Udaan II “Catching the Missed Opportunity”, funded by the OPEC Fund for International Development, was one of the most important initiatives under the LEAD program of CARE Nepal. The LEAD program envisions education and economic prosperity as an instrument to women and girls’ empowerment, through transforming harmful social norms, building life skills and advocating related policy reforms. Under the LEAD Program, the Udaan initiative provided an intensive, 11-month high-quality condensed curriculum for adolescent girls (Dalit, Muslim and other marginalized groups) aged 9-14 of Kapilvastu District, who were unable to either start or complete primary school. The program also helped them to get enrolled in community schools, named “mother school”, where Udaan graduates continued their higher study. Working together with nine formal mother schools of Krishannagar and Maharajgunj Municipalities of the Kapilvastu district, as well as with the girls and their parents, the Udaan II project focused on addressing the economic factors affecting girls’ families, and the harmful social norms acting as barriers to girls’ education. This helped to create an enabling and safe learning environment for girls, and provided opportunities for livelihood and vocational skill development. The Project was implemented over two years and 10 months (January 2018 to October 2020) by Care Nepal in Krishannagar Rural Municipality, Kapilvastu Municipality and Maharajgunj Rural Municipality of Kapilvastu district in cooperation with local partner Siddhartha Social Development Centre (SSDC).
The objective of the final evaluation study was to measure both the intended