Three pillars - Micro Enterprise Development in Nepal

This story was contributed by James Le Compte, Project Manager with ADG content partner World Education Australia.

Read other 'Stories from the Field' here.

Twenty-five women from the Makwanpur district, south of Kathmandu, are learning how to run a small business so that they can provide more food for their family, send their children to school and lead a more independent life.

My visit to Nepal on the Tin Khamba ('three pillars') project in July was the first field trip I had made with World Education Australia and I was really excited to meet local team members.

The Tin Khamba project operates in four districts of Nepal. It aims to reach 1,014 marginalised women who complete training in basic and financial literacy and learn how to run a small business, so that they are ready to take out loans and start their own micro-enterprises. For most of the women I met this meant they could provide more food for their family, send their kids to school and lead a more independent life.

I visited the Makwanpur district, south of Kathmandu, where GMSS (one of our partners) conducts classes. GMSS is the only agency still in the rural areas of the district - most NGOs have moved to Hetauda, the district capital, because of the rural area's limited infrastructure and disturbances from Maoist rebels. The GMSS staff's working conditions are challenging, to say the least, and most travel to work from the capital, a journey of 2 hours. This particular community also faces massive challenges ranging from severe economic hardship, forced migration, Maoist insurgency and the trafficking of young girls, to lack of basic necessities such as sanitation and education.

One of the most rewarding parts of my visit was hearing directly from the participants that our program is exactly what women in the village have been asking for. For these women, being able to read and write and have access to savings and credit services means a newfound self-confidence and the opportunity to better provide for their children and families.

The twenty five women that I visited started their classes with very limited literacy skills, to the extent that they could only read and write their name and address, but all are confident this will change at the completion of training. Only one of the women has experience with savings and credit groups, but all are aware of the benefits it can bring to their famililies' lives. Since only five members of the groups are able to harvest enough crops to feed their family for the entire year they are keen to learn how they can better manage their crops. Profits that they hope to create will help them send their children to school beyond the fifth grade (the limit of the village school) and allow them to better provide for their family year-round.

The women also wish they were literate so that they can support their children with their homework and so they can read the newspapers and books that they collect. They understand that being able to read and write will allow them to participate in the local markets and travel to the regional centre, Hetauda, more than the annual trip they currently make.

The twenty five women take their classes in the evening under the light of kerosene lamps due to their work and households commitments during the day. The classroom is very small for the participants but they make good use of the space and work with the aid of their books and a blackboard.

One of the participants I met was Bindu May Banjung, 27 years old with two children. Her husband left Nepal several years ago to look for work to support the family. She occasionally receives letters from him but in the past was unable to read them without help from her neighbour. Now, after being part of the program, she is excited about being able to read them on her own.

Visiting one of the Tin Khamba classes and meeting the participants showed me the huge difference these classes make, in areas we Australians take for granted. Two simple things, literacy and financial inclusion, can transform their lives.

About the Tin Khamba Project

Project Goal: To enable women in Dalit and minority ethnic groups and communities in remote areas of Nepal to improve their living standards through involvement in sustainable economic and livelihood activities.

World Education is working with its NGO partners in Makawanpur, Khotang/Solukhumbu, Bardiya and Kathmandu Districts to reach women with little or no literacy skills, while at the same time providing opportunities for relevant non-formal education for women with limited education. By using the Women's Economic Empowerment and Literacy (WEEL) package along the "green roads" corridors, women increase their literacy skills, and especially their maths skills, so that they are better able to participate in savings and credit groups and gain knowledge and skills for improving their livelihoods.

Project Objectives:

- Women of Dalit and minority groups and remote communities with improved literacy skills
- Women's savings and credit groups established or strengthened and operating on a sustainable basis
- Women actively applying their skills by pursuing economic and livelihood opportunities
- Local NGO with the planning, training and monitoring capacity to support ongoing economic and livelihood activities
- Co-operatives or other mechanisms to access credit established within the target communities as a model for sustainable savings and credit activities

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• Added to ADG on: 17 July 2008 , contributed by: James Le Compte - World Education
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