Rags to Riches

Ms. Manju Thing is about 50 years old (she does not know her age exactly). She is married and has 5 daughters and 2 sons. She used to earn an income together with her husband from woodcutting and selling wood and sand collection/sand sieving. They are landless people. She is since 7 years member of the Mahila Cheetana SACCOS (Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies) in Makwanpur
What was your situation before (several years ago)?
Manju used to be cutting wood and filtering sand together with her husband to make a living. They did not have their own land and had a very simple house with a leaf roof. She belongs to an ethnic group in Nepal (minority group), which in general does not have a high status in the society. She was having a marginal life with hardly any options to improve her livelihood and had a very low social status in the society.

How is your situation now? What has changed?
Manju is now living in a small house with 2 rooms and a proper roof. She is at present the chairperson of the Mahila Cheetana SACCOS, having a total of 1092 members. She is a board member of the District Union Council of Makawanpur and is a highly respected person in the community.


Which changes were most important/far reaching? Why?
The most important change in her life is that she has learned to talk to people, to network and to mobilize other people. As a result of this, she feels empowered, and people respect her a lot these days. It has not been easy and a lot of hard work has been done by her. But now she is very happy and feels that the credit comes to her. Economically her life has not changed that much: she owns a small two room house, but she is happy with that. The award she got is a higher social status, self esteem and lots of recognition by the society around her.

How/why did these changes come about? (describe process and what caused these changes?)
Manju participated as an active member in a Self Help Group (SHG) of poor women, being supported by PLAN Nepal, starting about 10 years ago. Manju gradually took the lead in this SHG, and she mobilized many people. The group decided to register as a multipurpose SACCOS 7 years ago. However, this did not really work for the group and three years ago the multipurpose coop was transformed into a women’s saving and credit cooperative society with initially 58 members. This has grown into a successful women’s SACCOS and she is now the chairperson.