- ISSUES -
Introduction
Survival on the Land
Status of Women
Violence/Sexual Exploitation
Health
Caste
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SURVIVAL ON THE LAND
 82%
of Nepal’s population lives in rural areas, where landownership is crucial
for survival. EDWON works primarily with Dalit women in the inaccessible
Western and Midwestern districts, where the terrain is steep and difficult
to maneuver.
Our communities are both geographically and socially
isolated, hours’ or days’ walk from the nearest road, and lack basic infrastructure,
electricity and running water. The remote Dalit communities of the Western
“hills” are neglected by the international aid community and by the Nepali
government alike, and are unable to benefit from tourism or the market
economy.
Villages cling to steep mountain sides or cluster along
narrow ridges. Tiny terraced fields are worked entirely by hand. People
grow corn, rice, millet, beans and vegetables. Because the land is too
valuable to permit grazing, water buffalo, goats and pigs are kept in
pens. Women and children walk long distances carrying heavy loads of grass
and leaves for their feed. Women’s work accounts for the bulk of the agricultural
labor.
Nepal has undergone a population explosion, leaving
arable land scarce and population density high. 40% of Dalits own too
little land to grow sufficient food for more than half the year, and many
are landless. They toil as day laborers for high-caste landowners and
are paid meagerly in food grain. During spring and summer people try to
survive on wild plants and by begging. Many starve. Only 5% of Dalits
produce surplus food grain. Many communities now depend for survival on
income from family members who work in Katmandu, India or other countries.
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