SFS_External Review

did not represent that group at a particular time. Major complaints that the locals still
have regarding the bridge was about the lack of insurance and lack of compensation for
the loss of land. Although locals had raised these issues occasionally during the bridge
construction period, their queries were not resolved as they could not identify where
the responsibility lies when it came to compensation and insurance claim for health
related issues while working for bridge construction. In one case, a male labourer from
Chettri caste who had to seek health service was given a reduced wage as the
contractor had to pay for the health expense of the labourer. Such cases were not
resolved during the project duration; hence the locals still remembered issues that they
had not been able to settle.

Various groups and committees that are active in Sabha Khola in Sankhuwasabha but
were not directly involved in influencing the decisions of bridge construction, included
of:

Women’s multipurpose co-operative organization
 The cooperative works to encourage savings, provides loans and seeks to empower
women economically. This group also decides interest rate for the loan. This group
meets every 1st Saturday of each month, and organizes an Annual General meeting. It
encourages participation of women entrepreneurs.

Community Forest User’s Group
 The group is responsible for conserving and preserving forest. The group also decides on
how to sell cardamom and rudrashya after harvest from the forest. Each member has to
follow and ensure that others follow the rule. This group meets every month. They
change the Chairperson every year. At present, the chairperson was a woman.

Mothers group
 Main objective of the group is to work for women’s welfare, empower women, ensure
that there is no gender based violence, ensure women’s rights and conduct various
programs to reduce gender based inequality. The members meet every month and
during various occasions such as Teej, and other festivals.

Syabun drinking water user group
 Ensure everybody has access to clean drinking water, maintenance of pipeline and to
maintain the quality of clean drinking water. The meeting is held when needed. The
members include of 10 households per one pipeline.

As in other sites, most groups and committees functioned as per their classified work.
Their major focus was on working towards the goal for which the group/committee had
been formed in the first place. More so in the case of Sankhuwasabha as the
settlement selected for the study were part of the zone of influence but was 1-2 hours
away by vehicle from the bridge location. Hence, such groups or even individuals within
these locations did not raise voice on any aspects regarding bridge construction. The
respondents could not even provide sufficient information regarding the way bridge
construction had started, how it was selected and who was involved. Unlike in other
study sites, even the group work on venn diagram did not lead to much qualitative
information, and was mostly guided by the FRs.

40

Rather than the decision-making on bridge construction and the involvement of DAGs
in such decisions, the participants in Sankhuwasbha provided two issues related to
DAGs involvement and inclusion. One regarding changes in gender norms, and another
regarding how the powerful group influenced the provision of water use for their
benefit. In Lingling, the women’s group and mother’s group conducted a football match
to break the gender norms on what women could do. None of the women participants,
aged 20-55, had ever played football. Many had hardly touched the ball. However, with
the aim of changing the gender-based norm, the group had organized the event on
women’s day in 2019. At first, many women were reluctant to participate, but since the
initiative was brought within and by the women group themselves, the excitement in
doing something new made the women to participate in such event. This event was
recalled by women as joyful, and many suggested that such activity discouraged
women’s traditional self-perception about what women should do, what they can do,
and how others could perceive them. This example shows that women in Lingling, were
sensitive about deconstructing the notion of established gender norms.

Another example was regarding the drinking water pipe that benefitted the Brahmin’s
living in Archaley area as they could influence the district development committee ten
years back. However, with changing time, such developmental interventions were
equally shared among various groups of people, as people could raise their voice from
the initial stage of intervention. Many Magar people in Archaley compared how
benefits were shared by Brahmins and Magars even a decade back. As compared to
before, the recent changes in equality, open communication, and accountability, has
created a space for those who do not have network with people holding powerful
positions as they are also made aware of various activities in the community. They
suggested that if the practices of sharing knowledge prior to interventions are
genuinely made then the local people would get the opportunity to at least think and
reflect back on how they could benefit or take advantage of the situation, or even
negotiate and hold the decisions if it seems harmful or disadvantageous to them.

2.5 Dynamics of Gender and Social Inclusion at Household and
Community level

Most commonly found Households8 in the study site included of male only households
where women and children might have migrated, women only household where the

8 Households include of men, women, and children from all age group who live together under one or more roof but
share day-to-day household responsibilities of cooking, cleaning, eating together, making household decisions and so
forth. In this sense, a household may also include of relatives, servants, helpers, friends or any other person who live
in the house. In order to operationalize the concept of household, we can use the duration of stay of such individual
who are not tied by family relations but live with the household for at least three months. On the other hand, a family
member might have decision-making role but might not be living in the household premise due to work, education or
any other seasons for migration for longer period of time. Hence, the concept of family and household differs,

41

male family member had migrated, nuclear family with both male and female present
in the household, joint family with three generation living together. Household head
was mostly considered as the oldest person of the house, either the father or the
mother [especially if she is a widow]. Besides seniority, the person who provided
economic support to towards family welfare was also considered as a household head,
despite presence of senior member in the household. Similar trend was found in all
study sites.

Each household had its own dynamics in terms of day-to-day work sharing pattern. A
household where only male or female member of the family was present, by default
had to do all the household chores, whereby the chores would still be divided among
members residing in the household. In case of households where both men and
women resided, the day-to-day work pattern differed, depending upon who and how
many people lived in a single household. According to the FRs observation and lived
experiences in three-host households in Dadeldhura, the work division between male
and female regarding cooking was not so distinct as compared to other locations. In
one household, the father and son were seen cooking on a daily basis. And in other
households, the husbands helped their wife or mother in the kitchen. Although such
practices were found, cooking was still the role of women in most of the households in
all four-study sites. Usually, kitchen work was shared between mother-in-law and
daughter-in-law. Other household work such as carrying water jars, collected fodder,
feeding livestock, cleaning the house, washing the clothes were mostly done by women
of all ages. Few men [mostly married men] were however found doing every work by
themselves. Especially in host households in Chitwan, since men were always on the
move, it was the women who did all the work by themselves. However, when husband
was at home, he would help his wife in her chores. According to women from Linling,
Sankhuwasabha, ‘except for the work related with Nanglo, all the other works have
started to become gender neutral. Otherwise earlier the work of collecting water by
walking 2-3 hours was women’s work, …dhikki [a traditional Nepalese cereal beater
made of wood and stone] and jatoo [traditional stone grinder] was also women’s work.
Now the grinding electric mills and taps has changed the lives of women’. Nanglo is a
bamboo tray used for sifting grains, and is used in kitchen work. This saying also shows
that despite many changes in women’s life, the work related with kitchen, using the
traditional Naglo is still prevalent and is women dominant.

One major problem pointed by women was regarding the behavior of men that was
mostly induced after alcohol consumption. Men’s drinking habit, as suggested by
women, resulted in domestic violence, and also disharmony in the community. In
Syabun, Sankhuwasabha men were found to be drinking from the morning. Even male
teachers were found attending the school after drinking alcohol. Local men and women

whereby the given circumstances in which one lives might have several implications, especially in household
decision-making, day-to-day workload, and resource sharing.

42

had raised this problem, and many complaints had also been filed by locals [men and
women] against the teacher. However, since the teacher was a government employee
and had connection with other authorities, the locals had not been able to change the
behavioral practice of alcohol consumption. Many women feared that instead of
setting a good example, the teacher himself had given a space to cover up other men’s
behavior in the society. Similar problem of alcohol consumption was prevalent in
Dadeldhura and Accham as well. However, alcohol consumption was not a severe
problem that affected day-to-day life in Chitwan study site.

The practice of Chauppadi in Accham district was another issue faced by girls and
women. This practice was however not found in Dadeldhura and other study sites.
Chauppadi is a practice where females who have their monthly menstruation cycle are
kept in a separate shed, for four days in order to maintain purity and cleanliness in the
household realm. Women having menstruation are considered as un-pure and hence
are kept separately. During the field study, FRs observed the daughter of the house to
be living away from the main home. Although this practice has been abandoned
politically and has been banned by the national government, people in Raley and Chitre
were still found to be practicing this tradition. Despite being aware of the legality
related with Chauppadi, and expressing their open-mindedness regarding the
traditional practice of Chauppadi, people in the community still feared that bad
repercussions might happen if the traditional practices are not followed. They suggest
that there have been changes in terms of how women/girls are kept. Previously, safety
of women living in Chauppadi was not thought of, but as of now people have reflected
back on their safety, and the household members also provide food, which was not the
case, few years back. However, during such times, girls tend to miss their school and
still isolate themselves as much as possible. Girls/women come near the household
only to eat.

Figure 22: Interaction with Tharu women Practice of untouchability and

in Chitwan discrimination against dalits and other

caste was not evident in Sankhuwasabha

and Chitwan. In Sankhuwasabha, dalits

were found to be participating in public

events and socialized with other people

even at their doorsteps and inside their

home. In contrast, in Accham and

Dadeldhura people did not openly

express discomfort over interacting and

socializing with dalits, but in practice

Source: GESI field study, 2019 even in shops when a dalit [male/female]

came over to buy any goods, then the shopkeeper [Brahmin] would ask the customer

to stand outside rather than come near the door of the shop. This practice was

43

observed in Puntura, Dadeldhura. Such practices have resulted in Dalits keeping
themselves away from other communities as much as possible. Dalit male and female
from Rale, Accham also shared that they would participate in public events, but
whenever possible they would still not get engaged in the community completely, so
that they could avoid being mistreated. Many people admitted that the situation was
worse and that the society was changing to include every community at all programs in
order to discourage discrimination based on caste.

III. MLRBP specific interventions

This section tries to briefly present the key findings of the study by focusing on specific
topics relevant to the project intervention. It also includes of the

Work Force Diversity (WFD): According to the data provided by SDC (2019), there are
only 13 percent women holding managerial position, whereas men hold 87 percent of
managerial positions. Out of which most men are from Newars, followed by Hill
Brahmin and other Madeshi/terai ethnic group. Even in other positions, such as
officers, assistants, service staff, the number of male staff is more than female. Only at
officer level the ratio of male staff and female staff is less stark with 53 percent male
and 47 percent female holding office level position. Even in the four selected study
sites, the number of male staff was much higher than that of female staff.
Improvement in staff selection and staff recruitment at different level is needed in
order to maintain the WFD in the project, and to ensure practical result of the SDC
policy on WFD. According to the staff interview, the policy on women engineers’
traineeship was an approach to promote gender inclusion in the team. Despite effort
made by the project to enhance WFD, the evidences collected during the study shows
that the strategic approaches used to integrate GESI within programme
implementation have not been able to fully materialize. ‘Why’ the achievement on
WFD is not up to the desired level is yet to be explored further. Given the limited time
of the study, detailed analysis of project implementation as well as that of the field
level outcome and impact is difficult to present.

Equal pay for equal work: Both men and women labourers who worked in Budhi Rapti
bridge earned Rs 500 per day. The work mainly included of 8 hours of work,
irrespective of what time the labourers came for work. This gave women a leeway as
they could join the workforce after completing their household task. The Users
Committee in Chitwan managed local labourers, while the contractor or project made
the payment. Those who had worked were made to sign, and were paid once the
complete work was done, based on their contribution calculated by number of days
worked. The UC and the labourers who worked could not recall the exact number of
days that they had worked. Local labourers work was limited to working in the river

44

bank protection which included of gabion box filling, stone collection, sand, silting,
mixing concrete, carrying stones and sand, breaking stones.

In Dadeldhura, those who worked in the bridge earned Rs 300. Both men and women
were given the same amount by the contractor. The works conducted by local
labourers were all unskilled manual labour work similar to the work conducted by
locals in Chitwan site. According to the locals the skilled workers were paid Rs. 600-700
while working in the bridge. At present, the rate for skilled worker had increased to Rs
800 per day. But no one from the village was given the opportunity to work as skilled
labourers.

In case of Sakhuwasabha and Accham, locals often suggested that women were paid
less even though they performed the same amount of work in a day. For construction
related labour work, the daily wage for man was Rs 700-800 and for women it was Rs
400-500 in Sankhuwasabha. However, the locals could not recall how the payment was
made to labourers by the bridge project. In Sankhuwasabha, the differences in wage
rate were attributed to late entry of women in labour market, mostly after finishing
their household chores. Such practice of unequal wage rate is also suggested to be a
result of women working late than men, as women mostly start work at 10-11am, while
men start work from 7-8am due to women’s engagement at household level. In labour
work opportunity provided by Prime Minister Employment Program (PMEP) in 2019,
irrespective of gender, both men and women earned Rs 500 per day. Although the
wage rate is equal among men and women, the given rate is less than the normal rate
for men, i.e. 700-800. In order to equalize the wage rate, rather than increasing the
wage of women, the PMEP substantially reduced even the standard wage rate of men.

In Accham, the locals suggested that there is always wage difference between men and
women. If the woman earns Rs 300 then the man would earn Rs 400. If the woman
earns Rs 400 then the man would earn Rs 500. The practice of maintaining unequal
wage rate is vivid as stated by the locals but the reason for keeping the difference in
wage rate is not clear. They suggested that the cultural practice of unequal wage,
which had been in practice from the ‘beginning’, is still prevalent. Moreover, since the
wage earning opportunity in itself is quite low in Accham, the recollection of actual
recent practice versus recollection of past memory, and that with self-paid hired wage
labourers versus wage rate prevalent in the village is worth exploring. Since, the FRs
stayed in the field only for four days, the current analysis can only draw on inferences
rather than substantially claiming on the reality as per the collected data. Hence,
further inquiry should be conducted by asking households ‘Have you recently hired a
wage labourer?’ ‘What for’ and ‘how much did you pay for [man/woman]?’ Only then
can actual practice rather than perception of the local people based on recent past
experiences could be captured.

45

Wage rate is standardized in each location based on the type of work with major work
being divided as agricultural labour work, construction related labour work, and skilled
labour including of mistri in construction to plumber, electrician, carpenter. Comparing
different sites from province 1, province 3 and two from province 7, the application of
national policy on equal pay or equal work shows variation in all sites. Least realization
of equal pay for equal work could be found in Accham from province 7, with practice of
determining wage rate based on gender. Mixed achievement in terms of pay equality is
evident in case of Sankhuwasabha. However, in the name of pay equality, the practice
of paying men less for same work is controversial to the essence of closing the pay gap
between man and woman. Work that could be conducted by women such as digging
the drainage, was made less lucrative by PMEP to ensure equality in payment. Such
practice indirectly sustains women’s lower positionality and their value even in labour
work, by maintaining women’s wage rate, which is lower than that of men. Rather
than providing an impetus by increasing women’s wage rate equal to that of men,
incorporating such practices would rather demoralize men in one hand, and on the
other, women’s positionality is not transformed by any means despite equal pay for
equal work.

In contrast to Accham and Sankhuwasabha, Chitwan and Dadeldhura site had been
able to provide equal pay for equal work to unskilled labourers in bridge construction.
In Chitwan, both men and women were paid Rs. 500, which was Rs.100 more than the
average daily rate (OMS- Chitwan report, 2014), but was considered as the standard
rate for labour work at that time. While in Dadeldhura, irrespective of gender the daily
wage rate provided for unskilled work was Rs 300. Unlike in Chitwan, the daily wage
paid to the locals working in bridge construction was however lower than the standard
average rate of Rs 400 at the time of bridge construction (OMS-Dadeldhura report,
2014). The differences in wage rate between these areas could be because of the
bargaining power of the Bridge User’s Committee that was active in Chitwan.
Coordinated and collective voice raised by the local Tharu people in Budhi Rapti bridge
construction site had resulted in demanding better wage rate.

Targeted trainings and Skills transfer: None of the study site could gather any
information on trainings provided to the locals by the project. Although men and
women had worked in gabion-box fillings, and riverside protection, none of the study
participants expressed anything regarding skill enhancement trainings being received
by the locals from MLRBP project. Hence, there is no further analysis on how people in
the study site have been able to utilize the transfer of skills in increasing their
employability. Although the project documents state that gabion weaving trainings will
be provided to the locals, the locals stated that machine made gabion were brought by
the contractors in all three sites, except Accham which is a control site and the
construction is still on-going.

46

Public hearing and public audit: Men and women from all caste and ethnicity could
easily recall public hearing and public audit organized in Dadeldhura. However, in other
sites, the participants could not provide sufficient knowledge regarding what and how
these events were organized. Despite public hearing and public audit, even in case of
Dadeldhura, the locals still had problems regarding land disputes and compensation for
land, as well as health insurance related grievances. Similar trend was found in all other
sites where Tharu, Brahmin, Chettri, and Dalits, felt that compensation for land was not
provided. Irrespective of whether any of the caste/ethnicity group was predominant in
the selected area, people from every economic background and gender expressed their
dissatisfaction of mainly two issues— i) land compensation, ii) health insurance. Even in
Chitwan site where User’s Committee was active, the members of the committee
expressed similar frustration. The UC members also complained about incomplete
structure of the bridge as the approach road connecting the bridge was unfinished.
Despite raising the concern over the unfinished approach road by the UC members, the
UC could not hold anybody accountable, as they could not comprehend exactly when
the project ended. They had been anticipating that the remaining structure would be
completed. However even after several years after the end of project, the structure is
incomplete.

Decision-making and leadership: Out of all four sites, only one site in Chitwan has a
well-established Bridge User’s committee. Given the timeline of how the locals had
approached for construction of bridge in Budhi Rapti, the establishment of a formal
bridge users committee with women leadership does not reflect real empowerment of
women as women’s participation had been encouraged only to resolve the conflict that
arose within the existing informal group. Moreover, the situation of compensation for
land, completion of bridge by finishing the ramp towards the approach road in Budhi
Rapti bridge is still unaddressed, whereby the users committee themselves question
the Swiss project for not being able to listen to the users committee. This shows that
the bargaining and negotiation even by the organized group as in the case of Chitwan
has been ineffective. The only negotiation made by the UC has been in terms of
demanding the wage rate that was higher than the average wage in the larger ZOI in
Chitwan. The locals however claim that the standard rate in Pharseni was Rs 500 at that
time. Hence, it can still be argued that the average rate of Rs 400 for unskilled labour
was calculated by incorporating wage rate of other areas under the ZOI. Thus, the
negotiation by UC to reach an agreement for wage rate of Rs 500 was not really a
transformative achievement. The situation of negotiation and bargaining in case of
other sites where there is non-existence of an organized bridge User’s committee is
more evident.

Despite existence of many non-bridge related organized group and committees, people
in the local area have not been able to raise their demands and queries, as a result of
unclear chain of authority who might be considered as responsible for anything related

47

to the bridge. However, the case of local politician, ward and media being interested in
construction of Bridge in Accham, shows that the existing stakeholders are pro-actively
being engaged in making the contractor more responsible for finishing the bridge
without much delay. Similar behavior could be noticed in case of Puntura Gad in
Dadeldhura where the local authority showed pro-activeness in ensuring that the
contractor finished the work in stipulated timeframe. Hence, despite non-existence of
the user’s committee, if the local authorities and local politicians, media and other
members of various committees show concern, then they could make the contractors
more efficient in their work. However, the given evidence does now show the integrity
of the contractors themselves, so such interpretation and meaning making of the
scenario should be further contextualized after consulting with the contractors as well
as other stakeholders.

Safety and security: Comparing the working conditions in other sites, Dadeldhura site
seemed to have better facilities, with temporary toilets built nearby the camps. The
contractor had built proper shelter for men and women. However, childcare center for
labourers was not heard of in any of the sites. In Dadeldhuran, a local was also hired to
cook for the outside labourers so that the labourers could focus only on their own
work. The contractor also ensured that the labourers use every safety gears provided
to them such as goggles, gloves, helmets, and safety jackets. In other sites, the
respondents could not give any information on how safety gears were used, and who
provided those gears.

Bridge related safety: In all sites, gabion boxes has been installed to manage the river
slopes, but none of the site had planted any bamboos or other trees to strengthen the
terraced stone filled gabion boxes. Hence, locals in Puntura, Dadeldhura feared that
the falling gabion stones might affect the strength of the bridge itself. They also feared
that such a situation might result in accidents when locals go to the river for swimming
and fishing. In Chitwan, the ramp in the approach road had not been completed, hence
the locals complained about the safety in their travel while going through a bumpy
road. However, men and women from the user’s committee in Chitwan, and locals
from Dadeldhura had no idea as to how and to whom they should ask for further
support. While the locals indicated that the time-to-time involvement of municipality
staff through observation of the bridge site, and occasional interaction between the
contractors and local people had resulted in timely completion of the bridge in
Dadeldhura, the local people have not been able to make the municipality or the ward
to take the responsibility for maintenance of the damaged gabion-wall. Since the work
was supported as part of a project, liability for maintenance of the bridge has not been
established. Hence, rather than pressuring the local government, either municipality or
ward which is the authentic body responsible for local development under
decentralized governance, there is a tendency of seeking aid and support from the
project/donors even for a small work such as maintenance of gabion-wall, even after

48

completion of the project. Consequently, there is also a need to understand further the
reasons behind why the local government has not been able to respond to the local
grievances, despite communication [but limited pressure] of the given problem.

Figure 23: Major settlements connected by Sabha Khola bridge, Sankhuwasabha

Source: GESI field study, 2019; [according to the social and resource map, 2019]

Facilitate all-weather motorable roads: Increased connectivity through roads and
bridge is one of the major achievements of the project. Such connectivity has increased
the flow of human’s and goods. Use of personal and public vehicle has also increased,
thus enhancing the ability of men and women from all caste and economic background
to access various resources and services with ease. Figure 23 shows the major
settlement areas that have been connected by the construction of bridge, such as —
people from Archaley, Lingling, Wana, Syabun, Badereni have more easy access to
Khadbari. Instead of using Trail Bridge, people can now travel by public transportation
available on a daily basis. However, in all sites, it is the men and economically better-
off families that are able to use personal vehicle, especially motorbikes and scooters.
People in these settlements however also travel to Chainpur, which is another big
market area that does not require crossing the Sabha Khola bridge. In order to reach
Chainpur, they still have to pass through a river that is not connected by motorable
bridge yet. Nevertheless, many goods and people travel through that route. Similarly in
Chitwan, while most people nearby the bridge use the Budhi rapti bridge to travel,
many people within the ZOI use alternative routes rather than using the constructed
bridge for travel and for access to various resources and services. The use of Puntura
Bridge in Dadeldhura has more impact in terms of connecting the people within the ZOI
as there isn’t many alternative ways of travel. In all these areas, the major problem is

49

however regarding the condition of the road. Except for Bachhyauli to Belsi road,
where certain portion of the road has black top, and combination of gravel and pitched
road, all other areas have muddy road, which is also slippery. During monsoon, despite
of connectivity, travel in the off-road in all study sites is associated with increased
vulnerability and risk of accidents. Still, the construction of road and bridge has
resulted in easy access various services especially in Dadeldhura, and has thereby
reduced vulnerability of people seeking health services such as pregnant women,
elderly, and children.

IV. Conclusion

The study has broadly integrated diverse issues and larger context in which the
intervention made by MLRBP could be properly placed. Situating the developmental
changes in four study sites, the study portrays various interventions that directly or
indirectly affect the lives of people. Many such changes has been in terms of access to
drinking water, existence of agricultural mills, establishment of schools, colleges, health
posts, credit facilities, among others. The construction of motorable road connected
through the bridge is one of such interventions that has eased mobility, transportation
of goods and access to various services. In addition, it has also reduced the vulnerability
of people to access services during health emergencies, especially for elderly, pregnant
women and children, especially in Dadeldhura. In Chitwan and Sankhuwasabha, the
construction of bridge had mainly eased in travel to the previous municipality, which
can now be accessed without using the bridge in case of Sankhuwasabha. Despite such
achievements, the problem of safer roads still exists as the accessible roads are not in
good condition especially during monsoon.

Except for the connectivity through motorable road, other project relevant aspects
such as opportunity to work in construction, income-earning prospect created by such
work and opportunity to demonstrate leadership role through MLRBP project however
had an insignificant influence in local peoples lives. Primarily, very few economic
beneficiaries could be found during the field study, with their work mainly limited to
being engaged in river banking and gabion-wall construction. Hence, it can be argued
that there were restricted working opportunities for local men and women, whereby
most of the work was conducted by outside skilled as well as unskilled labourers. Wage
based unskilled labourers especially belong to economically poor families. Irrespective
of gender or caste/ethnicity, people living in all four sites had demonstrated their
willingness to work in construction. At present, mostly work of riverbank protection
were given to locals, but locals also expect other work during the real construction of
bridgework. But in practice, not many people got the opportunity to work. Those who
did work, got paid equally in Chitwan and Dadeldhura, but the locals claimed that men
and women were paid different in Sankhuwasabha as well as in Accham.

In addition, the analysis on work force diversity shows overrepresentation of men over
women at project staff level as well as at construction sites. Especially, when it came to
skilled work, none of the skilled labourers, known as ‘mistri’ were women. Similarly, all
drivers, excavator drivers and any large vehicle drivers, conductors, transportation

50

investors, were men. Owners of jeep included of Dalit, Janajati, Brahmin and Chettri
men. Irrespective of caste/ethnicity, the practice of men being trained by men to hold
certain occupation in construction related work was a normal practice. Why such
situation exists as articulated by the locals themselves cannot be asserted in this study
due to limitation of data.9 Consequently, women’s work is limited to unskilled manual
labour tasks such as gabion-box filling, concrete mixing, material carrying, stone
collection, stone breaking, mixing concrete, carrying sand, and portering.

In terms of decision-making, coordinated effort by the locals was not found in regard to
influencing the decisions on training, selection of sites, compensation, health insurance
claim, and in completion of bridge. Chitwan is the only place where UC existed, but it is
also the only site where the locals themselves advocated for the bridge construction
for several years. It included of women chairperson, and majority of Tharu in the
committee. In other areas, the participation of locals was minimal but the participation
of local government, local politicians, and media were considered important in making
the contractor more accountable. However, at community level many other groups
existed that could have been mobilized to disseminate information regarding bridge
related interventions, but the study shows that the existing groups, committees and
networks of women, men, dalits, Janajatis, farmers and alike were not used properly to
ensure local participation from disadvantaged group at various project interventions.

V. Recommendations

Based on the evidences gathered during the study, few recommendations for future
projects are suggested in three major areas:

1. Unskilled work: In order to provide opportunities to work as unskilled
labourers, the project should create a roaster of interested labourers from
the economic beneficiary zone during the initial stage of the project. It
should include of collecting the names of individuals willing to work, with
contact details of each individual even within the household, and
household distance from the bridge site. At the same time the project
should identify the type of work, specification of work, timing of work, and
the type and number of days of work, and how many people can be given
work for how many days in each bridge every year. Yearly work plan should
be used to identify the number of local labourers vis a vis outside
labourers, so that the contractors could also plan how many labourers
should be hired by them and how many could be mobilized from the local
community. Hence, technical expert should guide the project team in the
identification of work for local labourers, which can be jointly discussed
with the contractors and finalized by including the local people.

9 But the reasons as articulated by the researcher based on her past experiences could mostly include of i) women
never being engaged in such work which results in women not opting for those type of work, ii) construction related
skilled work needs training and investment, iii) as well as travel for work which may be the result why women are
not engaged in these works. Iv) Similarly, women’s safety related with morning and evening travel, and v) strength in
handling the steering wheel in rough roads constrain women’s participation.

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2. Skilled work: While women were found to be working in bridge
construction, especially as unskilled labourers, none of the skilled labourers
included of women. Hence, there is a need to demonstrate transformative
changes in women’s work that are related to construction. Setting an
example of women in men dominant sector by illustrating women drivers,
women excavator operators, women mistri, women transportation owner,
should be demonstrated. These can be achieved by providing skill transfer,
and creating a ‘space’ for practice of that skill. For such a change, social
safeguard officers should be able to identify local women who are
interested in these works, incentives to encourage participation of women
should be incorporated, and work relevant to construction should be
created or existing work identified in order to demonstrate transfer of
skills. If local women are not found, then effort should be made to identify
and demonstrate work of women [role models] from outside in areas that
are male dominant. Similarly, existing gender norms related with wage rate
should be challenged by demonstrating that women could earn the market
wage rate established for men rather than decreasing the wage rate of
men to make gender equal wage for equal work.

3. Decision-making and leadership: Effort should be made to include
participation, interest and responsibility of members from existing groups
and also from those who are not involved in any group [by identifying such
people as they might be the most excluded and vulnerable groups]. By
mobilizing existing collective groups, the local people could take action and
demand timely construction, and inclusion of local labourers as planned.
Similarly, for time-to-time monitoring, the local government, mothers
group, dalit groups, farmers group could be used. The members of these
groups could be encouraged to use mobile phones to record progress,
share field information with project staff, and local government. These
groups should also be given an orientation about who is accountable and
responsible during the project implementation phase and who will be
responsible for maintenance of the bridge after completion of the project.
Likewise, these groups should know beforehand what can be expected in
terms of compensation, health insurance, work opportunities and many
other project specific interventions and interventions that are beyond the
scope of the project.

These suggested approaches for implementation encapsulates the tactics which
might work in the field, however each approach should be further developed and
well tested in the site to fully understand and integrate the relevance in
achieving the desired result.

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