THE STORY BEHIND WAWCAS
WAWCAS came to life in 2008. Nina Schriver from Denmark had met Sangeeta Shrestha in Nepal and they discovered, that they shared the same dream about empowering women living in the poorest parts of Nepal to become independent and give their children a better future.
Through the WAWCAS 16 months entrepreneurship program and with the support of sponsors and volunteers, the WAWCAS team has now trained more than 5,000 women and helped them start their own business. With a steady income, the women can enjoy a much better quality of life and secure schooling for their children.
The WAWCAS Program is growing year by year to improve and professionalize the scope of the initiative and continues to include 900 new women into the program every year. We encourage the women exiting the WAWCAS Program to establish their own Local NGO – and the first Local NGO was registered in 2022. Currently with 1500 WAWCAS women as members.
In addition, we have secured good quality schooling of the children of the WAWCAS women. More than 14.000 children since the start in 2008! And in year 2022, we started to offer all children (aged 8-14) of women entering the WAWCAS Program to participate in bimonthly Child Groups.
It is very inspiring and touching to see how the women are ready to take the step and work so hard to succeed with such a big change in their lives, when they get the chance.
– Nina & Sangeeta
The wawcas program
The WAWCAS 16 months entrepreneurship program trains underprivileged women, enabling them to develop a sustainable and dignified life as business owners - which in turn helps them ensure education for their children. Transforming dreams and hopes into meaningful life changes is a fundamental value in WAWCAS. To ensure sustainability of the WAWCAS Program, we have selected four focus areas for our development efforts.
These four areas are crucial for creating long-term change and constitute the Four Pillars of WAWCAS.
In groups of 25, WAWCAS empowers and motivates each woman towards social change and economic independence through education and business development. During the training each woman receives a small loan to start up a small-scale business. This is the first step to obtain an income to build a better life for herself and her family.
The groups are at the center of the program. The women become part of a community based on democratic autonomy where they share the financial responsibility. They are trained in helping each other and in working together. These groups continue to meet every month after having finished the WAWCAS Program.
This approach ensures long-term success for the individual woman and is the key to lift the family and the local community out of poverty. The women benefit personally, socially and financially from this strong and lasting network.
PREPARATION
The preparation phase lasts three months. The purpose of this period is to prepare the women to join a group, make life changes and develop their business plan. It is also a time to build trust among the women, a strong foundation in each woman, and to train collaboration.
IMPLEMENTATION
Each woman recieves Seed Money from WAWCAS and starts her business. She starts monthly personal savings and a loan-giving program in the group. In this way each group works as a small bank for its members. Monthly saving is mandatory – the same goes for sending children to school regularly to ensure their education.
EXIT
The progress of each women is reviewed, and a follow-up strategy plan is developed for each woman and for the entire group. The group defines how to operate after leaving the program with regular meetings, savings and loans, and the group is linked with relevant authorities for further support.
meet a wawcas woman
yes it is my business
wawcas organisation
wawcas board
Nina Schriver
International Program Director, WAWCAS International. Founder of WAWCAS
Sangeeta Shrestha
Program Director WAWCAS Nepal. Founder of WAWCAS
Torben Bjerre-Madsen
Chairman of the board and responsible for WAWCAS International Finance
Sirish Shrestha
Program Manager
Lone Møller
Responsible for legal issues
wawcas team
Sangeeta Shrestha - Program Director WAWCAS Nepal. Founder of WAWCAS
Nina Schriver - International Program Director, WAWCAS International. Founder of WAWCAS
Sirish Shrestha - Program Manager
Frederikke Thorning - Program Developer WAWCAS International
Alija Magar - Senior Local Program Leader, Kathmandu
Sarika Rawal - Senior Local Program Leader, Kathmandu
Pabitra Pariyar - Team Leader, Tanahun
Binita Rana - Local Program Leader, Kathmandu
Keshav Prasad Adhikari - Local Program Leader, Lalitpur
Sima Kunwar – Local Program Leader, Tanahun
Shivjee Prasad – Local Program Leader, Rauthahat
Sonika Gurung – Local Program Leader, Tanahun
Andika Pun – Local Program Leader, Lamjung
Biond Ram Das – Local Program Leader, Rauthahat
Gauri Rana – Local Program Leader, Lamjung
Tribina Budhathoki – Local Program Leader, Lamjung
Dipa Adhikari – Local Program Leader, Tanahun
Bibek Pariyar – Finance Officer
Nar Bahadur Tamang – Local Program Leader, Lamjung
Sabina Achhami – Local Program Leader, Lamjung
Sangita Singh Thakuri – Local Program Leader, Rauthahat
Nisa Adhikari – Local Program Leader, Lamjung
Sudesh Kumar Linchuwa Rai - Senior Vet. Technical Assistant
Rachana Achhami - Vet. Technical Assistant
Mahesh Sir – Deputy Program Manager
Clara Dybbroe Viltoft - Program Developer WAWCAS International
WAWCAS VOLUNTEERS
Søren Schriver - Funding, Developer of Business Manuals and Business Trainermanuals and training
Per Qvist – Strategy, Funding and Program Development
Nina Qvist – WAWCAS Women’s Stories, Child Groups, SoMe and Newsletter
Rosa Colerick - WAWCAS Women’s Stories, Child Groups, SoMe and Newsletter
Anne Skovrider - WAWCAS Communication and SoMe
Morten Bjerre Madsen - WAWCAS International Finance Reports and Graphics
governance
Annual Program Reports
Annual Program Progress Report 2021-2022
Annual Program Progress Report 2020-2021
Finance
WAWCAS International
WAWCAS International 2022-23 Annual Financial Report
WAWCAS International 2021-22 Annual Finance Report
WAWCAS International 2020-21 Annual Finance Report
WAWCAS International 2019-20 Annual Finance Report
Consolidated Report WAWCAS Program
WAWCAS Program 2022-23 Report on Finance and Activities
WAWCAS Program 2021-22 Report on Finance and Activities
WAWCAS Program 2020-21 Report on Finance and Activities
WAWCAS Program 2019-20 Annual Finance Report
WAWCAS Newsletter
The WAWCAS newsletter is our in dept look into the work we do in WAWCAS. We send out the newsletter three to six times a year.
You can sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of the page.
Previous newsletters
WAWCAS Newsletter, September 2023
WAWCAS Newsletter, August 2023
WAWCAS Newsletter, June 2023
WAWCAS NewsLetter, February 2023
WAWCAS Winter Newsletter 2022
WAWCAS Winter Newsletter 2021
WAWCAS Summer Newsletter 2021
WAWCAS Winter Newsletter 2020
WAWCAS Summer Newsletter 2020
WAWCAS Winter Newsletter 2019
The global perspective
The WAWCAS program can be linked to the UN Global Goals for sustainable development. These are the global goals that we see as directly connected to the WAWCAS program.
