The Nepal Modernization of Rani Jamara Kulariya Irrigation Scheme (MoRJK) Phase 2 is a World Bank-funded large-scale infrastructure project that aims to improve irrigation services and promote improved farming practices for farmers in three municipalities in the Terai Plain region of Nepal. The Project calls for modernizing canal infrastructure, building construction access roads, and financing Water-Use Associations (WUA) to maintain the canals and provide them with support.
BIC and Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Nepal (TPO Nepal) started monitoring this project in 2020 because of worries that the project might employ child labor. These worries were based on the overwhelming presence of child labor in the agriculture sector of the region, the economic situation of the community, the lack of working age adults due to emigration, and the dependency of local WUAs on community labor for canal upkeep. These factors compel young people to leave school and join the labor force. Additionally, during project monitoring work, TPO Nepal learned about cases of sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassments (SEA/H).
The total project cost is $72 million, $66 million of which will be provided by the World Bank.
In early 2020, BIC and TPO Nepal started to explore the impacts of the MoRJK project on children living in project-affected communities and provided recommendations on the prevention of child labor and SEA/H to the World Bank, the Government of Nepal (GoN) Department of Irrigation (DoI) (implementing agency), and contractors of the MoRJK project.
Early project monitoring findings showed the majority of community members interviewed were satisfied with the outcome of project works on the initial phase of the project’s implementation, including improved irrigation, better accessibility to arable land, and enhanced transportation access due to construction of roads and bridges. However, in focus group discussions with community members and children in the project area, a few children reported that they were involved in child labor on the MoRKJ project site despite community members and implementing agencies reporting otherwise. The research also identified that there was limited understanding in the community around what constitutes child labor.
Regarding SEA/H, community members reported accounts of girls beeing teased by project workers using sexually explicit language and one case of child sexual assault by a driver on the project. These issues were brought to local authorities and project contractors, who took action.
Local leaders stated that they had not been engaged on monitoring activities that could have helped to mitigate the incidence of child labor and child SEA/H. Conversations with community members also showed that there was a gender wage gap between men and women working on the project. Community members also noted that there was a risk of children falling into the canals due to a lack of safety railings in populated areas.
Moreover, from conversations with project-affected communities, our monitoring work revealed other social and environmental concerns, including the need for implementing safety measures to prevent children from drowning in the main canal: providing safe access to drinking water, hiring local people from project-related work, addressing the gender pay gap, involving the Ward Chairman in monitoring of project works, and taking action to prevent floodings in Simreni area.
By the end of July 2020, and as a direct result of BIC and TPO Nepal’s advocacy, the World Bank, in conjunction with the Government of Nepal drafted an action plan to address all the concerns listed above. Since then, BIC and TPO Nepal are actively monitoring the implementation of the action plan and providing continuous feedback based on observations and reports from the field.
In 2021, TPO Nepal conducted three monitoring visits to project sites and interviewed 80 local people to assess the implementation status of the action plan. BIC and TPO Nepal found that the Bank and the implementing agency have been making progress.
In late April 2022, BIC and TPO Nepal met with Bank’s Task Team Leader and provided the following recommendations moving forward:
If the Bank and Borrower continue to implement the action plan and take action around the new recommendations, it can serve as a model for similar interventions on other projects both in Nepal and across the Bank’s portfolio.
For further information around previous BIC and TPO Nepal recommendations see the 2020 report and brief.
