Gender and socially inclusive WASH in Nepal: moving beyond “technical fixes”

The enactment of a new Constitution in 2015 in Nepal marked a shift to a representative system of federal governance. Earlier in 2002, the country’s Tenth Five Year Plan had committed to a core focus on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in national policies and governance. How do these two...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Khadka, Manohara, Joshi, Deepa, Uprety, Labisha, Shrestha, Gitta
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Frontiers Media 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132075
_version_ 1855527495297662976
author Khadka, Manohara
Joshi, Deepa
Uprety, Labisha
Shrestha, Gitta
author_browse Joshi, Deepa
Khadka, Manohara
Shrestha, Gitta
Uprety, Labisha
author_facet Khadka, Manohara
Joshi, Deepa
Uprety, Labisha
Shrestha, Gitta
author_sort Khadka, Manohara
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The enactment of a new Constitution in 2015 in Nepal marked a shift to a representative system of federal governance. Earlier in 2002, the country’s Tenth Five Year Plan had committed to a core focus on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in national policies and governance. How do these two strategic shifts in policy align in the case of WASH projects in rural Nepal? Applying a feminist political lens, we review the implementation of WASH initiatives in two rural districts to show that deep-rooted intersectional complexities of caste, class, and gender prevent inclusive WASH outcomes. Our findings show that the policy framing for gender equitable and socially inclusive outcomes have not impacted the WASH sector, where interventions continue as essentially technical interventions. While there has been significant increase in the number of women representatives in local governance structures since 2017, systemic, informal power relationship by caste, ethnicity and gender entrenched across institutional structures and cultures persist and continue to shape unequal gender-power dynamics. This is yet another example that shows that transformative change requires more than just affirmative policies.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace132075
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Frontiers Media
publisherStr Frontiers Media
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1320752025-12-08T10:29:22Z Gender and socially inclusive WASH in Nepal: moving beyond “technical fixes” Khadka, Manohara Joshi, Deepa Uprety, Labisha Shrestha, Gitta water, sanitation and hygiene gender equality social inclusion women caste systems ethnicity political aspects federalism institutions local government policies governance decision making rural areas The enactment of a new Constitution in 2015 in Nepal marked a shift to a representative system of federal governance. Earlier in 2002, the country’s Tenth Five Year Plan had committed to a core focus on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in national policies and governance. How do these two strategic shifts in policy align in the case of WASH projects in rural Nepal? Applying a feminist political lens, we review the implementation of WASH initiatives in two rural districts to show that deep-rooted intersectional complexities of caste, class, and gender prevent inclusive WASH outcomes. Our findings show that the policy framing for gender equitable and socially inclusive outcomes have not impacted the WASH sector, where interventions continue as essentially technical interventions. While there has been significant increase in the number of women representatives in local governance structures since 2017, systemic, informal power relationship by caste, ethnicity and gender entrenched across institutional structures and cultures persist and continue to shape unequal gender-power dynamics. This is yet another example that shows that transformative change requires more than just affirmative policies. 2023-09-25 2023-09-30T15:59:00Z 2023-09-30T15:59:00Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132075 en Open Access Frontiers Media Khadka, Manohara; Joshi, Deepa; Uprety, Labisha; Shrestha, Gitta. 2023. Gender and socially inclusive WASH in Nepal: moving beyond “technical fixes”. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 5:1181734. [doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2023.1181734]
spellingShingle water, sanitation and hygiene
gender equality
social inclusion
women
caste systems
ethnicity
political aspects
federalism
institutions
local government
policies
governance
decision making
rural areas
Khadka, Manohara
Joshi, Deepa
Uprety, Labisha
Shrestha, Gitta
Gender and socially inclusive WASH in Nepal: moving beyond “technical fixes”
title Gender and socially inclusive WASH in Nepal: moving beyond “technical fixes”
title_full Gender and socially inclusive WASH in Nepal: moving beyond “technical fixes”
title_fullStr Gender and socially inclusive WASH in Nepal: moving beyond “technical fixes”
title_full_unstemmed Gender and socially inclusive WASH in Nepal: moving beyond “technical fixes”
title_short Gender and socially inclusive WASH in Nepal: moving beyond “technical fixes”
title_sort gender and socially inclusive wash in nepal moving beyond technical fixes
topic water, sanitation and hygiene
gender equality
social inclusion
women
caste systems
ethnicity
political aspects
federalism
institutions
local government
policies
governance
decision making
rural areas
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132075
work_keys_str_mv AT khadkamanohara genderandsociallyinclusivewashinnepalmovingbeyondtechnicalfixes
AT joshideepa genderandsociallyinclusivewashinnepalmovingbeyondtechnicalfixes
AT upretylabisha genderandsociallyinclusivewashinnepalmovingbeyondtechnicalfixes
AT shresthagitta genderandsociallyinclusivewashinnepalmovingbeyondtechnicalfixes