The Society for Health, Environment and Women’s Development (SHEWD) is a non-governmental not-for-profit grassroots organization working in the rural Lalitpur district of Nepal. The majority are farmers and craftspeople with an average annual income of less than 250 USD. This income clearly falls below the UN’s poverty line of $1 per day. Malnutrition, inadequate housing, illiteracy, lack of educ
ational and vocational training for young people, unemployment, and lack of proper health-care are just some of the problems residents face. There had been only little not-for-profit intervention in the area until 1998, when local villagers decided it was time to take action to combat the poverty. Since its founding, SHEWD has been dedicated to working for the interests of the poor on issues of health, income-generation, environment and woman’s empowerment. Today, our NGO has a board of 8 and over 60 local volunteers. Our entire staff works on a voluntary basis, meaning all funding flows directly into our projects.
