Bolau Nepal!

Cover Illustration by: Jorge Santiago

Ending in 2008, the 10-year civil war in Nepal resulted in communities of people all suffering from their own injustices. A country already susceptible to isolation due to its geography, Nepal now had to deal with building trust and understanding between very contentious groups of people who might still feel the effects of a violent war. Nepal’s social capital, measured by subjects' willingness to invest in trust-based transactions and contribute to a collective good, was presumably at a low point in the country’s history during the war. What types of programs or educational systems can be implemented to prevent something like this from happening again?

Many nonprofits and government agencies have attempted to address the issue of social capital in Nepal through education and health programs, but this Design Document focuses on a Michael Gilligan’s work on measuring social capital in Nepal through games. His research revealed that isolated communities exposed to greater levels of violence during Nepal’s ten-year war exhibit significantly greater levels of social capital (Gilligan, et al 2011). Using behavioral games, original survey data, and qualitative group discussions, Gilligan and his researchers were able to get one step closer in the long road to increase social capital in a country whose infrastructure and recent political struggles have prevented such things from happening.

This Design Document attempts to address the challenges found in Gilligan’s work by looking at possible technological interventions that could promote pro peace learning.