Extreme Poverty Eliminated: A Successful Program in Nepal

Extreme Poverty Eliminated! outlines a set of 12 action steps to bring some 1,800 families living in the Lamjung District of Nepal out of the scourge of extreme poverty in a three-year period. This program integrates six basic principles: 1) institutions based upon principles of good governance, 2) transformative leadership using results-based management, 3) core values and gender equality, 4) self-reliance through leveraging and enterprise development, 5) local government reform through meaningful decentralization, and 6) extreme poverty elimination though community collaboration and unity.Radhika Pariyar and her daughter (on the front cover) are living proof that people can bring themselves out of extreme poverty. When Jim Mayfield asked Radhika’s daughter what career she wanted to have when she finished her schooling, she said with great confidence she wanted to become a lawyer and help her people. Tears sprang to Radhika’s eyes when she heard this. When he asked Radhika if she had a dream when she was her daughter’s age, she replied: “I had no dream!” Today Radhika, a woman from the Dalit caste (poorest of the poor), is a successful business woman and has been elected to her local ward council.