Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen, Tham Maya Thapa appreciated LWF for its humanitarian and development assistance in Nepal and encouraged to continue the work.

During her meeting with Rev Dr Martin Junge, General Secretary of The Lutheran World Federation at her office, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen, Tham Maya Thapa said,” Nepal is a country where women are still oppressed, various social issues related to caste, gender, economic status have been a hindrance in their development. The interventions and programme of LWF Nepal has contributed in their empowerment. LWF Nepal should continue to provide to the efforts of the government towards inclusive development focusing on the most marginalized people”.

She said, “We work closely with NGOs, INGOs and monitor them. The Ministry highly values the works done by LWF. I strongly believe INGOs coordinate and complement the efforts of the government. Such collaboration with International Non-Government Organizations has supported the Government of Nepal to tackle various social problems that are still rampant in the country mostly related to gender inequality and gender based violence.”

Rev. Dr Junge was accompanied by Rev. Dr Philip Lok OiPeng, Area Secretary for Asia Department for Mission and Development and Mr Allan Calma, Regional Program Coordinator Dr Prabin Manandhar, Country Director, LWF Nepal and Rev. Joseph Soren, Chairperson,Nepal Evalengical Lutheran Church.

She further said,“Nepal is a country where women are still oppressed, various social issues related to caste, gender, economic status have been a hindrance in their development. The interventions and programme of LWF Nepal has contributed in their empowerment. LWF Nepal should continue to provide to the efforts of the government towards inclusive development focusing on the most marginalized people”.

Caption: LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge today met with Minister for Women Children and Senior Citizen

She added, “The organization like LWF Nepal can help in enhancing capacity of the elected representatives at the local government. As they havejudicial role, they need to be informed and LWF Nepal can contribute towards their capacity building”.

Rev Dr Junge congratulated the Government of Nepal for successful restructuring of the government. He thanked the Ministry for cooperation and coordination with different INGOs in Nepal. Explaining his purpose of visit,Rev. Dr. Junge further appreciated the positive collaboration of LWF with different level of government. He said, “LWF has commitment to support Government’s efforts to ensuring the wellbeing of the population, especially for women, children, senior citizens, refugees, disaster-affected people, internally displaced people and the host communities”.

Dr. Junge arrived today Kathmandu for his week long visit.

Dr Prabin Manandhar, Country Director LWF Nepal said, “In the changed federal government context, LWF Nepal will work closely with the local and provincial governments and local civil society organizations. The support provided by the government is appreciable and we hope it strengthens even more in the future.”

Rev. Dr Junge will be in Nepal till 19 September, 2018. The objectives of his visit are learning and sharing of humanitarian and development works in Nepal carried out by LWF Nepal. The key element of this trip is to watch the activities conducted by LWF Nepal closely and to maintain a positive relationship with the government and other concerned stakeholders.

Rev. Dr Junge will be meeting high level government dignitaries, government officials, representatives of humanitarian and development organizations, implementing partners, community people, journalists and other stakeholders. He will also observe field work carried out by LWF Nepal and its implementing partners in Jhapa, Morang and Kavre districts. In addition, Rev. Dr Junge will be visiting the earthquake and flood affected areas.

Rev. Dr Junge will also attend NELC Jubilee celebration in Morang. LWF Nepal works closely with NELC and its diaconal arm – Lutheran Community Welfare Society in their capacity building and the upliftment of poor and oppressed.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Nepal, a Country Program of the LWF World Service (WS), has been working with marginalized and disadvantaged communities of Nepal since 1984 on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Preparedness and Response; Sustainable Livelihoods, and Community-led Actions for Governance and Justice. Its core commitments are Human Rights; Impartiality; Inclusion and Participation; Accountability; Gender Justice and Climate Justice; and Environmental Sustainability.

Bio of Rev. Dr. Martin Junge:

Rev. Dr Martin Junge is the first Latin American general secretary of The Lutheran World Federation. He was elected by the LWF Council in 2009 and assumed office on 1 November 2010. Rev. Dr Junge was born in Chile in 1961 and completed his primary and secondary education in Concepción. He studied evangelical theology at Georg August University in Göttingen, Germany, from 1980 to 1986.

In 1996, Rev. Dr Junge was elected president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile. One of his most significant achievements was to stabilize the church after a leadership crisis. As LWF Area Secretary, Rev. Dr Junge took up the crucial issues of neoliberal globalization and illegitimate external debt. He was instrumental in the publication of a seminal work in 2008 titled ‘Not Just Numbers – Examining the Legitimacy of Foreign Debts’ (LWF Documentation 53) that was presented at the International Symposium on Illegitimate Debt held in Oslo, Norway, in October 2008.