Karnali women elected to local councils
In May, June and September 2017 local elections were held in Nepal for the first time in 20 years. Mission East has been working in the country since 1997, in recent years predominantly in the remote Karnali Zone, which is one of the most under-developed areas of Nepal. The fight against poverty in this mountainous region is hampered by discrimination of women and their lack of access to relevant institutional support. There is only little awareness of women’s rights, and women’s opportunities to participate in income generation are limited. Mission East has therefore organised women’s literacy groups where the participants learn basic literacy skills and receive training in their rights. Recently this awareness raising has had positive results: 14 women from Mission East’s literacy groups have been elected to the local councils.
Read More
27-year-old Lalparu Sunar wanted to open a bank account, but it was impossible because she didn’t know how to write her name. This made her aware of how important it is to be able to write, and when Mission East organised a literacy group in her village Adanchuli in Humla District, she became an eager participant. Lalparu belongs to the group of Dalits, who live outside of the Nepalese caste system at the bottom of society. In the literacy group Lalparu also learned about her rights as a Dalit and as a woman, and through this training she got the courage to run in local elections and was elected. Photo: Asha Budha
