Hope, strength and knowledge through dialogue

The Samvad programme established by the Strømme Foundation teaches young people in Nepal how to take control of their own lives.

Text and photo: Nora Geiran Dingstad

“I’m very grateful for the Samvad programme,” says Sundrawati Harizan.

She continues:

“I’ve learned what’s right and wrong. Samvad has taught me about my rights. I’ve gained self-confidence and now dare to raise my voice and fight for my rights.”

Samvad is a one-year informal education programme that puts young people ‘in control of their own lives’. The programme was developed and is run by the Strømme Foundation. It primarily targets girls, but is also open to boys.

Kavli Trust has been working with the Strømme Foundation since 2010, initially by funding the development and distribution of the intensive learning programme Speed School and from 2020, through the rollout of the life skills programme Samvad in several countries.

The most recent initiative has resulted in the establishment of 180 Samvad centres. A total of 4,477 adolescents (3,649 girls and 828 boys) have completed the life skills course.

“A fundamental principle of Kavli Trust’s allocation strategy is to maintain a long-term perspective. The Samvad programme is an excellent example of the excellent results that can be achieved with a longstanding partnership,” says the CEO of Kavli Trust, Ingrid Paasche.

Dialogue, learning and support

Samvad means dialogue in Nepali. By talking together and listening to each other’s perspectives, the young people at the Samvad centre can learn from and support each other. The programme also teaches them about their rights and possibilities to earn their own income.

The ultimate aim is to make them proud and independent, and in this way help them avoid early marriage, forced prostitution, abuse and exploitation.

Sundrawati, 14, Ashma, 18, and Roshni, 16, are part of a Samvad group of 26 girls in the village of Manaura in the Rupandehi District of southern Nepal.

How has Samvad impacted the girls’ lives?

Learning about the consequences of child marriage

A few years ago, Sundrawati Harizan’s sister was married off. When Sundrawati joined the Samvad group, she learned about the consequences of child marriage.

“I didn’t know what child marriage was at the time, so I couldn’t help her,” she says.

In the Samvad programme, she and the other girls learned about child marriage and how it can limit girls’ lives.

“If we do not have an education or get married early, no one will acknowledge us. We become dependent on others. Also, our bodies are not fully developed, so if we get pregnant, there are more risks to both mother and child. We are not ready either physically or mentally because we are still children ourselves,” says Sundrawati.

She is also passionate about working to reduce differences between the various castes in her community.

“I have learned to stand up for myself and point out when I see something that I know is not right,” she says about the knowledge she has gained from Samvad.

Fighting for an education with support from Samvad

When Ashma Khatun, 18, was younger, her father decided that she would go to Koran school. Her education ended in fourth grade. Afterwards, her father wanted her to get married.

“In Muslim society here, girls are expected to move in with their husband’s family to cook and take care of the family and household,” explains the 18-year-old.

Ashma wanted to continue her education, but her family ignored her wishes. She also faced resistance at home when she wanted to join the Samvad programme. So, she took the matter into her own hands and together with her tutor in the Samvad group, managed to convince her father otherwise.

After discussing this with the other girls, she once again tried to convince her family to let her enrol in school.

“I should also go to school, of course, so that I can do something for myself,” says Ashma.

But Ashma still faced a number of obstacles. She needed her father to pay for both schoolbooks and the enrolment fee.

“I cried a lot and tried every day to convince my father to pay, but he was not ready and is still not ready.”

Ashma eventually received help from her grandfather to attend school. It was important to her to have her tutor from the Samvad group with her at this defining moment in her life.

“When I went to enrol in school, Didi came with me,” says Asha and points to her tutor from the group. The word ‘Didi’ means ‘sister’ in Nepali.

Ashma is now in eighth grade and doing well in school.

“I am grateful for the help and support from the other girls in the Samvad group,” she says.

“I have value”

Around a year before Roshni Gaud, 16, joined Samvad, her father became seriously ill. She tells how her family spent a lot of money on treatment.

“We had to sell our property to survive financially.”

Six months later, her father’s health had not improved and he tried to take his own life. The 16-year-old says that her father felt guilty about the family’s financial situation. He died of illness not long after.

“He died worrying about what would happen to me, my brother and my mother,” says Roshni.

The rest of the family did not want to have anything to do with Roshni, her brother or mother.

“There was no money left and no one to help us,” she says.

Roshni began to suffer mentally and had suicidal thoughts. She believes that Samvad changed her entire mindset.

“Samvad has given me back my self-confidence and taught me the importance of knowing that I have value.”

Roshni is once again involved in activities at school and has won several competitions. She has also become more outspoken at home.

“I realise now how important it is to continue living. I’m there to stand up for my mother, so no one dares to harass her now. We children support our mother.”

Continued partnership with a pilot project

Kavli Trust funding of Samvad was phased out in October 2024. But Samvad continues. As does Kavli Trust’s partnership with the Strømme Foundation.

“We are planning to establish and run 306 Samvad centres in several districts in Nepal. These will be managed with funding from Norad and AKO, and will open in 2024 and 2025,” explains the programme manager at Samvad, Bijaya Godar.

“We are grateful for the partnership with the Strømme Foundation and that we have had the opportunity to help close to 4,500 young people participate in the Samvad programme. This has given them essential life skills and resulted in increased school attendance and an improvement in the living conditions and future prospects of these children and young people. Investing in the education of girls in Nepal means investing in reduced inequality, economic growth and fewer forced marriages,” says Rune Mørland, who is responsible for funding allocations at Kavli Trust, and adds,

“I now look forward to help expand Samvad with a programme specially aimed at strengthening the mental health of children and young people.”

Read more: Kavli Trust supports new initiative to strengthen child and adolescent mental health in Nepal

Facts about Samvad

• Samvad is a one-year informal education programme run by the Strømme Foundation in Nepal and other countries.
• The programme aims to make young people independent by teaching them about their rights and possibilities to become financially independent.
• The Samvad model provides local communities with knowledge through a special form of pedagogy based on Brazilian Paulo Freire’s dialogic pedagogy.
• At the end of the one-year course, participants become part of the Samvad forum and network and the life skills course moves on to a new location. This makes it possible to spread and anchor the knowledge in a sustainable way.
• The forums serve as a meeting place for everyone who has taken part in the Samvad programme, while the networks are made up of a few representatives from each Samvad group in the area.
• Both the forums and networks ensure that the knowledge and power acquired in the Samvad groups is continued and applied in daily life.