Urmila Shrestha- a story of hope and solidarity

‘’Are the current events around the world the biggest threat to feminism today?’’ Urmila tackles this reality envisioning what a world without human rights looks like especially closer home in Nepal. 

Urmila Shrestha is a women’s rights activist and the Executive Director at Tewa– Nepal’s first women’s fund promoting gender equality and empowering women, girls, trans and intersex people.  

Tewa is a Nepali word meaning ‘support’. It was founded 30 years ago on the hallmarks of empowering the most marginalised and underfunded communities within Nepal with their work currently reaching up to 700 women’s groups. 

‘’The future is bleak- we are seeing a clawback on women’s rights and authoritarian governments that are anti-rights rising and essentially impacting our progress negatively. In Nepal for example we are navigating barriers such as government surveillance in our work including declaring our sources of funding- which is quite common as well in other South Asia countries. However, I want to be optimistic, positive and full of hope, we must keep up with our work. I know while things are tough at the moment but we can still advance a feminist future for women and girls,’’ she says. 

‘’Continued organising and allyship are one of the solutions that we can keep leveraging on to keep the momentum going,’’ she adds. 

In her opinion, the most significant impact of the global funding will affect the autonomy, agency and power of rightsholder communities working alongside Tewa in Nepal. ‘’We’ve faced sudden funding cuts forcing us to cut back on our programming but also, I’ve seen partner organisations affected by USAID’s Stop-Work-Order having to lay off staff and reduce their activities,’’ she says. 

While defunding of women’s rights organisations has been a massive setback to gender equality- Tewa has been keen on leaning on its strategic direction for sustainability to navigate the volatile funding terrain. ‘’We’ve been in conversations with private philanthropy foundations in the US that have really stepped up as a solid ally, but we know we’ll have to rethink how we’ve looked at core funding traditionally,’’ she adds.  

Urmila perceives support from allies and enthusiasts from a different lens, not just through funding but knowledge sharing and showing empathy needed especially now in solidarity. In her call to courage, she speaks of hope and confidence to keep the momentum, ‘’Let’s continue to share our beliefs, stand in solidarity and look forward to a bright future,’’ she says.