Agenda setting and framing of gender-based violence in Nepal: how it became a health issue

• Published in: Health policy and planning 2016-05, Vol.31 (4), p.493-503
• Main Authors: Colombini, Manuela, Mayhew, Susannah H, Hawkins, Ben, Bista, Meera, Joshi, Sunil Kumar, Schei, Berit, Watts, Charlotte
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agenda; Agenda setting; Aggression; Bills; Constitution; Content analysis; Convergence; Delivery of Health Care; Development policy; Domestic violence; Equity; Female; Females; Frames; Framing; Gender; Gender equity; Gender-based violence; Government Agencies; Health; Health care policy; Health Policy; Health Priorities - history; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Human rights; Humans; Implementation; Incorporation; Intimate Partner Violence - history; Intimate Partner Violence - prevention & control; Intimate Partner Violence - statistics & numerical data; Legislation; Male; Nepal; Original; ORIGINAL ARTICLES; Policies; Policy analysis; Political factors; Studies; Violence; Women's groups; Women's Rights
• ISSN: 0268-1080; 1460-2237; 1460-2237
• DOI: 10.1093/heapol/czv091

Gender-based violence (GBV) has been addressed as a policy issue in Nepal since the mid 1990s, yet it was only in 2010 that Nepal developed a legal and policy framework to combat GBV. This article draws on the concepts of agenda setting and framing to analyse the historical processes by which GBV became legitimized as a health policy issue in Nepal and explored factors that facilitated and constrained the opening and closing of windows of opportunity. The results presented are based on a document analysis of the policy and regulatory framework around GBV in Nepal. A content analysis was undertaken. Agenda setting for GBV policies in Nepal evolved over many years and was characterized by the interplay of political context factors, actors and multiple frames. The way the issue was depicted at different times and by different actors played a key role in the delay in bringing health onto the policy agenda. Women’s groups and less powerful Ministries developed gender equity and development frames, but it was only when the more powerful human rights frame was promoted by the country’s new Constitution and the Office of the Prime Minister that legislation on GBV was achieved and a domestic violence bill was adopted, followed by a National Plan of Action. This eventually enabled the health frame to converge around the development of implementation policies that incorporated health service responses. Our explicit incorporation of framing within the Kindgon model has illustrated how important it is for understanding the emergence of policy issues, and the subsequent debates about their resolution. The framing of a policy problem by certain policy actors, affects the development of each of the three policy streams, and may facilitate or constrain their convergence. The concept of framing therefore lends an additional depth of understanding to the Kindgon agenda setting model. La violence sexiste (GBV) est considérée comme un enjeu politique au Népal depuis les années 1990, et pourtant ce n’est qu’en 2010 que le Népal a élaboré un cadre juridique et politique pour la combattre. L’article s’appuie sur les concepts de la définition et de l’élaboration d’un calendrier pour analyser les processus historiques par lesquels la GBV a été légitimée comme un enjeu de politique sanitaire au Népal, et il a exploré les facteurs qui ont facilité et limité l’accès aux opportunités. Les résultats présentés sont basés sur une analyse documentaire de la politique et du cadre règlementa