Transforming lives by tackling harmful social norms in Nepal
Watch a short film in which Puja and Laxman reflect on how Couple Sessions run by expert VSO volunteers helped make their home a more equal place.
“Before I used to think, 'how can I spend my life with this person, but now I wish to be his wife in 7 more lifetimes'”- Puja, after attending VSO led Couples Sessions
One in four women in Nepal experience gender-based violence.
Because of deeply embedded harmful social norms, girls are pulled out of school and forced to marry when they’re still children. Without an education, girls and women are at higher risk of discrimination and gender-based violence.
Puja unfortunately experienced this first-hand. Her husband, Laxman, believed that a woman’s role is to raise children, cook and clean. He never supported her in day-to-day life. He wouldn’t even feed their children if Puja wasn’t home to care for them, as he believed this wasn’t his role as a man. He didn’t realise how much the unequal family dynamics harmed Puja’s wellbeing and confidence in their marriage.
Providing hope for women in Nepal.
This is not right or fair. Things had to change. Expert VSO volunteers engaged Puja and Laxman in 10-day Couples Sessions to help improve their relationship. Initially, the couple didn’t know much about gender-based violence. They believed it only involved physical abuse. The sessions helped them understand that marital rape, emotional abuse, and gender-based discrimination are all forms of gender-based violence. This helped Pulham realise how the social norms in Nepal were causing a power imbalance between men and women. He understood how these norms, and he, were causing harm to his wife – and family.
Attending VSO’s Couple Sessions was a powerful turning point for Puja and Laxman.
Expert VSO volunteers engaged them in exercises and discussions designed to improve their communication skills and relationship. Laxman learned he needed to be a partner Puja could rely on. He realised his equal responsibility in household chores, and this marked a positive fresh start for the couple, with better communication and understanding of each other’s needs. Sharing the responsibilities of their children and wholeheartedly assisting his wife fostered a more balanced and harmonious marriage.
You can create lasting change for women and couples in Nepal. Sponsor a VSO volunteer and help give women a voice and create a future free of violence.
You can be a changemaker too.
VSO expert volunteers in Nepal engage women, couples, and families in a range of response and prevention activities that challenge harmful social norms and reduce violence against women and girls. With the help of VSO expert volunteers, Puja can look forward to a better future for her family.
You can stand with women by sponsoring a volunteer today. You can become part of an incredible movement of changemakers creating lasting change. Because when you sponsor a volunteer, you create a ripple of change that lasts generations. Your donation puts skilled expert volunteers where they’re needed most, supporting women at risk of gender-based violence.
Sponsor a volunteer today. Be a changemaker.
How your sponsorship works
1. Welcome!
You’ll get a special welcome telling you all about VSO’s unique approach to making positive change that can last generations.
2. Donate Monthly
Your money helps put VSO volunteers where they’re needed most, helping the world’s most vulnerable communities need access to education, healthcare and livelihoods.
3. Regular Updates
You’ll get regular detailed updates from one of our amazing volunteers giving you a first-hand view of the work you’re making possible.
4. See the difference
As a sponsor, you’ll be a part of making the changes we all want to see. You’ll see those changes as they happen, month after month. You’ll be a changemaker.
Our Volunteers
Our volunteers are carefully chosen with the right skills and knowledge to make the biggest difference, often working in their own countries to create long-lasting change. Your sponsorship puts volunteers where they’re really needed to work on:
Start today and you will:
- Put skilled volunteers where they’re needed most.
- Receive regular email updates with stories and photos from a named volunteer, with insights into their daily life and work.
- Get to hear about the individuals they’re working with – their lives, the challenges they face and the changes you’re helping them to make.
- Have the chance to ask questions and send volunteers messages of support.
- Be part of the long-lasting change we all want to see.
- We will only contact you to let you know of other ways you can support us by SMS or email with your consent.
The impact of your gift
A regular donation can help create change that lasts for generations.
£15 could train a volunteer to work directly with couples and reduce violence in their home.
£10 could provide teenagers living in poverty with an essential learning kit so they can attend group classes.
£8 could provide women vulnerable to violence with a dignity kit so they are not reliant on their partners for essential items.
Alan, Nottingham, UKJust read your superb blog on how you are trying to further improve learning in Nepal. You’re obviously doing a great job. Keep up the good work.
VSO volunteer sponsor
