Ichangunarayan

The establishment of women's groups in Ichangunarayan places emphasis on the empowerment of the women involved through literacy education, gender training and microcredit cooperatives, among other ways. Women gain confidence in a male-orientated society as they learn to read and write, manage finances and contribute to the income of the household.

Women's group members discuss the group's finances and their microcredit loan program. Through this program, each woman contributes a set amount of money per month, which is put into a community fund. Women may then borrow money from this fund in order to finance the start-up costs of new businesses. In many ways, these microcredit loan programs are a rural bank for the women, with added incentive to pay back loans since the money is coming from family, neighbors and friends.

This woman is just one example of an accomplishment resulting from the microcredit loan program. She has opened her own shop with a loan she had taken from the savings of her women's group. The success of these programs have been crucial to the process of building respect for Nepali women.

Commercial flower production is an increasingly popular activity among women's group members in Ichangunarayan VDC. Traditionally used as a welcome gesture, flowers are produced not only as a means of income, but for the women themselves.

Manju Rana, ETC's Women's Development Program Officer, conducts a Gender Training for women's group members and their husbands. The goal of this training session is to improve relationships between men and women, along with raising awareness regarding the treatment of daughters.

Raju Dhamala, ETC's Senior Administrative Officer, talks with a women's group member about her agricultural work. Many women in the Kathmandu Valley have implemented the strategies of holistic farming in not only their families' healthier eating habits, but also in growing produce to sell in the nearby urban market. This change in farming goals for the women have allowed them to make quite a profit, and as a result, begin to change their previously muted role as women in a culture that values a man's contribution to his family's income over a women's.

ETC Agricultural Officer, Kaman Bahadur Malla, works with farmers to implement alternative farming techniques, such as solarization. This is an environmentally-friendly farming method that leads to nutrient-rich, pesticide-free soil. This project is a result of collaboration with professors from Cornell University.

Through partnerships with organizations like ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) and Cornell University's School of Soil Science, ETC works with farmers to implement new and innovative agricultural techniques and technologies. One such program is the Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT), which facilitates soil conservation, improves soil fertility, and increases infiltration of surface water. Various irrigation methods, such as the construction of water collection ponds, are also encouraged and implemented.

Toilet construction has also been one of ETC's successful projects as it has significantly improved the health and sanitary conditions of countless families. Each women's group member receives all materials necessary to construct a toilet and a septic tank for their home, which promotes good family hygiene.