Surkhet, 10 May 2023: A two-day Provincial Youth Policy Dialogue and Youth Fest – 2080 was organized in Surkhet of Karnali Province on 7th and 8th May 2023 by Yuwalaya, a youth led, non-profit, non-government organization working for and with adolescents of Nepal. The event was jointly supported by Oxfam in Nepal, European Union in Nepal, Helvatas Nepal, Plan International Nepal, and Save the Children.

The event was organized to inform the stakeholders regarding the issues of youth in Karnali Province, to sensitize the participants in ending child marriage, safer migration, sexual and reproductive health rights, mainstreaming the most-marginalized group and Dalit youth movement, children’s club movement, and misinformation and disinformation and to draft and finalize a charter by the youths from Karnali Province in a participatory way and submit it to the Ministry of Social Development and Karnali Province Planning Commission.

The first day of the event was inaugurated by watering a plant by the Hon. Minister Bed Raj Singh, Minister for Economic Affairs, and Mr. Yogendra Bahadur Shahi, Vice-Chairman, Karnali Province Planning Commission. The program included sessions on misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech followed by presentation and panel discussion on child marriage. This was followed by a session on conducted a session on mainstreaming and experience sharing about the issues of marginalized groups in Karnali province.

The second day was marked by a panel discussion and presentation on Safer Migration in Karnali Province followed by a session on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). The major concerns raised during the session was the tradition of Chaupadi (a social tradition practices in far western region of Nepal, where women are forced to stay in small sheds away from home during their menstrual period), violence against women pertaining to their reproductive roles, violation of women’s rights during menstruation, the invisibility of SRHR rights of the LGBTIQ+ community, and inaccessible infrastructure in the service center for people with disability.

The event ended with the drafting of 20 points charter reflecting the issues of all ten districts of Karnali Province, LGBTIQ+, and People with a disability which was handed over to the Minister of Social Development.

The event was attended by youths from all 10 districts of Karnali Province: Dailekh, Dolpa, Humla, Jajarkot, Jumla, Kalikot, Mugu, Salyan, Surkhet, and West Rukum District.

Prior to this, an interaction programme was organized between the youth and H.E. Nona Deprez, EU Ambassador to Nepal on 3rd May 2023 at Birendranagar, Surkhet. The interaction was focused on the youth participation in the youth-led development process in Karnali province.