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 4,000 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 750 new women into the program every year.
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 entreprenurship 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.
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 the centers 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.
PREPERATION
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
wawcas organisation
wawcas board
Nina Schriver
Int. 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 - Program Director WAWCAS International. Founder of WAWCAS
Sirish Shrestha - Program Manager.
Krishna Maharjan - Finance Officer.
Sudesh Kumar Linchuwa Rai - Technical Assistant, Lamjung.
Frederikke Thorning - Program Developer WAWCAS International.
Sworup Karki - Local Program Leader
Sajan Sakya - Local Program Leader (Trainer); Lamjung.
Pabitra Pariyar - Local Program Leader (Trainer); Lamjung.
Asmita Khadka - Local Program Leader (Trainer); Lamjung.
Alija Magar - Local Program Leader (Trainer); Lamjung.
Rachana Achchhami – Technical Assistant; Lamjung
Anu Shrestha - Local Program Leader (Trainer); Lamjung.
Binita Rana - Local Program Leader (Trainer); Kathmandu.
Keshav Prasad Adhikari - Local Program Leader (Trainer); Kathmandu.
Rammaya Ranamagar - Team Leader; Lamjung.
Rojmon Chaudhary - Team Leader; Tanahu.
Subash Limbu – Trainer
Nilisha Pradhan – Trainer
Sarika Rawal - Team Leader; Kathmandu Team.
WAWCAS VOLUNTEERS
Søren Schriver - Funding and development of WAWCAS business manuals and training
Lotte Thorsgaard - Women stories. Revision of text to WAWCAS Newsletter.
Kristoffer Krog - Website administrator and developer. Setting up and sending out WAWCAS Newsletter.
Mia Katrine Leth-Wahl - Women stories.
Dorrit Holten Pind - Development of WAWCAS Training and monitoring materials.
Per Quist - Strategy, funding, WAWCAS data and program development.
Natasha Kaas Ollendorff - WAWCAS data analysis and research
Laura Poulsen - Accounting for WAWCAS International.
Lars Thyregod - WAWCAS e-mails and website.
Morten Bjerre Madsen - WAWCAS International Finance Reports and Graphics.
Henriette Friis - WAWCAS Craft.
Julie Sonali - WAWCAS women stories.
Tom Nielsen (Vulkan Bureau) - WAWCAS Communication Design and Graphics.
Peter Laursen (Vulkan Bureau) - WAWCAS Communication Design and Graphics
Jens Wilhelm - Fundraising and communication.
governance
Legal
Statutes - Revised 2017
Finance
WAWCAS International
WAWCAS International 2019-20 Annual Finance Report
WAWCAS International 2018-19 Annual Finance Report
WAWCAS International 2017-18 Annual Finance Report
Consolidated Report WAWCAS Program
WAWCAS Program 2019-20 Annual Finance Report
WAWCAS Program 2018-19 Annual Finance Report
WAWCAS Program 2017-18 Annual Finance Report
Annual Program Progress Report
WAWCAS Annual Program Progress Report June 2019 - July 2020
Annex Annual Program Progress Report June 2019 - July 2020
WAWCAS Newsletter
The WAWCAS newsletter is our in dept look into the work we do in WAWCAS. We send out the newsletter two - three times a year.
You can sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of the page.
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.
