Strengthening women's rights

Life is hard for most women in Nepal. Many have to survive on less than $1 a day. Domestic violence and the trafficking of women are widespread.

• Between 5,000 and 12,000 Nepalese girls are trafficked by organised gangs to work in brothels each year
• Only 27 per cent of women are literate compared with 67 per cent of men

A Nepalese woman cannot apply for a job, passport, or bank account without permission from her father or husband. And with low female literacy rates, it is difficult for Nepali women to use public courts to challenge abuse and discrimination.

How Oxfam is helping

Oxfam's We Can campaign aims to break down attitudes and customs which support violence against women. Some five million specially-trained 'Change Makers' from across South East Asia are helping mobilise 50 million people and bring about a sea-change in attitudes towards women.

Oxfam's other work in Nepal

• Improving the participation of dalit or 'untouchable' men and women in community and government decision-making processes
• Reducing people's vulnerability to flooding in the flood-prone south of the country
• Providing safe water supplies and latrines, and promoting safe hygiene practices in remote rural communities in Nepal's mid and far western districts
• Helping farmers improve the production and marketing of their crops and through this increase their incomes

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Read more examples of our work in Nepal:

• Emergencies

Oxfam's work in Nepal in depth

ECHO (Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission) is a funding partner of Oxfam in Nepal

Nepal floods 2008

More than 70,000 people are thought to have been displaced by the floods in Nepal where the worst affected areas are Sripur, Haripur, and Paschim Kusawa. Up to 75 per cent of people living in these areas are farmers who have lost their crops, livestock and means of making a living.

Oxfam's response to the flooding in Nepal

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Oxfam's work in Nepal in depth