On her last commute, she sprained her ankle. Still, every morning in the beginning of the month, Lalmaya—the president of Milijuli cooperative—walks two hours down steep hills to reach its office. Halfway there, she pauses to rest, smiles through the pain, and says, “See, we have to have love, you know?” Behind her face, I see the resilience of enduring a lifetime of gender- and caste-based oppression as a Dalit in Nepal, yet continues to pour her passion into transforming the economic lives of women in her village through the collective power of the Milijuli Cooperative.

In Nepal, more than 34,000 cooperatives—known locally as sahakari—have sprung up over the past few decades. With principles democratic member control and economic participation, the cooperative stands apart from similarly ubiquitous organizations in Nepal: NGOs.

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