By: Medha Sharma, Accountability Lab Accountapreneur and President of Visible Impact

Meet Rita

Rita is 16 years old and black belt in Taekwondo. She discovered her passion for Taekwondo when she was 8 years old. Almost 2 years ago, an earthquake destroyed her village – Kharanitar of Nepal’s Nuwakot district – and Rita and the other girls in her village had to give up their Taekwondo lessons. 

Since last year, Visible Impact has been working to unleash the social and economic leadership of 15 adolescent girls of her village, by providing them mentorship on a variety of topics, including academic support, support for co-curricular activities, workshops on social issues, leadership and accountability, entrepreneurship, and storytelling.

On December 1, my organization started a fundraiser for these girls through GlobalGiving, where we are striving to raise USD 5000 for girls like Rita.

What we’ve done so far

With the funds we’ve raised so far, we have encouraged Rita to utilize her Taekwondo skills to start her own class. Starting this month, she has started teaching Taekwondo lessons every morning for two hours to 15 other girls in the village and the number is growing

With further funds raised from GlobalGiving, Visible Impact will be able to sponsor Taekwondo classes for 6 months for 15 girls.

The girls in her village have been receiving self-defense lessons that will make them less prone to physical violence against them at home and community.

Rita has become an entrepreneur exemplar in her village. She will be able to earn 250 Nepal Rupees (~2.5 USD per girl) for the coaching per month. That is a good income at that age, and it has motivated other girls to become entrepreneur as well.

Rita comes from Tamang community, an ethnic group of Nepal where women rarely come out of private space to public space. Rita has proved that not only women, but also adolescent girls, can become independent leaders in their community.

Plans beyond the next 6 months

After 6 months, Helping Hands Kharanitar, which is local partner of Visible Impact, will register a Dojo in Rita’s leadership at the village. We will then coordinate with the Village Development Committee office to allocate regular funds for Taekwondo classes for adolescent girls in the village. Also, we will link Rita to district and national level Taekwondo championships.

This is just one example of the many girls that Visible Impact will train to become champions of social change. We are proud of what Rita has been able to achieve with our and yours support. We still need to raise more money from 12 more people to fulfill the GlobalGiving challenge. Please consider donating to the campaign here to support this important cause.

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