A single woman, Ms. Laxmi Nepali, 35, is one of the participants of Transformative Education Program (TEP) classes being organized at Bindhyabasini village in Dailekh district of mid-western Nepal.
The transformative education classes in the district are being conducted with the local facilitation of Everest Club, which is implementing the Building Community Initiatives for Knowledge and Skills (BIKAS) project under the Nepal Development Program (NDP) of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Nepal.
Ms. Nepali has been attending these classes for the past five months. Classes are conducted every Thursday and Friday from noon until 2 PM. Tending to her three children (two sons and a daughter) and subsequently managing time to participate in the classes, she is not just stepping towards literacy but also learning the mode of building access to services and resources.
Altogether 25 females (including three from Dalit community), between ages 23-60, affiliated to Kopila women’s group are taking these classes. In course of studying for several months via a participatory discussion approach in the facilitation of TEP facilitator Ms. Sushila Giri, 19, the female participants have been able to identify major issues in their communities, which include discrimination subjected to women during their menstrual period (locally referred to as Chhaupadi), caste-based discrimination and unfair pay (disparity in wages) for same type of work (as informed, women receive NPR 200 ~ EUR 1.79 on daily wages, whereas men receive NPR 500 ~ EUR 4.46 while they perform a work of similar nature).
The TEP participants have discussed upon, and drafted their action plans, to resolve the outlying discriminatory practices/disparities prevalent in their communities. Since the Bindhyabasini village is a new intervention site under the Nepal Development Program of LWF Nepal, the TEP classes have served as an entry point in the community. Further impact-oriented works on empowerment, livelihood sustenance and disaster-resiliency induction will follow in upcoming months.
“The classes made me realize that entrepreneurship signifies ‘building expanded self-help opportunities’. I will now be involved in skill-oriented income generation activities. Tailoring is a viable enterprise here in my community, and I believe I could do that really well on a professional basis,” says Ms. Nepali.