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Stakeholder Engagement Workshop on
‘Young Lives in Alternative Care’
Tuesday 29th July 2025, Kathmandu
On Tuesday 29th July 2025, we successfully hosted a stakeholder engagement workshop on Young Lives in Alternative Care in Kathmandu. The event was jointly organised by London Metropolitan University and Future Generation Nepal (FGN) funded by the BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant. This was a dissemination event for stakeholders involved in the area of child protection and children’s rights, particularly working on the issues of deinstitutionalising care in Nepal.
The project Young Lives in Alternative Care: Role of deinstitutionalising care in response to orphanage trafficking in Nepal led by Dr Shovita Dhakal Adhikari aims to explore the journey of care leavers in alternative care and their experiences of family and community reintegration. Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari and Kabita Luitel presented preliminary findings of the research.
The workshop concluded with a key note from Deepak Dhakal, Under Secretary of Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen (MoWCSC). He highlighted the provisions of Children’s Act 2018 which addresses the changing context and challenges to protect the rights of children in line with the international and regional conventions ratified by Nepal. All participants provided suggestions and feedback, and offered constructive criticism on the project findings. The methodology of the research and preliminary findings were appreciated by the participants through the evaluation forms.
The stakeholder engagement workshop provided a safe space to discuss primary concerns of children mainly strengthening family-based care (including kinship and foster care practices), ensuring the successful reintegration of care leavers and preventing family separations in Nepal.The outcomes and rich discussion of the workshop will be incorporated into the final paper we are working on. Stayed tuned until then!
