Sahayog Himalaya-Nepal

We had initially agreed to co-operate with HimalAsia. HimalAsia had put the Nepalese NGO Sahayog Himalaya-Nepal in charge of implementing the project. However, during our joint project visit in August/September 2007 we soon realised that direct and exclusive co-operation with Sahayog Himalaya-Nepal was more appropriate. Following approval by HimalAsia and the board of Esel-Initiative, a new agreement on co-operation was concluded.

Sahayog Himalaya-Nepal was founded in 2005 by Laxmi Gauchan. It is a registered NGO. Laxmi Gauchan continues in her position as chairperson and is personally supervising the project of Esel-Initiative. She was born in Mustang and is living and working there and in Kathmandu. A mother of two grown up children, she has many years of experience as a social worker and has been actively committed to the education of girls from poor families long before the founding of Sahayog Himalaya-Nepal.

Sahayog Himalaya-Nepal works to sustain the poor through education of girls and women, income-generating measures for poor women, promotion of hygiene and health, cultivation of vegetables and medicinal plants and protection of the environment. The seabuckthorn project in Mustang was started by Laxmi Gauchan. She organises training, collection and processing of the harvest etc.

Sahayog Himalaya-Nepal is relatively small since only persons who successfully worked for it over several years on a voluntary basis are accepted as members. Among other activities, Sahayog Himalaya-Nepal works closely with mothers' co-operatives, which in many Himalayan villages are the driving force behind sustainable development. As this NGO has a very good network, especially in the Himalayan districts, it is well able and prepared to implement the project in the entire mountain region and - if donations increase - also in other poor regions of Nepal.

The National Union of Eritrean Women

The National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW) was founded in 1979 by Eritrean women's movements from both inside EPLF-controlled territory and other countries.

It was a mass movement of the EPLF and advanced women mainly in health and education issues.

After the war, the Union formally separated from the EPLF and spread its activities across the country creating a network of provincial offices and contact persons in villages. The leadership of the organization is made up of former women fighters.

Today, the Union is the most active proponent of women's rights in Eritrea. It attempts to promote the participation of women in decision making processes, and represents women's interests towards the government as well as the traditionally male-dominated population in issues of family and property rights, education and health services, and protection from Female Genital Mutilation.

Since women are particularly affected by the extreme post-war poverty and are very often single parents, the Union, by various means, tries to provide women with possibilities to make their own living. One of the ways is by granting micro-credits, but the poorest women stay away from those as well, fearing that the slightest risk will jeopardize their existence.