Thank you for all your support and donations to WACN’s work. With your help, over 300 women in rural Nepal this year have been able to change the course of their lives.

Maya Devi Sarki’s story is one of many from WACN that shows that when women are given an opportunity to earn their own income, they change not only their financial circumstances but also their role in Nepalese society.

Maya is a member of a savings and credit cooperative. She has 5 daughters and as a result was abused by her family for failing to deliver a son. She felt her future was bleak. However, a friend persuaded her to join the cooperative and after becoming a member she realized the importance of earning an income. By saving regularly she has been able to take out several loans ranging from NRs 5,000-15,000 and has paid them all back on time. She established a small business where she buys vegetables from her village and takes them to market to sell. She now earns NRs500 per day from this. She was even able to support a family member with their own business venture.

Maya is full of praise for the flexible way the loans are administered. The interest rates are very reasonable and allow her to borrow when she needs money so she doesn’t need to use her earnings as collateral. Her financial resources, financial stability and standards of living have broadened with each passing month. Maya is proud her work supports the people in her village. She enjoys her work very much and says she feels respected in her family and her community.

Maya’s story shows how women can be empowered through programs that involve women from the start and address their concerns. Before joining WACN, Maya had no control over or access to resources. Through the savings program, she now has both and is playing an active role in the community. But there is more still to be done. WACN has supplied us the details of their current activities and we have posted new project information here: http://globalgiving.org/projects/build-women-savings-and-credit-cooperatives-nepal , project ID #6053.

Links:

• WACN newest project on GlobalGiving

WACN works to empower women through a Savings and Credit Cooperative model. They assist a group of at least 5 women in one village to form these cooperatives. The women save money with the cooperatives and when there are sufficient funds it is possible for women to take a loan.

To be strong cooperative and ensure women can receive the full benefit of being part of cooperative, the women need to know how to run the cooperatives effectively. WACN organizes practical trainings for group members to learn how to keep accounts and manage loans. Since our last update 22 members of the Shree Kamala Devi Savings and Credit Cooperative from Padampur, Chitwan have participated in their first practical training.

The women were encouraged to voice their expectations and training objectives were consequently structured to address these concerns.

The training session covered: • The meaning and importance of different cooperative account topics • The materials needed for proper account keeping such as: day book, invoice, savings register, individual loan disbursement and repayment register, pass book, loan sheet, journal vouchers and assets, liabilities, income and expenditure account books • How to keep journals vouchers and other accounting methods • How to calculate interest on savings and loans • How to make a plan and conduct activities according to that plan • The role of debit and credit

At the end of training, participants were able to prepare receipts, calculate loan interest, savings and income, fill out a pass-book and expenditure account books.

A 4-day cooperative refresher training has also been accomplished for 10 members of the Makwanpur Cooperatives. Participants were pre-selected for the refresher as they had all previously completed cooperative education training.

Training included: • The importance of saving (the types and processes) • Loans: types, disbursement and repayment • Importance and principles of cooperatives • Duties and responsibilities of management, loan and account committees

Each participant was given a different topic and asked to facilitate classes. Now each of the 10 participants is able to confidently facilitate trainings on her own and is now able to share their information with their respective cooperatives.

By donating to WACN you are ensuring more women can benefit from participating in these cooperatives.

Thank you for your support.

On Tuesday, March 16, all donations up to $1,000 per donor, per project will be matched. Maximize your gift, have a greater impact. Donate on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. International Women's Day was this week, and to celebrate amazing and strong women, we wanted to share with you some of the great work going on at WACN. In their most recent report WACN highlighted key areas: Training on Women’s Rights WACN conducted a 3-day legal training session for 35 members of cooperatives. The training focused on the interests and expectations of the women. In particular they talked about the Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act, (enacted to reduce the number of women and girls forced into bonded labor). They also discussed the various forms of violence against women in Nepal. These included domestic, gender-based, physical, sexual, emotional, economic and psychological violence. Sadly, the many forms of violence against women in Nepal remain largely invisible. Women are often too ashamed to discuss or report it and often face further repercussions if they do so. This type of training begins to break down those barriers. In addition to details about domestic violence, women were given information on divorce, property rights and legal information concerning rape, marital rape, and abortion. Unfortunately, men did not attend any of the trainings. WACN is now strategizing as to how best to involve them in this dialogue in the future. Sustainable Agricultural Training In late December, WACN held a 4-day agricultural training for 25 members of 2 cooperatives. The goal was create awareness on the importance of soil management for sustainable agriculture. Participants were taught that sustainable soil management techniques make the best use of the land and also increase crop yields. The training was structured to build the skills and confidence of local women farmers. WACN also encouraged those women who attended the training to share the information with other farmers in the community. This type of training method has shown to be effective for women to improve their economic situation and encourage them to seek support from each other. The training included: • Composting • Using farmyard manure and urine for fertilizer • Organic pesticide preparation • Vegetable nursery management for production of vegetable seedlings • Dangers of soil erosion as this results in lower productivity and increased production costs from the excessive use of chemical fertilizers

Our latest update from field reports on a successful 4-day training on cooperative education.

Although 30 women of the Padampur area were expected to attend, 48 participants were present. Topics discussed included: • The importance of savings in the cooperative • Registration process of informal groups in the cooperative • Advantages and disadvantages of cooperative membership • Management and accounting skills • Duties and responsibilities of the members and management body of the cooperative • Key principles of cooperative society • Importance of the rules and bylaws in the cooperative • Importance of saving and its types • Importance of loan and process of taking loans

Additionally, monthly meetings of the management committee of the cooperative were conducted.

WACN also delivered 2 months of embroidery training to 10 members of the cooperative in collaboration with small cottage office in the district cooperative.

We hope you know how much an effect your support has on individual lives. Lives like Bimala, a 46 year old woman and WACN cooperative member.

Bimala Since becoming part of the cooperative, Bimala is able to save Rs 100 (US$1.30) per month for herself, and also save the same amount for each of her daughters, her daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. For income, she is raising a water buffalo. It produces 7 liters of milk per day. She keeps 1 liter (a little over 2 pints) for her family to drink and sells the rest to her neighbors for Rs 25 per liter.

Besides this, she is responsible for collecting money for the electricity bills in the village and travels to the district headquarters in order to pay them. "Being a member of the cooperative,” Bimala says, “I enjoy helping other fellow women and the people of my village.”

Sita Sita is another woman who has benefited from your support. Sita is 36 years old and has 2 daughters and 1 son. When she first joined, she took out a loan of of Rs 5,000 in order to raise goats. She is happy to report that she making her repayments on time. "The money lender charges 36% interest. In the cooperative, we receive a loan with a better rate of 15%,” says Sita. “It is easy to take a loan and do what we need with it." She added that she has also opened an account for her 2 daughters.

Her husband works as a welder, but her supplemental and steady income from raising goats means that now all three of her children are able to go to school. Sita says being a member of the cooperative has changed her family’s economic situation and she feels more empowered to make decisions for her family.

All donations to WACN’s project are being matched 1-to-1. Through the generosity of funding provided in memory of J. Philip Stapleton, your donation to WACN will be doubled today.

Our goal is to fully fund this project. Donate now and double your impact.

WACN organized a 5-day training on cooperative accounting. Financial literacy is a key component in the success of cooperatives so group members are encouraged to make the most of these workshops. 20 women from two cooperatives participated in the training.

The main objective of the training was to update the knowledge and skills necessary to maintain a transparent accounting system. This was accomplished by reinforcing accounting principles, terms and definitions.

The training began with an introduction, during which the session participants were provided different accounting terms on a piece of paper. They were asked to introduce themselves by referencing accounting terms.

Over the 5 days the women learned how to: • Implement good accounting systems • Use debit and credit rules • Double entry and single entry accounting • Prepare a balance sheet • Prepare profit and loss accounts • Deal with depreciation • Manage loan aging • Reconcile bank and ledger records

There was also plenty of time to discuss challenges faced by cooperative accountants

At the end of the training the participants were able to return to their cooperatives to implement a double entry bookkeeping system.

Donate now and double your impact.

Our goal is to fully fund this project. Donate now and double your impact.

From Jan 15 all of your donations to WACN’s project will be matched 1-to-1. Through the generosity of funding provided in memory of J. Philip Stapleton, WACN and two other Nepal projects will have their donations matched until $25,000 has been donated between the three groups.

Help us help more women like Banuhi.

Banuhi Chudhari is a member of Bachhuli Nari Chetna Kendra Savings and Credit Cooperative, in Bachhuli Village, Nepal. WACN helped with the formation of this group, provided critical training, and encouraged Banuhi every step of the way.

Banuhi struggled to get the cooperative going. She said, “Twelve years ago I heard that there was a program for women, I shared this information with other women in the village, but no one was interested.” A village elder advised her not to give up and introduced her to WACN. WACN encourage Banuhi to attend some training sessions and inspired her to pursue her dreams. Banuhi has never looked back.

Illiteracy was her biggest fear and caused her to lack confidence. As a result she found it very difficult to talk of her plans to her neighbors. But she persisted and managed to create enough interest in her village that there were sufficient women to form a group.

The next step was to open a bank account for the group. The nearest bank was an hour’s walk away. On arrival, her illiteracy created another setback, because she couldn’t sign her name the banker told her she needed some photos. Banuhi was directed to the nearest photo studio. With her portrait photos she was finally allowed to open their bank account. The cooperative was official at last!

Her village buzzed with rumors about the savings and credit group. No one thought it could be successful. All the money would surely be lost. How could they possibly hope to improve their economic situation this way?

Banuhi paid no attention to her critics. She could see the real changes in women’s lives. Her confidence was growing. The money was not being mishandled but directly helping women initiate changes in their lives and incomes.

Before starting the group Banuhi’s job was to raise goats for her landlords. She was allowed to keep half of the offspring as payment. Her first loan from the cooperative was for $38. She bought two female goats. They each give birth about twice a year and would normally have two baby goats. Banuhi sold the baby goats in her village. With the extra income Banuhi leased some land to grow rice.

Recently, after a decade of gradually increasing her income and saving money, Banuhi was able to buy some land of her own. Banuhi paid $382 for 5 kattha (0.17 hectares). Banuhi was very excited to acquire the deeds for her land. She plans on farming the land and she can also use it as collateral when she wants to borrow larger amounts from the cooperative.

The village critics were wrong. With a lot of determination and key support and training from WACN, the group has succeeded.

Help us help more women like Banuhi. Donate now and double your impact.

WACN conducted three days of training on sustainable agriculture and environmental awareness in two Nepali communities, training over 60 participants in Farm Yard Manure (FYM) fertilizers, compost preparation and management, vegetable production, and the importance of protecting the environment. Participants learned how to build sheds to preserve FYM and compost, to make organic bio-pesticides, and to cultivate and plant vegetable seedlings. WACN members with prior training as lead farmers utilized their skills and leadership capacity to act as resource people to all participants.

Members of the WACN-sponsored Hatia Cooperative successfully worked with the local utility company to introduce an innovative method to pay members’ electricity bill. The cooperative staff now collects and pays monthly electricity bills for all members, and if the bill is paid in advance of the due date, a discount is received and goes to the cooperatives. This not only saves member’s time and money, but also strengthens the collective.

Additionally, the Hatia cooperative formed a sub-committee to work for community protection from flood damage. With the support of WACN staff, the cooperative president established linkages with the Soil Erosion Department of the government, and conversations on protecting the village has begun.

From May 2 to May 4, 2008 WACN carried out a 3-day training on Cooperative Education, which was held at the training hall of the Community Forestry Building for the members of Nari Chetana Milijuli Saving and Credit Cooperative from the Hatia Village Development Committee (VDC). Altogether 35 women participated in this training. The main objective of this training was to make the group members understand the importance of cooperatives, its rules, regulation and working mechanism.

WACN began the training by sharing a historic background of cooperative and its origin and importance in Nepal. Following this session, WACN discussed about the importance of saving and its different forms of savings, important function of a cooperative, process of group formation and the role and responsibility of each cooperative member.

On the second day, sessions carried out were about the different types of cooperative, the principle of cooperative society and the role of members to advance the cooperative.

Finally, WACN offered training on the cooperative's social and economic role and its linkages with small groups of women. WACN emphasized that even after a cooperative has been registered it is important to continue to maintain a solid group foundation, which helps to make the cooperative strong. On the same day, WACN discussed about emerging challenges that could come up throughout this process. During the feedback session participants expressed that the training was very useful to lead the cooperative in the right track. From May 6 to May 8, 2008, a similar training on cooperative education was conducted for the members of Nari Chetana Agarbatti Utpadak Sahakari Ltd., another cooperative located from the Chucchakhol VDC. Altogether 29 women participated in the training. Field Coordinator Sakuntala Giri and Program Officer Srijana Poudel facilitated this training.

In January 2008 Yael Falicov, IDEX’s Director of Programs, visited three savings and credit cooperatives affiliated with WACN in rural Nepal.

To date, WACN has helped developed 35 cooperatives with over $2.5 million dollars of capital in circulation. WACN works with each cooperative for five years. In the first two years, WACN staff helps women start their own savings and credit groups in each village, brings them together and gets them legally registered as a cooperative. For the next three years, WACN staff provides follow-up support as needed, and typically by the sixth year the cooperative is functioning completely independently, without any need for outside funds.

Each cooperative has approximately 200 members and includes groups in 9 communities. The local women administer the cooperative themselves, and provide training to the members on financial literacy and income-generating skills. Each member has a savings account that accumulates with 10% interest, and can be withdrawn after a certain number of years. They also qualify to receive one-year loans that are used for agriculture, livestock, opening small stores, building fishponds and other income-generating activities.

A typical example is Sabitri Timilsina, a middle-aged woman who doesn't have enough land to grow food. She eventually built up enough loan capital to buy 4 buffalo, and now sells 80 pints of buffalo milk per day. She makes even more money selling the manure, and has enough left over to run her own mini-biogas plant. This innovation, built with training and technical support from WACN, converts the methane from the manure into fuel, which is piped into her home to power a gas burner.

The structure of the cooperative empowers women financially, but also allows them to come together around many other issues. One cooperative in Kavre grew so powerful that the leaders took over the local 'forest users group' - the committee of locals who work with the government to manage the forest. When a group of wealthy landowners appropriated the forest for their own use, the women rose up in protest. The leaders of the cooperative were arrested, but they convinced the police of their cause and were immediately released, at which point they marched to the local government office to protest. They filed two lawsuits and eventually prevailed, saving the forest from destruction.

Training on Incense Production Incense production is an attractive income-generating activity for women because they can produce it inside their homes, and they can profit from the production with a relatively modest investment of labor. This year, WACN provided a five-day training on business planning to enable cooperative members to prepare a business plan to establish a microenterprise producing incense sticks for sale in local communities.

Twenty-one women participated in this workshop, facilitated by staff members from the Business Development Resource Center, Nepal. • Areas of training included: • How to identify the local target market • How to deliver this product to local communities • How to provide good service quality to customers • How to manage a well-run microenterprise • Risks involved in managing a microenterprise

During the training participants were divided into three groups in which they created a business plan together to present to the other groups.

WACN has authorized microcredit loans to two cooperatives in the Makwanpur district, Nepal. After meetings and discussion with the women members of the Village Development Committees (VDCs) NRs.70,000 (US$1,030) was provided to Shree Nari Chetana Milijuli Saving and Credit Cooperative Ltd. of Hatia VDC and NRs.30,000 (US$440) was provided to Nari Chetana Agarbatti Cooperative Ltd. of Chucchakhola VDC.

The fund is being mobilized as loans to its members for a variety of income generation activities. Most of the loan is disbursed for the following income-generating projects: • Goat raising • Buffalo raising • Agricultural activities • Incense making • Small petty goods

The increased income will allow the women to improve the nutrition and health of their families.

The informal women’s group of Hatia Village Development Committee (VDC) has been registered as “Nari Chetana Milijuli Saving and Credit Cooperative Ltd.” at the District Cooperative Office in Makwanpur district of Nepal. At present, 92 women are shareholders of the cooperative. The informal savings groups of women have now been legalized and are now established as a local legal entity.

After registration, the cooperative was provided with materials (stationary) support as required to maintain proper and transparent accounting system of the cooperative.

WACN has facilitated a three-day training on Saving and Credit Mobilization that was held at the training hall of the Community Forest Hall Building from 28th -30th Chaitra 2063 (11th -13th April 2007) for the first group and from 1st -3rd Baishak 2064 (14th -16th April 2007) for the second group. All together 64 participants participated in both trainings. The main objective of this training was to impart knowledge about the groups’ concepts and to develop the habit of savings for effective mobilization. In the training participants were taught about the advantages of group savings and the value of team-work. They also discussed topics such as types of saving, saving mobilization, process of group formation, loan disbursement and repayment method, roles and responsibility of management body etc. This training helped the participants to conduct group meetings and to collect savings in the cooperatives office.

WACN, Makwanpur District of Nepal

Background This project is being implemented in Chucchakhola VDC, Hatuda municipality by Women Awareness Center Nepal (WACN) since 2004. The aim is to strengthen the cooperative, increase management capacity of the members, and ultimately improve the economic position of the shareholders. The Shree Nari Chetna Agarbatti Utpadak Cooperative Limited consists of 176 shareholders who, in addition to partaking in coop management, have participated in income generation activities (incense stick production, embroidery, food processing) and sustainable agriculture practices. The members have $2,505 in savings in total. From those funds, $4,400 in loans has been issued so far to more than 40 members. The loan is used for agriculture purposes, livestock purchases, small trade, and emergencies.

Activities conducted by WACN 1. Institution building 2. Training on incense production 3. Creation of a revolving credit fund 4. Training on sustainable agriculture

A) Cooperative Growth and Finances

Institutional Growth WACN’s experience with women's cooperative in other parts of the country has shown that women, once trained, can employ their new skills in running the cooperatives efficiently and effectively, and that they will attract more women. More members translates into greater savings and loans. Year 4 corresponds to anticipated growth in membership for the period May 2006 – April 2007.

Priorities of coop membership • Improve operating mechanisms for organized, effective management • Make a good name for the coop and earn goodwill of the people • Provide training focused on the skills and human resource development since most women are from rural areas and not highly educated

Revolving Fund Women are interested in running income-generating activities individually or in groups so that they become financially independent. Priority is given to proposals for loans that are directly or indirectly related to agriculture or livestock rearing (goat and buffalo raising). Apart from incense production, vegetable growing/selling, sewing and knitting are other income generating activities that women indicate interest in starting.

Cumulative since 4/29/04 Cooperative registration date - 29 April 2004 Savings rate per member, per month - $0.68 to $1.25 Interest on savings - 10% Interest on loan - 15% Number of shareholders - 176 (36 new members in one year) Total credit received from outside sources (IDEX)- $690 Women who received loan - 40 Total share amount - $425 Savings collected - $2,505 Child savings - $100 Total loan disbursement to date $4,442 # Of members who have withdrawn their savings - 17 members B) Income-Generating Training Agriculture Training was provided on sustainable soil management to control the use of harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers and encourage women to adopt sustainable soil management. Areas of training: • Farm yard manure • Composting • Agro-forestry – grasses control erosion/ for cattle) • Organic pesticide (cattle urine, herbs) • Vegetable production, legume production

Training on incense production Nepalese are generally very religious and it is customary among Hindus to starts their day by worshiping and praying to gods using incense. As such, there is considerable demand for incense. Incense production is an attractive income-generating activity for women because they can produce it inside their homes and they can profit from the production with relatively modest investment of labor. • 22 women from this cooperative are running the incense production activity. • The executive committee purchases raw material and distribute to members who make the sticks at home. • Almost all the incense is locally consumed. • The cost of production per Kg is $2.75 and the selling price is $5/Kg. The required raw material is locally available (local herbs), but the perfume oil has to be purchased from Katmandu or the nearest city. • No outside workers or middlemen are involved in the whole process.

Activities carried out

Training on capacity-building

Cooperative Education Training: 3-day cooperative management training for 30 women. The issues addressed were rules and services associated with participation, cooperative concepts and principles, savings mobilization, and credit management.

Bookkeeping: The training was organized for leaders of the cooperative to members maintain transparent and accurate accounting systems. The training was very practical and dealt with the importance of accounting, record keeping and procedures

Savings mobilization and credit training: The topics covered were types of saving, saving mobilization, process of group formation, loan disbursement and repayment method, roles and responsibilities of management body etc. 58 women attended the training.

Income generating activities One of the focus activities of the cooperative is incense production, which requires small amounts of capital. The cost of production per Kg is $2.6 and the selling price is $5.3 per Kg. The raw material is locally available (local herbs) and only perfume oil has to be purchased from Kathmandu or the nearest city. No outside workers or middlemen are involved in the process allowing the women to maximize their profits.

Cooperative members have taken loans for income generating activities such as incense production, chicken rearing, tailoring, and vegetable cultivation. Many of them earned measurable increases in income and promptly repaid the loans.

The cooperative has started a child saving program to help families save for their children's education.

Some members of the cooperative have taken loans for farming and horticulture using the sustainable practices taught by WACN.

• WACN Complete Update April 2006 (DOC)