Bishnu Pariyar, from a village to academia
Bishnu Maya Pariyar, a 2006 US-Canada MMEG grantee, tells a remarkable story of her transition from a subsistence farming existence in a remote village in western Nepal to co-founding a rights based organization that supports children and Dalit (“untouchable” caste) and marginalized women in Nepal and working on anti-gender violence in New Jersey.
Bishnu was born into a poor Dalit family of 10 children whose labor was essential for the family’s survival as subsistence farmers.
They had no access to electricity, sanitation, healthcare, or roads, and she was shunned by other children. “Being a Dalit girl, I experienced discrimination every day and every moment,” recalls Bishnu.
However, with help from the US Peace Corps, Bishnu earned a BA in Nepal in social and political systems. She then traveled to the US to study international development and social change at Clark University, MA, where a MMEG grant help her complete a master’s degree in 2007.
Bishnu stood out to MMEG for having co-founded, at age 20, a social integration organization, Association for Dalit Women’s Advancement of Nepal (ADWAN), to foster economic independence, boost self-esteem and dignity, and instill solidarity among the diverse Dalit community members. ADWAN does so through three main programs— education, income generation and advocacy, and awareness—creating mixed-caste women’s solidarity groups that became role models for rural community development and social transformation.
ADWAN has:
• organized 119 saving and loan groups with more than 2,200 women members;
• helped over 1,500 high-school students with stipends, some of whom are individually sponsored by US citizens; • assisted 21 female college students via a scholarship program called the “Ambitious Girls’ Fund;” • provided microloans to 126 women from 20 groups, now engaged in micro enterprises; and • organized 4 ongoing literacy classes and 6 pre-school classes.
Under Bishnu’s leadership, ADWAN has supported more than 60,000 Dalit and marginalized women and their family members in Nepal, covering over 390 groups, 35 schools, 25,000 students, and 35,000 family members. Caste and gender discrimination and domestic violence have dropped. All Dalit children belonging to women’s groups attend school and their performance in school has improved. Dalit women are increasingly involved in business initiatives, participating in community development initiatives, and involved in civic and political organizations. ADWAN has also seen improvements in participants’ economic conditions, home environments, hygiene, mind sets, and social awareness.
In 2013, Bishnu was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by her undergrad alma mater, Pine Manor College, MA, for her pioneering social contributions. She now works in New Jersey as a case manager for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, while continuing to fundraise for and promote ADWAN’s mission. She has helped hundreds of South Asian American domestic and sexual violence victims, and has given cultural sensitivity training to local officials, police, and law enforcement officers in Boston, MA, and Jersey City, NJ.
MMEG is proud of having identified Bishnu as an extraordinary woman and of supporting her to change the lives of women and children.
Source pages:
https://www.adwan.org/founding-president--dr-bishnu-m-pariyar
https://clarknow.clarku.edu/2022/02/15/clark-alumna-confronts-gender-and-caste-based-disc
