6 minute read
Dr. Meena Singh Khadka
from Change Makers
POWERHOUSE GLOBAL MAGAZINE (PGMAG) INTERVIEW WITH:
DR. MEENA SINGH KHADKA
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Dr. Meena Singh Khadka, is an educator, women’s rights activist, social worker and an advocate for global women empowerment who has been working tirelessly for over four decades, to bring about positive change to countless lives through her actions to promote women leadership and solidarity. She has been actively involved in various women’s and importantly education projects across the globe, from Japan to the United States, India, DR Congo, and her homeland of Nepal where she is currently involved in a nation wide women's education project alongside leading her women initiatives in community building and promoting women leaders in society. For much of her professional career, she was involved in teaching and researching in some of the most prestigious universities and academic circles around the world, yet her true passion was always in serving her community in Nepal and especially combating the patriarchy, and the limits placed on women, by expanding new horizons for opportunities and women led projects, in education, healthcare, community building and women rights.
Dr. Meena is a firm believer, in the fact that women rights are universal human rights and thus, women have to lead in society to safeguard not only their futures and lives, but ensure the holistic growth of society in a positive manner. For women, to truly lead in society however, education is a must thus, Dr. Meena has dedicated her life to empowering women through education and learning in various fields which pertain not only to academia, but most importantly skill building and vocational education to provide real life skills for women especially in rural communities to earn and make an economic mark in their local societal structures.
In the various Himalayan villages of Nepal, where she is most active and believes that her expertise and work ethic is most needed, she transitions from Dr. Meena to, the astute Meena Didi- or, Dear Sister Meena. A figure and name to relate to for many rural women as a pillar of community leadership someone who can tackle the local patriarchy which is so prevalent in these communities and give a voice to these underprivileged women, Meena Didi is truly an inspiration for many most importantly through her ability to achieve much with very little. Throughout her years of service to humanity, she has never relied on any corporate office space or big funding to carry out her projects but instead relies on her vast network of grassroot organizations and local women leadership nurtured over the years through her unrelenting work to uplift the women of Nepal.
Dr. Meena Singh Khadka has been involved in many educational projects including an early project that focused on teaching many illiterate people how to exemplify their identity and validate it in a way, many of them had never experienced before- they learnt how to write their own names. As a firm believer in women's education her belief that an educated woman not only educates herself but her entire family, and in building blockways her entire community Dr. Meena has also organized many women led projects that focus on children's education and scholarship programs that allow for greater social mobility amongst the peoples of the rural communities of Nepal. She has also successfully led major teacher training programs across Nepal, in an effort to modernize their teaching standards and promote effective communication and actions between teachers and students in classrooms. Her works have touched the lives of many children and orphans in the rural communities of Nepal, as well as the Urban centers of Kathmandu and Pokhara, many street children of whom have benefited from her women led education programs.
She has continued most of her works through minimal funding and her own initiatives.
Titled, “Meena Didi Women Literacy Class” these classes which are led all by women leaders in the various communities of the Himalayas focus on empowering women not only through basic education and literacy skill training but also provide a mandate for economic upliftment for women who can now trade with local markets for their indigenous products and grow the communal industry complex. Nepal, is one of the countries with highest proportion of people working in foreign countries providing the nation with much needed remittance income however the cost has been that all of the skilled human power has been diverted, and hence, many illiterate and impoverished women of Nepal were thrust into new positions of leadership that they were not accustomed to and lacked the skills to lead their communities.
Thus, to counter this grave problem and safeguard these rural societies, Dr. Meena launched her literacy program which now operates alongside a vast network of grassroots workers, activists and teachers who not only help uplift the education quality available to these communities but take an active role in conducting healthcare classes, disaster and risk management skills and most importantly organizing the women into a force of good. For perhaps, the first time in her decades long self initiated campaign to empower women, and since the project and network has expanded so much that Dr. Meena Singh Khadka has been seeking global help to bring more awareness to this issue of true women empowerment and expand/continue her projects on a scale that would bring positive changes to the lives of countless communities throughout the Himalayas of Nepal. Her programs need funding and most importantly now the literacy projects have been successfully implemented over such a vast landscape that a centralized center of operations for the women leadership is now imperative. Dr. Meena is not only an icon for women in this part of the world but even amongst her male peers her works command enormous respect and she has been one of the few grassroots women leaders in this part of the world, to have such a gender boundary transitioning impact and truly combat the patriarchy through her actions to uplift women. Her belief that Women in Education will safeguard the futures of all communities is commendable and her ability to do so much with so little aweinspiring. Truly, her actions have proven to many that Women are capable of leading from the front, in Nepal, and She continues to strive, everyday to better the lives and foster the spirits of Nepalese women.
