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Good practice Imported

Abolition of Chhaupadi — Ending Menstrual Exile Huts in Nepal's Far- and Mid-Western Districts

Nepal · Dhangadhi · See the Nepal profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 3% 100/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

In Nepal's Kailali and Doti districts, Restless Development and UN Women ran a 2015–2017 peer-education programme against chhaupadi menstrual exile huts, cutting hut-sleeping during menstruation from 19.4% to 5.5% and reaching nearly 46,000 women and girls.

19.4% → 5.5%
Women and girls sleeping in a chhau hut during menstruation (2015-2017)
45,990
Women and girls reached (vs. 28,000 target)
71% → 100%
Male community leaders believing chhaupadi should be eliminated
84 %
Reduction in women reporting restricted dairy access during menstruation
417,880 USD
Project grant amount
Abolition of Chhaupadi — Ending Menstrual Exile Huts in Nepal's Far- and Mid-Western Districts

Details

Promoter
Restless Development Nepal, with UN Women / UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women
Period
January 2015 – December 2017
Keywords
menstrual health, gender-based violence prevention, community education, harmful traditional practices

Context

Chhaupadi is a traditional practice in Nepal's Far-Western and Mid-Western regions that exiles menstruating women and girls to sheds or huts, based on beliefs that menstruation is impure. Despite a 2005 Supreme Court ban and 2017 criminalisation, it persisted widely in rural communities, with documented deaths from exposure, smoke inhalation, animal attacks and sexual assault.

Objectives

Restless Development Nepal, funded by a USD 417,880 grant from the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (administered by UN Women), aimed to shift community attitudes and practices around menstruation in Kailali and Doti districts between January 2015 and December 2017.

Activities

The project trained 404 peer volunteers, community leaders and traditional faith healers (dhami-jhankri) to engage communities directly.

Results

It reached 45,990 women and girls (above a 28,000 target), plus 20,706 men and boys and 14,461 community leaders. Hut-sleeping during menstruation fell from 19.4% to 5.5%, belief among male community leaders that chhaupadi should end rose from 71% to 100%, and Restless Development's own retrospective reports an 84% reduction in restricted dairy access during menstruation.

Conclusions

A parallel government hut-demolition campaign in nearby Achham district, needing to be repeated through 2024 with 11.4% of households still using huts covertly, shows that community-based behaviour-change work is a necessary complement to legal bans and physical demolition, not a substitute.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

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Data sources

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