KATHMANDU: Only 115 out of 753 local government units have so far put in place Gender-based Violence Elimination Fund.

The information was shared at a policy dialogue as part of a collective campaign hosted by Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Forum of Women, Law and Development (FWLD) and UN Women on Friday on the occasion of the 16-Day Activism against Gender-based Violence.

Presenting a working paper, FWLD Executive Director Sabin Shrestha said most of the local government units have remained hesitant to spend money from the GBV Elimination Fund for violence survivors.

As informed, federal Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen had contributed Rs 100,000 each to the Fund set up at local level.

Likewise, Province-1 government has also provided Rs 500,000 each to the local government units in its boundary. The concerned local governments have arranged up to Rs 1 million for the Fund.

There is an arrangement that the concerned agency would add to the Fund equal to its spending. But, much of the fund money has not been spent at local level. It was also informed that the fund money was not even spent in Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

On the occasion, chief of KMC Department of Social Development Deepak Adhikari said the 16-day activism has taken place in the metropolitan areas since November 25.

FWLD’s former chair Meera Dhungana said a study of the laws including citizenship bill indicated that the State itself has been framing such laws that enables environment for violence against women.

She underlined the urgency of running civic campaigns to put an end to the ill-practice of child marriage and polygamy.

RSS