The Drivers and Dynamics of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Kathmandu’s Adult Entertainment Sector: A Synthesis of Five Years of Research by Children, Business Owners, NGOs, and Academics

CLARISSA (Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South‑Eastern Asia) is a research programme into the worst forms of child labour (WFCL). It aims to identify, evidence and promote effective multi‑stakeholder action to tackle the drivers of WFCL in selected supply chains in Bangladesh and Nepal (Burns, Apgar and Raw, 2021).

Spanning five years, the focus of the CLARISSA programme in Nepal was on identifying the system dynamics of WFCL in Kathmandu’s adult entertainment sector, with particular attention given to the informal economy where the worst forms of child labour are prevalent.

In addition to extensive participatory and qualitative research inquiry, in Nepal, 12 Participatory Action Research Groups of children and business owners spent between 12 and 18 months learning from action to reduce WFCL and its impact. The Action Research component makes the CLARISSA programme unique in the child labour space because it has learned about the dynamics of WFCL from action as well as inquiry.

This paper synthesises what the CLARISSA programme learned about WFCL in Kathmandu’s adult entertainment sector. It looks at children’s pathways into child labour, their lived experience of it, and the businesses in which they work. With a focus on both the supply and demand dynamics of child labour, this paper aims to further understanding of the reasons why children have to work and why businesses employ children.

The CLARISSA programme has produced multiple research reports and the Hard Labour website, which reproduces some of the stories about children’s lives, their days, the businesses they work in and the neighbourhoods where they live. This paper synthesises the detailed evidence landscape to draw analytical conclusions about why worst forms of child labour occur in Kathmandu’s adult entertainment sector, and what can be done about it.