Progress Report – September 2013

Progress Report – September 2013

 The Girl’s Education Project

 By

‘Nepal Village Foundation’ in Partnership with ‘Hamro Samaj Nepal’

Report summary

This progress report reports on the main activities that were carried out in the year and are related to the girls’ education project. It does, by briefly highlighting the importance of the project, its location and aims and objectives. Thirty six girls are in school through this project in this year. Some of them are directly through the girls’ education support scheme and some are through the awareness raising activities. This project is playing a significant role for the advancement of girls’ education in the village and these are highlighted in page five of this report. £30 brings a girl in schooling for a year in this context. So considering all the benefits to educate a girl, investing in girls’ education is one of the best long term investments for a society.

Project overview;

The wider goal of this project is to improve the literacy level in the rural villages of Nepal. Our finding suggests that only one in five rural women is literate and the girls are forced into marriage in their teens. The finding also suggests that children of educated mothers are more likely to get an education and this leads to better social and economical status of the families.

Project location- VDC Bhagawatpur, Saptari District, Nepal: – Bhagawatpur is a VDC in an eastern development region with 1100 households and a population of approximately 6000 in which roughly 330 households are Dalits. There are two primary schools and one secondary school to accommodate, approximately 1800 school age children in the village.  An average life expectancy in Nepal is around 65 years but this can be as low 52 years in the rural areas and Bhagawatpur falls in rural area.

 Aims and objective of this project;

The main aim of the project is to improve the female literacy levels, particularly of the poor and / or from Dallits communities in rural Nepal.

Objectives;

• Raising      awareness about importance of girl’s education through family visit and      street drama
• Provide      support to the girls who are from the poorest and/or Dalits families and      struggling to maintain schooling costs
• Support      the local people with skills by contracting them for uniform making, shoe      making and stationary supply, which will create further livelihood      opportunities
• Develop      relationships with local government authority, schools, teachers, parents      & locals to improve the schooling environment to motivate more girls      in schooling

The main project activities carried out in the period;

1. There are twenty five girls in the scheme to whom we provided study materials, school fees and uniforms. Outreach workers make monthly visit to the schools and the families whose daughters are in the scheme to obtain data, such as school attendance. Names of these girls and their school attendance records are as follow;

1. Outreach workers make weekly visit to the families whose girls are not attending school. The main purpose of this visit is to raising awareness about importance of girl’s education among parents. At least, eleven additional girls have started their schooling through this persuading and motivation activity.

1. To raise further awareness about the importance of girls’ education through street drama, a small group has been formed. This group will write the drama and perform in various villages.

1. Creating livelihood opportunities- Through this project we are supporting three families to make a living in the village. They provide stationary, uniform and shoes to the girls in the scheme. These families are now being able to afford an education for their children too.

Analysis and challenges;

Without our support the twenty five girls would have been unable to continue their education and the additional eleven girls will not have started their schooling. Every additional year of schooling makes a huge different in the life of these girls and it directly impacts on their personal career, family health, economic and social status.

Girls’ school attendance is pretty good considering the on going long, political turmoil in the country. However, motivating parents towards their daughter’s education, and girls’ school drop out at their teens, are still major issues. Hopefully, the group of people who are currently in the process of writing the street drama will be able to overcome these issues to some extent.

This project has also created new jobs and accelerated the local economic activities in the village through increased numbers of pupils in schooling and by purchasing study materials and uniform. A huge 46% unemployment rate, political instability and insufficient infrastructure, economic activities in the country are stagnated. In such circumstances, creating new jobs and livelihood opportunities in villages are vital.

Statement of expenditure;

 Some photos from the project;

End of the report

Nepal Village Foundation, UK [www.nvf.org.uk]

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