Women collecting samples to monitor safe drinking water for RUWDUC's TROSA Project
RUWDUC
RUWDUC provides scholarships for primary school students, hosts educational workshops in reproductive health and safe childcare, and provides shelter and maternal care for pregnant women throughout rural, at-risk Nepali communities. RUWDUC’s initiatives have helped thousands of low-income communities access quality health care services, including pre- and post-natal care for women and their children.
RUWDUC also provides disaster relief in response to climate impacts, and facilitates community-led climate adaptation efforts throughout Nepal’s most affected regions.
Since February 2023, RUWDUC has partnered with Population Connection and World Vision International (WVI) Nepal to implement the Amplifying Advocacy through Strategic Engagement Project (AASEP). The project works to enhance child well-being by influencing policies, systems, and practices through strategic dialogue, evidence-based advocacy, and collaborative partnerships with government stakeholders at the federal, provincial, and local levels — with a primary focus on the Sudurpaschim and Madhesh Provinces.
✔️ Strengthened child-responsive governance
✔️ Supported policy development
✔️ Promoted school nutrition
✔️ Scaled up budgeting for children
✔️ Gender equality
Photo Credit: RUWDUC
Since 2018, RUWDUC’s ongoing scholarship program has distributed over 300 academic scholarships to low-income students throughout Nepal’s Kailali and Dadeldhura districts. The majority of scholarships have been awarded to female students from lower castes.
Photo Credit: RUWDUC
RUWDUC’s Transboundary Rivers of Asia (TROSA) project provides water filtration systems to communities with limited and uncertain access to potable water. In response to the increasingly unpredictable weather patterns caused by climate change, TROSA has also established disaster alert systems in vulnerable communities.
The project places a strong emphasis on women’s leadership in water resource management. Through specialized training programs, TROSA empowers women as managers of disaster alert systems across four districts along the Mahakali and Jogbudha rivers. For example, Women Economic Empowerment Centers (WEECs) actively engage local communities in water governance and climate adaptation efforts.
✔️ Strengthened the capacity of 192 WEEC members by training women to take leadership roles in local water governance and advocacy on water-related issues affecting their communities
✔️ Across Dadeldhura, Darchula, and Kanchanpur districts, 45 citizen scientists and community members were trained in water quality testing, growing the local network equipped to monitor river health. Building on this work, 15 trained citizen scientists in Dadeldhura have continued regular testing at five points along the Mahakali River, generating data that is feeding directly into the forthcoming Makahali River Health Report and strengthening evidence-based advocacy for the river’s protection.
✔️ Eighteen women farmers from WEEC were trained in climate-smart farming techniques and organic fertilizer production. Alongside this training, 193 WEEC members received seed support, resulting in the production of 5,728 kg of vegetables and generating new income for their households. In addition, Sirjana WEEC received a sugarcane crushing machine to support commercial production of “Gund” (traditional jaggery), opening a new income stream for the cooperative.
Photo Credit: RUWDUC
Population Connection has worked with RUWDUC to help fund the reconstruction of several flood warning systems that were destroyed during the Mahakali flood in October of 2021, which forced around 90 families to flee their homes. Additionally, Population Connection has contributed funding for the distribution of food, water, and clothing to the families displaced by recent climate-induced floods.
“Now we are working with the local government in the selection of development programs, budget allocation, and building the projects. It became possible because of the support and ideas we got from the TROSA program.”
— Lila Samant, member of women’s empowerment center
Read more about the project here.
Since 2023, Population Connection has supported RUWDUC’s Girls’ Empowerment Program (GEP). Through this program, RUWDUC engages girls and boys in educational extracurricular activities, such as science fairs, sports, and themed dance and drama, as well as informative sessions and sensitization on gender injustices.
For example, RUWDUC ran an essay competition on chhaupadi, a harmful tradition in which menstruating girls and women are forced to isolate themselves because they are considered “impure.” Throughout their menstruation, women and girls undergoing chhaupadi have to live by themselves in often life-threatening conditions in make-shift huts, and they are banned from taking part in everyday activities, including going to school.
A total of 94 students, both male and female, across nine schools in western Nepal took part in the competition, writing about the harms of chhaupadi and why it should be abolished. The winners received cash prizes disbursed by RUWDUC.
Close to 1,000 girls and 600 boys have benefited from the Girls’ Empowerment Program so far.
Photo Credit: RUWDUC
Virtual Events with RUWDUC
Rural Women’s Development and Unity Center (RUWDUC) Nepal is a nonprofit organization that supports rural development programs in environmental conservation, health care, and women’s empowerment throughout the far-western region of Nepal.
Students running an exhibit on healthy nutrition. 
Participants in a science fair organized by RUWDUC. 
Student dance and drama performances organized by RUWDUC. 
Student dance and drama performances organized by RUWDUC. 
Students and teachers pose for a group photo. 
Student demonstrating a home-made rocket at the science fair. 
Student dance and drama performances organized by RUWDUC. 
RUWDUC Provided warm clothes to the government students from remote area in Nepal. 
Citizen scientists (Women Empowerment Centre members) conducting water quality tests. Members of Women Empowerment Centre lobbying for community issues with the stakeholders.
Through our Global Partners program, Population Connection supports a growing number of grassroots organizations around the world working to increase access to education, public health and family planning services. Their…
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