Women Lead Nepal where Claire works as the Executive Director, has been training girls from various schools around the Valley on issues such as human rights and conflict resolution, personal and professional skills such as goal setting, teamwork, public speaking and leadership experiences and support networks. [break]
“I have been here for 20 years and also during my four years stay in Jarjarkot, I have been inspired by several Nepali women that I met and have always been passionate about serving Nepal’s development,” informs Claire.
With the desire to help women have a clearer picture of the social scenario and challenges in Nepal in order to make decisions for themselves and contribute significantly in all spheres as much as men do, Claire along with two other partners started the organization in 2010.
“We are getting acquainted with office culture and staff experience. Personally, I feel that I’m often not given the deserved respect and credit for what I have been doing here. The stereotype of underestimating women has to be broken by the women themselves,” says Claire.
Admitting that it is a rather bold step to start an organization as theirs’ especially in a country like Nepal which is still very patriarchal and corruption and gender base discrimination still exists.
In a short span of two years, Claire and her partners, through their programs and work experiences have learnt about the several developments and challenges faced by women here and are working towards capacity building of young girls to have their own standing in the society.
Some of the organization’s trainees have started small initiations at schools and communities in the areas of child and mother health issues and underage domestic servants.
Some also participate in school leadership along with mentoring their colleagues and sisters. “I believe these are the true role models to look up to,” adds Claire. Till date Women Lead Nepal has trained 64 girls in total and 140 students under their School Leadership Program.
One of the challenges that the organization has had to face is to fight the feminist and sexist tag for the work that they do. “The coordinators and principals of the schools and colleges that we work with think I’m a feminist. They hesitate to send their students to us pointing out that we are being gender bias,” explains Claire.
She further adds, “This reflects the leadership crisis in Nepal. We have now started including boys in our programs so that they also acknowledge the state of the women in their society. For instance, if they know how their colleagues feel about eve teasing, they will get only through collaboration of both genders through mutual understanding and compassion for each other.
However, Claire is quick to point out that though organizations such as Women Lead Nepal have been actively helping to raise the standards of women in society, the work of one organization in isolation will not change things. “A developed and happy society will only be based on the women taking ownership of their work and speaking out for equality,” shares Claire.
Pointing out that our academic curriculum lacks examples of Nepali women who have achieved great heights in their personal and professional career, she shares an experience of a workshop where all the participants wrote essays on Florence Nightingale when asked to write about a woman who inspires them.
“The achievements of Nepali women aren’t written or taught to these kids, hence they don’t know about the great examples within Nepal,” she says.
Stressing on the fact that Women Lead Nepal is a relatively new and constantly evolving organization, Claire and her partners hope to divert resources to invest hugely in the helping create an equal and inclusive future generation of Nepal.
“Yes, this is a patriarchal society but that doesn’t mean girls or women have to feel inferior. A developed and happy society will only be based on the women taking ownership of their work and speak out for equality,” adds Claire.
For further information visit www.women-lead.org
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