UNICEF: Progress on the Millennium Development Goals, with equity, in Nepal

www.unicef.org DADELDHURA DISTRICT, Nepal, 24 September 2010 -- From a distance, perched on a pretty Himalayan hilltop, Shiradi village looks like many other villages in the far west of Nepal, but it's not. Like other villages, it's poor, rugged and remote. There are no real roads, no electricity and no services. But this is also a village where only the 'lower caste' live and, more unusually, a village where no men reside. Every capable man and boy has gone to work in the capital of neighbouring India, Delhi, while the women toil alone on the tough terrain for most of the year. Only once or twice a year, the men come back for short breaks. It's not just the geography in this out-of-reach spot or their gender that holds back the women and girls of Shiradi. It's also traditions and caste. Despite robust economic growth, South Asia is a region of widening gaps between rich and poor. In Nepal, this disparity has been brought into even sharper relief by a rise in the number of millionaires, while the majority of the population still lives on under $1.25 a day. In addition, unique caste divides cut deep, as ethnic and tribal groups are marginalized. It is gaps like these that UNICEF and other aid agencies are trying to narrow in the countdown to the Millennium Development Goals' 2015 target date. For some regions, it's about reaching the 'bottom quintile' -- the lowest 20 per cent on the economic scale, the poorest of the poor. But even in such far-flung spots, the seeds of ...

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Orignal From: UNICEF: Progress on the Millennium Development Goals, with equity, in Nepal