rate of wages for men and women. Men and women are not paid the same wage for the same work. Men get more and more, women get less wages. (NGO staff, 32 years old, male, Saptari) For the same work, the wage of men is more than women. For example, for cultivation work, women get 10kg of paddy rice and men get 12–14kg per day. (NGO staff, 39 years old, male, Saptari) Most of the staff members accepted at the time of interview that the issue of gender-based wage discrimination had not been addressed well by the project. They did not have new ideas on how this could be improved to substantially improve the family income in their communities, in the same way as migration and trying to obtain scarce government jobs by men and boys. Communities and NGOs are still developing their thoughts on how to improve this situation. In the action research, the gender wage gap also came up, showing that for some NGOs, the idea of a universal minimum wage for men and women was new, even when community participants raised it as a concept. However, the mid-year report of 2019 describes some successful initiatives of NGOs and Harawa-Charawa groups on advocacy for equal pay. Given that most of these groups have a predominantly female membership in a patriarchal society where many men migrate for extended periods of time, it would be fair to say that both the benefits and the burdens of credit and savings groups are mostly affecting women. An interesting point is that from the Freedom Fund team’s perspective, advocacy has been the most significant and relevant contribution to bringing about change. From the perspective of the Freedom Fund, livelihoods and education components will not take people out of bonded labour without government commitment to enforce the law, write off debts, and provide land. While two NGOs shared this view, others, including the beneficiaries, did not mention advocacy as relevant. This might not be a contradiction, but it reflects a difference in 32 the focus and priorities of so-called ‘practical’ and ‘strategic’ needs11 across the different stakeholders. These different priorities can be complementary, and they can also change over time. 4.3 Effectiveness Without a baseline and endline, it is not possible to make statements on the extent to which the programme has achieved its aim of reducing bonded labour in communities in the target areas (as a source for bonded labour). However, based on the qualitative feedback from the community and NGOs, we can make a few observations about how respondents think that the programme has contributed to beginning to address some of the root causes. 4.3.1 Caste Caste plays an important and complex role in the (re)production of agricultural bondage. Most of the people who are in bondage are from the lower castes, with a few Muslims working for landlords who belong to higher castes. Many Harawa-Charawa are also borrowing money at high interest rates from higher castes – often from the landlord. However, people from the lower castes with limited or no assets live all over Nepal, while this specific agricultural bondage of Harawa-Charawa appears to be concentrated in this hotspot. The understanding of Harawa-Charawa of their low social, ritual, economic, and religious status is related to caste and plays a role in the acceptance of bonded labour. There is a wealth of literature on the multiple forms of caste discrimination in South Asia throughout history. It is important to recognise that caste status as a social category is not fixed, and that it can be changed. Dalit movements have mobilised people, and fought for the recognition of rights of the lower castes, and there are many laws and policies to reduce – and hopefully one day end – caste-based discrimination. Respondents across the different categories report that caste-based discrimination in public places has reduced. People also report that caste-based violence – which is also gendered – has decreased. Adults recall that sexual abuse of lower caste women and girls by landlords has occurred during their life, as recent as ten years ago. Across the different categories of respondents, men and women mention that sexual servitude of lower caste women to landlords is no longer acceptable and that unlike before, people take action when it occurs. But people from the community also reported that inter-caste marriage – in spite of government policies which encourage this – is still not accepted in the community. Caste-based untouchability has to some extent ended. People of the community sit together and eat together these days. However, inter-caste marriage is still not happening in our community. (Community participant, 53 years old, male, Saptari) Higher caste people come to our house and we eat together, but inter-caste marriage is not accepted. (Community participant, 33 years old, female, Saptari) Most community-based respondents mention that the community-based groups have been effective in encouraging people to raise their voice when their rights are violated. The groups 11 This difference between a focus on immediate practical and long-term strategic considerations has been described and observed in various emancipatory movements such as the women’s movement. See, for example, Moser (1989). 33 are reportedly successful in empowering women ‘to speak’ and share their agendas, which is arguably an important condition for steps to change the root causes of structural inequalities. Myself and my family have really benefited a lot since we joined the groups formed by the NGO in our community. In the past, I couldn’t speak out in a public place, but today, I can sit in front of you and give an interview. I now have the courage to speak. (Community participant, 27 years old, female, Dhanusha) We have been able to fight against injustice and oppression with the help of the organisation. The organisation has provided us with self-confidence, courage, and supported building our common voice to fight for our rights. (Community participant, 52 years, female, Saptari) NGO staff report that caste-based discrimination has mostly ended in public places. However, the so-called lower caste people are still discriminated against and are treated as ‘untouchable’ in private spaces, hotels, temples, and in relation to sharing foods. Untouchability on the base of caste still occurs. Our organisation conducted a programme to end the practice of untouchability but we could not succeed. Dalit people are still not allowed to enter the house of brahmins, are not allowed to enter temples, and so-called upper caste people can now share food but still do not drink water touched by so-called dalit people. (NGO staff, 25 years old, female, Dhanusha) Untouchability and caste discrimination still exist. Today, there is no discrimination in public places but discrimination still occurs in private spaces. (NGO staff, 39 years old, male, Saptari) In comparison to three years ago, caste-based discrimination has decreased. High caste people do eat food in the homes of dalit families, who are economically, socially, and politically strong. But high caste people do not eat in the homes of dalits who are economically, socially, and politically poor. (NGO staff, 33 years old, male, Siraha) Other stakeholders also confirm that public caste discrimination is decreasing, but that it continues to exist in religious spaces, such as temples and private spaces. Caste-based discrimination is compounded by lack of education which hinders people who are discriminated against to understand their rights and take action. But there is an increased awareness of caste discrimination and physical gender-based violence against women of lower and backward castes. The behaviour of landlords towards the women and girls in their communities has changed. (Other stakeholder) The behaviour of landlords towards women and girls has changed in the community when compared to three years ago, and now gender violence is decreased. (Other stakeholder) 34 Enhanced awareness about caste-based gender discrimination awareness has also resulted in some public and legal action for children to be recognised. A child was born due to the physical relation between Sharmila Sada [dalit – name changed] and Bhimprakash Yadav [upper caste – name changed]. The upper caste person did not accept the mother and her child. Now the case is registered in court. (Other stakeholder) Several community members mentioned that the ‘ghumto’ system is losing strength in the intervention communities. The ghumto system is a patriarchal tradition which requires married women to cover their faces with a veil before other men.12 The ghumto system is eradicated in my community now. (Community participant, 24 years old, male, Saptari) Women are now able to raise their voice against violence that is inflicted upon them. (NGO staff, 39 years old, male, Saptari) While some Harawa-Charawa have been liberated, and they may be more aware of their rights, NGO staff, community participants, and other stakeholders also mentioned that community members cannot always act upon these rights. One reason is the lack of access to safe, low-interest credit for major and/or emergency expenses such as those for accidents, marriage, and migration. Loans to pay for these expenses keep people tied to their landlords. When structural material dependencies on the landlords continue to exist through loans, people are limited in their choices. Loans keep Harawa-Charawa both psychologically and de facto bonded even when some of the conditions that define bondage have been changed and improved. Although the laws on bonded labour have changed, some of the social norms (Gelfand and Jackson 2016) on the obligations of Harawa-Charawa to higher caste landlords persist. These norms form the unwritten rules shared in these communities that define what is seen as appropriate action for community members (Cislaghi and Heise 2018). To understand the drivers and causes of continued bondage, it is important to understand these social norms within a context of other material, structural factors that work to sustain a given behaviour. These include laws, governance structures (political representation), economic policies (tax structure, social protection, job markets), criminal justice systems, the availability of services such as infrastructure, land, and other assets, and profits and losses to be made from bonded labour. Both exploitative and liberating or inclusive social norms (re)inforce and (re)produce material and structural realities. The persistence of social norms and their relationship with such structural factors in these communities, especially loans, is illustrated by the following quotes: In our working area, Harawa-Charawa are free from slavery but they are still mentally bonded. They are also still forced to work in landlords’ houses and farms because they have taken loans from landlords. They do not have capacity to pay the loan. (NGO staff, 31 years old, male, Dhanusha) 12 The system was widespread in Nepal and has been declining. 35 All the people in my community are not bonded but mentally they are still bonded. Harawa-Charawa can work independently in normal conditions, but they feel and are pressured mentally when they need loan. (NGO staff, 33 years old, male, Siraha) When people are forced to work to pay off a loan and are not able to leave their work, it is still bondage. It seems there is less brutal physical force, including the rape of women which was mentioned by many, and people do receive payments, but they are still in bondage because they cannot choose to leave. The role of social norms in (re)enforcing some structural dependencies of Harawa-Charawa communities on landlords also emerged during discussions with community members, service providers, and NGOs during field visits. We learned that landlords were sometimes seen as kinder – and thus preferable – to banks or moneylenders precisely because they allowed work on their land in return for a loan without assets (Oosterhoff and Sharma 2018). Some NGO staff claimed that they have succeeded in including the issues of HarawaCharawa in the Constitution of Nepal. The issue of Harawa-Charawa is clearly mentioned in the fundamental rights of Nepal’s Constitution 2072. The Harawa-Charawa question is also mentioned in the state operations directory. On the basis of constitutional provision, various laws have been made by government. (NGO staff, 39 years old, male, Saptari) A joint press conference was held in Kathmandu before the new Constitution was promogulated and the memorandum letter was submitted to the prime minister. (NGO staff, 30 years old, male, Saptari) Such broad claims about national-level political impact need to be treated with caution, as bonded labour has been illegal for many years – and a provision of the duty of the state to uplift the livelihood from the perspectives of social justice of bonded labourers was put into place over a decade before the programme started.13 The Bonded Labour Act of 2002 technically outlaws all forms of bonded labour – government recognition and rehabilitation programmes to date have only been eligible for the Haliya and Kamaiya bonded labourers, not to the Harawa-Charawa. Some partners in the hotspot have been advocating for the laws and provisions to be equally applied to all people subject to bonded labour, including Harawa-Charawa. International organisations such as the ILO have also helped to gain awareness on the issue of agricultural bondage and migration.14 Several NGOs in the hotspot have been part of the dalit and Harawa-Charawa movements and they have contributed to increased national-level attention of the issues of the HarawaCharawa bonded labourers in the Terai. Efforts to organise the various local initiatives through the Hawara-Charawa network are also supported by the Freedom Fund. The network has received technical assistance on advocacy and the programme also has a partner for advocacy. The FF has, for example, facilitated meetings between the HarawaCharawa Network and the Minister of Land and Labour, resulting in commitments to provide a rehabilitation package, although these were later cancelled due to the 2019 flooding/disaster management. 13 www.lawcommission.gov.np/en/archives/14163. 14 The haliya bonded labourers in far western Nepal are another example of a group in agricultural bondage that has received recognition by the state. 36 The decentralisation of the governance system offers new opportunities for the allocation of benefits to the Hawara-Charawa. In 2019, three municipalities have funded programme partners to conduct surveys to count the number of Harawa-Charawa in their constituencies. The FF has provided technical assistance to this process and the mayors have committed to providing those identified with additional social support. There has been a recognition of the Harawa-Charawa as a group with special needs. In the 2019/20 budget speech, the Minister of Finance announced that the Special Employment Programme will also target the HarawaCharawa communities. While these are encouraging developments in terms of agenda setting, it is still too early to know whether and how commitments will be implemented. Most of the beneficiaries and community representatives are still pessimistic about political change. They say that politicians have no real interest in their issues. A lack of faith in formal political systems and elected leaders is not to be confused with disinterest or lack of awareness. In order to improve the condition of Harawa-Charawa families in our community, it must come from the government level. NGOs and other organisations must coordinate with the political parties and move forward with them. Our life today is still earn and eat. Sadness is our friend. (Community participant, 27 years old, female, Dhanusha) Several also mention the failed attempts of Harawa-Charawa members to stand for office. The members of the group in which I engaged are not aware of politics. However, in Community Y, Mr X and Ms Z had fought in local elections for ward member but lost. (Community participant, 50 years old, female, Sirah) Such distrust in the politics of Harawa-Charawa community members and NGOs working with these communities may not be fair, or constructive. Yet, there is also some ground to it. We also met elected political representatives who do not accept that Harawa-Charawa bonded labour still exists in these communities as illustrated here: There are no bonded Harawa-Charawa and bonded labour in this area. All are free Harawa-Charawa and can work everywhere. The reason for their pathetic condition is only poverty, not bonded labour. (Other stakeholder) 4.4 Efficiency The formation of community-based groups is one of the key components of the hotspot programme approach across all NGOs. To accommodate the diverse needs and capacities within and between communities and NGOs, these groups can develop a range of activities, such as credit and savings, educational support, advocacy, and vocational training. This approach supports identifying activities that address concerns which the targeted communities find relevant. Relevance of the programme activities is distinct from an efficient use of resources, which looks at whether the time and money invested by NGOs and community participants are well planned and yield positive benefits. 37 Respondents across the board mentioned that membership of credit and saving is worth the investment of people’s time to form these groups and be active members. I have received more knowledge. Participation in the group has given me a fair return for the time and work I have invested. (Community participant, 40 years old, male, Siraha) I have engaged in the Laxmi Mahila saving and credit group. There are 36 members in this group. The group collects saving from all its members and borrows the money to the members who need it. I have received financial support four times from the group. With it, I have bought a goat with financial assistance from the group (Community participant, 34 years old, female, Saptari) Most of the community participants showed their interest in participating in vocational training provided by local implementing partners and the technical assistant partners of FF. NGO representatives reported that there is high demand for vocational training in the community. NGOs could not provide opportunities to all who demanded it. Vocational training is relevant but the trainings that have been provided by NGOs are not seen as efficient. People who had the training failed to get a satisfactory return on investment as illustrated here: To improve the condition of Harawa-Charawa in my community, the organisation has provided training to produce incense sticks, washing powder, and bamboo chairs. Due to a lack of capital, I could not start my own business. Training is not sufficient to improve our livelihood; organisations should also support us to find capital, how to start a business, do marketing, and develop ideas for businesses. (Community participant, 35 years old, female, Saptari) I had taken five days’ training on soap-making provided by the NGO. But I couldn’t start making soap due to the lack of investment capital. (Community participant, 40 years old, female, Siraha) Lack of market or lack of access to credit to start up were most frequently mentioned. The credit and savings groups are not set up to meet the larger investment capital needs. My organisation has given training to [build] skill for improvement in the condition of the family of Harawa-Charawa. Even after getting training, there is no state of doing business, because they are not able to do business due to lack of capital. (NGO staff, 24 years old, male, Saptari) Training should be done according to the ability of the people of the community and to conduct training by considering their traditional skills, local surroundings, and markets. (NGO staff, 40 years old, male, Saptari) The success rate of vocational training provided by implementing partners is regarded as very low. 38 The cost invested in skill development training by implementing partners is in vain. They conducted training without need assessments so could not succeed. (Other stakeholder) NGOs have supported families and individuals to get citizenship certificates, and facilitated registration and access to various services. Helping individuals with administration is efficient because it gives access to a range of government services and social security allowances. Some people were deprived of getting social security allowance when they did not have citizenship certificate. Our organisation helped and facilitated to get the citizenship certificate from the government authority. (NGO staff, 32 years old, female, Siraha) They have known about birth registration, social security allowance, and vital registration; they haven’t known this before. (25 years old, female, Dhanusha) Registration of citizens by NGOs to access government services has reportedly led to increased access to services, thus enhancing the efficiency of the system. But some stakeholders in the working area who therefore are aware of the local context, think the claims of some of the local partner organisations about their achievements in bringing about change in the lives of Harawa-Charawa are unfounded: I see the good improvement in health and education services. Access has increased to these public services in comparison to earlier. I don’t know what the organisation did to bring improvement for Harawa-Charawa families and child labour status, but the condition of service users who come into our office is still pathetic. (Other stakeholder) Some NGOs felt that there is competition and a lack of coordination between NGOs to gain credit and this has hindered the efficiency of joint action, learning, and advocacy on important topics. Sometimes there is no coordination between the organisation. Unfair competition among NGOs is a problem. (NGO staff, 40 years old, male, Saptari) The Hot Spot Model is a good model in itself. But the organisation partners do not all share an understanding about the Hot Spot Model. The Freedom Fund did not teach partners about the heart of the Hot Spot Model. There is no system in place to exchange learning between partners on the ground. However, the Hot Spot Model has played an important role in the formation and operation of the Harawa-Charawa District Forum and the National Forum. (NGO staff, 38 years old, male, Saptari) Some respondents reported that there is insufficient responsibility and transparency within organisations for efficient collective action in their district. 39 NGO responsibility and transparency is not good. Programme coordinators themselves do not go to working areas and always rely on social mobilisers. The programme coordinator doesn’t take responsibility for the programme. (Other stakeholder, female) Some of this might be a matter of different expectations. The same person also said that ‘recently, a member of the national HC forum was beaten up, but NGO people did not support this person’ (other stakeholder, female). This illustrates that it is not clear what support stakeholders or community members expect of an NGO and what is realistic of an NGO to provide. Some community members and government said that they were not invited to activities, but that they would have participated and supported the NGO programme if they had been invited. I was informed about the organisation and their project by a representative of the organisation. I was invited into one programme but after that they have not invited me into any programme. (Other stakeholder) 4.5 Sustainability The programme has worked with a variety of NGOs with different levels of expertise in these communities. This means that the programme benefits for the NGO involved are also different. For some NGOs who had not worked directly with Harawa-Charawa communities, there is more awareness about the issues of these communities. Others have appreciated learning how to work in a more bottom-up, participatory fashion. There is also a widespread need to continue to work and learn more to make this more sustainable. These NGOs were not responsive and transparent to the community before. Some improvement is seen. When selecting a partner, FF needs to look at everything, otherwise it can backfire. The selection process for local partner organisations was not scientific; this has delayed changes on the ground. It seems that community and stakeholders have been involved in the planning and construction process as they should. But if these plans are not implemented, it raises the question as to why they needed to attend such meetings. (Other stakeholder) The NGO support to community members to claim access to the available public service is sustainable – the benefits of identity cards will serve these individuals well beyond the programme. With these cards and registrations, people fulfil one of the essential criteria to access current and probably future programmes that they are eligible for. For people who have received assistance from the programme to access government nutrition schemes, there are clear long-term effects for their wellbeing: The services available at the local level can be easily claimed. We can do registration for vital documents that are needed to access services easily. Services from agriculture, education, health, and social security is easily received. The Tapeshwori Social Welfare Organisation helped to get information of those services. In the past three years, I have received one new service, which is nutrition allowance for my grandchildren. I get Rs. 400 per month for nutrition of the children and clothes for the lactating mother. 40 (Community participant, 50 years old, female, Saptari) As mentioned earlier, the high illiteracy levels in these communities are an obstacle for people to fill in the forms by themselves to claim (new) services. NGO staff reported that they expect members of communities to continue to need help. The evaluators have seen various young educated people in the communities who can and do provide such assistance. The knowledge these young people have is sustainable, but whether they stay in these communities to help others with administration is uncertain, given the high migration rates. Some of the members reported that bonded labour is less in some communities and has been eradicated on paper because it is illegal. The legal changes and increased awareness of the laws and rights are important changes. However, social norms on bondage and obligations are sustained and (re)inforced through a system of loans, uncertainty, and lack of land. And this interaction between moral, mental worlds and the wider political economy gives many respondents the impression that the Harawa-Charawa system may no longer exist on paper, and that there have been some changes, but that the lives of HarawaCharawa remain in essence the same. There has not been a significant change in Harawa-Charawa, bonded labour, and child labour in our community. The organisation and the support of stakeholders has stopped the work of injustice by landlords to some extent. The minimum wage is not paid at first. If we can negotiate, then we can receive some time. Due to poverty, our condition is very weak, no matter what we do. At first, landlords do not give physical pain, but mental pain is inflicted. Our compulsion is to work on landlords’ farms because we have no other option. (Community participant, 35 years old, female, Dhanusha) We are still bonded labour mentally. We have the obligation to work on the farm of landlords, because we have taken the loan. (Community participant, 50 years old, female, Saptari) Some people are still in bonded in our community. They took loan from landlords for daughter’s marriage and during illness. They and their children are forced to work on the landlord’s farm and in their houses. (Community participant, 53 years old, male, Saptari) This suggests some confusion from communities about what qualifies as forced labour. If workers have taken out a loan and are being emotionally or psychologically coerced (e.g. being threatened by their landlord if they try to work elsewhere), that is actually still a form of forced labour. Yet representatives from the same organisations – even the same people who commented on persistent ‘mental slavery’ rooted in a continued reality of loans, force, and lack of options – also mention that women’s position has improved and that some abuses are very unlikely to come back. Sexual slavery to landlords is no longer acceptable, has declined, and is now seen as something that used to happen in the past. In the past, landlords used to involve women in forceful sexual activities. Landlords used to keep women as sex slaves in their home. Now, these types of behaviour have totally ended. 41 (Community participant, 50 years old, female, Dhanusha) In comparison to three years ago and now, the behaviour of landlords towards women and girls has changed. In the past, landlords used abusive language and sexually abused the women and girls. But now, landlords do not have the courage to touch us. We are strengthened by the organisation’s programme. We can raise our voices against injustice and oppression. We can also go to the police station and file a complaint. (Community participant, 27 years old, female, Saptari) Within NGOs, there are also differences between the knowledge of the staff on the ground and the management which seem to be particularly pronounced among the NGOs who are relatively new to the Harawa-Charawa issues. For sustainable changes at an NGO level, the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of both management and field staff would need to be better integrated. This process is likely to require long-term investments in organisations’ learning and management which go beyond the duration of this programme. The sustainability of political collective action is uncertain, due to the lack of cooperation and trust between NGOs to take issues forward together. Organisations which are grounded and associated with the Harawa-Charawa issue can jointly discuss with policy makers; it is easier for them to improve and help change the policies. But some organisations who are doing advocacy work are not linked with the community and with other organisations (NGO staff, 39 years old, male, Saptari) At the hotspot level, commitment from government and political leaders is seen as a key factor in political sustainability across NGOs: Unless the political party raises the issue of Harawa-Charawa, policies cannot be reformed in favour of the Harawa-Charawa. Their issue is a political issue. The political parties should mention the Harawa-Charawa issues in the declaration paper. (NGO staff, 33 years old, male, Siraha) Unless the local body or government accepts the Harawa-Charawa question, the movement of salvation does not succeed. In order to improve their situation, the government should make special arrangements for them. (NGO staff, 32 years old, female, Siraha) NGOs cannot do everything; the government needs to get a special package for them. The Harawa-Charawa are landless. The government needs to provide land for them. (NGO staff, 32 years old, male, Saptari) There are also some encouraging developments which can increase the sustainability of the programme. Some local governments have allocated budget for Harawa-Charawa issues. Staff in the new decentralised system have also been in dialogue with some NGO staff about follow-up to the programme by local government. 42 5 Conclusions and recommendations While the interventions were mostly in the right location, there were also significant variations in the prevalence of bonded labour in the different NGO intervention areas. The programme has faced some major challenges, including a high turnover of the local NGO due to financial irregularities and poor implementation, a major earthquake in 2015, and major political unrest and constitutional changes. These changes have influenced a change from a communitybased local programme to a more policy- and advocacy-oriented approach. Communitybased groups, or freedom groups have been at the heart of the programme. These groups provided support such as micro-credit and educational support for children and/or linked members and communities to a range of services and activities, including those provided by the government. The groups and the direct services provided by them have been highly appreciated as people found these relevant and an efficient use of their time. Education is a condition for migration or applying for a government position. International migration and government positions are perceived as careers that lift households out of poverty. Although the lack of decent local employment is one of the reasons why people migrate and is needed, it is not self-evident which kinds of jobs or services would provide an alternative to migration in this land-locked, impoverished, and politically unstable border area. Many basic consumer goods are made in factories across the border in India, and it is difficult to compete with such a large economy. The whole region is economically disadvantaged and the Harawa-Charawa communities have been and still are among the most disadvantaged. Although bonded labour and informal money-lending are illegal, Harawa-Charawa are still kept in bondage through loans, paying back money with their labour, facing threats, and with little or no alternatives. This is a complex political-economic situation in which it is important that the existing benefits, schemes, and policies to protect the poorest are implemented. In order to do this efficiently and assure the relevance of these policies in a situation with few resources, it is important to involve the communities in the formulation, and evaluations and reviews of these policies. A balance needs to be found between advocacy to remind and support the government with the implementation of its duties towards the most vulnerable citizens, and collective action in these communities to articulate their rights, access schemes, and manage micro-credit groups in a practical way. Recommendations for the Freedom Fund’s hotspot programme ● Support those in debt bondage to escape their situation by negotiating minimum wages for work and accessing alternative, more affordable sources of credit that do not tie them to their employer or debt-holders. Although Harawa-Charawa communities are now more aware of their rights, currently there is a lack of alternative loan options which means that those in debt bondage often continue spiralling into debt. The Freedom Fund could consider stepping up its efforts in connecting HarawaCharawa communities to fairer, formal loan schemes and/or to support more legal cases to prosecute employers who enter into predatory, illegal loan arrangements. Critically examine the gender benefits and burdens of micro-credit interventions, especially on unpaid care and the demand for labour of small enterprises in a context of high (male) migration. ● Support the implementation of relevant and realistic vocational training and employment programmes. Vocational training programmes have trained members of 43 the Harawa-Charawa communities. To benefit from these trainings and generate income, there should be a market for the products or services. Micro-enterprises require investment capital and interest, knowledge, and skills to run a small enterprise. Assessing those aspects should be prioritised with the candidates before they commence vocational training. The new Prime Minister Employment Programme could be an important opportunity for increased employment options among HarawaCharawa communities. In particular, ensure that NGO partners are aware and know the practicalities of supporting members of the Harawa-Charawa community to access this newly announced scheme, which will help unlock entitlements such as subsistence allowance and a minimum of 100 days of employment annually, as well as access to vocational training and seed funding. ● Support federal and local government in developing practical and acceptable criteria for Harawa-Charawa and support different levels of staff among partner NGOs to have a better understanding of what this means. Harawa-Charawa is both a political-economic and a cultural identity. There should be a clearer system as to whether a person is a Harawa-Charawa and whether they can claim benefits, and who may not want to be identified as a Harawa-Charawa. The Freedom Fund is currently working with three municipalities to develop criteria for Harawa-Charawa and supporting a government-administered survey to identify Harawa-Charawa households. The process, tools, and lessons learned from these three municipalities should be shared and validated with the communities before scaling up to more areas. Within the partner NGOs, there are also differences between management, office-based staff, and field staff in their definitions and understanding of Harawa-Charawa, which need to be ironed out. ● Strategic advocacy needs to be rooted in local realities and deliver concrete benefits for Harawa-Charawa communities. At the hotspot level, respondents from different backgrounds agreed on the general priorities although the rationales were slightly different, with community-level respondents emphasising practical needs more and NGOs and other stakeholders emphasising strategical needs more. These are complementary and can strengthen each other. Priority should be given to activities that are mutually agreed and based on consultations with (elected) representatives from the Harawa-Charawa communities. ● Ensure that the Harawa-Charawa Network is more rooted in the Harawa-Charawa communities. Local NGOs and organisations can facilitate making this network a locally rooted and accountable people’s organisation. The sharing of experiences with governance and trying different ways to improve local accountability, such as paid membership, majority, or threshold voting can be very helpful. However, the HarawaCharawa Network has to be led by the Harawa-Charawa, unless they decide otherwise during a process with clear informed consent. ● Improve gender equality, especially in advocating for women and men being paid equally for the same work. Actions should be planned to address this issue; for example, by working with municipality officials to implement a daily minimum wage. Minimum wages are by definition for all workers – regardless of gender or caste. Policy areas that should form the focus of future advocacy efforts, by the Freedom Fund and other anti-trafficking organisations: ● Declare the Harawa-Charawa free and establish a government rehabilitation package comparable to those provided for ex-Kamaiya and Haliya bonded labourers. 44 ● Support the implementation of land reforms that can benefit Harawa-Charawa. The government should take its responsibility to prepare and implement land reform policy and increase access to land to Harawa-Charawa. Announcing what constitutes an ‘unfair or undocumented’ loan, explain that these loans do not need to be paid back, and encourage and support people to put their loans on paper. ● Invite representatives of Harawa-Charawa communities to participate in the formulation of new policies and reviews or evaluations of the implementation of existing schemes, benefits, and laws. There are various existing and new schemes that aim to support the poorest. Working with target communities such as the HarawaCharawa can help to improve the general relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of existing and proposed schemes and enhance the ways in which they are implemented. ● Regulate safe migration. Migration is seen as an effective way out of poverty. But local intermediaries have too much power because the communities do not know the rules and how to enforce those that could protect them. Government officials need to be better trained on supporting safer migration, and law enforcement personnel need to be better equipped to investigate and prosecute cases of trafficking. ● Implement policies on gender equality, especially on equal employment, equal pay, child marriage, girls’ education, and unpaid care. Nepal has signed and ratified many international policies to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination such as ICCPR-1966, ICESCR-1966, and CEDAW Convention-1979 and have taken active steps to support gender equality. Nevertheless, gender inequalities such as the gender pay gap do persist, which suggests that government officials need to be more motivated and equipped to implement these policies. 45 References Baumann, G. and Dharel, M. (2014) Modern Slavery in Nepal: Understanding the Problem and Existing Responses, Kathmandu: Walk Free Foundation and the Alliance Against Trafficking of Women and Children in Nepal Burns D.; Sharma B.P. and Oosterhoff, P. (2017) Patterns and Dynamics of Bonded Labour, Child Labour and Child Marriage in the Nepali Eastern Terai: Findings From Life Story Analysis, Brighton: IDS, https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/13398 (accessed 22 January 2020) Cislaghi, B. and Heise, L. (2018) ‘Four Avenues of Normative Influence: A Research Agenda for Health Promotion in Low and Mid-Income Countries’, Health Psychology 37.6: 562– 73 Gelfand, M.J. and Jackson, J.C. (2016) ‘From One Mind to Many: The Emerging Science of Cultural Norms’, Current Opinion in Psychology 8: 175–81 ILO (2014) P029 - Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, International Labour Organization, www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:P0 29 (accessed 29 January 2020) Kumar KC, B.; Subedi, G. and Suwal, B.R. (2013) Forced Labour of Adults and Children in the Agriculture Sector of Nepal: Focusing on Haruwa-Charuwa in Eastern Tarai and Haliya in Far-Western Hills, Kathmandu: ILO Country Office for Nepal Moser, C.O.N. (1989) ‘Gender Planning in the Third World: Meeting Practical and Strategic Gender Needs’, World Development 17.11: 1799–1825 Oosterhoff, P. and Sharma, B.P. (2018) When Farmers Owe Their Souls to the Landlords They Call Friends, IDS blog, 30 November, www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/when-farmers-owetheir-souls-to-the-landlords-they-call-friends/ (accessed 22 January 2020) Oosterhoff, P.; Sharma, B.P. and Burns, D. (2017) Participatory Statistics to Measure Prevalence in Bonded Labour Hotspots in Nepal: Report on Findings of the Baseline Study, https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/13399 (accessed 22 January 2020) Sharma B.P.; Oosterhoff P. and Burns D. (2019) Participatory Research, Planning and Evaluation Process in Nepal – Summary Results: Participatory Action Research, Brighton: IDS, www.ids.ac.uk/publications/participatory-research-planning-andevaluation-process-in-nepal-summary-results-participatory-action-research/ (accessed 22 January 2020) 46 Annexe 1 Terms of reference Work stream 3: Overall evaluation of the Northern India and Nepal hotspots as a whole Objective: Provide an overall, independent assessment of the hotspots, particularly in regard to the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of the hotspot model in reducing bonded labour in the area, and the sustainability of the hotspot model. Key evaluation questions: Relevance a. To what extent do the design and activities of the hotspot reflect the current needs and priorities of the community members? Are they relevant to the objectives of the hotspot? b. What are the views of relevant stakeholders (primarily programme participants, with selected inputs from community leaders, government representatives, and the private sector employers) towards the programme? For example, do they consider it an opportunity, a threat, or are they indifferent? Effectiveness c. To what extent has the programme achieved its aim of reducing bonded labour in communities in the target areas (as a source for bonded labour)? d. Based on the qualitative feedback from the community and NGOs: (i) how has the programme contributed towards the measured change, including tackling root causes; (ii) what are the observable links between programme activities and wider systems change (e.g. wider government policies and practices, strengthening civil society collaboration, and generating evidence for anti-trafficking sector)? e. What have the NGO partners undertaken together that they might not have done outside of the hotspot model, especially in terms of systems change? Efficiency f. Based on the NGO’s assessment of impact achieved through (i) the different types of programme activities of local NGOs and (ii) the main work streams within the Change Strategy: to what extent do these align with the programme’s investment of time and resources? Sustainability g. To what extent has the programme influenced the approach, organisational capability, and quality of activities (including monitoring and evaluation) of the NGO partners? h. What are the key knowledge and skills that NGOs have learned from programme interventions, and can they give examples of how this can be applied elsewhere? i. What can the community members and adolescents now do for themselves? 47 Note: These evaluation questions will be reviewed before the final evaluation is undertaken. Activities The evaluation team (i.e. IDS, Praxis/ActionAid Nepal) will use three main sources of information to triangulate and formulate insights relating to the key research questions. This process of the different activities listed below will be between January 2018–May 2019 for N. India and Nepal. The information sources are: ● Desk review; pertinent programme documents from NGO, Geneva Global, and Freedom Fund reports and materials; ● Qualitative feedback from community participants and NGO partners. This would roughly include, per hotspot: i. Up to 30 interviews with programme participants/survivors (from ~6 NGO partners who have been working for a suitable duration, with the aim of diverse representation); ii. (a) Twelve interviews with NGO, Geneva Global, and Freedom Fund staff to get feedback on the hotspot model. (b) Eight key informant interviews, with individuals who are not programme participants but who possess first-hand knowledge or expertise on bonded labour in the community; for example, government representatives and private sector employers. These semi-structured interviews will be conducted by evaluation partners (i.e. Praxis or ActionAid Nepal) in local languages, and respondents’ anonymity will be emphasised to ensure that we solicit candid feedback, as much as possible. IDS conducts the international interviews in English. Feedback from participants/survivors This work will involve qualitative interviews with people (including survivors and members of Community Support Groups) who are or should be participants of Freedom Fund programmes, and will focus on their experience of engaging with the rights-based activities and services provided by NGOs supported by the Freedom Fund. Questions will relate to: significant changes in relation to them or people in their community being able to leave situations of forced labour over the last three years; NGO activities and services they have utilised and groups they have been involved with; how the groups have helped them and what motivates them to keep going to the group/s; how children have been helped with their education; whether there is now more, less, or maybe a different kind of caste discrimination; whether women and girls are now treated differently in the community; how access to essential services has changed; what else could be done for community members in bonded labour/child labour; examples of activities that the NGO could have done but didn’t, or could have done better; whether community members are more or less willing to talk about bonded labour/child labour/trafficking and whether people who have left bonded labour are still free (and if not, why not). 48 The activities are: ● ● ● ● ● Preparation of survey instrument/guide (IDS and partners); Translation of tools and guide; Collecting and translating interviews; Analysis of interviews; Finalising by IDS team. Interviews with programme staff and key stakeholders (a) Interviews with NGOs, Geneva Global and Freedom Fund staff. Questions will relate to: perceptions around the most significant impacts on bonded labour/ child labour/trafficking in the communities that they work in; community group/s they have helped to set up and how well they are functioning; what motivates community members to come to these groups; the extent to which community members have become more able to seek help or take action independently; evidence that children from bonded labour families are better able to attend school; changes in relation to caste discrimination and the situation of women and girls; most important public services for reducing bonded labour; what else can be done to improve the situation of families in bonded labour; willingness in communities to talk about bonded labour; perceived success of rehabilitation of ex-bonded labourers; perceptions in relation to successes in influencing higher-level decision-making on bonded labour; benefits of partnerships with other NGOs in the hotspot and drawbacks of working in the hotspot model. (b) Interviews with stakeholders not directly related to the programme such as government officials: business people, teachers, medics, etc. The aim is to get their insight into how the activities of the programme align with their analysis of the problem. Questions will relate to: how they have come to know the work of the NGOs on bonded labour and what their interactions have been with them; how the situation of bonded labour has changed; whether they think the work of the NGOs has led to changes to the lives of people affected by bonded labour; whether they perceive communities to be more active in protecting themselves from bonded labour; whether organisations like theirs are more willing to talk about and act on bonded labour; whether NGO services to help survivors are helpful; if they think NGOs are accountable and transparent towards communities and examples of the ways in which NGO activities have influenced higher-level policymaking/decision-making and implementation of schemes (e.g. at district or state level) on bonded labour. The activities are: ● ● ● ● Preparation of interview schedule by IDS team and partners – in consultation with FF and GG; Finalisation and logistic; Field process – interviews; Document, analyse, and report on the hotspot model (IDS team). IDS and partners will determine the most efficient timeline and coordination of activities. Interviews will be conducted in the most efficient way to correlate with travel and existing 49 processes underway within the Action Research and Participatory Statistics work streams. The indicative timeline is spread over the period November 2017–May 2019. 1 2 3 4 Interviews – North India Interviews – Nepal Draft report on both countries shared with the Freedom Fund Final report shared with the Freedom Fund January 2018–January 2019 January 2018–January 2019 April 2019 May 2019 Proposed schedule of deliverables in N. India: 1 Review terms of reference and refine as necessary. 2 Review of proposed list of target interviewees/focus groups by FF, Geneva Global, and IDS. 3 Interview list and discussion guides finalised. 4 Draft report shared with the Freedom Fund. 5 Final report and summary report (2–4 pages) for sharing with external stakeholders. November 2017 December 2017 January 2018 April 2019 May 2019 Proposed schedule of deliverables in Nepal: 1 Review terms of reference and refine as necessary. 2 Review of proposed list of target interviewees/focus groups by FF, Geneva Global and IDS. 3 Interview list and discussion guides finalised. 4 Draft report shared with the Freedom Fund. 5 Final report and summary report (2–4 pages) for sharing with external stakeholders. November 2017 December 2017 January 2018 April 2019 May 2019 Final reporting The format of the final reports will be written in English and will be maximum of 40 pages for each hotspot (without Annexes). It should include: ● ● ● ● Executive summary Background to the evaluation, including key research questions Description of the FF programme in the hotspots Methodology o including discussion of the nature and quality of the information used and limitations for each component ● ● ● Research/findings directly responding to the key research questions Analysis/conclusions Lessons learned o Practical, feasible, and strategic o At different levels: programme partners, participants, and other stakeholders ● ● Recommendations Annexes: o Initial and final terms of reference The final reports will be submitted in May 2019 (North India) and December 2019 (Nepal). 50 Annexe 2 Critical path from the 2014 strategy Table A2 Critical path 51 Source: Freedom Fund report (internal document). 52 Annexe 3 Employment profiles Table A3 Employment profiles Employment status Total female male Bonded labourer within the community 10 9 1 Non-bonded labourer 9 5 4 Ex-bonded/trafficked labourer prior to programme 5 4 1 Ex-bonded/trafficked labourer during programme intervention 6 5 1 Parent of child that avoided bonded labour 0 0 0 0 0 Bonded/trafficked labourer outside the community 0 Parents of child labourer in community 0 0 0 Parents of rehabilitated child 0 0 0 Total 30 23 7 Source: Authors’ own. 53 Annexe 4 Overview of NGO partners and technical service providers Table A4 Overview of NGO partners and technical service providers Name of partner Role When started Partnership status Remarks Janachetana Dalit Sangam, Saptari Implementing partner Nov 2014 Continue Included in Evaluation Tapeshwori Social Welfare Organisation, Saptari Implementing partners Jan 2015 Continue Included in Evaluation Udpidit Dalit Sangam (UDS), Saptari Implementing partner December 2015 Terminated in Feb 2018 Not included in Evaluation Women Peace and Research Development Centre (WPRDC), Saptari Implementing partner Jan 2018 Terminated in March 2019 Not included in Evaluation Human Right and Rural Youth Change (HURYC), Saptari Implementing partner February 2018 Continue Included in Evaluation Saptari Community Development Centre (SCDC), Saptari Implementing partner Jan 2018 Continue Not included Samriddha Foundation Saptari Implementing partner Jan 2018 Continue Not included Bhawani Integrated Development Centre, Siraha Implementing partners December 2015 Continue Included in Evaluation Community Development Forum, Siraha Implementing partners December 2014 Continue Included in Evaluation Dalit Samrakshan Abhiyan Manch (DSAM), Siraha Implementing partner Jan 2015 Terminated in Feb 2018 Not included Dalit Janakalyan Yuwa Club (DJKYC), Siraha Implementing partners Jan 2018 Continue Not included Dalit Development Forum (DDF) Siraha Service provider Sept 2018 Continue Not included Community Improvement Centre (CIC), Dhanusha Implementing partners November 2014 Continue Included in Evaluation Soundarya, Dhanusha Implementing partners Dec 2014 Terminated in Jan 2016 Not included DSWNC (?) Dhanusha Implementing partner Jan 2018 Continue Not included Rural Development Foundation (RDF), Dhanusha Implementing partner Dec 2014 Terminated in Dec 2017 Not included Centre for Health and Counselling (CMC Nepal) Improving mental health service April 2015 Continue Included in interview Manakamana Training Course and Skill Development Institute Providing Vocational Training Sept 2016 Continue Included in interview Media Advocacy Group Media advocacy trainings to partner organisations and local media professionals Jan 2016 May 2017 Not included World Education Education curriculum for HC communities Jan 2015 Nov 2016 Not included Rastriya Dalit Network Capacity building of Network April 2018 Continue Not included Community Self Reliance Center (CSRC Nepal) Advocacy and Campaigning April 2018 Continue Included in interview Implementing Local partner NGO 54 CRDS Land rights October 2014 Continue Not included Action for Development Livelihood assessment and employment opportunity June 2015 August 2015 Not included LR Sharma Audit June 2016 November 2016 Not included CPA Audit/finance capacity building for partners Oct 2017 Dec 2017 Not included Kuber and Co. Audit April 2017 May 2017 Not included RajMs and Co. Audit/finance capacity building for partners June 2018 Dec 2018 Not included Justice for all Legal capacity building Dec 2015 April 2017 Not included Nice Foundation Community mobilisation training May 2018 June 2018 Not included Disaster Relief Consultant Disaster management training June 2018 July 2018 Not included CPCLC Capacity building on getting out-of-school children into education July 2018 September 2018 Not included Co-Act Increase awareness of safer migration practices Jan 2016 Dec 2016 Not included Justice Ventures International Capacity building on managing legal casework Jan 2016 March 2016 Not included Pariwartan Awareness of bonded labour among stakeholders in target districts Oct 2015 Jan 2015 Not included Rural Women’s Development and Unity Centre Provide partner organisations, community members, and key stakeholders with knowledge of human rights and the need for effective mediation Jan 2016 Dec 2016 Not included Sambad Radio campaigns Nov 2015 June 2016 Not included School of Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Conducting four mobile health camps Dec 2015 April 2016 Not included Source: Authors and Freedom Fund. 55 Annexe 5 Changes in staff Freedom Fund HQ involved in the implementation of the programme Table A5 Freedom Fund Staff from 2014 to 2019 Year Programme Management Research Changes 2014 Ginny Baumann, Senior Zoe Fortune, Senior Programme Officer, Freedom Research and Fund Evaluation Officer 2015 Same as above 2016 Pauline Aaron, Senior Yuki Lo, Senior Programme Officer, Freedom Research and Fund from August 2016 Evaluation Officer Pauline Aaron took over the senior management of the programme from Ginny Baumann, who was focusing more time on her programmes in India. Yuki Lo took over from Zoe Fortune, who left the Freedom Fund. 2017 Pauline Aaron/Hannah De Ville, Freedom Fund Same as above Hannah De Ville took over the management of the programme while Pauline Aaron went on maternity leave in November 2017. 2018 Pauline Aaron/Hannah De Ville, Freedom Fund Same as above Pauline returned from maternity leave in August 2018 and came back into her role as senior programme officer. None Same as above Kevin Groome was hired in February by the Freedom Fund as a Programme Officer and replaced Maria Horning when the programme management transitioned across to the Freedom Fund in April 2018. Kevin Groome, Freedom Fund Source: Authors and Freedom Fund. 56 Annexe 6 Questions and recruitment strategy community participant Interviewees will be drawn from the following groups: ● NGO-supported groups (a tailored list of these groups – relevant to the hotspot – will be provided by country programme officers); ● People who have been assisted with micro-enterprises and/or access to vocational training or group-based income generation; ● People who have had legal help (we are focusing on cases with prosecutions); ● People who have received information only (further de-segregate by whether they are a member of an NGO-supported group); ● People who have had rehabilitation and reintegration support or parents whose children were reintegrated. Ideally one person from each of the above groups will be interviewed in each village. NGOs will provide lists of people for each group (including 15–18 year olds) and individuals will be randomly selected from the list. Interview guidance ● Interviews will take place across one, two, or three hamlets per NGO; ● Six NGOS have been selected in Nepal; ● Thirty interviews to be conducted in total (five in each location); ● Interviewees are expected to be individuals who are actively participating in Freedom Fund programmes (e.g. survivors and members of Community Support Groups); ● Interviews with programme participants will be approximately 60 minutes in length and will follow the below prepared structure. Instructions for interviewing ● Try to interview in a private space where no other individuals can interrupt or overhear. ● Please make sure that no NGO reps are present when you are interviewing community members. ● At the beginning of the interview you will need to introduce yourself and explain what this study is for. ● You should let people know that they do not have to be interviewed, and that they will not be able to be identified from their answers or from any data that we publish. ● Then the person nominated for the interview should give his/her prior informed consent for the interview (and also take consent for audio recording). 57 ● You should collect their personal details. Each interview should have a code number, which is both on the interview transcript and on a separate sheet that holds their personal details. Personal details should be kept in secure storage and should not be stored in the same place as the interviews. These details should include: name, village, caste, if they are in a group and if so which group they are part of, mobile phone – if they have one, etc. ● We will also want to know whether they, as an individual, are bonded or not – or if anyone in their family is bonded. This direct question is scheduled for later in the interview (question 10). Disclosure of their personal status may come before reaching question 10 but if they seem uncomfortable disclosing it early on, the questions have been designed to be broad and community-focused until question 10. ● In addition to writing what the person says, you should also record any important observations such as ‘She seemed uncomfortable when talking about the landlord’. ● Try to ask the questions in as open a way as possible and to record as much as possible. We advise where possible for audio recordings to be made as back up, but not as the primary source of data as they tend to go wrong. The focus of the interviews should be trying to understand if and how the NGOS or CVCs have made progress towards reducing or ending bonded labour. Prevalence facts will be captured through other mechanisms, e.g. participatory statistics data collation. ● For each question, ask people how things have changed in the last 3–4 years. ● Try to get people to give examples and to indicate what the evidence is that they are drawing on in their answers. Pre-interview information (after obtaining consent from interviewee) ● Village/location ID: ● NGO ID: ● Interviewer ID: ● Interviewee ID: ● Date of interview: ● Start time of interview. Questions Personal details: Tell us your name, age, caste, sex. Have you been participating in some of [insert NGO name / prompt if they don’t know the name of the local relevant NGO/s]’s activities? Note to interviewer: Ideally castes cited will match census castes 58 1 Thinking about the situation of ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking, can you tell us about a few significant changes that have happened in your community over the last three years? Note to interviewer – in Nepal, Harawa-Charawa is used a definition of those in bonded agricultural labour/ incl. cattle herders. The interviewer needs to ensure, however, that their understanding of ‘Harawa-Charawa’ matches the interviewees’ understanding of ‘HarawaCharawa’ – may need probing. Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ Thinking about the activities and efforts to improve things in your community that the group and/or the NGO have been involved in here, what are some of the ones (if any) that you feel have made the most difference – for you and your family? For others in the community? If you could select three NGO interventions that had the most significant impact on you and your family/community – which would these be? Do you feel you have more information and knowledge than you had three years ago, that is helping you and your family? Can you give any examples of the kinds of information you have gained? What new information, knowledge do you have (compared to before) in relation to: Local health services? Legal frameworks and rights? How to secure land rights? How to action against coercion from landlords? Identifying bonded labour in your community? (What are the signs, what would you advise them, and why?) Identify when trafficking might be happening? What new skills do you now have? What can you do now that you could not do before? Has this helped improve your family’s income? In the past three years, have you gained access to new government services or entitlements? Which of those have been most helpful to your family? Have you been involved directly in working for a particular improvement or to protect others – can you tell us about it? Note to interviewer – this is about teasing out how the NGO activities have helped people to avoid or escape bonded labour – i.e. becoming less dependent on loans from the landlord, etc. 2 Thinking about the activities and services that are offered by [insert NGO name], what group/s have you been involved with? What have the groups been doing? What has the group helped you with? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ If respondent is unable to answer what groups they’ve been involved with, prompt with examples: (refer to full list of groups in hotspot and local language references/names 59 for these groups). 3 Why do you keep going to the group/s? Has it been worth the time and effort that you have put in? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Have the groups helped you or/and other people to become involved in other local committees/ decision-making groups? 4 Have children been helped with their education? How? Tell us about your children or other local children you know. Do you think [insert NGO name] has played a role in this? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Why do you send your children to school? ❖ Are the opportunities for education for girls different to the opportunities for boys? ❖ Children who are still not in school – why are they not in school? ❖ What do you think your child would be able to do with an education that they would not have been able to do without it? (Note to interviewers: If they say ‘a job’ ask what kind of job – and do those jobs exist locally? Has the community group or NGO tried to improve the quality of the village school?) 5 Compared to three years ago, do you think there is now more, less, or maybe a different kind of caste discrimination? Could you give some examples? Do you think the NGO has played a role in this – if so, how? If not, why? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Tell us about it. Are people more ready to challenge abusive caste behaviour? 6 Compared to three years ago, are women and girls now treated differently in the community? Could you give some examples? Do you think [NGO name] has played a role in this – if so, how? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Can you give examples of things that women and girls can do and achieve which they could not do three years ago? ❖ ❖ Have NGO and group activities helped women and girls to have more say in the community? How? 7 How has your access to essential services (put tailored examples of services in for each hotspot version) changed over the last few years? Can you give some examples? Who has helped you to get these services? Explore and prompt suggestions: 60 ❖ ❖ ❖ Which services are you now accessing to support yourself/support your family which you did not access before? Do you know who provides these services (government or NGO) how did you find out about them? Who helped you? What is the quality of the services? 8 For families in your community that are in ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, and child labour what else should be done to a) help improve their situation b) help get out of bondage? Can you give some examples of activities that the [NGO name] could have done but didn’t, or could have done better? How did [NGO name] involve you in deciding on what activities to carry out? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ What do you think the programme should have done differently? ❖ Referring to NGO staff – are they helpful? ❖ Are they trustworthy (do they do what they say they will do)? ❖ Are they friendly? ❖ Are they on time? Note to interviewer – please record a separate response for each of the above. Further explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ ❖ ❖ Do the NGO staff help you communicate together about the activities that might be useful and beneficial? Do they communicate the purpose and benefits of activities clearly to you? Do they help you follow up after meetings, or after providing advice or support? 9 Compared to three or four years ago, are community members more or less willing to talk about ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, trafficking? Do you think community members are more or less able to protect each other from ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, trafficking? Explore and prompt suggestions ❖ Do you think local politicians (put tailored examples of local politicians in for each hotspot version) are more or less willing to discuss the problem? 10 In the last three to four years, has anyone in your family or community been in ‘HarawaCharawa’/bonded labour/trafficking? What sort of work were they doing? Has their situation changed, are they still in ‘Harawa-Charawa’/ bonded labour /trafficking? 61 Note to interviewer: do not ask for identifying or sensitive details about the person in bonded labour/Harawa-Charawa. Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ What types of problems did this person face? (e.g. tricked into a low wage, forced to work excessive hours, tricked into a large debt, physical or sexual abuse) 11 Has anyone in your family or community been able to leave a situation of forced labour in the last three to four years? Are they still free? Note to interviewer – people may need prompts about what being ‘free’ means – e.g. being able to choose where to work, when to work, and having bargaining power for wages and conditions. Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ Do you know of people who were brought back to the village after being taken away to work? When did they leave/come back to the village? How did they leave ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, and child labour – who or what helped them? Are they still out of ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, and child labour or did they have to go back? Are they still in the village? Are they accepted back into the community? What kind of problems do you think people who return to the village face – including emotional problems? Are you aware of any support specifically around trauma and depression being made available to these people? Are you aware of any support specifically around stigma being made available to these people? PLEASE ALSO NOTE o End time of interview o Was the entire interview conducted in a private space? o What was the interviewee’s mood during the interview? Did they seem relaxed/anxious? o Was the interview disrupted in any way? Was anyone else present during part of the interview? 62 o During the interview, did the respondent: Mention experiencing serious abuse (physical, sexual, verbal, psychological)? Request help from the interviewer relating to their safety or potential abuse? (IF yes to either of the above, the case should be recorded and referred as per ethical protocol which interviewer will have a copy of and will be familiar with). o Anything else worth noting? 63 Nepali translation of Annexe 6: questions and recruitment strategy for community participant interviewees 64 65 66 67 68 69 Annexe 7 Questions and recruitment list for NGO Interviewees will be drawn from the following groups: NGOs (individuals from across the NGOs involved in the study) Ideally, a mixture of senior staff member and field level staff will be interviewed Instructions for interviewing ● At the beginning of the interview you will need to introduce yourself and explain what this study is for ● You should let people know that they do not have to be interviewed, and that they will not be able to be identified from their answers or from any data that we publish ● Then the person nominated for the interview should give his/her prior informed consent for the interview (and also take consent for audio recording) ● Try to interview in a private space where no other individuals can interrupt or overhear ● You should collect their personal details i.e. name, sex, employer, job role (what they do and what their personal position is). Each interview should have a code number, which is both on the interview transcript and on a separate sheet, which holds their personal details. Personal details should be kept in secure storage and should not be stored in the same place as the interviews. ● In addition to recording what the person says you should also record any important observations such as ‘the participant seemed uncomfortable when discussing x’ ● Try to ask the questions in as open a way as possible and to record as much as possible. We advise where possible for audio recordings to be made as back up, but not as the primary source of data as they tend to go wrong. The focus of the interviews should be trying to understand if and how the NGOS or CVCs have made towards reducing or ending bonded labour. Prevalence facts will be captured through other mechanisms e.g. participatory statistics data collation. ● For each question ask people how things have changed in the last 3-5 years PRE-INTERVIEW INFORMATION (after obtaining consent from interviewee) ● Village/location ID: ● NGO ID: ● Interviewer ID: ● Interviewee ID: 70 ● Date of interview: ● Start time of interview. QUESTIONS 1 Over the last three years, what do you think are the most significant impacts on ‘HarawaCharawa’, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking in the communities that you work in? Note to interviewer – in Nepal, Harawa-Charawa is used as a definition of those in bonded agricultural labour/incl. cattle herders. The interviewer needs to ensure, however, that their understanding of ‘Harawa-Charawa’ matches the interviewees’ understanding of ‘HarawaCharawa’ – may need probing. Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ ❖ ❖ How has your NGO contributed to this change; can you give us some examples? If you could select three NGO interventions that had the most significant impact on the communities you work in, which would these be? What have you personally learned in the last three years that is helping the NGO to work more effectively? ❖ What do you think the NGO learnings have been (staff team/ management)? ❖ What data have you collected in order to verify your most significant impacts? Note to interviewer – this is about teasing out how the NGO activities have helped people to avoid or escape bonded labour – i.e. becoming less dependent on loans from the landlord, etc. 2 What community group/s have you helped to set up? How effectively do you think the groups are functioning? Do you feel that the leadership and responsibility for the older groups falls to you or have community members started to take on responsibilities? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ ❖ Can you give some examples? Do you normally facilitate the meetings or do Community members facilitate the meetings? 3 Why do you think community members come to these groups and what makes them keep coming to the group/s? When they drop out, why do they drop out? 71 Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Do you have any examples of how people involved in these groups have taken action or leaderships roles because of the skills and /or confidence they have gained? 4 Thinking about the members in the community group that you support, have they become more able to seek help or take action independently? Can you tell us which are the areas they are able to take care of on their own and in which areas they are dependent upon you partially/completely? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ For example, do you go to get entitlements and issues sorted on behalf of community members, or do they come with you, or do they now go on their own in some cases? 5 Is there any evidence that children from bonded labour families are able to maintain their attendance in schools? If they are not attending schools regularly, what are the reasons? e.g. are the financial pressures too strong/are they quickly forced back to work? 6 Compared to three years ago, do you think there is now more, less, or maybe a different kind of caste discrimination? Could you give some examples? What specific things has the NGO done to help with this – if so, how? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ What other forms of caste discrimination still exist? How do you think your NGO could help address these? 7 Do you think ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking affects women and men differently? If so, how? Have you/the NGO taken any specific action to enable women and girls to avoid or leave these situations? What actions have been taken and can you give examples of these actions and their impact? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Can you give examples of things that bonded women and girls can do and achieve which they could not do three years ago? 8 Compared to three years ago, what do you think is the one public service that is most important for reducing ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking in 72 your community? What has your NGO done to widen people’s access to, or improve the quality of this important public service? Could you give some examples? 9 Despite the work of the NGOs, ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking still exist in this region. What else could be done to improve the situation of these families? Are there other activities that your NGO could be doing, but isn’t currently, to tackle the issue of ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ What do you think you could do differently (as an NGO)? What should the hotspot programme should have done differently? How does the NGO and programme need to adapt in the future? 10 Compared to three or four years ago, are community members more or less willing to talk about ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking? Who do they talk to? Could you give some examples? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Do you think local politicians are more or less willing to discuss the problem? 11 Thinking about people who have escaped from ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, child labour and trafficking, do you think they are typically accepted back into the community and are able to stay out of bondage? Why do you think this is or is not the case? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ What specific type of bonded labour were they in? (Going to the city with the middleman, trafficked overseas, mills, sex work, etc.) When did they leave/come back to the village? How did they leave bonded labour – who or what helped them? Are they still out of bonded labour or did they have to go back? Because of lack of alternative employment (for example?) Are they still in the village? Are they accepted back into the community? What kind of problems do you think people who return to the village face – including emotional problems? 12 Can you give any examples of the ways in which your activities as an NGO influence higher-level decision-making and implementation (at district, state, or national levels) on ‘Harawa-Charawa’, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking? Can you give examples of 73 what you have done in partnership with other NGOs funded by the Freedom Fund? Has it brought any changes? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ ❖ Do you think the Harawa-Charawa Network is an effective way to influence policy; why or why not? What are the ways to make this network more influential? Are there activities performed by the Harawa-Charawa Network that you don’t find useful; why? 13 How do you think the project has helped to change the perception of other institutions or civil society groups towards the issue of Harawa-Charawa, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking? Who has shown the most change? Could you give some examples? 14 What do you know now about what does and does not work in relation to advocacy with local and regional/national policy makers that you did not know three or four years ago? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ What messages do you think they are most likely to engage with and what kind of policy response do you think they might display? (e.g. budgetary response, legislation change, enforcement, etc.) 15 Thinking about the hotspot model which brings NGOs together to tackle HarawaCharawa, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking – what are the biggest benefits of working in this hotspot model? Could you give some examples? What are the drawbacks of working in this hotspot model? Could you give some examples? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ ❖ Before the hotspot, how did NGOs share knowledge and advice to inform each other’s work? How has this changed since being part of the hotspot? How has being part of the hotspot shaped what your organisation is doing to address Harawa-Charawa, bonded labour, child labour, and trafficking? Could you give some examples? 16 Thinking about the Harawa-Charawa movement in Nepal, what do you think is most important for identifying and building a strong network of leaders to advance this issue? What types of support could be provided to existing leaders, and who is best placed to provide that support? 17 Can you provide any examples of how local institutions have been strengthened to provide support/services at a future point when FF funding might end? 74 Please also note: o End time of interview o Was the entire interview conducted in a private space? o What was the interviewee’s mood during the interview? Did they seem relaxed/anxious? o Was the interview disrupted in any way? Was anyone else present during part of the interview? o Anything else worth noting? 75 Nepali translation of Annexe 7: questions and recruitment list for NGO interviewees 76 77 78 79 80 Annexe 8 Questionnaire for other stakeholders Ten interviewees in total will be drawn from the following groups: ● District-level officials such as labour officials, CWC, DCPU, senior police (to be tailored); ● Local teachers; ● Local health workers; ● Local Village Development Committee (VDC) members; ● o Representatives from civil society groups/policy advisors working on similar issues: Nepal: Harawa-Charawa Network (definitely should include them), Dalit Parliament, Bonded Labour Network; ● o Other technical experts who have occasionally been paid by FF to provide advice/training to our hotspot NGO partners: Nepal: Community Rural Development Society (linked to the land rights work); ● Government officials. Instructions for interviewing ● At the beginning of the interview you will need to introduce yourself and explain what this study is for. ● You should let people know that they do not have to be interviewed, and that they will not be able to be identified from their answers or from any data that we publish. ● Then the person nominated for the interview should give his/her prior informed consent for the interview (and also take consent for audio recording). ● Try to interview in a private space where no other individuals can interrupt or overhear. ● You should collect their personal details i.e. name, sex, employer, job role (what they do and what their personal position is). Each interview should have a code number, which is both on the interview transcript and on a separate sheet that holds their personal details. Personal details should be kept in secure storage and should not be stored in the same place as the interviews. ● In addition to recording what the person says, you should also record any important observations such as ‘The participant seemed uncomfortable when discussing x’. ● Try to ask the questions in as open a way as possible and to record as much as possible. We advise where possible for audio recordings to be made as back up, but not as the primary source of data as they tend to go wrong. The focus of the interviews 81 should be trying to understand if and how the NGOS or CVCs have made progress towards reducing or ending bonded labour/Harawa-Charawa/child labour. Trafficking Prevalence facts will be captured through other mechanisms e.g. participatory statistics data collation. ● For each question, ask people how things have changed in the last three to five years. Note to interviewers – adapt the interview questions when necessary. If the respondent denies the existence of bonded labour, then continue the interview using alternative phrasing such as: Harawa-Charawa => bonded agricultural labourers QUESTIONS 1 What is your role within the organisation and how have you come to know the (insert name of local NGO)/s work? What have your interactions been with them and are there any particular activities or issues where you have closely connected? 2 Thinking about the issue of bonded labour/Harawa-Charawa/child labour/trafficking in this region, do you think the situation has changed over the past few years? What changes have you observed? Could you please give some examples? Do you think bonded labour, trafficking, child labour, etc. still exist in this region? If yes, what might be the reasons behind it? Note to interviewer – In Nepal, Harawa-Charawa is used a definition of those in bonded agricultural labour/incl. cattle herders. The interviewer needs to ensure, however, that their understanding of ‘Harawa-Charawa’ matches the interviewees’ understanding of ‘HarawaCharawa’ – may need probing. 3 Do you know what the NGO/s are doing to tackle this issue? Do you think their work has led to a change to the lives of those affected by bonded labour/Harawa-Charawa/child labour/trafficking in your region? Which activities (that the NGO/s are carrying out) are most effective? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ List five things the NGO does – ask for reflections on these interventions and what is working well and what is not. Notes to interviewer: ❖ ❖ Please specifically check if interviewee (or their colleagues) participated in training sessions organised by the NGO. This question is about teasing out how the NGO activities have helped people to avoid or escape bonded labour – i.e. becoming less dependent on loans from the landlord, etc. 82 4 Compared to three years ago, have you observed a change in the level of activities in the community to protect villagers from bonded labour/Harawa-Charawa/child labour/trafficking? Why do you think this has occurred? Note to interviewer (this question may not be relevant to those working at district level) Explore and prompt suggestions ❖ From your observation, is there a higher level of community-led activity or do you still think the community is very dependent on the NGO? 5 Compared to three years ago, do you think there is now more, less, or maybe a different kind of caste discrimination? Could you give some examples? Do you think NGOs have played a role in this – if so, how? If not, why? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Is there less or more or maybe a different kind of caste discrimination? Tell us about it. 6 Compared to three years ago, are women and girls now treated differently in the communities that you work in? Could you give some examples? Do you think NGOs have played a role in this – if so, how? If not, why? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Can you give examples of things that women and girls can do and achieve which they could not do three years ago? 7 Over the past three years, what are the public services that have improved the most? Are there more, or less villagers now accessing this service? Do you think the NGOs have played a role in this – if so, how? If not, why? 8 For families in your community that are in bonded labour/Harawa-Charawa/child labour/trafficking, what else should be done to help improve their situation? What do you think the NGOs could be doing but aren’t, or could do better? Explore and prompt suggestion: ❖ What do you think the NGOS should have done differently? And how does the programme need to adapt in the future? 83 9 Compared to three or four years ago, do you think organisations like yours are more or less willing to talk about and act on bonded labour/Harawa-Charawa/child labour/trafficking? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ Do you think local politicians are more or less willing to discuss the problem? Is there more discussion in political and professional circles? 10 Do you think NGO services to help trafficking and bonded labour survivors to recover are helpful – or would you put a greater focus on work in the village to stop the supply of bonded labour? Explore and prompt suggestions: ❖ ❖ ❖ With people who are rescued – do you think they are accepted back into the community and are able to stay out of bonded labour/trafficking? Or are local labour and family relationships such that they will be forced back into bonded labour? What else could be done to help people stay out of bonded labour/HarawaCharawa/child labour/trafficking? 11 Do you think NGOs are accountable and transparent towards communities? Do they involve community members and stakeholders in the planning process? 12 Can you give any examples of the ways in which NGO activities have influenced higherlevel policymaking /decision-making and implementation of schemes (e.g. at district or state level) on bonded labour/Harawa-Charawa/child labour/trafficking? Please also note: o End time of interview o Was the interview completed in one visit, or multiple visits? o Was the entire interview conducted in a private space? o What was the interviewee’s mood during the interview? Did they seem relaxed/anxious? o Was the interview disrupted in any way? Was anyone else present during part of the interview? o Anything else worth noting? 84 Nepali translation of Annexe 8: questions and recruitment for other stakeholders 85 86 87 Annexe 9 Employment profile of community respondents Table A9 Employment profile of community respondents Employment status Total female male Bonded labourer within the community 10 9 1 Non-bonded labourer 9 5 4 Ex-bonded/trafficked labourer prior to programme 5 4 1 Ex-bonded/trafficked labourer during programme intervention 6 5 1 Parent of child that avoided bonded labour 0 0 0 Bonded/trafficked labourer outside the community 0 0 0 Parents of child labourer in community 0 0 0 Parents of rehabilitated child 0 0 0 Total 30 23 7 Source: Authors’ own. 88