Build your village with hoe and spade

The Muslim women of Banke's Udharapur ward no. 3 Rajnawa village who were once involved in daily household business have begun a "make your village by yourself" initiative. They have cleaned up the 2 km long gutter in their village and with Rs. 40,000 from the VDC they graveled the village road.

The women who formed their group only 6 months ago, were inspired by an interactive seminar organized by CWD (community women’s development) about ‘women's access to local authorities’. The programme informed the participants about how much of the VDC budget is allocated for what work and how the money can be accessed.  

The programme also discussed other major themes in line with the vision of local democracy eg. the need for women to be present in their society and the need for an increment in women’s representation in local bodies The key questions were "To what extent are we responsible for our village?" and "How much ownership do we have?"

Lastly the seminar presented a guest from the local school management committee who explained how dirty the peripheral area of the local school was, the gutter used as a toilet and so on.

This made the women feel ashamed, as their village gutter suffers from the same problems. “We should clean up, with no need of cost” were their response.

The Women group meet at least monthly

So once the Muslim women of Udharapur had understood that they have the responsibility to take action, and build their village by themselves with hoe and spade and that they are entitled to government support they began their quest.

They hired an external person to write a proposal for the VDC which then granted them 40.000 nrp., then they cleaned the gutter by themselves and bought new gravel from an outside supplier. “The road we had was a real problem. It was so muddy and difficult to use when we were going to the field”, they explain.

Cleaning drains with foreign assistance

When the women group in the neighboring village in ward no. 4 heard about the success of the group in ward no. 3, they got angry as they thought that the women had received money from a foreign donor in an in-transparent way. But CWD stepped in, mediated and explained and the women from ward no. 3. presented their budget. So finally the women from the other village decided to do the same thing in their village. So after that, the drains of ward no. 4 were also cleaned. And the women from this ward even invited representatives from CWD to observe their constructive works.

  “The programme was very good. We want to do more in the future, with the assistance of CWD”, Israt Khatun the secretary of group in ward no. 3 says.  The future plan of the group is the apply for toilet-rings from the VDC and built real toilets in the village. A second wish is to get land certificates for the land they till.

Devmaya from CWD advices Ishrat Khartoum and her fellow group members

This story show that even new groups can achieve development assistance from the government when they unite and put in some work even if they meet challenges on the way, it is our wish and belief that come election time they will also be ready to stand for election and they will be well known in their communities for their active community participation.