Meet the women who are making a difference

These interviews offer a unique opportunity to meet the truly inspirational women who are working to improve Nepal's communities. We discover their backgrounds, their inspirations, what they have achieved and the challenges they have faced. We find out about their past and current work as well as their future plans.

Bhumika Shrestha

Bhumika is a transgender human rights activist. She works in the Blue Diamond Society (BDS), an organisation working for third gender people. BDS work with local communities and on a national level to improve the sexual health, human rights, and wellbeing of sexual and gender minorities in Nepal including gay men, bisexuals, lesbians, and transgender individuals.

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Charimaya Tamang

Charimaya was one of fifteen girls who were able to escape from the brothels in India. She received a national honour award in 2007 and is working as a trafficking survivor at a government-led national committee to fight against human trafficking. She is an active co-founder of Shakti Samuha, an organisation which empowers returning trafficking survivors by providing shelter, legal aid, vocational training and counselling. Shakti Samuha reaches out to rural districts where trafficking is prevalent, helping to keep women safe and make a united stand against traffickers.

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Durga Ghimire

Due to age-old cultural traditions and a discriminatory legal system in Nepal, women's status is very low, they are expected to work extremely hard for little reward and males are the preferred offspring. Women's low status and economic dependence makes them vulnerable to trafficking as they are lured by promises of better job opportunities in other parts of the world.

Durga Ghimire is the founder and president of ABC Nepal. For the past three decades, ABC Nepal has worked tirelessly for the rights of women and girls with a special focus on human trafficking.

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Vinita Adhikari

Vinita is the founder of Antardristi Nepal, an organisation which seeks to empower and support survivors of sexual abuse through psychological counselling, family empowerment training and community outreach. It also seeks to dispel myths and foster social change to work towards the elimination of sexual abuse against women and girls. Her counselling service has proved essential in a place like Nepal where women do not have many people to talk to or organizations where they can seek help.

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Dilshova Shrestha

Fourteen years ago Dilshova opened the doors of her home to those less fortunate. She had been married for 28 years, a rare love marriage in Nepal at that time, when her husband suddenly left her and their 16-year-old daughter. From this shocking experience, she realized that most of the unfortunate elderly women in Nepal are discarded by their family. Dilshova continues to dedicate all of her time to working with the elderly and neglected.

Shanta Thapalia

Prof. Dr. Shanta Thapalia, the first Nepali woman to hold a PhD degree in Law, passed away in Kathmandu in 2011. She was a well-known human rights activist. She studied Law at the University of California and acquired her PhD from the University of Delhi. She was a professor of Family Law at the Nepal Law Campus in Kathmandu. A strong advocate of women’s rights, Dr Thapaliya founded the Legal Aid and Consultancy Centre in 1987. She was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship for her lifetime contribution to women’s rights. She also served as a member of the National Judicial Academy, the Police Reform and Recommendation Commission, and the Academic Council of the Tribhuvan University, among others.