Tilottama municipality in Rupandehi has been chosen by UNOPS to be made a women-friendly city. According to the concept of creating a community-based women-friendly city by selecting 7 municipalities across the country, the project discussed with the community on Wednesday about infrastructure construction in 2 wards of Tilottama and feasibility study.

In Ward 4 Seemanagar and Ward 9 Mangalapur of the municipality, women-friendly rest houses, toilets, children's play areas, accessible walkways, gardens, etc. will be constructed along with hot bazaars. Neelam Dhanushe, program specialist of the project, said that stalls will also be built for food items and other items that can be produced and sold by women. According to him, in the place where the infrastructure is built, a structure based on the pre-mapping that they want will be made after discussion with the women, men, youth and children of the community. 

"We look at the possibility of what will happen in terms of technology and climate," Dhanushe, the program specialist of the project, said, "Since 30 percent of the municipality's investment will be mixed in this, the participation of the people in the community is mandatory." In this process, an open space in the ward is identified and it is studied whether it is suitable to build a structure on it. According to him, after that, a community map will be drawn and the infrastructure will be technically mapped.

City chief Ramakrishna Khan said that such a project will help to create an egalitarian women-friendly, gender-friendly city in Tilotta. He said that Tilottama was also selected from all over the country and that the municipality is ready to invest in the project and play a partnership role with UNOPS as it is a good thing that the project will build infrastructure. He also said that he expects this partnership to set a new precedent for gender equality and women's empowerment in Nepal.