Youth activists raise questions on social stigma

Published On: October 7, 2016 05:28 PM NPT By: Prasuma Rawal | @https://www.twitter.com/prashumafcb

KATHMANDU, Oct 7: Fifty youth activists gathered at Basantapur Durbar Square on Sunday displaying placards to raise their voice against the prevailing social stigmas in a question campaign. The photographs from the event were massively shared and retweeted on social media.

The activists were participants of the ‘50 Female Champions’ project, an initiative of We Inspire Nepal (WIN), an NGO based in Kathmandu.

According to WIN, the main objective of the campaign was to question the stereotypical mindset of people and raise awareness about gender equality.

It was a concept designed by the empowered females Keepa Maitri Tuladhar, Shailaja Kharel, Neshma Tuladhar and Rejima Thapa who envision a society that is cooperative and acceptable in every sense for the females in order to contribute to their growth in physiological, psychological and social perspectives of development.

Jointly sponsored by WIN and UNESCO, the ‘50 Female Champions’ is a yearly program where adolescent females from 20 districts of Nepal are selected on the basis of their potential and passion to contribute the communities with constructive changes. They undergo different skill based activities and psychological development trainings. After the completion of their grooming sessions, the young activists are motivated to organize different community based activities and awareness campaigns.

Though this is the first ’50 Female Champions’ organized program to go viral on social media, this year’s batch has already organized a Futsal tournament for girls titled ‘She Scores’ and a poetry competition, the organizers said. Their aim is to complete 17 more projects within this year.

“Our programs encourage youths to become the change maker in their own community. Though we are only restricted to 20 districts at the moment, we hope to expand our initiative throughout Nepal,” Santosh Pandey, program director of WIN, told Republica.

Since its launch in 2012, WIN has been actively working on several areas like health, education, good governance, entrepreneurship and behavioral change.