Nepal is a socio-culturally diverse country with 126 ethnic groups and 123 different languages and dialects (Embassy of Nepal, 2015). This socio-cultural diversity has been considered to be a hindrance to national development, yet at the same time has enabled the development of voluntary activities based on mutual assistance from unique ethnic backgrounds. Cooperative movements in Nepal since the 1950s have been based on these various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. For decades, neo-liberalism and its related actors have influenced South Asian economies; this drove the majority of the Nepalese population to seek strategies to protect their livelihoods, dignity and social justice (Kunwar et al., 2013). As such, several informal institutions have been formulated among neighbors, friends, coworkers, farmers, families and other allied groups. Social Economy has been one of these informal sectors that emerged for social development in the era of global economic crisis. Social economy in Nepal is a collective approach of self-help groups for sustainable development, and encompasses a variety of organizations and enterprises that all share social and economic values and operating principles.
Although there are various types of Social Economy organizations such as fair trade, self-help organizations, user groups, and local exchange trade systems, this paper focuses on a women’s self-help group—namely, a Mother’s Group in which mothers are major organizational members. The first Mother’s Group was initiated by Gurung women to sing, dance and organize cultural activities while their husbands fought in the British Army (Bhattachan, 2002). However, it has developed into a self-help group for maintaining the livelihood of families whose male family members migrated for better jobs. More recently, such groups play a significant role of empowering and mobilizing women at the grassroots level, regardless of the presence or absence of men in family. However, the most interesting recent developments are that the groups are no longer monopolized by women. Due to their significant contributions to community development, the government has encouraged male community members to participate in Mother’s Group’s activities.
Concerning these changes, the authors will describe the activities of the Mother’s Group for income generation and the way that it is connected with other Social Economy organizations. Finally, the contribution of the Mother’s Group to the social economy development will be identified. Based on the analysis of the questionnaire survey result and qualitative data obtained from field research in 2013 and 2014, the authors argue that the Mother’s Group as a self-help organization contributes to community development in Nepal, and suggest future research directions for social economy organizations in South Asian countries.
KEYWORDS: mother’s group, self-help organization, Tikapur, Nepal
References
Bhattachan, K. B. (2002). Traditional local governance in Nepal. Paper presented at Seminar on strengthening decentralization and good governance in Nepal.
Embassy of Nepal (2015), Seoul, Korea, Retrieved 13 February 2015 from http://www.nepembseoul.gov.np/nepal-profile-10.html
Kunwar, R. M., Acharya, R. P., Khadka, G., Poudyal, B. H., Shahi, S., Dhakal, S., Praiyar, S., & Bhattarai, B. (2013). Public Policy for Social and Solidarity Economy: A Case Study from Nepal. PSPL/FECOFUN/NAFAN/DANAR, Kathmandu and CECI/UNITERRA, Kathmandu.
