In Dhungentar, women’s participation in income generation is very poor; only around 38% of women over 16 years of age earn an income. Similarly, their disadvantaged status is highlighted by the fact that only 19 of 96 houses in Dhungentar are owned by women.

With a sizeable number of men working away from Dhungentar, the vacuum in community leadership needs to be filled by women. Apart from imparting income-generating skills (click here to read more about the skill training programmes organised in Dhungentar) to women to promote financial autonomy, this project focused on empowering women to collectively address social issues, create local social safety nets, and actively lead the community. Consequently, the Mothers’ Group of Dhungentar (Dhungentar Aamasamuha) was formed, following a one-day orientation programme on its necessity.

The group convenes monthly to discuss the community’s pressing issues and ways to address them. The group has mobilised for different community betterment activities, such as clean-up campaigns. Members have also assisted in construction activities, such as the construction of the Dhand–Ratamate trail road, setting of the damp proof course (DPC) of the multipurpose community centre, and repair works on the Dhand–Archale bridge when heavy rain scoured its foundation.

As a community safety net, the Mothers’ Group of Dhungentar has opened a community savings fund, with small monetary contributions collected from community members each month. This fund will be used for the group’s activities and will serve as a line of credit at a low interest rate to those in need.

Four young women were identified from different village clusters in Dhungentar for assisting in the implementation of various project activities. These social mobilisers were engaged in basic door-to-door data collection, information dissemination, procurement, and community mobilisation. As beneficiaries of the project, they offered valuable insight into the problems, needs, and workings of the community and acted as an important link between the project and the people.

The aim of recruiting these social mobilisers was to engage youths in the reconstruction and development of their own community and help them become catalysts of change. Working as social mobilisers provided them with experience and skills for their future growth. The social mobilisers also attended the skill training programmes organised in the settlement, and one of them has become a vendor for e-Sewa, a Nepalese e-commerce company.

The Dhungentar Reconstruction and Development Community was formed to ensure that the project’s reconstruction and development activities are uniformly spread throughout the settlement. This local community organisation was formally registered at the municipal office to ensure its legitimacy and commitment to Dhungentar’s progress.

This 11-member community organisation allows locals to actively shape Dhungentar’s reconstruction and assume ownership in development activities. The 6,503 sq. ft. land for the multipurpose community centre in Dhand was purchased by the project in the name of the Dhungentar Reconstruction and Development Community. The future functioning and maintenance of the community centre will be overseen by this community organisation.