Breaking barriers, building bridges : a case study of USAID/Nepal"s SO3 [strategic objective no. 3] women"s empowerment program

This report presents a snapshot of the qualitative, aggregate impact of the SO3 program by comparing the lives of participants at experiential sites in Jhapa, Surkhet, and Kailali with those of women in three non-program sites in the same districts. The study concludes that providing women with educational, legal, and economic opportunities empowers them to overcome barriers to their full fledged participation in sustainable development and enables them to build bridges to broad-based economic growth. Specifically, program participants initiated almost 8 times more actions for social change than non-participants. These actions, which are facilitated and supported by NGO mentors, range from women staging dramas to expose the ills of polygamy to women-initiated local negotiation for better village health and educational facilities. Women who participated in basic and legal literacy and economic activities participated 30% more than did non-participants in making final, joint, and independent decisions over the allocation of their own income. They feel more free to disagree with their husbands, and 30% more likely to make final, joint decisions on household purchases after SO3 interventions, though they qualify this increase by type and amount of decision involved. All of them understand the value of education and keep their daughters in school. Includes bibliography. (Author abstract, modified)