Background : In Nepal, the 2022 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) indicates that 21% of girls aged 15–19 are currently married or in union, compared to just 5% of males in the same age group. By age 20–24, over two-thirds of women (68%) are married or cohabiting, compared to about one-third (35%) of men. While the proportion of women aged 15–19 who are currently married has decreased over the years—from 43% in 1996 to 27% in 2016, and 21% in 2022—child marriage remains a significant issue. The Nepal Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2019) reported that 5.2% of individuals aged 20–24 were married before age 15, with 1.5% of males and 7.9% of females, and 22.7% married before age 18 (9% of males and 32.8% of females).
Despite a trend toward decreasing early marriage, Nepal continues to have one of the highest rates of child marriage in Asia. Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics indicates that[1] 26.3% of children aged 10 to 18 are married, underscoring the persistent challenges that adolescents face in the region. The “Breaking Barriers for Girl’s SRHR (BBaGS)” initiative in Dolpa District seeks to address these critical issues by empowering young women through education, improving access to healthcare, and engaging communities to foster a supportive environment for girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights
Objectives:
- To establish a baseline value of different indicators agreed in the project’s documents.
- To design and implement a quantitative survey to achieve the objectives through primary and secondary data collection with relevant stakeholders
- To solicit recommendations from the relevant stakeholders to guide the program
Project area: Dolpa
Partner: PLAN International Nepal   Duration: Nov 2024- May 2025
Team
Dr. Janak Thapa, Ms. Pragya Pokharel, Ms. Pabitra Magar and Mr. Sushant Luitel