Celebrating rural women's voices - Rural women speaking out for change through community radio in Nepal

On the International Day of Rural Women (IDRW), 15 October, we celebrate rural women and girls worldwide and recognize the crucial role they play in contributing to sustainable food systems and rural development. This year's IDRW comes as the world continues to face the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic which has exacerbated existing gender inequalities faced by rural women. These include challenges in accessing resources, opportunities and services, as a result of entrenched social norms and patriarchal systems.

The Joint Programme Accelerating Progress Towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women (JP RWEE) is implemented in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Rwanda by four UN agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UN Women, and the World Food Programme (WFP). It adopts a holistic approach to women's economic empowerment, encompassing social and political domains of empowerment.

In Nepal, the programme is being implemented in the southern Rautahat and Sarlahi districts, where discriminatory social norms are deeply entrenched and women face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination,  including confinement to the home, which severely limit their participation in rural life and decision making. To address these complex challenges, the JP RWEE in Nepal implemented the Gender Action Learning System (GALS), a community-led empowerment methodology used to achieve more equitable gender relations. This involves actively engaging men and boys in household and community discussions which gives rise to the inclusion of the voices of women and girls in daily life and decision making. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these gatherings and discussions were severely impacted by strict lockdowns and prohibition of meetings to combat the spread of the virus.

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