The project is located along the Bagmati River in Lalitpur and Kathmandu, Nepal and the activities are taking place between March and May 2025. This scoping study will use quantitative and qualitative data to understand water quality, pollution, and the impacts on GEDSI groups, giving the research a baseline for monitoring, evaluation, and learning. The data will identify the primary drivers of water pollution and further contribute to understanding the social, economic, and environmental impacts on different communities.
The key objective of this scoping study is to understand the extent of pollution in the
Bagmati River, the impacts on different social groups, understanding the barriers and policy gaps that prevent participatory and effective solutions, and providing results that will inform recommendations to influence the delivery of practical solutions. It is hoped that the participatory nature of the study will empower groups to form partnerships and act on ideas that are generated in the co-design workshops.
In early March, the project kicked off with the first advisory group meeting. The advisory group attendees included representatives from Nepal Engineering College, Yale School of the Environment (co-founder of Sustainability and Environmental Studies Endeavor SENSE), National Indigenous Disabled Women Association (NIDWAN), Canopy Nepal, Kathmandu University School of Law, Biome Ecosystem Solutions and SOCHAI. In this session, participants used an influence/interest matrix to identify stakeholders connected to the Bagmati River, either as policy or decision makers, potential polluters, and those potentially impacted by the water quality. They also developed a spatial map of a key focus area of the river, identifying potential polluting industries and key sites for discussion, such as primary schools and informal settlements. This map was used to guide the transect walks held in late March.
In late March, 3 transect walks were conducted along a 1.5km stretch of the Bagmati River bounded by Lalitpur and Kathmandu. The spatial maps identified multiple sites of interest for discussion, with 6 stopping places identified for participants to engage in discussion and fill out a questionnaire. Over three days, in total 27 organisations participated with 11 organisations representing people with disabilities, with 40 people in attendance. NIDWAN and Canopy Nepal are formal partners in this project.
The first walk included members from disability and indigenous people organisations, NIDWAN, Prayatna Nepal, Dalit with Disability association Nepal, Nepal Indigenous Disabled Organisation. Parent Federation of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities, AID Nepal, Koshish, Society of Deafblind Parents, AutismCare Nepal Society and CIL-Kathmandu. This walk was adjusted to cater for the specific requirements of the participants and due to challenging weather conditions. A van transported participants from stop 1 to stop 5/6 to minimise discomfort and stops 2-4 were skipped on this walk.
Days 2 and 3 of the walk included participants from organisations including Canopy Nepal, Biome and Ecosystem Solutions. SOCHAI, Project Abhaya, The Open Institute, Impact Hub Kathmandu, Kharkhana Samuha, Trinity, Birat Healthcare Industries, Wine to Water, ISET Nepal, Kathmandu University, Prakriti Resources Center, the Institute for Study and Development Worldwide, BASN, and others.
Baseline surveys were also conducted with each of the participating organisations.
During the debrief sessions after each transect walk, numerous participants comments that they had taken the river for granted, and the activity of transect walks highlighted to them the depth of the issues which provoked them into generating ideas for what they could do as organisations at the grassroots level. The next phase is to run co-design workshops with the same participants where we reflect on all the data collected to date, and build on the ideas that people have initially developed to empower groups to work together beyond the life of the project. In terms of lessons learnt, it is critical to understand logistical elements of the project that are context specific, such as reliability of public transport, disability access, infrastructure damage and potential health impacts due to recent disasters, travel times, traffic intensity at different times of the day, weather conditions and other issues which may impact people’s ability to participate.
Featured image: Day 1 of the transect walks with members of the disability organisations