On 28 January 2025, eighteen women in Bethanchowk joined an Empowering with Dignity session. On 17 March, twenty participants took part in a psychosocial wellbeing and stress-management session in Bhaktapur. On 13 June, twenty-five participants joined a session at Ropeway Sadak.
Different wards, different months, the same structure.
Talk, then make
Each session opens with menstrual health and hygiene, the discussion part, which in many settings is the harder half. It closes with making: cutting and stitching reusable sanitary pads that participants take home, along with the method to make more.
The making matters beyond the product. A session that ends with something in your hands is a session that can be explained to a neighbour who did not attend.
Where the sessions happen
Sessions are held where participants already gather: a ward hall, a workplace, a community space. Women who could not give up a day of work to travel to a central venue can attend one held at their own worksite.
The same groups often continue into livelihood skills: soap making, bangle making and compost production, each chosen because it can be run from home without significant start-up cost.
