Twenty five years ago, the forest was bare and degraded. She desires to restore the land and forests. She gets involved in forest management through Pragatishil Community Forest. Since then she worked to restore the land and build bamboo fences. She remembers, “There used to be only river banks around here. With a small child on my lap, I rolled my sleeves up and decided to support my community in building a dam in the village. I felt a firm responsibility to protect my village, so I kept working.”
She also encouraged her community to participate in restoring the land. However, the people turn deaf ear to her. The community people never supported her. However, her determination to preserve the forest is so strong that such unwanted utterance did not stop her. Instead it leads her to get more engaged in community and forest based initiatives for climate change adaptation. She participated in various trainings organized by RECOFTC that enhanced her skills, relationships and experience to support her leadership. Her journey in restoring the forest got new wings when she was elected as the first president of the women led Pragatishil Community Forest User Group (CFUG). It had energized her more to achieve what she has always dreamed of giving back to her community through forest management. Her initial days as a leader of the institution was pretty tough as the members of her CFUG were a high caste group which always came up as a hindrance while making decisions for her group. “I heard people saying why we would listen to a dalit woman’s saying. What would we gain following her footsteps?” Time passed by, Dhanmaya continued her selfless effort and was slowly recognized by her community and started to gain the recognition that she deserved. Now, the community forest users say, without her, the CFUG functioning is beyond imagination. Working within her community and managing forest resources for the last 15 year was not the limit for Dhanamaya, following her achievements as president of Pragatishil CF, Dhanamaya with the confidence of her villagers and her community, she decided to compete in the first local election or Democratic Republic of Nepal as a ward member in 2015. Dhanamaya won the election as a ward member of Harion Municipality with majority of votes on her side. The landscape of the political scenario and Dhanamaya’s good deeds eventually got tangible recognition from her villagers. People who once tried to dominate her as a Dalit now call her as ‘Dhanamaya Ji’. She explains with her tearful eyes, “I did not start working in my community forest to become a leader nor to gain a higher position to benefit myself. It is self-driven work to support my community where I stay. Generating income from forests is secondary, what is more important is to maintain forests for future generations. The forest now protects against impacts of climate change and improves the livelihoods of the community too. I am glad that I could contribute to preserve my forests and natural resources and transfer them for my future generation.” “The society needs more Dhanamaya” echos, former Mayor (2015-2020) of Harion Municipality. She was a shy person when she first came in as elected representative from her community, she only worked within her small group of people, now she is an example within her community. It’s a fairytale for her, but it's not just by luck, she earned it. Dhanamaya continues to lead beyond her community forest. In the recent local election 2022, she is one of few re-elected representatives in Harion Municipality. As an experienced campaigner, she is now also nominated in the municipal council. ‘The responsibility is greater than ever. I have no room to disappoint my community and my people and I am energized as ever and I think this is just the beginning’ Dhanamaya’s journey has inspired and paved the way for other women from her community to dare to dream and put on the selfless effort to make their dreams come true. RECOFTC Nepal working with grassroots women dependent on natural resources is continuously supporting such a leadership journey to secure land tenure and resource rights, govern and manage their lands and improve their livelihoods.
