National Indigenous Women Forum works with Indigenous women and girls across Nepal to empower and support them in securing their rights and addressing the root causes of their oppression through advocacy, training, research, and more.
National Indigenous Women Forum advances the self-sufficiency of Indigenous women and girls in Nepal, supporting them in developing skills, gaining an education, and building sustainable sources of income.
The National Indigenous Women Forum’s projects include:
Sustainable and climate-resilient farming
English language and computer classes for Indigenous Bankariya children
Fostering intergenerational knowledge-sharing between Indigenous women and girls
Indigenous women and girls in Nepal face racial, linguistic, religious, cultural, economic, and political discrimination and exclusion, as well as gender discrimination. Moreover, Nepal is exceedingly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis due to its high altitudes, diverse terrain, and weather variability. Unstable monsoons, flooding, landslides, and food shortages are just some of the climate disasters the country faces.
Nepal’s government requires that people possess a citizenship certificate to access COVID-19 aid — something that many Indigenous women, girls, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ people, and elderly and poor people lack due to barriers in accessing government institutions. The National Indigenous Women Forum has worked closely with local governments in Nepal to ensure aid is delivered to marginalized communities despite barriers like this.
View the campaignWith MADRE’s support, the National Indigenous Women’s Forum ensures that Indigenous women are trained and resourced to adapt their farming techniques to preserve and promote Indigenous practices that protect the land from harmful chemicals.
View the campaignThe National Indigenous Women’s Forum is advocating at the international and national levels for the full recognition and inclusion of Indigenous women and girls in Nepal’s constitution.
With MADRE, the group won United Nations support for their call to amend the constitution to explicitly recognize the rights of Indigenous women and girls.
Fighting for constitutional protections
“Because of Mother Earth and our ancestors, we are alive and enjoying awesome nature. Now Mother Earth is getting sick, so we need to save her. The only way to save Mother Earth is to respect Indigenous Peoples’ collective way of life, which is connected closely to land, territory, and resources.”
Yasso Bhattachan Founding Member and Vice Chair, National Indigenous Women’s Forum
The National Indigenous Women Forum is working with Bankariya women and girls to advance their community’s efforts to obtain titles to their ancestral homelands in Nepal.
They provide advocacy training to Bankariya women and girls.
They’re connecting Bankariya advocates with local and national government.
YOUR SUPPORT IN ACTION
With our partners at the National Indigenous Women’s Forum, MADRE supported a Indigenous women leaders in producing a report to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women highlighting the Nepalese government’s failure to recognize their needs. Together, we secured 15 recommendations from the convention to the Nepalese government.
SUPPORT OUR WORKSantoshi has been quite the role model for adolescent girls in Bankaria community of Hetauda.
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