Exploring separated children's experience of migration in Nepal

Abstract

Most Nepalese children live in rural areas where poverty, employment and education act as key drivers in their decision to migrate to urban centres. This paper reports on a study which researched the experiences of separated children who migrated, as reported through interviews with 20 practitioners working in NGOs in Kathmandu. It describes children's motivations, migratory journeys and situations, when ‘promises of work’ often failed to materialise. Having seen more children migrating to Kathmandu and recently fearful that the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic may lead to further increase, practitioners identify the need for an urgent, coherent and multi‐faceted response.