Submit your Article

The ability to access finances and borrow money can be transformational for many families; however, there are many in Nepal—particularly the marginalized and low-income—who often miss out on formal lending products for housing because there is nothing on the market that can service their needs or is affordable. Instead, they remain vulnerable in the inadequate houses they live in, often suffering from overcrowding, lack of privacy, lack of sanitary facilities, and poorly built structures. Since its founding in 1997, Habitat Nepal has provided housing services to over 70,000 households and has developed a network of valued local partners to carry out its housing initiatives. Habitat for Humanity Nepal employs a holistic approach to long-term shelter solutions by developing better alliances with government agencies, leveraging government resources, fostering ties with local partners, and pursuing expansion through housing microfinance and market development programs. The market penetration of housing microfinance products for low-income families is still relatively low. Habitat Nepal’s market research for housing microfinance found that there is a sizable gap between supply and demand because microfinance institutions (MFIs) have little experience with housing microfinance. The lack of appropriate and affordable housing finance options only exacerbates Nepal’s housing challenges. Often financial institutions view low-income marginalized people as high risk and high cost due to their frequent small transactions and difficult-to-reach locations. The collateral requirements of commercial banks and the mortgage market in Nepal are still in their early stages, with the total amount of home mortgage loans outstanding as a percentage of GDP being 6.67 percent in 2019, whereas a country like Australia has 94.7 percent in the same year. Commercial and development banks and finance companies provide home loans, and due to the requirement of collateral and proof of income sources, low-income families do not qualify for such financing. Microfinance, on the other hand, can overcome these obstacles by assisting low-income households in balancing their income flows and setting money aside for the future. Due to various challenges and unavailability of medium to long-term on-lending funds, Nepal’s microfinance institutions struggle to reach large numbers of low-income households through housing microfinance services. Many MFIs in the nation offer short-term loans to low-income families for income generation purposes. MFIs can address the need for housing finance to low-income households by offering affordable loans that could be both profitable and offer transformational social change for families. Though MFIs have networks that can reach these communities, they still need partnerships to enhance their technical capabilities to deliver housing microfinance services targeting low-income families. A competitive and stable marketplace comprising various providers is also essential to the financial inclusion landscape. One of the biggest MFIs in Nepal, Jeevan Bikas Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (JBLBSL), made the decision to extend the housing-related services to low-income households. The decision to offer housing was carefully thought out after taking into account a number of aspects, including: the enormous gap between the supply and demand for housing microfinance solutions; JBLBSL’s vision of improving the lives of low-income households; JBLBSL’s parent organization history and background related to the housing sector; JBLBSL's long-term business strategy. With the objective of introducing a client-centric housing finance solution that addresses the markets' pain points and promotes adequate housing for low-income households, JBLBSL collaborated with Habitat for Humanity Nepal and Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter to develop a viable housing product. Officials from JBLBSL have observed that housing loan borrowers now feel a greater sense of security, dignity, and social ties; their families or friends are able to visit and stay. A business case study of housing microfinance at JBLBSL reveals the positive impacts on families, with 65 percent of respondents feeling more respect and dignity in their communities, 57 percent feeling more cooperation from their social groups, 55 percent feeling more security for their lives and property, 49 percent expressing improved social relationships, and 41 percent feeling better about their credit because they can now access loans secured by their homes.  Improved housing has had a positive impact on people's health, increasing their capacity to work, reducing illness frequency by 59 percent, reducing cases of water-borne infections by 43 percent, and lowering medical expenses for their families by 43 percent. The children now have access to a separate place for studying and reading, which has improved their learning environment. Homes became more pleasant thanks to better lighting brought on by access to electricity and ventilation via built-in windows. 98 percent of respondents to the household survey believed that better housing contributed to better educational outcomes. Housing microfinance loans' most significant and direct benefit is the reduction in house maintenance costs. The decrease in home maintenance costs is the most substantial and immediate advantage of housing microfinance loans. Families spent Rs 10,000 to 20,000 ($ 84 to 168) on maintenance and repair on average every six months. However, 76 percent of respondents said their home maintenance costs have decreased. Additionally, 59 percent stated that they now had easier access to loans from other financial institutions since they could use the collateral of their new home. Other savings were seen in the form of expenses or profits from rentals. With technical support and collaboration with Habitat for Humanity Nepal, JBLBSL applied a human-centered design, which kept the end client’s needs at the center while developing the housing microfinance product. Therefore, a client-centric product can attract large numbers of low-income families who are in need of home improvements. Similarly, such a process would help to diversify the loan product and ultimately could enhance the sustainability of the institution.

The Bhutanese people of southern Bhutan who are the ethnic Nepali in origin were forced to leave the country after the Government’s crackdown on the political upheavals and demonstration against it for its human right violation. These people were housed at the bed of river Mai at the beginning (1991-1992) and placed in the seven different camps of Jhapa and Morang districts of Nepal. The children had no future if they were barred from education. The refugee leaders, teachers, and the Student Union of Bhutan (SUB) approached CN in late 1991 for the educational assistance to run the school at the bank of the river.  The positive response of CN then became the source of consolation and joy for the deprived future citizens of the world.  Ashish Gurung the then Director of CN came forward with textbooks, exercise books, and stationery and distributed them in the open classroom of the river bed in late November 1991. The first school in the refugee camp was named ‘Panchaoti English School’. There were around 200 children of different grades at the start with 15 teachers. Some people instead of coming to river Mai had gone to Timai where another school had started with around 130 children and 11 teachers. Subsequently, as the number of people increased, they were shifted to seven different camps. The people had left behind everything but had carried the source of inspiration and the thirst for education with them. Hence, as the camps were getting established, open ground school was started in each camp.  CN was the source of inspiration and support for the teaching/learning materials and school structures at that time. In November 1992, a school management committee was formed named as Bhutan Refugee Education Coordinating Committee (BRECC). CN was the advisory and sponsoring organization. In 1993, UNHCR came forward to support primary education but would not work with refugee organizations directly. BRECC requested CN to be the implementing partner of UNHCR for the education of refugee children. The then existing portfolios of BRECC went under the umbrella of CN and the program was named as Bhutanese Refugee Education Program (BREP). BREP streamlined the school administration and strengthened the office set-up.  With the number of people increasing in camp, the students’ population was also increasing. The nine main schools had limited space for class-rooms. Moreover, the smaller children lacked special care. So, in 1994 sector schools were created as the satellite schools in each sector of the camp, reaching 42 units in 1995. The highest number of students recorded was 40,208 in the 2000-2001 academic session.  Involvement of CN in non-formal refugee education Speaking English classes: For the adults aged 25 and above, these classes were informally started and run in 1993 but and later it got proper shape when the third country resettlement program started. Most of the people felt the need to learn English in the country of resettlement.  Play station for children: started by AHURA Bhutan and SCF, in 2001, CN looked after with the support from JRS Singapore.   Vocational training: The World Food Program-Vocational Training (WFP-VT) was initiated in 1998 for the school drop-outs. Out of the total vocational training, 75 percent of seats were reserved for the refugee community and the remaining 25 percent was for the local community. Later, it was made 50/50. From 2007 with the planning of third country resettlement, UNHCR also came forward and started funding for vocational training. Courses like beautician, hotel catering, housekeeping and caregivers, basic electronic goods servicing and freeze repair are given to the participants. These skills are in demand in the countries of resettlement. Youth Friendly Centers (YFC): A common platform for the youths of 18 to 25 years of age for knowledge enhancement, physical development, creative work, and social service, started in 2006 to centralize their attention and prevent antisocial activities. Different games/sports activities are carried out by the youths. Skill development training, dissemination of information to the community through skits, awareness programs and through personal contacts is being carried out. At the time of emergency like fire/flood, the youths are in the forefront for their free service. Care for the needy through mentor is also carried out by YFC.  Host community support program: This platform was initiated to enhance the host community public schools. Support like teaching/learning materials, science lab materials, computers, printers, projectors, generators and different workshops and training to the students and the teachers were provided. With the decreasing number of refugee population and large-scale resettlement process, UNHCR and Caritas’ strategy is diverted to promote alternative durable solutions for the access of education to the remaining refugee children in the camps. As a result of sustained advocacy efforts with local and central level government authorities, a total of 180 refugee students from grade nursery to X from Sanischare camp and around 100 refugee students of grade IX and X from Beldangi camp are enrolled in nearby host community public school from the previous academic session 2018-19. By the end of December 2020, despite a lockdown due to covid, out of 793 (389 Female), 569 students (289 Female), had enrolled in the host community public schools. Textbooks, note books and school uniforms were supported by CN under the UNHCR/Caritas fund for all the school going children by the end of December 2020.  After serving for more than two decades in the Bhutanese refugee camp Caritas’ strategy was to promote alternative durable solutions for access to education for remaining refugee children in the camps after the large scale of resettlement till 2016. Caritas along with UNHCR continued its involvement in advocacy to the local and central level government. With the intensive advocacy effort with local and central level government authorities, Bhutanese Refugee students got access to nearby to host community public schools. Upon request from the Camp Management Committee (CMC), Caritas Nepal helped to retain the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) inside the refugee camp to maintain a conducive learning environment for small kids (3-5 years of age). With the funding support of Caritas Korea Caritas Nepal is now supporting the ECDC with stationery items, school uniforms, Day meals, etc. and for effective teaching number of workshop has been organized for the teachers/facilitators of ECDC. 

Sundari, 11, has an intellectual disability that causes memory and learning difficulties. With the support of Handicap International in Nepal, she’s enrolled in a class adapted to her needs. A fifth grader, Sundari lives in a dormitory at the school, which is more than 60 miles away from her home. Her favorite subject is science. She recently made a presentation to her classmates in which she drew an animal cell on the whiteboard and talked about its different parts. “I want to become a doctor one day to save people’s lives and help the elderly,” Sundari explains. Sundari spends most of her time with her best friend, Bipana. Together, they play Ludo, a strategy board game that is Sundari’s favorite. “Sundari is very open and friendly,” Bipana says. “She sometimes gets angry, but I can calm her down really quickly.” The resource class in Sundari’s school caters to 30 students with disabilities. Children learn the Nepali and English alphabets, numbers, words, body parts, as well as hygiene and self-care. When they’re ready, students join their classmates for inclusive lessons. “Sundari was enrolled in the resource class – a class where children with intellectual disabilities study together—when she was 5 years old,” explains her teacher, Bhupendra Bhandari. “She was enrolled during her early childhood development years and has since progressed to mainstream classes. She is now second in her class.” Children in resource classes range in age from 7 to 17, with some even in their 20s. Like Sundari, some transition to mainstream classes after a few years in a resource class. Over the past four years, the school’s resource class has been supported by Handicap International and its local partner Human Rights, Social Awareness and Development Center. Resource classes welcome children with a range of disabilities, including sensory and intellectual disabilities. Only 380 of Nepal’s more than 30,000 schools have resource classes, and Handicap International supports 50 of them. Teams provide educational materials adapted to the needs of children with disabilities, including braille books or sign language learning mobile applications. Other support materials include foam letters, word cards, toy balls, storybooks in local languages and stationery. Educators are also trained to adapt their teaching methods to the needs of children with disabilities. Last school year, HI also provided hygiene kits and school bags to 500 students with disabilities in 46 resource classes across 10 districts to help them continue to learn during the Covid-19 pandemic. HI and its local partners continue to fight for access to education for children with disabilities. Prabin, 5, lives in Jhapa, the southeastern district of Nepal with his parents. He was born without the lower part of his right leg. “Because of the disability of our child we were worried about his future,” says Sunita, Prabin’s mother. A community mobilizer from Community Based Rehabilitation-Biratnagar (CBRB), a local partner organization of Handicap International, met Prabin and referred the family to seek services at the rehabilitation center. At first, Prabin was hesitant to be fitted with an artificial limb. Specialists worked with the boy and his parents to better understand how the device would work, and how it would help him. A month later, the parents were eager to have a new leg. “This was a wonderful change for our little boy, as he quickly accepted the prosthesis and began playing, running, and even jumping like any other child of his age,” Sunita explains. Prabin attends school and loves to play with his toys. Ambika Sharma, a specialist in artificial limbs and orthopedic braces at CBRB, worked with the little boy and his family from the beginning. “Initially, it was challenging to fit Prabin with an artificial limb because he was not accepting,” Sharma says. “But his parents made it possible with their supervision and guidance. It was an amazing experience for us to see him happy with his prosthesis." As Prabin gets older, he will need to be fitted with new devices. “Growth is an important aspect of a child's life,” Sharma continues. “As their bodies change, prostheses have to be adapted or changed in the appropriate manner to accommodate them. Just as they outgrow shirts, pants, and shoes, they will outgrow their prostheses.” Jamuna, 26, from Rasuwa, a central hilly district of Nepal, who is deaf by birth and uses sign language to communicate, started a business venture with her strong will power and with the support of Handicap International. Jamuna left her studies a few years back and could not continue her studies after ninth grade due to a barrier in accessing class in sign language. This is something she regrets till date. Her father had a small piece of land, which was not very productive and barely met the needs of their family. There was not enough left for them to save anything for the future. Jamuna knew about her family’s economic condition and felt a strong sense of responsibility towards that. All her efforts to help her family were in vain as her disability restricted her communication and she could not look for a job opportunity in her community. Her knowledge of sign language empowered her to communicate with others who could understand her or to write notes with others. Thanks to the support from the project, she could build a new cottage and restore her tailoring business, which was badly damaged by the 2015 earthquake. In her community, she is well known for sewing stylish designs for girls and women. "My newly built tailor home gave me plenty of space to work on and enough light made my work so much easier," says Jamuna. She feels more dignified and honored in her family as well as in her community. A few years ago, when she was 20, she learned tailoring and dreamed of becoming a renowned tailor. “My dream turned into reality,” said Jamuna. HI has been present in Nepal since 2000 and works to improve the quality of life and participation of the most vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities. Thanks to the support of HI donors like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), these efforts are possible.

One of the prominent prerequisites to promote gender equality and empowerment is access to inclusive and quality education for girls and women.  Educating girls and women provide them with life-changing opportunities whether it is social, economic, or political. Ultimately, enabling them to demonstrate their meaningful presence in decision-making, generate income to support themselves and their families, and take leadership roles in the home, community, and country. Madhesh Pradesh is one of the regions with the highest rates of illiteracy and early marriages in Nepal (NDHS 2016, CBS 2011, MICS 2014). The majority of the girls are trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty, harmful gender, and socio-cultural norms, and practices creating barriers to education. As they are hardly provided with opportunities and access to education, they acquire zero bargaining power in the house. They have null or low literacy and numeracy skills and lack information about their rights, equality, and life skills. Therefore, an educational institution free of harmful gender/social norms is required to empower girls and boys. It will contribute to reducing the school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) and harmful practices, including child/early marriage. Girls’ education improves economies and reduces inequality. It provides opportunities for all individuals to fulfill their potential including girls, women, boys, men and everyone. Girls who receive an education are less likely to marry at a young age and more likely to lead healthy, productive lives. They earn higher incomes, participate in the decisions that most affect them, and build better futures for themselves and their families. Therefore, investing in girls’ education transforms communities, schools, municipalities and the nation as a whole. With the aim to promote inclusive education including specific needs of women and girls, life skill, livelihood, reducing harmful social norms and adverse impacts of climate change and disaster, a network of volunteers called Girls and Inclusive Education Network (GIEN) is formed. GIEN is formed under the technical leadership of Girls Education Challenge (GEC) program funded by FCDO, and implemented by People in Need (PIN) Nepal, VSO and Street Child, in consultation with Center for Education and Human Resource Development (CEHRD). The GIEN is formed and operationalized at community, municipality, province and federal levels. The network consists of adolescent girls, youth and adult representatives from a range of stakeholders at the school, municipality, provincial, and federal levels. The major aim of GIEN network is to work together with the government and communities to promote girls’ education and inclusive learning, girls' right to protection and safeguarding, reducing gender-based violence to in and out of school girls, life skills and livelihood through creation of enabling environments at family, communities, and schools. GIEN provides marginalized girls with localized support through a peer mentoring model. Since the volunteers often share the same background and have lived experiences, they can offer both support and motivation to the marginalized girls. It is envisioned to be developed as a women-led network so has the unique potential to become a catalyst within the education landscape by activating school-based Girls and Inclusive Education Networks (GIEN) in schools and different layers of government. The network is designed to align closely with Government of Nepal’s (GoN) policies and priorities outlined in the 10 years School Education Sector Plan (2021-2030), especially regarding the creation of gender networks ensuring Government of Nepal’s ownership in sustaining these endeavors. It aims to align non-governmental organizations’ efforts with the government initiatives to reduce girls’ educational barriers and continue their inclusive learning in a sustained way. This network at school/community level will strengthen the complaint response mechanism that will support the school governance, reducing SRGBV, and resulting in establishing a safe, inclusive, and enabling environment at schools for girls' transition to and retention in secondary education. GIEN not only encompasses the girls' access to schools, but it will also ensure to remove gender stereotypes in the learning materials, girls feeling safe in the schools, getting adequate support in the coursework, and making career-plans they choose to pursue.  The network at local level will advocate on promotion of girls’ education and inclusive education, lobby at local level to prioritize voices of marginalized girls and women in policy formation and reflect in government activities with allocation of resources.  People in Need (PIN) Nepal have taken the initiation to form Girls and Inclusive Education Network (GIEN) in working schools and local levels of Bara and Rautahat districts of Madhesh Province under the UK Aid funded Aarambha-Leave No Girl Behind (LNGB) project. The project aims to improve the life chances of out-of-school, adolescent girls aged between 10-19 years, through literacy, numeracy, life skills, and community mobilization for social transformation. During the project period, PIN with other GEC partners and its implementing local partners, has been facilitating the process to establish and strengthen the GIEN at schools, local levels and other government structures. The provincial level GIEN has been formed in Madhesh Pradesh, with leadership of Provincial Government and CEHRD, in which PIN is represented as invitee technical member. Moreover, in the provincial level, by the initiative from CEHRD, the name has been finalized to Girls and Inclusive Education Network (GIEN) as of which the project is replicating similar schools/community and local level.  The Gender focal person of Shree Devi Secondary School, Pinki Kumari Patel shares, “Our school had developed a 10 months action plan which includes support on school enrolment campaign, enroll out-of-school girls into formal education, strengthen complaint response mechanism to create safe and enabling environment at schools. Now, girls reach out to me if they have any problems. Recently some girls came to me for a sanitary pad, they are the same girls who used to go home and be absent in schools during their menstruation period.” As of today, People in Need has formed 24 GIEN at school and community levels in Bara and Rautahat districts. The members of the GIEN were oriented on girl's education, Complaint Response Mechanism (CRM) at School and capacitated for effective mobilization. In the leadership of GIEN, gender transformative workshops were completed in 24 schools covering 4200 adolescent girls and boys.  The Education Officer of Baragadhi Rural Municipality (Member Secretary of GIEN) Jalmati Chaudhary shares that the complaint boxes in schools must be placed where students can easily access it without any fear of being judged or seen, mostly avoiding the area near the teachers' room or the principal’s office. She further adds, "But we observed that no one focuses on such things, and are still unaware about the proper use of complaint boxes, documentation of cases and its prioritization. Therefore, to strengthen the complaint response mechanism in schools and Palikas, GIEN has a significant role and Palika should integrate it in its planning.” Federal network has been established and a provincial network has also been established in Madhesh, Lumbini, Gandaki and Sudur Paschim provinces. GIEN supporting agencies are also actively engaged in 129 municipalities. PIN is planning to scale up GIEN initiatives to other districts and provinces of Nepal, with formation, operationalization and capacity strengthening of network volunteers.

Manju Dahit from Rajapur Bardiya-8 joined as an apprentice at SH Steel Udhyog where women were only hired for light jobs like sewing. Manju did Dual VET-Apprenticeship through ENSSURE project, a bilateral initiative between the Governments of Nepal and Switzerland. She is among the seven women who completed Dual VET-Apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering from Bheri Technical School, Nepalgunj. She was one of the first to do mechanical jobs (working with mechanical equipment, welding etc.), earlier deemed as a job for the men in the factory. She used to feel awkward and scared initially but gelled with other colleagues soon after. The in-company trainer also helped them learn and feel comfortable with such work. She started with an easy paint job and slowly graduated to do more strenuous work like welding and drilling. She is now supervising the bending machine unit, leading colleagues including male workers.  She has recently completed her skill test, wherein after, she was offered a job in the same company.  When she joined as an apprentice, she got Rs 6,000 per month, which gradually increased to Rs 8,000 and Rs 15,000. Now that she has been hired as staff, she gets a basic salary of Rs 16,100 plus benefits including food. Her earnings have helped her family financially, to cover debts and regular household payments. She is also saving NPR 5,000/- monthly. She aspires to start her own factory in her community in the future. Manju is among 1,597 apprentices enrolled in ENSSURE project’s Dual VET-Apprenticeship since 2018/19. The project has successfully run three batches of Dual VET-Apprenticeship programs. The courses offered in this program are Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Information Technology, Hotel Management, Building Construction, and Early Childhood Development (ECD) Facilitation. The course is 24-months long wherein learning takes place in two places - training institutions and workplace. The first three and half months of learning takes place in the simulated environment at the world of education/training institute, which is Off-the -Job Training. The next 19.5 months of learning takes place in the Business/Industries, or the real working environment at the world of work, which is On-the-Job Training.  ENSSURE also implements another Dual VET learning—1696 hours’ Training with OJT in Professional Vehicle Body Repair Technician, Professional Motorcycle Mechanic, Professional Light Vehicle Mechanic, Professional Computer hardware and network technician, Professional Plumber,  Professional Mason, Professional Carpenter, Professional Aluminum Fabricator, Professional Building Electrician, Professional LCD, LED Television Repair Technician, Professional Telecom Technician, Professional Cook, and Professional Welder. The learning in this course is also divided in two places—the world of education and the world of work with the majority of learning happening in training institutions and around three months in the business/industries. Till now, 6,463 youths have enrolled in the Training with OJT program through ENSSURE project. Gita Ale, 28, of Dhaddaghari, Bharatpur-16, always wanted to study hotel management. Her dream to study hotel management courses remained unfulfilled due to financial constraint. She got the opportunity to change this when she got entrance in ENSSURE’s level II Training with OJT in Professional Cook course. She now owns a restaurant, and the two are looking forward to expanding the business to make it a hotel.  Living with her husband’s joint family of 11 people including her 4-year-old son, Gita was looking after her family at home. She had been educated till high school but did not have specific training for hotel management. With the intention to give wings to her dream, she went to the ward office one day and left her phone number asking to be informed if there was any training on hotel management. Soon, she was informed about ENSSURE’s training. Besides learning the basics of professional cooking, she also got the opportunity to participate in the Entrepreneurship Development Class. Gita completed her on-the-job training at Himashikhar Restaurant, Putalibazar, Narayangarh for about 5 months. After which she started her own restaurant, Banbatika Cottage, next to her house with an investment of around Rs 400,000. It has been almost two years since she started the business, and it has been running well. She earns about Rs 35,000 a month and is saving Rs 10,000 monthly. She has taken a loan of Rs 200,000 to start the business, which she is paying off with the savings.  ENSSURE also runs 96-hours Workers’ Further Training program for the skill upgradation of the existing workers and returnee migrants. The program, like the two Dual VET programs, are run in close collaboration with the business/industries and associations. Currently, skill upgradation is offered in 33 course contents as per the need expressed by the business/industries. 7,860 workers have already benefited from this program. Shyam Chaudhary, who runs S Electric in Butwal has seen a rise in his income and work opportunities after he completed workers’ further training course in AC fitting. He has received several jobs to do AC fitting at client’s residences and offices. He is thinking of involving his younger brother also in this business now. Since the traditional educational system in the country is more institute based, ENSSURE also conducts career guidance sessions in the community schools for grade 9 and 10 students, so they are aware of the opportunities of Dual VET system also. A career guidance system was developed with support from India’s Promise foundation for this purpose and survey among over 1000 students in Nepal. Currently, the project provides six 110 mins sessions to grade 9 students and one follow-up session to grade 10 students. The students are informed about different aspects of career and future opportunities. At the end of the session, the students make an informed choice of a career to pursue based on their interest and aptitude. The project has trained 593 career guidance teachers from over 250 schools, who have provided career guidance to over 30,000 students.  Anjali Gautam is one of the few girls who are opting to pursue technical studies in a small community in Madi, Chitwan. She was thinking of following the norm of letting the marks obtained in her high Secondary Education Examination (SEE) guide her in her further studies regardless of what was best suited for her. She would study science if she got high scores, or management if she got less marks. Her school, Janakalyan Madhyamik Bidhyalaya, organized a 6-days career guidance session when she was in 9th grade. During this session, she learnt that it would be better if she considers her interests and skills before making a decision. This guided her to choose between the options of pursuing a career in Architecture, Civil Engineering, IT or science. Since these were options that were not considered as career options for girls, she had not given them a thought. Now, she made up her mind to take up Civil Engineering. After her SEE, she applied and got admission in Diwakar Smriti Prabidhik Shikshyalaya, a CTEVT constituent school in her hometown Madi itself. The bilateral project between the governments of Nepal and Switzerland-ENSSURE project aims to contribute to assisting Nepali workers, particularly from disadvantaged groups, to benefit from continuous employment and an improved standard of living. The project also aims that the Nepali businesses and industries will benefit from skilled human resources, and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system will benefit from increased inclusion and expansion of its services. The first phase of the project is implemented from January 2016 to July 2023. Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) is implementing this with technical assistance from Helvetas Nepal. The second phase of the project is being implemented from September 2021 to July 2025. It is being implemented by CTEVT at the federal level, Ministry of Social Development in the province level (Province-1, Bagmati Province and Lumbini Province) and 33 municipalities within these provinces at the local level, with technical assistance from Helvetas Nepal.

113 landless farmers of Gadhawa Rural Municipality-5 Parshiya of Dang district have been fighting for their tenure security for generations. They are still deprived of getting government’s facilities including access to better education, adequate housing for dignified life and upliftment of their lives by improving sustainable livelihood in the absence of land registration in their own name. In the past, they used to work as wage laborers in different areas for survival although nearly 474 hectare of land remained unused at the bank of Rapti River. Chintamani Chaudhari of Parshiya said; "when I was child this land was captured by an elite landlord. We used to work as agricultural laborers for him. It was not sure whether this land was registered in his name or not. "  In 2017 Community Self Reliance Centre conducted a context mapping of ward 5 of Gadhawa Rural Municpality including Parshiya community together with community members to find out availability of land resources, possibility of their utilization for the upliftment of the livelihood of landless and former Kamaiyas. The final report of context mapping showed that 474 hectare of land identified which remained unused since 2000.  Then, the members of Village Land Rights Forum (VLRF) also discussed the possibility of utilization of fallow land by landless people in their regular meeting. Finally, all members of VLRF reached the conclusion that they should use the land to improve and strengthen their livelihood.   Fallow land utilization was one of the major opportunities identified for developing an inclusive agricultural entrepreneurship model from bottom-up. The discussions led by Parshiya VLRF supported the identification of unregistered fallow lands, which can be utilized by landless for increasing their agricultural produce. Likewise, to get support from local government units, a series of discussions with ward chairpersons, and members was also organized. Finally, 113 HHs of Parshiya have cultivated 57.57 hectare of land and produced different crops in the fallow land. They produced vegetables, paddy, maize and ground-nuts near the bank of Rapti river which remained unused for about a decade.   Now, the unused land has become cultivable and productive to produce several crops. Meanwhile, the members of VLRF also urged the provincial government to support the utilization of fallow land and demanded necessary resources. Gaura Chaudhari, who has been cultivating fallow land in Pershiya said, “We have Rs 21,000 investment in 2.03 hectare area of land for seeds, fertilizer, labor and other necessary input for the farming. We earned about Rs 41,000 by selling our vegetables in a single season from this land. Manjari Women Small Farmers Agriculture Cooperative Ltd. also collected our produce by paying a reasonable price.  We are getting attractive prices from seasonal vegetables rather than other paddy and maize.”  The local farmers have also demanded from the government to increase the support amount to boost the production of the areas. Chintamani said, “Now our family members need not go downtown to work as wage laborers. We work in ‘our farm’ from early morning to late evening. If the government guarantees our tenure security we will be eligible to claim government's grants, loans which would support teaching our children in good schools or colleges.”  CSRC and its roles for Combating Gender Based Violence  CSRC has been campaigning for comprehensive agrarian reform and the land rights of working farmers and tillers for almost three decades. Through this time, CSRC has worked to organize and raise consciousness amongst those deprived of land rights, build public opinion in favor of progressive land reform, and conduct action-research related to land and agrarian issues. Today, it is regarded as a national resource organization by intellectuals, and policymakers who are concerned with land and agrarian rights. Through the process of raising awareness on land and agrarian rights, organizing the rights-deprived, conducting action-research, and campaigning for land reform, CSRC has presence in more than one-thirds of the nation’s districts covering hill, mountain and Terai region.  CSRC is committed to the belief that social inclusion and participatory democracy must be strengthened at the roots of a society. Hence, each of the organization’s activities and initiatives in all of its working areas begin with participatory context-mapping, and proceed with community-level organizing and the empowerment of those deprived of their rights. The discriminatory practice and tradition of land registration system has sidelined the women’s contribution over land as most of the land is registered in the name of men in every households. This discriminatory practice has severely impacted women’s well-being and enlarged the intensity of gender based violence. To combat this practice CSRC facilitated a Joint Land Ownership (JLO) campaign, which ensured registration of land in the name of men and women since 2005.  This campaign has brought some notable outcomes both in policy and implementation level. In policy, the government of Nepal (the then Ministry of Land Management) formulated a Joint Land Ownership (JLO) guideline 2017. The guideline has allowed each couple to obtain JLO by paying Rs 100 as tax. As of July 2022, CSRC’s campaign on JLO led to obtaining JLO of 10,255 families all over the country.  JLO Certificate is not a mere piece of paper showcasing land area. It’s an answer to an age old plight of how to end gender discrimination. This certificate solidifies women’s societal and economic position in home and community alike. CSRC takes JLO not as an activity of completion but a campaign towards combating GVB promoting women’s access/right to land. The campaign not only has changed perceptions of husband’s and communities but also empower women for their social and economic wellbeing.