Clean water and toilets through women’s group

Unity creates strength and the possibility to make changes. That is the experience for the women in Deurali after formation of a women’s group.

Members from Mahila Technician Sewa Sahayog Samuha Photo by Malene Lærke

On the 8^th day in every month the 61 women in the women’s group in Deurali, Sikurdada in Palpa district meet to clean the roads in the village. They collect all the plastic and make small bonfires on the side of the roads.

“Our role is to make sure there is a clean water environment in the village. We need to do it to have a good health and so we don’t get infections,” says Hema Kumari Chapagai, chairman of Sahanshil Mahila Technician Sewa Sahayog Samuha in wards no. 6 and 7. She has completed a non-formal literacy class through MS partner SRDC together with the other women in the group.  

“We learned to write our signature and now we have become literate. We also learned why a women’s group is necessary, how to keep the village clean and about clean water and sanitation,” explains group member Jasudha Saru.

The group has existed for one year and the training from SRDC was decisive for the formation of the group. Through the training they learned the importance of working together to make a difference in their community. At the training they decided to meet monthly, to keep the community clean and to save up five rupees each every month. The collected money provides loans for the group in the time of need. The group has also built 75 toilets in the community that consist of Kumals, Dalits and Brahmins.

“I am also a community health volunteer and in the past I often tried to unite the women in the community and make them understand how important it is that we work together to make a change. But I did not succeed until after the training where all the women in the community learned why it is so important to work together. Today it is easy to motivate them. They all believe they can change things here in the community. The training made the big difference for us,” tells Hema Kumari Chapagai.

Photo by Malene Lærke

“One main thing we learned at the training that made us able to do what we are doing today is that we developed the confidence to talk to another person and share our opinion. We could not do that before. Today we are a group of women who can do the hard work together. We need a group to be united,” adds Jasudha Saru.

The women group has many working areas. They see themselves as having a meditative role in the community.

“We will actively try to solve any disputes and problems in the community. That is our commitment,” states Jasudha Saru.

Recently a man in the village was often shouting dirty words after a woman blaming her about her character. The women group gathered and they made an agreement with the man that he should not use these kinds of words.

The women group is also active making development in the village happen. The women go together to houses in the village and demand to people that they build toilets. The women have also been the driving force in collecting money for the water project in the village. Out of the total cost of 12 lakh the village had to pay 5.5 percent of the money. The rest would be given by SRDC.

“Many were reluctant to pay the money so we were motivated by SRDC to go to each family to collect the money and we succeeded,” says secretary Papitdra Bandar.