The Everest Women’s Group: Call for skilled volunteers

Everest Women’s Resource Centre, Kathmandu

In Nepal, especially in remote rural areas, child labour (especially of girls), domestic abuse, and sexual exploitation is prevalent. Additionally, girls are traditionally kept illiterate, increasing their financial dependency and keeping them unaware of their basic human rights. A number of laws also discriminate against women’s rights regarding inheritance, divorce and the persecution of abusers. Volunteer Society Nepal has been helping with various projects to address the problems of women in Nepal through education, skill training, financial and legal empowerment

Strengthening women’s entrepreneurship and access to markets is one effective method of providing economic empowerment and building gender equality. Social mobilization through the formation of a women’s group is an acclaimed way of achieving this recognised UNIFEM and the International Centre for Research on Women.

June 2008; The founding of our women’s group…

We invited interested women to a meeting and focus group. The poor and low-educated women outlined their desire to learn or improve their Nepali literacy, English language speaking, hygeine and family health knowledge, business and accounting skills, legal literacy, and income-generating skill options. Subsequently, the Everest Tailoring and Training Centre was established in June 2008. The open-front shop in Pepsicola Town, Kathmandu is where 6 women, recently trained as tailors, offer their services to customers in the local community. Other women have been given skills, seed materials and marketing help to produce and sell wax candles, a growing cottage industry in Nepal.

Plans for the Women’s Group in 2010

We would like to sustainably expand Everest Foundation’s services. We want to offer women a course with a complete set of skills and knowledge training to allow people to set up their own income-generating projects. This will spark attitudinal change in both the women’s families and in their communities. The following activities are arranged to begin in early January 2010:

• Nepali language classes for all members for as long as requested
• Counselling services for victims of domestic violence, trafficking, or violent conflict
• Lectures about women’s rights, legal comprehension, and progress of women’s groups in Nepal by the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre, an independent NGO in Nepal
• An 8-day entrepreneurship training workshop for all members given by the Microenterprise Development Program, a UNDP funded program
• A market analysis to investigate job demand for low-educated women in Kathmandu

Future volunteer contributions:

We want to maximise volunteers’ skills to improve the women’s groups. Outlined below are a series of things we would like to complete through volunteer contributions. This will allow a continuation of the group’s business development plans and ensure the success of future common enterprises for our members.

What we need from volunteers:

1. A market analysis for potential projects: Conduct a market analysis of skills, products or services that can be set up by the Everest Foundation Women’s Resource Centre. Take steps towards making these income-generating activities.
2. Do a value chain analysis for potential projects: Perform a value chain analysis for a viable industry, product or service and determine how the members can fill roles in the chain from basic production to marketing and vending
3. Business Training: Educate the women in financing, accounting, or business development for the enterprise in question
4. Health Education: Hold an educational program on home hygiene and family health.
5. Women’s support education: Present information to the members about relevant women’s issues in Nepal or globally.
6. English teaching: Create and deliver a comprehensive spoken English lesson plans
7. Overseas marketing support: Provide marketing services in your home country for clothing, candles, or other products that can be produced by this group
8. Grant Writing: Search for and apply to grant making foundations that will support the planned activities at the Women’s Resource Centre

If you would like to get involved in supporting the women’s groups then please contact us to discuss options for involvement.