Author: Dhiraj Maharjan

Evaluation of the Covid-19 Cash Transfer Project in Nepal

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Evaluation of the Covid-19 Cash Transfer Project supported by UNICEF

Year: 2022 

Location: Nepal

Client: Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI)

Scope of the Assignment: Telephone surveys (3,500 households) and in-depth interviews (140) households

UNICEF Nepal has commissioned the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI) to conduct an Evaluation of the UNICEF supported COVID-19 Cash Transfer in Nepal. The objective of the research is to understand how the UNICEF supported COVID-19 cash transfer was implemented with a focus on understanding the operationalization of digital cash transfers and assess the extent to which it helped children and their families (to the extent possible) get better access to education. The findings are expected to deliver vital lessons that inform the shock-responsiveness of social protection programming going forward. As a part of the evaluations, Solutions Consultant Conducted a total of 3500 telephone interviews and 140 in-depth interviews amongst recipients and non-recipient households across Nepal.

Study on Mental Health of Adolescent Children

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Study on Mental Health of Adolescent Children with Low School Attendance Rates in Nepal 

Year: 2021-22 

Location: Nepal

Client: The World Bank

Scope of the Assignment: Telephone survey amongst 1,100 parents and their children under 18 yrs of age

In Nepal, between 11.2% and 13.2% of adolescents (13 – 16 years old) suffer from mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse with large treatment. This is particularly significant in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic which has forced significant changes in people’s lives such as restriction on movement, social isolation, school closure, job losses, fear of infection, and the increased exposure to death and morbidity that could have an adverse effect on mental wellbeing. In the absence of adequate mental healthcare, this is a serious problem, especially for adolescents. The effects of these disorders last well into adulthood and may be associated with school failure, criminality, drug and alcohol dependence, accidents, self-harm, risky sexual behavior, and other serious dysfunction in adult life. In the context of this situation, the World Bank undertook a study to evaluate the efficacy of a mental health program on the mental wellbeing of adolescent living in the districts of Kailali, Kavre and Surkhet. The study also aimed to evaluate the impact of better mental wellbeing on other outcomes such as school enrolment, attendance, and test through data collection activities carried out amongst the teachers/head teachers, adolescent children, and their parents. A total of 1100 households were selected which constituted of interviewing the adolescent parents and their children in these households. Apart from this, the study also involved conducting in-depth interviews with the teachers and head-teachers at government schools, as well as parents and adolescent children in the 3 districts.

Kathmandu Foreign Television Preferences

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Based on: SOLCON MEDIA: KATHMANDU Oct-Nov 2018, WAVE II 2018

The presented figures and data are based on a panel of 2,000+ respondents spread across Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur.

PEAK TIMES

Prime times 8 pm to 10 pm, peaks at 9 pm

Around 61% of the Kathmanduites watch foreign television channels. There are three preferred viewing periods – one in the morning, next during the afternoon and then the peak during the night. The prime times between 8-10 pm brings in the most of audiences, with 9 pm being the peak hour with around 44% of audience.

SOURCE OF ENTERTAINMENT

Foreign television channels are primarily source for entertainment, movies, sports, and lifestyle. Over 35% of the Kathmanduites watch foreign television channels for entertainment (sitcoms, serials, TV shows), while around 32% view them for movies. Lifestyle/travel, Sports, and Music also are popular content among foreign television channels.

Click to download PDF file for more Foreign TV_Kathmandu wave II 2018

Recent Assignments

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Survey on Women’s Political Participation and Leadership (WPPL-Nepal)

Year: 2022 

Location: Nepal 

Client: NORC at the University of Chicago

NORC and USAID’s Centre of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance (DRG) aim to expand the methodological approaches and empirical evidence base around the social and cultural constraints that prevent women’s and girls’ full and meaningful political participation and leadership. This will be done by supporting the development of tools that gather quantitative and qualitative data on their political participation at every level and reveal the public attitudes and behaviors that determine the level and quality of women’s and men’s participation. Data collected using these tools would enable more effective programs aimed at transforming the attitudes, social norms, and behaviors that directly and indirectly limit women’s and girls’ political participation. The study in Nepal carried out by Solutions Consultant involved thorough cognitive testing of the data collection instrument, the implementation of a nationally representative general population survey of 2,500 Nepalese, the implementation of a politician survey of approximately 454 Nepali politicians at the municipal level and 500 Nepali politicians at the ward level, and 8 focus group discussions (FGDs)

Local Television and Radio – how engaged are we!!

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Nepal Television news every night, Biswoghatana on Thursdays and a movie watched by the whole family at 2 pm on Saturdays in Nepal TV. This must have been the scenario of every household during the 90’s. Nepal Television started in 1985 was the first Nepali TV channel and remained so for a few years. Switch to three decades later and we have a number of Nepali channels on television today. So how often does one watch Nepali TV channels and how often do we listen to the radio?

According to the audience media survey, Nepali TV channels are quite popular among the urban 16+ audiences where around 67% watch them on a daily basis. News and comedy serials are the most popular genres in Nepali TV channels. Songs, call in entertainment programs and investigative shows are also quite popular. Among the programs itself, Kantipur TV news and Nepal TV news slots are popular while sitcoms such as Bhadragol, Meri Bassai and Tito Satya are also popular. Investigative journalism and talk shows such as “Khabar Bhitra ko Khabar” and “Sajha Sawal” are also popular. Call Kantipur also features among the top 10 popular views among the 16+ urban TV audiences.

Among the various channels, Nepal TV and Kantipur TV have high viewership followed by Avenues Television, Image Channel, Sagarmatha Television, TV Filmy and News 24. Nepali TV channels viewership peaks between ages 35-39 and declines with the younger audiences.

And what about the radio? Are we glued to the radio as much we are to the television? We all love a good song on the radio; whether it’s while driving alone in the car or sitting among other passengers in a bus or micro van. So how much does the urban Nepali population listen to the radio?

According to the survey, over half of the urban 16+ audiences rarely listen to the radio while 37% are daily listeners. Comparatively, urban audiences of the Central region and the Far-western region listen to the radio regularly than other urban clusters. Radio listenership peaks at those below the age of 24 and lessens below age 25 to 39.

Listeners on the radio mostly prefer listening to the news and songs. Lok (Folk) songs, social/political programs and song requesting programs are also quite popular. There are some mentions of Nepali drama shows like “Dear Kalyan” and “Saathi Sanga Manka Kura” also.

The most popular radio channels among 16 above age population are the regional/ local channels followed by Kantipur FM, Image FM, BBC World Network 103, Ujyaalo 90 Network and Radio Nepal with large audience base across the urban areas of Nepal.

In conclusion, we can say that amongst the urban 16+audiences, Nepali TV channel viewership is quite high compared to the radio listenership. News along with comedy serials in TV and songs in radio seems to be the genre of preference. Further while the full-time students are the ones who view Nepali TV channels the least on a day to day basis, they are amongst the active daily radio listeners. So…do we still watch Nepali TV channels with the same fervor that as a 10 year old child we experienced while watching the ending part of “Bishwoghatana” program? (The ending of Bishwoghatana was really exciting as they showed interesting things like cool inventions and so on) Probably not!  But do we still switch on Nepali TV channels to catch the occasional news and other shows, indeed we do.

The audience media survey was conducted among 16+ aged urban audiences to find out the popularity of Nepali TV Channels and radio stations. The survey was spread across 5 development regions in 28 cities within 35 urban locations selected through systematic random sampling.

January 2016

Nepal Urban Television Viewing Trends 2015-16

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Summary of the overall television trends in Nepal indicates that males are more regular viewers for both Nepali and Foreign channels. Moreover, the urban audience prefers watching Nepali channels mainly for News programs (95%) and Foreign Channels for Entertainment(58.4%). Kantipur Television and Nepal Television are the most popular Nepali News channels whereas Colors and Zee TV are mostly preferred Foreign Entertainment channels.

Willingness to Pay (WtP) Survey for Better Quality Electricity Service

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The study was funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (a US government agency that provides assistance to other countries’ development projects) in partnership with the Government of Nepal (OMCN), and is being carried out by CPCS/WSP, a Canadian company. The main purpose of this survey is to: (1) assess the potential economic benefit of the incremental value of  utilizing additional energy at a lower cost per unit of service in place of alternative energy sources; (2) Assess the willingness of households and businesses to pay more than they are currently paying for a supply of electrical energy with fewer scheduled and unscheduled outages and more stable voltage. The survey is designed in a suitable manner to calculate for each targeted group its WtP for improved quality of power supply with regards to availability; range of fluctuation of quality; predictability of power supply interruption. The survey is spread across 2300 households and 600 businesses across Nepal.