All-Female Nepali Expedition Team Departs for Mt. Everest with Global Messages on Climate Change, Womens Empowerment, and the Importance of School Feeding
KATHMANDU, 13 April: The largest all-female Nepali team ever to attempt to climb Mt. Everest begins its expedition on 17 April.
The 10 women represent a range of castes and ethnicities in Nepal. Their aim in trying to scale the worlds highest peak is to draw attention to the effects of climate change in the Himalayas, to encourage and empower women and to raise awareness about the millions of children who go to school hungry in Nepal.
The Government of Denmark has announced that it will provide 25.000 US dollar in support for the group, called the First Inclusive Women Sagarmatha Expedition. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) also provides support to the expedition team.
The team will be carrying an MDG 3 banner, handed over Sunday by Mr Finn Thilsted, Ambassador of Denmark to Nepal. This MDG 3 banner represents Millennium Development Goal (2015 Mål) number 3, which promotes gender equality and womens empowerment, and calls for the elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education.
Mr Finn Thilsted said:
– If we want to achieve sustainable development, it is important to promote womens economic and political empowerment. Women should be a driving force for development and a number of Danish initiatives try to sharpen this focus.
– Access to credit at micro level can be a very first step to five women empowerment but without rights to education and land, it will be difficult for women to contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction.
– I hope that the All-Nepali Female Mountaineering Team will reach the very top of the Mt. Everest (Sagarmatha) and this will be an encouragement to women in Nepal and in the world that empowerment pays off, noted he.
– We expect the team to bring back updated information of the major environmental changes which have been observed in the past years, from the bottom to the top of Mt. Everest, says UNDP country Direct in Nepal, Anne-Isabelle Degryse-Blateau, adding:
– We hope their observations will provide additional ideas on how to ecologically better manage and preserve this unique tourist and world heritage site.
– We would like to thank the Government of Denmark, WFP, UNDP, the BP Koirala Foundation and all our other contributors. Your financial support has enabled us to attempt this historic expedition that will raise awareness about many of the critical issues facing Nepal, stated Susmita Maskey,” FIWSE 2008 coordinator and team leader.
In addition, they will be drawing attention to the millions of children in Asia who go to school hungry every day. One of the expedition members received support from a WFP feeding programme in the past.
– As a WFP beneficiary, I feel honoured that I can help raise awareness about the significant role that school feeding plays in improving the lives of children, says Nimodoma Sherpa. The climbers will be placing WFPs Red Cup flag on the top of Mt. Everest.
The team members hope that their efforts will not only open up mountaineering to all Nepalese, but will also encourage women, no matter what community they are from, to work together to pursue their goals.
Background:
Gender Equality and Womens Economic Empowerment is one of the priorities of Danish development assistance. On 7 March 2008 in Copenhagen, the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Ms. Ulla Tørnæs launched the MDG3 Global Call to Action-an initiative by the Danish Government to place gender equality and womens empowerment (MDG3) higher on the international agenda in order to accelerate the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Danish Embassy: [email protected]; 98510 10894
UN Information Centre: [email protected]; +977 -1-5523200 ext 1600
WFP: [email protected] +977 1 5542607
UNDP: [email protected] +977 -1-5523200 ext 1077
