KATHMANDU, JUNE 6
Lawmakers and rights activists have stressed the need to address the issues of urban poor women with more sensitively and utmost priority.
Speaking at an interaction organised in Kathmandu today, Province Assembly member of Bagmati Bijya KC accused policymakers of overlooking the issues of urban poor women as they are considered to be residing in the city with full opportunities and facilities.
Joint-secretary at the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen Laxmi Basnet said the COVID-19 pandemic had revealed several loopholes in the approach and way of thinking about the urban poor community. "They had to face economic and social problems as they lost their livelihoods due to the lockdown during the pandemic," she added.
Chairperson of Saathi Sajani Amatya emphasised that urban poor women needed more opportunities to ensure their economic independence so that they could raisetheir voice and seek justice on their own in case they faced any violence and exploitation.
UN CEDAW Committee member Bandana Rana said, "Poverty debilitates the agency of women. Enhancing their capacity to speak up against violence or injustice, be it at home or in public, requires them to be economically empowered. It also requires effective functioning of the existing legal and redress mechanism." Rana further underscored the need of the corporate sector to come forward and leverage their resources in a bid to address social issues, especially for the welfare of people living at the edge, including marginalised and deprived sections of society.
The interaction was part of a project inception meeting.
Saathi and Asia Pacific International Spirits and Wines Alliance (APISWA) had jointly initiated intervention for empowering the urban poor women living in informal settlements.
Ravinder Saini, a representative from APISWA at the meeting, said, "We are honoured to be partnering with Saathi in this important programme that empowers marginalised and vulnerable women and girls in Nepal in all forms."
He further stated, "APISWA's experience in other markets where we have worked in collaboration with the government, civil society and private sectors to tackle harmful consumption has demonstrated that such targeted interventions can contribute to meet Nepal's policy goals for promotion of gender equality and we believe we have a role to play in supporting this agenda."
The pilot project is particularly focused on strengthening community response mechanisms in working against the barriers that hamper the advancement of women and girls as well as addressing all forms of discrimination and violence meted out to them. The organisers said the intervention would identify and mobilise change-makers for better impact of the project through furthering social mobilisation at the community level.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 7, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
