Literacy classes are provided to women in Piple Dumre, Bandipur through the Women Development Branch.

IFAD photo by Anwar Hossain

Description

Nepal is the tenth poorest country in the world. The project targeted 16,000 rural women living below the poverty line and facing strong social barriers such as gender bias, caste and ethnic divisions. Women also lacked access to the means by which they could improve their living standard. In the project design, the importance of rural women’s contribution to production and family income was recognized.

The project was therefore designed in order to increase the income of poor rural women, thereby enhancing their status in society and improving the welfare of their families. Training and community development initiatives were undertaken in parallel with credit for income-generating activities. Training for adult literacy, social empowerment and mobilisation was provided to rural women. Activities were also undertaken that would save women work, such as schemes for drinking water, community forestry, etc. Social services and infrastructure were developed through this project, as well as infrastructure to support communications and dissemination (e.g. community halls). The project sought to involve the communities in the development process.

The ultimate objective of the project was to ensure that women’s interests would be duly reflected in development policies in Nepal. This could be achieved through developing the capacity of the Women Development Division within the Ministry of Local Development.

Women were integrated within the regular delivery system for credit and technical support services. Through the establishment of self-reliant women’s groups, rural women were able to initiate and undertake productive activities. Furthermore, micro community development projects were supported including: literacy classes, drinking water development, trail improvement, irrigation development, establishment of child-care centre, toilet construction and improved cooking stove installation.

Effective project implementation started in 1988 and closed in 1997.

Results achieved

• Institutional support has been strengthened.

• Delivery of credit to women’s group has been implemented successfully and used for services, agriculture and livestock activities. This component of the project was key for the empowerment of rural women. Over 18,000 credit groups have been established.

• Over 50,000 women have been trained, 1,500 drinking water schemes and 70 child care centres created.

• Women have become more self-reliant. They have gained confidence and self-esteem. They communicate better, interact with the outside world, and are considered successful and knowledgeable by their husbands, families, and communities.

• The project facilitated access to service delivery, institutions, including commercial banks.

Lessons learned

The evaluation of the project demonstrated that although initial transaction costs incurred were high, yet the efforts in outreach, empowerment, literacy and income generation were well-justified, given the context of stark gender inequality combined with poverty. The project successfully launched an institutional innovation and demonstrated that associations of resource-poor women can manage their credit needs without links to, or credit from, the formal banking sector with little default.

IFAD Operations in Nepal | IFAD Through Photography - Nepal