Overview
Participants being interviewed for a qualitative study on marriage transactions in the Chitwan Valley in southern Nepal. Photo: Ashish Bajracharya
Current research in Nepal is being completed through the Council's Fred H. Bixby Fellowship Program and focuses on early marriage and transitions to adulthood. The Population Council also operated in Nepal from 2000 to 2008 under the USAID-funded FRONTIERS and Horizons programs.
Bixby fellow Ashish Bajracharya, a native of Nepal based at the Council's office in New York, uses demographic surveys to study the various aspects of transitions to adulthood in Nepal. Under the mentorship of Sajeda Amin in the Council's Poverty, Gender, and Youth program, Bajracharya's research has focused on examining the relationship between poverty and marriage timing and other important adolescent outcomes such as school enrollment and labor force participation among girls in Nepal (PDF of a 2010 Poverty, Gender, and Youth Working Paper). Bajracharya's work also examines spatial dimensions of these indicators, identifying key areas of vulnerability in Nepal. Continuing work will focus on examining the influence of marriage-based transactions such as dowry on the dynamics of the relationship between poverty and marriage timing and other postmarital indicators of well-being.
FRONTIERS included projects focused on improving access to and utilization of reproductive health products and services. Researchers successfully tested methods of increasing contraceptive use among young married couples, provided technical assistance to introduce emergency contraception, and tried increasing hours at a family planning clinic as method of increasing utilization and decreasing overhead costs.
Research conducted by the Horizons program examined the impact of strategies to prevent human trafficking. Researchers assessed Nepal's efforts from a human rights perspective, focusing not only on the abuse of fundamental rights that trafficking represents but also on the need to protect women's right to freedom of movement and to employment.
Highlights of past and present work
- Identify key areas of vulnerability where girls suffer major setbacks in schooling, labor force participation, and early marriage.
- Explore the relationship between household poverty and marriage timing, examining various pathways of influence, including marriage transactions.
- Provided the Family Health Division with tools and information to introduce and monitor the use of emergency contraception.
- Developed methods to increase the use of contraception by young married couples.
- Generated evidence-based human trafficking monitoring evaluation schemes that led to numerous policy, program, and research recommendations to promote human rights and safe migration.
Projects
Strengthening Emergency Contraception in Nepal (more)
Population Council researchers assisted Nepal’s government in integrating emergency contraception into the country’s family planning program.
(3/2006 - 5/2008)
Access to contraceptive methods
Resources
Expanding access to safe abortion and post-abortion care: Recommendations of a South Asia regional consultation (PDF)Population Council
Publication date: 2011
Poverty, marriage timing, and transitions to adulthood in Nepal: A longitudinal analysis using the Nepal Living Standards Survey
(PDF)
Bajracharya,Ashish; Amin,Sajeda
Poverty, Gender, and Youth Working Paper (no. 19)
Publication date: 2010
The nature of mothers' work and children's schooling in Nepal: The influence of income and time effects
(PDF)
Bajracharya,Ashish
Poverty, Gender, and Youth Working Paper (no. 21)
Publication date: 2010
Adolescent experience in-depth: Using data to identify and reach the most vulnerable young people (HTML)
Series of 51 data guides by country
Publication date: 2009
Adolescent experience in-depth: Using data to identify and reach the most vulnerable young people--Nepal 2006 (PDF) (HTML)
Publication date: 2009
Emergency contraception in South Asia (PDF)
The Inside Story: Turning Research into Policy and Practice (no. 1)
Publication date: 2009
Lost girls: The child brides of Afghanistan, Nepal and Ethiopia
Bruce,Judith; Cohen,David Elliott
from What Matters: The World's Preeminent Photojournalists and Thinkers Depict Essential Issues of Our Time
Publication date: 2008
Strengthening emergency contraception in Nepal (PDF)
Shrestha,Mahendra Pd.; Hossain,Sharif Mohammed Ismail; Khan,M.E.
FRONTIERS Final Report
Publication date: 2008
Effect of introducing an 'afternoon pay clinic' on service utilization and cost recovery (Nepal) (PDF)
Shrestha,Mahendra Pd.; Swar,Rajesh; Panda,Pradeep; Khan,M.E.; Homan,Rick
FRONTIERS Final Report
Publication date: 2007
Nepal: Enhancing cost recovery through afternoon clinic: Findings from an operations research study in Nepal
Asia and Near East OR Summary (no. 14)
Publication date: 2006
Nepal: Support communication to enhance young mothers' reproductive health (PDF)
FRONTIERS OR Summary (no. 51)
Publication date: 2005
Physical abuse common during pregnancy in South Asia, studies find (PDF)
Population Briefs 11(3)
Publication date: 2005
Bias against women in South Asia shortens lifespan (PDF)
Population Briefs 10(2)
Publication date: 2004
Determining an effective and replicable communication-based mechanisms for improving young couples' access to and use of reproductive health information and services in Nepal - An operations research study (PDF)
Center for Research on Environment,Health,and Population Activities (CREHPA)
FRONTIERS Final Report
Publication date: 2004
Does cash crop adoption detract from childcare provision? Evidence from rural Nepal
Paolisso,Michael J.; Hallman,Kelly; Haddad,Lawrence; Regmi,Shibesh; Quisumbing,Agnes R.
from Household Decisions, Gender, and Development: A Synthesis of Recent Research, pp. 95-100
Publication date: 2003
Selected DHS data on 10-14-year-olds (HTML)
Annexes by country to Facts about Adolescents from the Demographic and Health Survey: Statistical Tables for Program Planning
Publication date: 2003
Selected DHS data on 10-14-year-olds: Nepal (PDF) (HTML)
Annex to "Facts about adolescents from the Demographic and Health Survey: Statistical tables for program planning"
Publication date: 2003
Does cash crop adoption detract from child care provision? Evidence from rural Nepal
Paolisso,Michael J.; Hallman,Kelly; Haddad,Lawrence; Regmi,Shibesh
Economic Development and Cultural Change 50(2): 313-337
Publication date: 2002
Facts about adolescents from the Demographic and Health Survey--Statistical tables for program planning: Nepal 1996 (PDF) (HTML)
Publication date: 2002
'If many push together, it can be done': Reproductive health and women's savings and credit in Nepal
Arens,Tom; Caudill,Denise; Gautam,Saraswati; Haberland,Nicole; Nakarmi,Gopal; Measham,Diana
from Responding to Cairo: Case Studies of Changing Practice in Reproductive Health and Family Planning, pp. 395-414
Publication date: 2002
New book documents transformations in reproductive health programs worldwide (PDF)
Population Briefs 8(2)
Publication date: 2002
A comparative analysis of anti-trafficking intervention approaches in Nepal (PDF)
Evans,Catrin; Bhattarai,Pankaja; Daly,Celine; Mahendra,Vaishali Sharma; Langton,Nick
Publication date: 2001
Community perceptions of trafficking and its determinants in Nepal
Mahendra,Vaishali Sharma; Bhattarai,Pankaja; Dahal,Dill Ram; Crowley,Siobhan; Daly,Celine; Langton,Nick
Publication date: 2001
Facts about adolescents from the Demographic and Health Survey: Statistical tables for program planning (HTML)
Series of DHS data tables by country
Publication date: 2001
Human rights and trafficking: Supporting women in Nepal (HTML)
Daly,Celine; Mahendra,Vaishali Sharma; Bhattarai,Pankaja
Global AIDSLink 69
Publication date: 2001
Prevention of trafficking and the care and support of trafficked persons in the context of an emerging HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nepal (PDF)
Daly,Celine
Horizons Final Report
Publication date: 2001
Trafficking and human rights in Nepal: Community perceptions and policy and program responses (PDF)
Daly,Celine; Mahendra,Vaishali Sharma; Bhattarai,Pankaja; Langton,Nick; Sanghera,Jyoti; Evans,Catrin; Kapur,Ratna; Dahal,Dill Ram; Crowley,Siobhan
Horizons Research Summary
Publication date: 2001
Trafficking in Nepal: An assessment of laws and policies for the prevention and control of trafficking in Nepal (PDF)
Sanghera,Jyoti; Kapur,Ratna; Daly,Celine; Mahendra,Vaishali Sharma; Bhattarai,Pankaja; Langton,Nick
Publication date: 2001
Men as supportive partners in reproductive and sexual health. Workshop report. Kathmandu, Nepal. June 23-26, 1998
Workshop report
Publication date: 1998
El cuidado infantil: Respuestas a las necesidades de madres que trabajan y sus hijos [Child care: Meeting the needs of working mothers and their children]
Arnold,Caroline; Mejia,Jorge; Haregot,Aster; Leonard,Ann; Landers,Cassie
SEEDS (no. 13)
Publication date: 1992
Child care: Meeting the needs of working mothers and their children (PDF)
Arnold,Caroline; Mejia,Jorge; Haregot,Aster; Leonard,Ann; Landers,Cassie
SEEDS (no. 13)
Publication date: 1991
El papel de las mujeres en la conservación de los bosques del Nepal
Molnar,Augusta; Leonard,Ann
SEEDS (no. 10)
Publication date: 1991
La conservation des forêts au Népal: Encourager la participation des femmes
Molnar,Augusta
SEEDS (no. 10)
Publication date: 1990
Forest conservation in Nepal: Encouraging women's participation (PDF)
Molnar,Augusta
SEEDS (no. 10)
Publication date: 1987
Nepal Fast Facts
| Population (millions) | 30.9 |
|---|---|
| Total fertility rate | 2.9 |
| Infant deaths per 1,000 live births | 46 |
| Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births | 380 |
| Girls aged 20-24 married by age 18 (%) | 51 |
| HIV/AIDS prevalence (%) | 0.4 |
| Living below US $2 per day (%) | 78 |
Country statistics from Demographic and Health Surveys, 1987–2011; UNAIDS and UNICEF websites (accessed 10/22/2012); "World Population Data Sheet" (Population Reference Bureau, 2012) | |
What's New
- 31 January 2013 | Bixby fellowship application deadline: The Council’s Fred H. Bixby Fellowship Program expands training opportunities for social scientists and biomedical researchers in the health and population fields. The program is geared toward developing-country nationals in the early stages of their careers. (more)
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