Continuity

Continuity is the beauty of the Women's Development Programme. In Kaskikot Village of Kaski, for instance, sisters still operate, on their own, the 17 child-weighing centres that were started under the UNICEF/NORAD-assisted Decentralized Action for Women and Children Project which phased out in 20… . Cases such as this are rare, of course. But unless there are real difficulties, good practices, once initiated, are there to stay for many days to come. It seems as though empowerment and continuity go together.

In the process of empowerment women learn to organize themselves into a co-operative, to run common business services and to generate surplus for funding free services they are in need of. Today, just as women are organized, so, too, are the activities they do. The following are institutions in the making:

 

Target

Progress

Progress %

Neighborly groups

755,813

183,596

24.29

Ward-level Communities

30,795

22,858

74.22

Village-level co-operatives

 

     
  • Registered

3,157

1,828

57.90

  • Unregistered

194

194

100

Thus the village-level co-operatives are the flagship of the programme. It is envisaged that every Village will have a women's co-operative which is:

  • helpful to members in earning a living;
  • a promoter of the norms of business;
  • a synonym of self-help;
  • a force for social change;
  • a security guard of women;
  • a follower of the principles of Co-operation; and
  • a convenient forum for participation.