Public Health Research Society Nepal Group Restoring the Dignified Identity of the Badi People in Nepal

1. Project description: The Badi, an ethnic group has a devastating scenario because of COVID-19, environmental change, and climate change. The traditional occupation of Badi such as singing, dancing, construction of musical instruments, and others were shifted into unimaginable deeds. At present, there are still some Badi women and girls who are in the profession of prostitution. However, the entire Badi community and their upcoming generation are discriminated against and disgraced by considering entire Badi women and girls as prostitutes. The project aims to co-create and evaluate locally tailored integrated socio-economic and gender empowerment intervention that addresses the socio-economic drivers via restoration of their historical occupational identity, which ultimately improves the empowerment of Badi women, impacting the national policy related to the reintegration of the Badi community. An exploratory study was carried out via desk review, rapid ethnographic study, stakeholder analysis meeting, case studies, and content production and documentation (ongoing). Our project identified that the Badi community has been facing serious caste discrimination for a long period. Even the national laws, policies, and documents have marginalized the basic human rights of the Badi community. Since then, the Badi community has been lagging and struggling behind in improvising their status in society. Though few modifications and rules have been made after the movement of the Badi community, it has not been effectively implemented. Our project has created community-led contextually and culturally appropriate integrated socio-economic and gender empowerment content based on Badi people’s traditional occupation. The content also focused new business strategy of sustaining their musical instruments. Besides this, prioritizing Badi women were focused and the new business strategy for them such as beauty parlor training, sewing, and cutting training, pig farming, etc. emphasized. With the creation of this content and context, we can bring various other projects and actions in the future to address the real need of the Badi community in restoring their real identity in the community through sustainable habitats and communities

2. Project progress up to now

A. Preliminary findings of desk review: A brief review of documents that were related to the context of the Badi people was done. The core viewpoint of each document was identified and listed from policy documents, reports, journal articles, and newspaper articles. The context of the document review was based on livelihood, social context, government priority and rights of Badi people, and so on. Website of the Law Commission, Rashtriya Dalit Aayog, Policy Research Institutes, Google, google scholar, websites of relevant NGOs/INGOs, Nepjol, Google Scholar, and Websites of a national newspaper such as The Kathmandu Post and other relevant articles were reviewed and documented in the review. The key findings include

• The food grain touched by Badi people is steamed or roasted then it is impure.
• If the Badi people touch the earthen pot containing water, then it is considered impure.
• In earlier days, severe punishment was given to the Badi people in comparison to the people of higher castes although the crime was the same.
• The population of Badi women is greater than that of men. There are 20, 305 women and 18,298 Badi men residing in different parts of the country.
• The Badi people inhabited the mid-western Part of Nepal basically in Kailali, Bardia, Surkhet, Baghang, Dalyan, and Dang.
• 2 percent have obtained passed SEE/SLC, 0.66 percent of Badi people have passed bachelor’s degrees, whereas very few of them have master’s degrees. There is a high illiteracy rate and a dropout rate of Badi from schools.
• 43% of Badi people lack land. Likewise, 57 percent of them were depending on the land of the government or other people or their own.
• 74 percent of them were laborers, and 25% of people mentioned that the food grains from agriculture can secure their living upto1 to 3 months.
• 20 percent of them are involved in begging in their daily lives, 21 percent of them are involved in fishing, 54 percent in making musical instruments, and 5 percent of them are involved in prostitution.
• Some women of the Badi community are sexually exploited and they are not able to fight for their rights and justice yet. The children from those incested or raped mothers also lack various rights. For example, lack of citizenship, access to the property of the father, physical, mental, social, and domestic violence, etc.
• 5 percent of unmarried Badi females are involved in prostitution. Although their occupation is prostitution, sometimes they are harshly forced into sexual activities.
• A major issue that Badi faced is intra-Dalit discrimination as Badi are the lowest caste among them.
• The upper caste Dalit still implies untouchability and no marital relationship with the Badi people. Hence, they are severely discriminated against the society.
• The Badi families are facing the problem of good shelter and hence Badi children are subjected to early marriage.
• In 1964 women from the Badi community raised a protest, which resulted in the formation of an agreement between the Badi and the government. However, the government failed in its implementation.

B. Stakeholder analysis meeting: To identify the barriers of Badi people in terms of social life, health, education, and employment, our organization worked closely with different stakeholders to get information on the current situation. The overall stakeholder analysis meetings created community-led contextually and culturally appropriate integrated socio-economic and gender empowerment content based on Badi people’s traditional occupation. The stakeholder analysis meetings in the Dang district emphasized that 42 homes currently make a musical instrument called “MADAL”. The representatives and people from the Badi community focused on identifying the new business strategy of sustaining their musical instruments. They clarified that good supply chain management is necessary for the effective production, selling, and distribution of musical instruments such as MADAL and TABLA. For that, the accessibility of raw materials such as wood, the skin of an ox, machines for wood modification, etc is identified to be an important aspect of uplifting the status of the Badi people. Likewise, the issue of provision of training to Badi people regarding the production of musical instruments needs to be taken into consideration. Besides this, prioritizing Badi women were focused and the new business strategy for them such as beauty parlor training, sewing, and cutting training, pig farming, etc emphasized. Also, fishing was the historical occupation of the Badi people. Hence, new approaches to making fishing net and their related machine was also a main subject of concern.  Findings from stakeholder analysis are 3. Project plan forward: Other activities such as rapid ethnographic study, case studies, and content production and documentation are in the ongoing phase. We are on track and will achieve the goal in a due timeline. But the expectation of the local leaders and the Badi community is to provide livelihood skills like sewing training, beauty parlor training, musical instrument development training, etc. We are planning to approach stakeholders, external development partners, and the government to work on it.

After completing Stakeholder analysis meetings at Mudabazar Kailali with Ward Chairperson and team members

Pig around the Badi community 

Knowing about their traditional fishing strategy

Talking with the Badi young Entrepreneur who develops a MADAL

Stakeholder analysis meetings at Tulsipur Dang with Ward Chairperson and stakeholders

Information gathering regarding prostitution and finding out the possibilities of livelihood alternatives

Stakeholder analysis meetings with Badi people and local leaders

Knowing about their traditional fishing net and strategy from the fisherman of the Badi community

Knowing about their traditional fishing net and strategy from the fisherman of the Badi community

Stakeholder analysis meetings with Minister, Ministry of Tourism, Rural and Urban Development (Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary) along with Ward Chairperson and other stakeholders