“Equal pay for equal work system for both men and women of the RAP3 MHLR project has encouraged us to adopt the system in the Palika and helped in establishing a society of equality in the village. Hence, we all are very proud of the project".
-Mr. Bhakta Bahadur Malla, Chief Administrative Officer, Mahabu RM Dailekh
With the global pandemic Covid-19 virus now in Nepal, the virus has spread to districts of Karnali province. The growing number of Nepalis entering the country from the Indian border has increased the risk of Covid-19 infection among many of those who were migrant labourers in India. Due to the pandemic and the resulting lock down, the project has been unable to distribute wage payments to our Special Maintenance Group (SMGs) in Dailekh.
With the support from government officials, our team in Surkhet got a travel permit recommendation from the District Administrative Office (DAO) Dailekh, but as the number of infected people increased, Dailekh district was sealed off and the project team was not allowed to travel for their own safety. Even in such an unusual situation, the Dailekh Ward Chairperson committed to support and manage the SMG wage distribution in the district on behalf of the RAP3 MHLR team.
Together with support from other officials of Mahabu Rural Municipality and following the norms and procedures of the project, SMG wage distribution was successfully completed on 22nd June 2020.
Due to the possibility of spreading the virus, only one group of SMGs was called in per day and wages were distributed to 5 groups on different days between 18th June and 22nd June 2020. We are grateful for the assistance government officials have provided in this time of lockdown and we look forward to their continued support in the coming days as well.