Jagaran Nepal (Aware/Awaken)

This Nepali organisation seeks to awaken people to the importance of women's rights and its relationship with successful peacebuilding.

Overview

Jagaran Nepal advocates and campaigns for women’s rights, women in peacebuilding, good governance, peace, and female leadership at both the national and local level. The organisation strongly believes that women can play an important role in peacebuilding once they are empowered with women's rights. One of the important components of peacebuilding is respecting and guaranteeing human rights including women's and children's rights. Therefore, women's rights and peacebuilding have a direct relationship.

The organisation is trying to develop female leadership - for equal accessibility and opportunity for women in Nepal’s policy and decision-making processes, particularly in the peace process including dialogue. It also works on capacity building for women on conflict transformation and peacebuilding, providing relevant training and resources.

Women have been the double victims of armed conflict in the world because of gender discrimination and their low status in society. The Nepalese women have been victimised in similar ways by the Maoist conflict. In response, the organisation has carried out:

• Research into the violation of human rights of women in the severely conflict-affected areas of Dolakha district;
• A survey in five Village Development Committees (VDC) of Kavrepalanchowk district to identify the needs of the female conflict victims and their rights status;
• Adolescents’ reproductive health research in different schools of Kathmandu Periphery;
• Reproductive health research in Kapan VDC aimed at finding out the reproductive health status of women and designing the programme as per its outcome;
• Research on Parliamentarian women analysing the situation of women in politics; and
• A baseline survey on the short and long term necessities of the women affected by the ongoing conflict, victims of human rights violations and domestic violence in some VDCs of Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk, Ramechap, Morang and Sunsari districts.

What Services are Provided?

The organisation provides conflict transformation and peacebuilding training, basic relief services to the conflict victims (women and children) and human rights training (including women's rights).

Geographical Area of Operation

Some districts of Eastern, Central and Far-Western Regions: Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk, Ramechhap, Morang, Sunsari, Kavrepalanchowk, Kathmandu.

Funding Resources

• Canadian Cooperation Organisation (CCO);
• United Nations Development Program, Nepal – Support for Peace and Development Initiatives (UNDP-SPDI); and
• Global Fund for Women.

What Further Information would you like?

We would like to find out more about the experiences of women who have been involved in building peace. We are also interested in looking more closely at any case studies of negotiated peace settlements.

What New Contacts would you like to make?

• Organisations and universities that have programmes covering Conflict Resolution, Peacebuilding and Gender issues, etc; and
• Funding agencies.

Associated Organisations

National:

• Social Welfare Council (SWC);
• NGO Federation of Nepal;
• Children at Risk Network Group (CAR/NWG); and
• Allia.