Climate change is a significant global challenge, with a particularly strong impact on Nepal due to its fragile ecosystem, topographic variations and dependency on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture, water and forestry (World Bank et al., 2011). Women and marginalized social groups, especially uneducated Dalit women, are severely impacted by climate change due to their limited access to resources and low adaptive capacity. The Karnali and Sudurpashchim provinces, characterized by their geographic diversity and socioeconomic challenges, are especially vulnerable. These areas face a range of climate-related threats including water scarcity, floods, landslides and food insecurity, further exacerbated by poverty and limited access to basic services. They are also among Nepal’s key migrant origin regions (Bhattarai et al., 2023).