Touching the Untouchables
By Colleen Mullaney | Photo by Edd Cote
International development and social change graduate students turn a course assignment into a real-world solution to fight caste-based discrimination in Nepal.
In their Development Program and Project Management course, graduate students Allison Petrozziello, Ratna Bagchand, Kaensri Chaikot and Jennifer Boyle were tapped by their professors to develop a strategic plan for either a fictitious case study or real organization. The course, taught by IDCE professors Liza Grandia and David Bell, helps students explore relationships between development theory and project implementation, management, budget monitoring, scheduling and evaluation. Students in the class are asked to identify a problem, develop a project proposal, design environmental and social-impact assessments and create evaluation frameworks.
Initially Petrozziello, Bagchand, Chaikot and Boyle chose the more formal and straightforward case-study option provided by the professors. Then Bagchand had another idea: Why not use the NGO that he founded, which is currently without a strategic plan, as the basis of the project?
Abolishing untouchability
Six years ago, Bagchand founded the Lawyers National Campaign Against Untouchability (LANCAU), an organization dedicated "to prepare all citizens to end the crime of untouchability." Untouchable refers to the Dalit castes, the lowest tier in the Hindu hierarchy, which is the basis of societal rule in Nepal. Nepal's centuries-old caste system has been upheld by its feudalistic economic structure and monarchy. Today, despite considerable economic and political changes as well as the institution of several laws and an interim constitution forbidding the practice of untouchability, Dalits are still considered outcasts and remain impoverished, discriminated against and segregated.
Bagchand, who is a Dalit, notes that while caste discrimination is illegal on paper, it remains an intractable practice in Nepali society. Growing up as a Dalit, Bagchand remembers how he felt when his parents would send him to the shop only to be told that he had to stay outside. The shopkeeper would throw the items at him and tell him to leave the money on the ground. At school he was constantly ridiculed and called "tan," which means "least respectable." He was not allowed to drink out of the public water tap and would have to go home at break time to quench his thirst. In the fourth grade, which is considered high school in Nepal, Bagchand could no longer bear the discrimination and decided to quit school. After encouragement from his father, older brother Basanta and a progressive-thinking headmaster, he returned to school after a three-year hiatus under a different surname in an effort to mask his societal position. He earned a bachelor's degree in law and made it his life's purpose to change one of the world's most oppressive human-rights violations.
A new constitution
"We came together as a team and spent many hours listening to our visionary classmate, Ratna, educate us about caste-based discrimination in Nepal and his organization 's efforts to eradicate this 3,000-year-old practice," says Petrozziello.
After developing a strategic plan for LANCAU, the group decided to work on a grant proposal as their final project. "Nepal is living an historic moment – the transition from monarchy to democracy, which entails writing a new constitution and creating new democratic structures, " says Petrozziello. Wanting to take advantage of this moment, the group designed a project to advance social change in what is to become the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
While searching the Web, Chaikot says they were overwhelmed with grant possibilities. In the end, the group decided to answer the call from the European Commission 's European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights program, which aims to strengthen the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reform in Nepal. They came up with a division of labor that would capitalize on all their skills.
"To seize this opportunity, we wrote a project proposal that aims to empower Dalit representatives of the Constituent Assembly to effectively represent the Dalit community and to build their rights into the new constitution, while also strengthening the rule of law for the elimination of untouchability at the grassroots level, " says Petrozziello, lead writer of the proposal.
Out of the 601 Constituent Assembly members, most of whom are politically appointed, she notes that only 50 are Dalits. Moreover, they are from the rural areas and may not understand the policies and procedures for creating a constitution. "They were basically put in as space fillers," says Petrozziello.
"Most are uneducated and do not know lawmaking policies. For example, one member was working as a tailor, another as a servant, " explains Bachand. "How can they contribute to creating laws that will protect Dalits for the next 100 years? How will the issues be addressed properly to the Constituent Assembly? If this community misses this opportunity, it would be tragic."
Empowering Dalits
The proposal, "Advocating the Social and Legal End of Untouchability through the Constitution Building Process," was approved by the European Commission on September 29 and awarded 300,000 Euros ($414,480). In consultation with Petrozziello, the project will be implemented by LANCAU Nepal during a two-year period beginning in February 2009.
The proposal is based on an "inside/outside advocacy strategy," which the students learned about in their class. On the inside, LANCAU will work with Dalit members of the Constituent Assembly to educate them about legislative processes and the Dalit agenda so they can effectively represent the community.
The outside strategy refers to the formation of an ad hoc think tank of Dalit activists, intellectuals, community leaders and professionals who will collect views pertinent to the Dalit agenda. Another objective entails reconvening a group of trained advocates who make up the Untouchability Crime Watch Center formed by LANCAU. To make sure police follow through with protocol, these advocates will accompany Dalits who press discrimination charges in 25 of Nepal's 75 disctricts.
This group has demonstrated that students as well as faculty can use their intellectual labor in ways that benefit society, says Grandia. "To learn, they don't need to lock themselves up in an ivory tower for two years. Students can remain committed and engaged in the quest for social justice throughout their course of study."
While thrilled with this opportunity, Bagchand remains realistic. "The practice of untouchability is ingrained and it will be at least, I estimate, 25 years before we will see any significant changes. But by working at the local level, district by district, change will come."
To learn more about LANCAU, visit lancaunepal.org.np.
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Clarknews Winter
2009 |
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IDCE Grad Students Kaensri Chaikot, Ratna Bagchand, and Allison Petrozziello
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