“When I come to visit the village, women say ‘Mira is coming,
she must have something new for us,’” says Mira Sunar, a female
community health worker, describing her relationship with the
villagers of Ramnagar, Nepal. “I feel proud and empowered by my
popularity and recognition in the A citizen of Nepal would never
expect such a statement from a woman like Sunar. Sunar was born
into the Dalit class, the lowest tier of the Nepalese caste
system. Historically members of this class have been labeled
“untouchables” and are expected to behave submissively to
members of superior classes. However, since she started working
as a female community health volunteer as part of USAID’s Nepal
Family Health Program in Nepal, Sunar has gained respect across
the caste system. The Nepal Family Health Program is based on
the proposition that Nepal’s public sector health care system
has the ability to provide quality primary health care
throughout the nation. There are a number of obstacles, however,
that prevent this from happe