Nepal

In 1997, the Women’s Empowerment Program (WEP) began delivering a package of literacy, savings, credit, microenterprise, and microfinance to a target population of over 120,000 rural women in 21 Nepal’s Terai districts. The project was carried out by Pact, its NGO partner ECTA, The Asia Foundation, and a network of local NGOs at the district level.

By 1999 Pact introduced its new action-oriented curriculum, Women in Business, to 125,000 women in 6,000 economic groups through over 100 field staff and 245 indigenous organizations. Approximately 1,500 of the 6,000 groups, with 35,000 members, received additional training to become informal-sector Village Banks (VBs). By the end of USAID’s funding for WEP, now known as WORTH, in September 2001, the program had achieved some remarkable results, including more than doubling the women’s savings from USD 720,000 to USD 1,800,000, tripling the number of women who can read and write and quadrupling the number of women in business from 19,000 to 86,000.

When Pact’s formal program support ended in 2001, WORTH groups, including VBs, were left entirely on their own. Shortly thereafter a Maoist insurgency plunged the country into civil war.

In 2006, the insurgency began to subside and Pact commissioned a research study to determine if any of the 1,500 VBs still existed, and, if so, how they were faring as community banks and vehicles of change. The study was also to determine how WORTH affected women’s ability to create wealth, generate new incomes, and tackle broader issues, such as domestic abuse and community development.

In fact, six years after the WORTH program ended, Pact found Village Banks still thriving, with intensified banking activity and slightly growing, stable membership.

Four overarching findings are seminal:

• Sustainability: 64% of the original village banks (983), with more than 25,000 members, were still active in 2007.
• Replication: 25% of these groups have helped start an estimated 425 new groups involving another 11,000 women.
• Wealth creation: In 2007, a VB held an average of over $3,100, triple its holdings in 2001. In 1999, a woman may have struggled to amass her required savings of around 15 cents per week, but in 2007 she had an equity stake averaging nearly $116.
• Literacy: Because of WORTH, 97% of respondents reported that literacy is ‘very important’ to their lives, 83% were able to send more of their children to school and 54% could read and write simple texts, compared to 40% prior to WORTH.

The research findings also showed a significant broader impact on families and communities

• Empowerment against domestic disputes and violence: Village bankers have played an important role in community after community in addressing the endemic issue of domestic violence in Nepal.
  • 66% of groups reported that members bring their personal or family problems to the group for advice or help
  • Of these, 77% reported helping members deal with issues of domestic disputes and related problems
  • 43% of women reported that their degree of freedom from domestic violence has changed because of their membership in a WORTH group
  • 10% reported that WORTH has actually helped ‘change their life’ because of its impact on domestic violence
• Community action and social campaigns: Bank members have become leaders in their communities. More than 95% of Village Banks groups had undertaken social action of some kind, and more than 80% an infrastructure initiative of some kind.
  • 47% of members said that being part of WORTH has helped them cope with the Maoist crisis and collapse of governance in Nepal
  • 77% of groups have helped others in their community, with 41% providing emergency assistance
  • 51% were active in efforts to reduce discrimination in their communities through campaigns
  • 50% used part of the group fund for social or charitable purposes
  • 40% worked on such projects as the construction and maintenance of roads, culverts, bridges and street lights
  • 36% built temples, guesthouses or public facilities such as bus stops or rest areas.

For more information on the Nepal program research findings, please see the report, The WORTH Program in Nepal: Empowerment through Literacy, Banking and Business  1999 - 2007 (PDF)