What is being done in Nepal?

http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/nepal/

http://www.fao.org/sd/WPdirect/WPre0110.htm
http://www.redp.org.np/

Nepal's population is 50.1% female and 49.9% male. More than 90% of the population lives in rural areas • The literacy rate for women is 25.0%. This is less than half the rate for men (54.5%)

• 90.5% of women are engaged in agriculture as against 74.9% of men• Women have extensive work loads with dual responsibility for farm and household production • Women's work is getting harder and more time consuming due to ecological degradation

• Women play an active role in livestock production and forest resource use• Women contribute considerably to household income through farm and non-farm activities • Women are active as informal traders

The REDP was initiated on 16th August 1996 as a joint programme between Government of Nepal (GoN) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World BankIt complements the rural electrification objective of the Tenth Five Year Plan by promoting micro hydro schemes, solar and wind energy and biogas schemes.

adopts holistic approach by linking rural electrification with rural economic activities and ultimately impact positively on livelihood of the rural people. Decentralized and participatory planning, decision making, implementation, monitoring and evaluation activities are basic pillars for the success of the program

In Nepal the literacy rate for the population of 10 years and above is 39.6%. However, the literacy for women is only 25.0% which is less than half the literacy rate for men (54.5%). Among women a generation difference is evident in educational attainment. The literacy rate among females aged 10-14 years (49.3%) is nearly 14 times higher than that among women aged 55 years and over (3.6%).

· collect gender-disaggregated agro-ecological production-system- based activity information through participatory approaches for local planning;

· conduct a gender-sensitive agricultural human resource census;
· formulate gender-sensitive policies and plans based on gender-roles related to household livelihood strategies and rural poverty and household food security concerns;
· promote gender-disaggreggated technology, training and input need assessment as a basis for agriculture and rural development policy development;
· formulate policies and plans to provide women with access to and control over land, technology and other inputs, particularly credit;
· formulate policies to provide support to enhance women's access to common property resources, to reduce workloads in fuel and fodder collection and livestock management, and to set up aquaculture activities.
· train field staff in gender-sensitive and participatory planning and programme implementation;
· make provision to support forest resource management, farm production and household resource management focusing on women as farmers, instead of merely viewing them as wives of male farmers;
· strengthen gender-equitable extension systems;
· identify and respond to women's needs for agricultural inputs and household technology in close collaboration with researchers, implementing agencies and grassroots workers;
· support women in their livestock and marketing activities by providing local market information, improved transportation and storage facilities, improved processing and packaging techniques, and enhanced credit facilities;
· launch adult literacy and credit programmer with particular focus on women; and
· support development of rural women's networks to strengthen women's programmes in remote mountain regions.

CNNnews article about government's
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/01/nepal.government.ap/index.html