Women

Women Empowerment (WE) is a grassroots level community-based women's organization. WE was formed by a group of women for tpurpose of improving the socio-economic status and self-development capacity of disadvantaged people, especially women. Through self development and social action programs, many women take part in decision-making processes. WE advocates the elimination of all forms of discrimination, violence, and trafficking through action programs in order to ensure the rights of women.In the subsistence-based economy of Nepal , women contribute in the area of agriculture, but their work is invisible to their families, communities, and country. Most women are self-employed, but their experience and expertise are not recognized by society. Whether in villages, towns, or cities, the life of most women is a struggle against the odds. Women lack self confidence in their own inherent skills because they are deprived of opportunities in all areas of life. If given the chance, women will be able to lead with confidence. Utilizing a self-help instructional model to increase literacy, girl's education, small business development, skilled trainings, personal and social advocacy, WE has been empowering more than 50 women in various districts of Nepal to help them take charge of their lives. The idea of empowerment goes well beyond the narrow confines of material development. For a Nepalese woman empowerment means greater freedom of thought and action, access to the information she needs to develop her potential, and the ability to earn a living that contributes to her welfare and that of her family. These choices strike at the very root causes of poverty and social injustice.Sustainability, or the ability of the program to endure beyond the immediate infusion of start-up funds from outside support, is an important aspect of the WE programme. With the WE model "sustainability" is achieved when the groups can operate solely from the income generated by its own internal lending. This point is rapidly being reached by many of the more established groups who are actually transferring their management skills to neighboring groups.