Engaging girls in education in Nepal
In this month’s update, we’re hearing from Nitin, a fellow VSO volunteer from Nepal. Nitin works with girls in rural communities who are in danger of dropping out of school and entering early marriage.
January's featured volunteer
Namaste! My name is Raj Karki. I’m volunteering as a Diffusion Advisor on VSO’s Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response project in Nepal. I’m looking forward to keeping you up to date with how we’re getting on and how your support is making a lasting difference to the lives of women and girls here.
I’m delighted to be volunteering with VSO and to have the opportunity to share my experiences with you all. I’ve been in my role of Diffusion Advisor for just over a year, which has given me loads of opportunities to learn and grow, as well as use the knowledge I’ve gained over the years. Thank you for standing with me and helping to make a positive impact in my home country.
It is unacceptable that more than one in four women in Nepal experience gender-based violence in their lifetime. With your support, my colleagues and I are leading a range of prevention activities to stop violence against women and girls here. We’re doing this by running interactive sessions with couples, families, community groups and leaders to challenge social norms that value men and boys over women and girls. Working alongside other organisations, we’re part of an incredible movement to create long-lasting change.
January '24 volunteer update
Suraj Shakya
I'm Nitin - a VSO educational expert working here in Nepal. Raj Karki is my colleague - and friend - here in VSO's Kathmandu office. I'm delighted to share with you how your regular gifts are helping girls build brighter futures by getting the education they deserve.
In rural areas of my country, girls from poor families are forced to leave school early without completing their education. Families in these areas don’t have a stable income, meaning the cost of school resources such as uniforms, pens and notebooks is too high. In these areas, girls’ education often isn’t valued, so many families will keep their daughters out of school to reduce the financial burden.
The next step for many of these girls, is early marriage.
Despite laws to protect them, 33% of Nepali girls are married before their 18th birthday and 8% are married before the age of 15.1 It’s not their choice. It’s not right.
Girls who are bright, ambitious and eager to learn are trapped in early marriages and are more vulnerable to the danger of gender-based violence and discrimination. Once trapped in marriage, many are forced to stay at home to shoulder the workload of household chores or denied rest. Unfortunately, in some rare and more extreme cases, some girls have told me they’ve been forced to practice chaupadi (an outlawed tradition where women and girls are banned from their homes while on their periods).
Suraj Shakya
In my work in Nepal, we have a goal to create change for a whole generation of girls. As a volunteer, I help girls who have dropped out of education early get back into school. A large part of my role is training Big Sisters - these are older girls in the community who have successfully completed their education.
My expertise lies in inclusive education and gender-based violence prevention, so I train Big Sisters in these areas. Once fully trained, I match them with younger out-of-school girls so they can mentor them and ensure they stay in school and learn. We also pass this knowledge onto families of out-of-school girls to teach them about the dangers of child marriage, and the value of giving their daughters access to education.
The power of people is amazing, and volunteering for VSO makes me realise how important our network of changemakers is.
I'd like to thank Raj for giving me the opportunity to get in touch with you this month. I've really enjoyed giving you an insight into the incredible work going on around Nepal. You'll hear from Raj again next month but please feel free to say hello or ask a question about the project below.
Best wishes,
Nitin
VSO volunteer, Nepal
Footnotes
Want to ask a question?
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Your latest questions answered
Good luck in your exams and thank you for all your hard work with VSO.
Raj
Hello Joe and Avril,
Thank you very much for the wishes. I am glad we have supporters like you who are helping VSO to lift people up from difficult situations.
Thank you very much for the wishes. I am glad we have supporters like you who are helping VSO to lift people up from difficult situations.
With so many problems in the world, it’s a positive ray of light to hear of your good work.
Raj
Hello Mark,
Thank you very much for such motivating words. We can’t climb the whole mountain at once, we just need to take one step at a time. If we keep doing our best, I hope one day the positive ray of light will certainly spread throughout the world.
Thank you very much for such motivating words. We can’t climb the whole mountain at once, we just need to take one step at a time. If we keep doing our best, I hope one day the positive ray of light will certainly spread throughout the world.
I would like to know how you persuade others to be more accepting of the lower castes?
Raj
Hello Richard,
Thank you for asking that question. Currently, Nepal has law which strictly forbade discrimination based on caste. Similarly, there are agencies and advocate groups who are raising awareness against caste-based discrimination, and this has resulted more and more people being aware and (many so called lower caste people) fighting against the instances of injustice and discrimination.
In the case of youth like me, we try to lead by example, first we don’t discriminate based on caste and we don’t follow discriminatory traditions. In the community, we raise awareness among people about the strict laws against caste-based discrimination as well as try to make them reflective about their behavior (like how they would feel if they had been discriminated based on their castes?). I hope I answered your question.
Thank you for asking that question. Currently, Nepal has law which strictly forbade discrimination based on caste. Similarly, there are agencies and advocate groups who are raising awareness against caste-based discrimination, and this has resulted more and more people being aware and (many so called lower caste people) fighting against the instances of injustice and discrimination.
In the case of youth like me, we try to lead by example, first we don’t discriminate based on caste and we don’t follow discriminatory traditions. In the community, we raise awareness among people about the strict laws against caste-based discrimination as well as try to make them reflective about their behavior (like how they would feel if they had been discriminated based on their castes?). I hope I answered your question.
Did you know?
We bring about lasting change not by sending aid, but by working through volunteers to empower communities in some of the world’s poorest regions. You can read more about VSO’s areas of work and discover more about our projects here.
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