"50 bicycles powering 50 dreams!"
Event Info: Event Date & Time: 28 June 2025, Event Venue: Birendra Bazar School, Dhanusha,
Janaki Women Awareness Society (JWAS), with generous funding support from Vicente Ferrer Stiftung (VFS) Germany, successfully handed over 50 bicycles to 50 high school girls from Birendrabazar Secondary School on June 28, 2025. This distribution was carried out under JWAS’s flagship initiative, “Send a Girl to High School with a Bicycle Gift Project,” which aims to empower girls in rural areas of Madhesh Province, Nepal, by improving their access to education.
Through this latest distribution, 50 high school girls received bicycles to overcome the daily challenge of walking 4 to 12 kilometers to reach school. The bicycles have reduced their travel time by nearly 60%, encouraging more consistent school attendance and easing the physical burden of long commutes. A bicycle is more than just a mode of transport—it is a powerful tool for change. It enables girls to travel safely, attend school regularly, and save valuable time and energy. These improvements contribute to better academic performance and help bridge the educational gap between boys and girls.
Moreover, regular attendance and continued enrollment significantly reduce the risk of child, early, and forced marriages, including pressure from family members—risks that increase when girls drop out of school or remain idle at home. Prior to the distribution, JWAS coordinated closely with Ganeshman Charnath Municipality, Birendrabazar Secondary School, and local communities to identify girls from marginalized backgrounds who face long daily commutes.
The final list of recipients was approved by the School Management Committee (SMC), ensuring a transparent and inclusive selection process.
This initiative aligns with Nepal’s National Strategy to End Child Marriage by 2030 and reflects JWAS’s unwavering commitment—spanning over three decades—to advancing the rights and opportunities of women and girls. Building on the success of this distribution, JWAS plans to expand the reach of this initiative by providing bicycles to even more unreached girls in future phases.
We call upon our well-wishers, individual supporters, and institutional donors to continue partnering with us in this transformative journey—ensuring that every girl has the opportunity to ride her way to education, equality, and empowerment!
Why bicycles?
Nepal has one of the highest rates of child marriage in South Asia, second only to Bangladesh.
According to UNICEF (2023), around 40% of girls in Nepal are married before the age of 18, and
approximately 7% are married before the age of 15. The prevalence of child and early marriage is
even higher in Madhesh Province compared to other provinces of Nepal.
In 2016, the Government of Nepal endorsed and began implementing the National Strategy to End
Child Marriage, which envisions eliminating child marriage nationwide by 2030.
Janaki Women Awareness Society (JWAS), a pioneering women-led organization based in
Madhesh Province, Nepal, has a proven track record of more than three decades in implementing
initiatives to empower women and girls. One of its notable interventions is the Bicycle Project,
launched in 2016, aimed at ending child marriage by promoting education and empowering young
girls in Nepal.
The JWAS Bicycle Project aligns with the National Strategy on Ending Child Marriage, Directive
13.2, which states: “Encourage out-of-school married and unmarried girls to continue their school
education by providing them and their parents with various facilities (scholarships at secondary
and higher secondary level, free books, uniforms, among others).”
Studies have shown that long commute times are among the most significant factors contributing
to school dropout rates among girls in Nepal Click Here. Providing bicycles has been identified
globally as one of the top 10 effective measures in the past decade for moving closer to ending
child marriage Click here. Send a Girl to High School with a Bicycle Gift Project – one of the
regular initiatives of Janaki Women Awareness Society (JWAS) provides each high school girl
with a bicycle, along with other educational support as needed. The project targets girls in Nepal
who must walk at least 4 to 12 kilometers to reach the nearest high school.
A bicycle enables girls to travel more safely, attend school regularly, and save time and energy—
contributing to improved academic performance and helping to bridge the educational gap between
boys and girls. Regular attendance and sustained retention in school also reduce the likelihood of
girls becoming victims of child, early, or forced marriage, including marriage proposals from
family members—risks that are significantly higher if a girl drops out of school or remains idle at
home.
Information about partnership
In 2025, JWAS entered into a partnership with Vicente Ferrer Stiftung gGmbH – Germany and
received its first grant to provide bicycles to high school girls in our project area. This document
serves as the final programmatic completion report for the grant, outlining the activities specified
in the project contract, and is being submitted to the funding partner, Vicente Ferrer Stiftung
gGmbH – Germany.
Event Leader: Bishnu K. Bhandari
