Develop Women Savings & Credit Cooperative, Nepal

Our goal is to fully fund this project. Donate now and double your impact.

From Jan 15 all of your donations to WACN’s project will be matched 1-to-1. Through the generosity of funding provided in memory of J. Philip Stapleton, WACN and two other Nepal projects will have their donations matched until $25,000 has been donated between the three groups.

Help us help more women like Banuhi.

Banuhi Chudhari is a member of Bachhuli Nari Chetna Kendra Savings and Credit Cooperative, in Bachhuli Village, Nepal. WACN helped with the formation of this group, provided critical training, and encouraged Banuhi every step of the way.

Banuhi struggled to get the cooperative going. She said, “Twelve years ago I heard that there was a program for women, I shared this information with other women in the village, but no one was interested.” A village elder advised her not to give up and introduced her to WACN. WACN encourage Banuhi to attend some training sessions and inspired her to pursue her dreams. Banuhi has never looked back.

Illiteracy was her biggest fear and caused her to lack confidence. As a result she found it very difficult to talk of her plans to her neighbors. But she persisted and managed to create enough interest in her village that there were sufficient women to form a group.

The next step was to open a bank account for the group. The nearest bank was an hour’s walk away. On arrival, her illiteracy created another setback, because she couldn’t sign her name the banker told her she needed some photos. Banuhi was directed to the nearest photo studio. With her portrait photos she was finally allowed to open their bank account. The cooperative was official at last!

Her village buzzed with rumors about the savings and credit group. No one thought it could be successful. All the money would surely be lost. How could they possibly hope to improve their economic situation this way?

Banuhi paid no attention to her critics. She could see the real changes in women’s lives. Her confidence was growing. The money was not being mishandled but directly helping women initiate changes in their lives and incomes.

Before starting the group Banuhi’s job was to raise goats for her landlords. She was allowed to keep half of the offspring as payment. Her first loan from the cooperative was for $38. She bought two female goats. They each give birth about twice a year and would normally have two baby goats. Banuhi sold the baby goats in her village. With the extra income Banuhi leased some land to grow rice.

Recently, after a decade of gradually increasing her income and saving money, Banuhi was able to buy some land of her own. Banuhi paid $382 for 5 kattha (0.17 hectares). Banuhi was very excited to acquire the deeds for her land. She plans on farming the land and she can also use it as collateral when she wants to borrow larger amounts from the cooperative.

The village critics were wrong. With a lot of determination and key support and training from WACN, the group has succeeded.

Help us help more women like Banuhi. Donate now and double your impact.