8th Quarterly Report Community Initiatives for Common Understanding

The project aims to contribute to an environment shaped by trust and strong social ties between communities, including conflicting groups and local authorities, which are resilient to social unrest and conflict. The project has three expected results: breaking down barriers to peaceful dialogue and increasing mutual understanding and appreciation of conflicting groups, identifying activities for development and reconciliation and collaborating on their implementation, and integrating lessons learnt into conflict-sensitive development and rehabilitation programming. The project focuses on 9,000 hard-to-reach and at-risk young people, including former combatants, and secondary audiences are government stakeholders and decision-makers at the district and national levels. The project is implemented in five districts of Nepal: Kailali, Surkhet, Banke, and Bardiya in the Mid- and Far West, and Sunsari in the East. It targets three VDCs in each district. During the reporting quarter, the Supreme Court directed the government to draft laws in favor of sexually harassed women and children on 4 March 2015. The court also issued a mandamus on 10 March in the name of the government to form the Madhesi Commission according to Article 154 of the Interim Constitution. International Women's Day was observed in different parts of the country with various programs on 8 March throughout the country. A rally was held in Kathmandu, which was attended by the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, NHRC, INSEC, and USAID. The UCPN-M and the CPN-M issued a press release on 10 March, stating that the decision was against the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The 30-party alliance led by UCPN-M declared a month-long protest, accusing the ruling parties of not taking any steps towards finalizing the constitution-drafting process. The government decided to provide an additional NPR 200,000 to the conflict victims' families. An earthquake hit Nepal on 25 April 2015, causing severe damage to life, property, and infrastructure in central and western regions. The project has made progress towards achieving Milestones 5, 10, 16, and 24. Activities under Milestone 27 were completed, and progress has been made towards achieving the milestone. The project has prepared and submitted 4 quarterly reports from Q5 to Q8. Work towards Milestone 5 has begun, and 'Kathaharu', the selected service provider, has begun taking footage in the working VDCs. However, the 25 April earthquake hit Nepal, and the team was unable to collect footage in Sunsari district as planned. CWIN and INSEC capacity needs assessment has identified areas for improvement at the technical and organizational levels. The assessment found capacity gaps in report writing, dialogue facilitation, GESI, research and data collection, and financial management to be addressed. Trainings were scheduled for the second week of May 2015, but had to be postponed due to the earthquake.