Advocacy-WEE-Nepal

Success Story of Ramila Rai: On March 8, 2019 on the special occasion of the International Women’s Day, Ramila was honored with a title “Best Entrepreneur” by Halesi Municipality, Khotang, Nepal for her outstanding work as a vegetable farmer. As part of this honor, she further received an honor certificate from the Municipality. “I highly feel encouraged when Municipality honored me. I am feeling more confident on what I’m doing and I will work harder in the coming days.” read more.. http://crtnepal.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Ramila-Rai-Case-Study-Revised-6-july-2019.pdf

Women play crucial role in the economic and social development. But the role of women is hidden, not counted. They are discriminated in the society and within household. Women’s role remains undervalued, unrecognized and underpaid. Their role is still perceived as a secondary activity even when it is the main source of family income. Women themselves remain unaware of their rights, unpresented in consultation and policy forms and underrepresented in gender role in development governance and big position. Women’s historically disadvantage position has led to their limited access to education and employment opportunities compared to men and provide equitable solutions to encounter the equality by providing opportunities to empower women in the workplace and beyond. The integration of women in all sectors of economy has become a matter of serious concern. The recent changes in governance system for example, witnessed a tremendous change brought about through women’s political co

Representatives of a homestay service in Shivadwar, Madi Municipality, Chitwan welcome a guest in this file photo. Photo: Sabita Shrestha/Republica A lot of villages in Madi district are still deprived of electricity. However, not all of them live in dark. Thanks to solar light installed in dozens of these villages, people’s life, and work have been made very much easier. Because of it some of the houses have also been able to operate home-stay services.  “Homestay has a lot to do with our economy here. Many households are providing this service,” said Mohan Bahadur Pun Magar, chairperson of Homestay Operation Committee, Madi. “But this would not be possible if we didn’t have solar lights. Solar power has done wonders here.” According to Magar, in the last three years, over 10,000 tourists enjoyed Madi’s homestay service. At Shivadwar of Madi Municipality - 8, every family of the Magar community has allocated two rooms for homestay and all of them are powered by solar energy.

Backdrop : In spite of being recognized as one of the main factors influencing development outcomes, a knowledge gap around Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) issues continue to affect the formulation of realistic and result oriented policies and programme in the energy sector in Nepal. Nonetheless, it is evident that development policies and programs are increasingly seeking to either promote direct interventions to support GESI outcomes through efforts to mainstream GESI issues by promoting GESI-sensitive policies and programs. It is heartening that commitment and endorsement of the GESI agenda is one of the prominent characteristics of the current development discourse in Nepal (ADB. 2018). It is not specific to Nepal but similar to other developing countries that women experience energy poverty differently and more severely than men (AEPC. 2013b, UNDP. 2010 ). It is evident, in social expectations in their day-to-day responsibilities, mainly in rural Nepal, in terms of hav