BHOJPUR, NEPAL, JUNE 23, 2026 – The Learning, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (LIKE) Lab at Kathmandu University School of Arts organized a community-level event under the “Promoting Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Schools: Building on What Children Value and Aspire to Do and Be (CVEC Project)”. Held at the Bhojpur Municipality Office, the session included the attendance of the Chief Administrative Officer as well as other municipal officials.
The Knowledge Sharing Program aimed to share the findings of the 2025 Baseline Survey and present the newly created LIKE Club Activity Book video. The event commenced with Mr. Saurav Rajbhandari warmly welcoming the event participants and giving a short introduction to the project. He also shared that LIKE Clubs have reached one year of establishment in 13 community schools, and that the project aims to further sustainably expand this initiative to the remaining 30 community schools in the Bhojpur Municipality by the end of the project.
The program then moved forward with Ms. Yamuna Basnet giving a brief introductory overview of LIKE Lab and its core values and objectives. She went on to present the findings of the baseline survey conducted in February 2025, which aimed to understand the situations of community schools pre-intervention.
The key highlights from her presentation included:
- The survey methodology and a brief introduction to the Capability Approach as a guiding theoretical framework.
- The two distinct spaces of evaluation which included 1) the assessment of the availability, satisfaction and importance of the resources and 2) the status of children’s well-being and agency
- Findings that noted the infrastructural limitations which included the lack of sufficient sanitary pads and spaces for their disposal, and the school premises not being disability friendly despite stating otherwise.
- The gap between children’s well-being and agency and the factors behind it.
- The segregated results based on gender, ethnicity, and grade.
- Suggestions moving forward
Mr. Saurav Rajbhandari then presented the latest Activity Book, as well as the 16 Capability videos to the municipal stakeholders to familiarize them with the concept and value of LIKE Clubs, and how the club activities can be seamlessly integrated into the existing school curriculum, ECA, and morning assemblies at no cost.
Remarks by Municipal Leadership
Chief Administrative Officer Nathu Sah expressed a strong appreciation for the CVEC initiative and emphasized its role in addressing long-standing GESI related challenges in Bhojpur’s education system.
The key messages from his remarks included:
- GESI is of immense importance in the school environment, and it must be promoted further.
- The Municipality wants to support this by arranging an event where the Headteachers and Social Science teachers from across all the public schools of Bhojpur Municipality can participate.
- Projects such as CVEC should be extended for more years if possible.
Closing Reflections
After a round of insightful discussions with the rest of the officials regarding their opinions on the videos and suggestions for further scaling the program across all community schools in the Municipality, Dr. Binayak Krishna Thapa, the Principal Investigator of the CVEC Project, thanked the Chief Administrative Officer and all the participants for their valuable suggestions, and expressed hope for continued cooperation in the future.
