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It all started when Dhana was in her early twenties at the computer institute for which she worked. One day she was tasked with typing out a document related to an organization which occupied itself with sending poor children to schools. While Dhana was writing, she became more and more impassioned and the seed of an idea started to take root: what if she, Dhana, were to embark upon some project that would empower others too? For example, using natural resources appropriately could empower the economic freedom of women in the communities. How about she get involved in that?

And that was how “Jagaran” was born. At the beginning, Dhana didn’t know where to start, but after applying for and receiving funding from the local government she found her feet and was able to set up the Jagaran centre. In 2010, Jagaran became a national level NGO, and since then, the number of projects has kept increasing. Jagaran now has a solid history of twenty years.

Though a triumph, it has not all been sunshine and rainbows. Monetary obstacles always find their niggly way in, and Dhana has had her fair share of them. Only ever were small amounts of money available, and the expectations of the community - who feel more should be going directly to them – has weighed heavily on Dhana who wishes to do as much as she can for the community. No international funds have been available so the centre has had to make do with what it had, which it did. This does not hold Jagaran back, but merely makes the work more arduous and thus the rewards richer.

Two such rewards Dhana remembers incredibly well.

A few years ago, Dhana gave a honey-harvesting training to a community in a hilly, remote district called Dhorpirdi, Tanahaun. More than 40 women participated and afterwards every one of those women got into the beekeeping business. A similar training took place in an even more remote district, Baka Malang, Palpa, where no electricity ran at that time, and likewise it was a success: all the women who partook in the trainings are still running enterprises related to beekeeping and are more empowered and independent than ever before. “When I think of those women beekeepers, I feel really proud,” Dhana says.  Since then, one hundred trainings over twenty years have taken place, but it is those two trainings in Dhorpirdi and Baka Malang that are etched into Dhana’s memory. The women in those communities have embraced and thrived at a business they were previously inexpert at and their situation has improved,.As in many countries, girls did not go to school until relatively recently in Nepal and they worked for the family, but for a while now girls have exponentially worked to secure the work of women and since they are young, they have been fighting for their rights.

WeCaN champions are not merely formidable voices for women’s empowerment, but also work towards sustainable goals and have environmental priorities. Dhana and Jagaran are no different, and sustainability has always been at the crux of Dhana’s plan, ever since that first day in the office typing out that document. The sustainable use of natural resources for the betterment of local communities was, and remains, at the heart of all that Jagaran does. As we have seen, beekeeping is an important sustainable activitiy at Jagaran; so are handicrafts made from river and plains grasses and later bamboo; land restoration via planting bamboo to minimise the impacts of landslides and via the cultivation of limes from which pickles, juices and squashes are made. Four successful lime enterprises have spawned out of these activities which caught the attention of FAO, who supplied a small grant for each. Jagaran is starting to gain international interest and thus, from a very local idea that Dhana had in her early twenties while typing out a document at the computer company where she worked, that idea has blossomed into the wonderful project: Jagaran.