Nepal's rural Dalit women are among the most disadvantaged of the world's poor. They suffer both as women and as Dalits in one of the poorest countries on the globe. Nepal is 199th among 210 national economies. 42% of the general population lives below the nutrition-based poverty line. Dalits and especially Dalit women fare worse than the general population in every way. The 2.5 million Dalit women of Nepal are at the very bottom of the hierarchy of class, caste, and gender.

Empower Dalit Women of Nepal (EDWON) works to improve the lives of Dalit (low caste) women in rural Nepal with formal and informal literacy training leading to autonomous savings groups. Once a women’s group has been created, the women are in charge, and are not accountable to EDWON. They determine their own rules democratically, and do their own accounting.

Literacy and economic empowerment are joined in the women’s savings groups. Building on initial seed money from EDWON each savings group pools individual savings, lends money to members for income-generating ventures and helps members provide mutual support.

This program was initiated by a low caste woman, Bishnu Pariyar, who works with both the groups and board in Nepal and EDWON, the fundraising group in the U.S.

The Social Action Committee encourages support for this group, brought to us by a First Parish congregant.

For more information, visit edwon.org.