World Vision and FCL

FCL have made the decision to sponsor a child for each fostering family in the Salarhi region of Nepal.

Every fostering family will be the sponsoring family for each child and they will receive regular updates, including being a part of a pen friend scheme!

The Area Programme will work with the most vulnerable people in the community:

• Farmers with limited knowledge on improved farming practices.
• Farmers without having knowledge on livestock rearing practices
• Migrant Returnees
• Unemployed youth
• Dalit Households (Dalits are considered to be “lower caste” and as such tend to be much poorer and subject to severe discrimination)
• People with disabilities
• Families without a sustained source of income – i.e. those who are surviving on a daily wage
• Households who are “food insecure”, and therefore lack access to sufficient food throughout the year
• Families who have no land, or who have limited land (less than 5 Kattha, which is equivalent to 0.42 acres).

About the Area Programme:

Sarlahi Area Programme is located in Parsa rural municipality, which is part of Sarlahi district. Sarlahi district is in Province 2 of Nepal, located towards the east and along the southern side of Nepal close to the border with India. Para rural municipality has a population of 21,650. 85% of total population in district follow Hinduism, 8% are Muslim, 5.71% are Buddhist and 0.22% follow Christianity. The literacy rate is 36.66 which is less than national average.

According to the Nepalese Government’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the annual per capita income of Sarlahi district is only $809. Child marriage is widespread, and strongly associated with poverty, the dowry system, and gender-based violence. As well as gender-based violence and discrimination, Sarlahi district also has problems with caste-based and disability-based discrimination. Child labour is also a major issue. Mushar, Chamar, Dom, and Muslims are the most oppressed groups in the area. Gender-based violence and child marriage are widespread, and the suicide rate amongst women in Nepal is seventh highest in the world. In the Terai/Madhesh regions (southern plains, which include Province 2 where Sarlahi is located), 9 out of 10 women from the Dalit community are illiterate.

Health

• 37.7% of children under five are malnourished
• Only 32.5% of births happen with the presence of a skilled birth attendant
• Leading causes of child mortality are tuberculosis, meningitis and malnutrition
• The average distance from a family’s home to a health post is a 45-minute walk
• The lack of public transport and poor state of the roads means it is hard for some people with disabilities and for pregnant women to reach health facilities
• Health posts don’t have enough medicines or equipment, so the quality of services is low
• Rich households receive preferential treatment by local health services. The poorest and most vulnerable receive the least help and are discriminated against.
• Due to the culture of child marriage, many girls become pregnant during their teenager years
• 97% of households have toilets
• Families use a variety of different water sources, including some uncovered wells.
• Water that is being consumed has been found to have high levels of arsenic in it.
• Sanitation practices are poor.
• Many children suffer from diarrhoea, dysentery, jaundice, skin allergies and pneumonia. These issues are believed by community members to be having a significant negative impact on the well-being and growth of children.

Education

• Less than half of people in Sarlahi (47%) have completed primary education
• Fewer than 1 in 10 have completed secondary education (9.9%)
• At the last government census (2011) it was found that almost 1 in 3 children (32%) were not even enrolled in school
• School attendance records are reported to be very low
• In government schools, it is estimated that there is only one trained teacher for every 460 students.
• Many students attend school only until lunch time, and leave after consuming the free school lunch
• Some schools do not even have appropriate desks and benches for children to use in the classroom
• Appropriate toilets are often unavailable, and separate toilets for boys and girls are generally not provided in schools

Livelihoods

• 75% of households have an income of less than $100 per month
• Landlessness is a major cause of poverty
• Farmers lack access to markets to sell their products
• Local government does not provide training to help people improve their income generation opportunities
• 79% of families have absolutely no opportunity to save any money