Nepal

Women and girls in Nepal face enormous challenges. Almost two-thirds are illiterate because of poor access to education. Sixty percent of girls are married by age 18. And, about one in 40 will die in pregnancy and childbirth—one of the highest rates of maternal death in the world—due to limited access to healthcare and family planning services.

In response, CEDPA/Nepal works to empower women and girls to live healthier lives and become full partners in the development of their communities. Working hand-in-hand with organizations and community leaders in Nepal, we have provided women and girls with the knowledge, resources and skills to advocate for their social, educational and reproductive health needs since 1988.

CEDPA/Nepal’s work with youth focuses on improving access to education and building lifeskills. Our literacy and non-formal education programs have trained nearly 8000 girls and youth throughout Nepal since we began our work there. We have strengthened support for girls’ education by building community champions, including one program that tapped nearly 17,000 newly literate rural women to advocate for quality educational opportunities for themselves and their children (read more about the innovative Women on the Move—Nepal program).

Through our Building Demand for Reproductive Health Awareness among Adolescent Girls project, almost 3000 girls from the conflict-affected Baglung, Mahottari and Udayapur districts have learned how to access health-related services and make informed decisions regarding their reproductive health. The project also improves the self-esteem and literacy of out-of-school adolescent girls. A highlight of this program is the National Girls’ Congress that brings these girls—and their parents, teachers and health workers—to Kathmandu to ask Nepal’s leaders to make girls a focus of health and development.

Another reality for today’s Nepali youth is the ongoing conflict that has weakened Nepal’s economy, infrastructure and community life for the past decade. Through our Communities for Peace Program, CEDPA/Nepal works to provide youth with alternatives to violence and empower them to make non-violent decisions. Our work includes the establishment of peace centers throughout the country to strengthen community efforts against violence and positively engage Nepali youth in their conflict-ridden communities.

Furthering the impact of our work in Nepal, CEDPA has many alumni in South Asia who are prominent within government ministries and community organizations. Strengthened by their CEDPA training, these alumni are reaching tens of thousands of people by delivering health services, advocating policy reform, and administering government programs. Together, we will empower women and girls to become effective change agents for development.

Project Director