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Formation | 2012 |
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Founder | Claire Naylor, Claire Charmanac and Sonu Shakya Bajracharya |
Type | Non-governmental organization |
Location |
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Key people | Hima Bista (Executive Director) |
Website | www.women-lead.org |
Women LEAD is a non-governmental organization that provides women's leadership development training and advocacy in Nepal. It is based in Kathmandu, Nepal and Arlington, Virginia in the United States. [1]
The group originated as a leadership development organization for young women in Nepal from a 2010 project by Georgetown University students Claire Naylor [2] and Claire Charamnac. [3] [4] [5] [6] Starting from a two-week pilot program serving 28 young women in 2010, [3] as of June 2013 the organization maintains three year-long programs serving 400 youth. [7] Initiatives include a leadership institute, an internship program and an entrepreneurship program, and the group keeps track of its graduates' progress after they take part in the program. [8] [9]
In 2011, the group's founders were awarded a $10,000 grant from Davis Projects For Peace for the project, which they used to officially found Women LEAD after graduating. [10] [11] In the same year, the group was a recipient of the annual "Generation Peace" award from Peace X Peace. [12] In 2012, the group was chosen by Women Deliver for the "Women Deliver 50" list of the "50 most inspiring ideas and solutions worldwide that are delivering for girls and women", in the category of "leadership and empowerment". [13] In 2016, Stars Foundation awarded Women LEAD with With and For Girls Award, alongside Shakti Samuha and Her Turn. [14] Since 2018, Women LEAD has been organizing an OWN IT Nepal, a one-day leadership summit for young women in Kathmandu. [15] The summit, aimed at bridging the gap between Nepali women leaders and the young women who aspire to be like them, was attended by over 250 young people. [16] The third iteration of OWN IT included panel discussions featuring women leaders, such as Mohna Ansari, Manchala Jha, and Bonita Sharma, as well as speed mentoring sessions for the participants. [17]
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India in the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language.
Ganesh Man Singh was the leader of the democratic movement of 1990 in Nepal. He is revered as the Father of Democracy and the Iron-man of Nepali politics. He joined Praja Parishad to protest against the autocratic rule of the Ranas.
Christianity is, according to the 2011 census, the fifth most practiced religion in Nepal, with 375,699 adherents, or 1.4% of the population. Many informed observers have estimated that there are at least 1 million Nepali Christians. According to some Christian groups, there may be as many as 3 million Christians in Nepal, constituting up to 10% of the country's population. A report by Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary identified the Nepali church the fastest growing in the world. The vast majority of Nepali Christians are evangelical Protestants ; there is also a small Catholic population of roughly 10,000.
Ek Nath Dhakal is a Nepalese politician, belonging to the Nepal Pariwar Dal, and served as Minister for the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction of the Government of Nepal. He is the head of the Nepal chapter of the Universal Peace Federation, a United Nations ECOSOC status international Peace organization.
Feminism in Nepal is primarily concerned with equity and equality of opportunity. Nepali society is traditionally patriarchal. Feminists in Nepal seek to address this situation. Most women in Nepal are placed below to their husbands and fathers in a social hierarchy.
The Global Peace Foundation (GPF) is an international nonprofit organization with a stated mission to promote “an innovative, values-based approach to peacebuilding, guided by the vision of One Family under God.” GPF partners with government ministries, community and faith-based organizations, and United Nations offices to develop and execute programs in 20 countries.
The Baháʼí Faith in Nepal begins after a Nepalese leader encountered the religion in his travels before World War II. Following World War II, the first known Baháʼí to enter Nepal was around 1952 by N. P. Sinha who moved to Birgunj and the first Nepalese Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly elected in 1959, and its National Assembly in 1972. For a period of time, between 1976 and 1981, all assemblies were dissolved due to legal restrictions. The 2001 census reported 1,211 Baháʼís, and since the 1990s the Baháʼí community of Nepal has been involved in a number of interfaith organizations including the Inter-religious Council of Nepal promoting peace in the country. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 4,300 Baháʼís in 2005.
Arzu Rana Deuba is a Nepali social worker, psychologist and politician, currently serving as a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Nepali Congress Party of Nepal. She had joined the NC in 1996 and was elected Central Committee member of the party since December 2021. In the 2022 Nepalese general election she was elected as a proportional representative from the Khas people category. She is the wife of former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Sushma Joshi is a Nepali writer, filmmaker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Her fiction and non-fiction deal with Nepal's civil conflict, as well as stories of globalization, migration and diaspora.
Rekha Thapa is a Nepalese film actress. She is considered one of the most successful actresses in Nepali cinema. She was a top ten finalist for Miss Nepal in the year 1999. She made her film debut two years later in Chhabiraj Ojha's Hero. She has appeared in approximately 200 Nepali films and rose to prominence in the Nepali film industry due to her glamorous role, which was novel to the traditional audience. She won the CG Digital Film Awards for Best Actress, and in 2011 she also won the NEFTA Film Awards for Best Actress.
Agroforestry, Basic Health, and Cooperative Nepal is a nonprofit, non governmental organisation working in Nepal that focuses on women's rights and works against human trafficking in Nepal. Created in 1987, ABC Nepal was among the first Non Governmental Organisations established in Nepal. It was registered soon after the introduction of Nepalese multiparty democracy in 1991. The president of the organisation is Durga Ghimire.
Prayas Nepal is a non-profit, non-governmental organization in Nepal. It is registered with the District Administrative Office of Kathmandu. Prayas Nepal aims to protect the rights of children and the underprivileged including orphans, women and elderly in Nepal by helping them to access essential services such as education and health care.
Radha Paudel is a Nepalese nurse, activist and writer. She won the Madan Puraskar for her memoir Khalangama Hamala. She has actively worked for raising awareness related to various women related issues.
Bibeksheel Nepali Dal is a political party in Nepal. The name "Bibeksheel" translates to "common sense wisdom".
Bipin Karki is a Nepalese film and theatre actor known for his work in Nepali cinema.
Kanchan Amatya is a Nepalese women's rights advocate, climate justice activist and social entrepreneur. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Sustainable Fish Farming Initiative (SFFI), a female-owned social enterprise working to fight hunger and poverty in Nepal by empowering women farmers in Nepalese rural villages through sustainable fish farming practices. She also currently serves as the UN Women's Global Champion for Women's Economic Empowerment and UN Zero Hunger Champion
Sonika Manandhar is a Nepali computer engineer and a social entrepreneur. She co-founded a fintech company named Aeloi Technologies, an organization that helps fund women micro-entrepreneurs using digital tokens. She received the award "Young Champions of the Earth" from the United Nations Environment Programme's in 2019 and the National Geographic Society 2020 Emerging Explorer.
The Bibeksheel Sajha Party is a political party in Nepal. It was the sixth largest party of Nepal by popular vote after 2017 Nepalese general election. Presently, its the fifth largest party in Bagmati provincial assembly.
Bhuwan Dhungana is a Nepali writer and poet. She is best known for her short story The Thousand Rupee Note which has also been translated into English and Urdu. Her first novel Parityakta was published in 2020.