CARE in Nepal

Eight in ten people live in Nepal's rural areas, but this figure is changing rapidly as people migrate into the towns and cities, many fleeing the effects of years of armed conflict between Nepalese government security forces and the Maoist communist party.

CARE in action:

Women
We have had great success in raising awareness about women's rights and helping women to claim their rights, by establishing a core group of female leaders who influence the local and national development agenda through their local community-based organisations.

Rural Nepali women work around 12 hours a day on average – on average about four hours more than men, and female literacy rates in the more remote areas of the country are as low as nine per cent. Without an education, skills and a voice that will be heard, the inequalities Nepali women face will continue to dominate their daily lives.

Conflict
More than 13,000 people had lost their lives by 2006 when the 'People's War' between Maoist rebels and the security forces ended. Throughout the civil war thousands of women suffered sexual abuse, men and women were widowed, and children were orphaned.

We have worked in Nepal for nearly three decades and have witnessed the nation’s most difficult periods of violence, including the 10-year civil war which ended in 2006. Conflict has played a major role in the everyday lives of the Nepalese people, and much of our work is sensitive to this fact.

We help people to understand and exercise their human rights. We particularly help those directly affected by conflict to secure jobs, and to build peace. Poverty and conflict are often closely interwoven issues, so we ensure that the most socially excluded and marginalised groups, such as the rural poor and women, are given equal rights and the skills to find work and get food.

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