After graduating from Nepal University with a Master’s Degree in Sociology, Lily Thapa became involved with helping women coming from remote districts. Since 1994 she has been devoting herself to establishing her organization as a strong and recognized presence for single women and has helped set up similar single women’s groups in 34 other districts of Nepal. Inviting Nepali widows out of isolation and dependency in their homes, Lily Thapa connects them with each other in single women’s groups that are spreading throughout Nepal. The groups give the widows – or single women, a term Lily uses to replace the heavily symbolic “widow” – an encouragement to build a new future. Her work moves isolated women who have been considered unlucky and unwanted, into a possible force for change in themselves and their communities. She is founding Director of Women for Human Rights, a single women’s group, and also currently lectures in Sociology.

The impact of Lily’s work is also evident in the increased attention to single women’s issues on the government agenda in the 10th Five Year Plan. This is seen as an extremely strategic and positive step for the advancement of single women. These programs are being implemented through the Ministry of Women and Children, the Social Welfare Council, NGO’s and local government agencies from the first year after it is passed by the Parliament. Lily found herself widowed at the young age of 34 when her husband Major Dr. Amir Thapa died in the Gulf War in 1992. She fought for the compensation of her husband and received it only after 3 years after legally fighting for it through the UN.