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You are here: Home / Our Projects / Our Work in Ladakh / Women’s Alliance of Ladakh

Women’s Alliance of Ladakh

“Only a few years ago women were considered backward and ignorant. Now we’re respected as one of the most influential voices in Ladakh.”

~ Dolma Tsering, member of WAL ~

 

As in other parts of the world, the new economic pressures in Ladakh have marginalised women, who tend to be left behind on the farm as men and young people flock to the city in search of jobs and schooling. Women’s decision-making power decreases while their work load increases.

In 1994, Local Futures helped to establish the Women’s Alliance of Ladakh (WAL), with the twin goals of raising the status of rural women and strengthening local culture and agriculture. Since then, WAL’s membership has swelled to over 6,000 women from almost 100 different villages.

The Alliance’s work covers a wide range:

  • Annual festivals celebrating local knowledge and skills, including traditional spinning, weaving and dyeing and the preparation of indigenous food;
  • Regular ‘clean-up’ campaigns aimed at encouraging community responsibility for the environment. (In 1998, WAL succeeded in banning the use of plastic bags in Leh);
  • Awareness-raising programmes – like their successful ‘No TV’ weeks – aimed at resisting the worst elements of non-Ladakhi culture;
  • Setting up handicrafts co-operatives and training centres in villages throughout the region, giving farming families the ability to earn a cash income without having to leave the land. The crafts are sold during the summer season to foreign tourists.
  • Global to Local
    • International Alliance for Localization (IAL)
      • Join the IAL
      • IAL Members
        • IAL Member Organizations
        • IAL Listserv
      • Video Project: Voices from the IAL
    • Webinar Recordings
      • Sacred Activism in a Post-Trump World Webinar
      • Talking Climate Webinar
      • People Power: Democracy and the Economy Webinar
      • Beyond Trump: The Path to Real Change Webinar
      • Bringing the Food Economy Home Webinar
      • A World Without ‘Free’ Trade: What it would look like and how to get there
      • Beyond ‘Free Trade’ – Alternatives to Corporate Rule
      • Education: Promises, Myths & Realities Webinar
      • Debt and Speculation in the Global Economy Webinar
      • A New Activism Webinar
      • Climate Change or System Change Webinar
      • Going Local Webinar
    • Animation: Going Local: the solution-multiplier
    • Insane Trade Short Film and Factsheet
      • Insane Trade! & Factsheet Translated
    • Planet Local
      • Culture
      • Eco Communities
      • Ecology
      • Health
      • Local Business & Finance
      • Local Energy
      • Local Food, Farming & Fisheries
      • Local Policy & Community Rights
      • Place-based Education
      • Sharing & Repairing
      • Planet Local Short Film Series
        • 1 – Introduction: The New Local Food Movement
        • 2 – Diverse Farming Systems
        • 3 – Local Food Webs: Exploring Systems of Distribution
        • 4 – Local Food Processors: AKA Making Delicious Food
        • 5 – Challenges & Solutions
        • 6 – Ecovillages & Networks for New Farmers
        • 7 – And Finally… Here’s a Little More Inspiration
    • Local Bites Podcast
      • Unpacking Global Empire from an Indigenous Perspective with Tyson Yunkaporta & Helena Norberg-Hodge
      • More than Just the Vegetables
      • Food Sovereignty in the Global Economy
      • Transition, Tradition, and Trade
      • Not-for-Profit Businesses
      • Love, Values, and Wellbeing Economies
      • Growing a Farmers Market from the Ground Up
      • Beautiful Places: A Conversation with Wendell Berry
      • Creating the Framework for a New Economy
      • From GDP to GNH
      • Rebuilding Healthy Communities: The Growing Ecovillage Movement
      • Seeds of Resilience, Seeds of Sovereignty
      • Why Local Ownership Matters
      • Local Alternatives to Globalized Development: A View from India
      • How to Feed the World? A Political Agroecological Approach
      • Helena Norberg-Hodge on how corporate ‘free trade’ deals threaten local communities and economies worldwide
  • Our Work in Ladakh
    • Past Work in Ladakh
      • Experiences in Ladakh 2018
      • Experiences in Ladakh 2017
    • Ancient Futures (book & film)
    • Local Futures’ History in Ladakh
      • Women’s Alliance of Ladakh
  • The Economics of Happiness Film
    • Economics of Happiness Conferences
    • The Film
    • DIY Economics of Happiness Workshop

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