National Indigenous Women’s Federation (NIWF) is a Kathmandu based umbrella organisation of Adivasi Janajati (indigenous nationalities) specific women’s organisations.
NIWF work with Nepalese Indigenous women to advocate to the state indigenous women’s importance and contribution to maintain, preserve and promote the distinct identity of Indigenous peoples and to recognise their language and cultural skills, traditional knowledge in management of community and resources are distinct.
Women leaders from different indigenous organisations established NIWF as a federation in 1999 and registered NIWF in 2000 with the aim of ensuring the right to participate in all state structures with their distinct identity.
Currently, 42 indigenous women’s organisations are affiliated under this umbrella organisation. NIWF focuses on ethnicity and not caste. Indigenous women, which account for 18% of the total population of Nepal, face social exclusion, not only because they are women, but also because of their ethnicity. The state has not recognised the “identity” of indigenous women and they suffer triple discrimination, first for being women, secondly for being indigenous, thirdly being indigenous women.
Learn more about NIWF and the other indigenous women’s organisations here
