“This isn’t my work, this is my life,” says Dr Susan Risal, emphasising her words. She is the director of Nagarik Aawaz, a Nepalese NGO that focuses on inspiring young people and women to build peace in their communities. Nagarik Aawaz means ‘the voice of the citizen.’ “We’re not giving the voiceless a voice, though. Everybody has their own voice. We just encourage people to use it,” she explains.
The organisation was founded in 2001, during the most brutal phase of the Nepali civil war which lasted a full decade from 1996 to 2006. “Outside the capital Kathmandu, many people were killed or abducted, or subject to intimidation, torture, or abuse. So people were forced to look for safe spaces where they could vent their grief,” says Risal, outlining the political context and motivation behind establishing Nagarik Aawaz.
When she joined Nagarik Aawaz in 2003, she was initially in charge of the organisation’s finances. However, the pain suffered by the population, and by women in particular, swayed her to pursue further training and earn a degree in Applied Conflict Transformation Studies to be able to provide more meaningful help: “Listening to the extremely brutal stories shared by the women devastated me. Coming from, let’s say, a privileged family and having never experienced the conflict first-hand, I felt that peace work was my moral responsibility. And so, this work gradually evolved into a personal journey for me.”
The women Susan Risal advocates for are primarily from marginalised groups. Often, they have an indigenous background, are members of the Dalit, the lowest caste in Nepal’s social hierarchy, and live below the poverty line. Many of these women were tortured during the civil war. Both warring parties, the radical communist Maoists and the military of the then-ruling government, used female bodies as battlefields.
The project “Building leadership for women, peace, security and equity” gives these women access to medical and mental support: “We have created safe spaces which we call peace centres. Here we encourage the women to talk about their happy lives but also about their traumas. In this way, we can find out who needs which form of mental support and help them return to a normal life,” Susan Risal says.
Yet many women are reluctant to open up as a result of Nepal’s patriarchal society and structural discrimination, violence and inequality: “Our personality, our virginity and our sexuality are a matter of prestige for our families. We have seen many cases of women who have been rejected by their families because they are victims of conflict-related violence. The women keep these incidents to themselves, and one can only imagine how deep the wounds must be that have kept them suffering for 20 years. But we try to tell them that they shouldn’t blame themselves.”
The 2006 peace agreement did not address the repercussions the civil war had on women. It also failed to call for a gender-sensitive politics. To combat structural discrimination, which is deeply entrenched in Nepali society, Nagarik Aawaz works to raise awareness among other stakeholders too, such as government agencies and community administrations, by inviting them to peace dialogues with women affected by the war.
“These dialogues create a kind of social echo, and local stakeholders have begun to acknowledge the pain and trauma borne by the women. Now the local government has provided health insurance for them, and a budget for mental well-being has been created,” says Susan Risal, highlighting the organisation’s political successes.
She knows, though, that pushing for structural change within society is essentially about transforming attitudes and behaviours, which requires time and resources. In a first step, it is important to her that justice is served, both in legal and political terms, to every single woman who has suffered atrocity. Risal’s primary focus is on mental well-being: “We have seen a lot of women fundamentally shift their attitudes as a result of our work. Women who said they wanted to commit suicide have started to value their lives again. The responsibility isn’t only on the state or civil society organisations, but on citizens like you and me. Everyone can create a safe space for women where they can live in peace and justice.”
Annika Stricker has been a freelance media analyst at NewsGuard in Germany since August 2022.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Intercultural Studies and Media and Communication Studies from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.
The zivik Funding Programme supports civil society actors worldwide in preventing crises, transforming conflicts, and creating as well as stabilising peaceful social and political systems. With their commitment, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) complement state actors by providing significant perspectives and activities. The zivik Funding Programme is providing funding for international, national or local NGO projects, which are dealing with civil conflict resolution and peacebuilding efforts.
