Founded in 2020, Lily Leaves Social Enterprises is a Nepal based social enterprise on a mission to uplift marginalized women through educational support, skill development, and crucial environmental protection. Our dual focus lies in empowering women in particular, those from disadvantaged and physically challenged communities and restoring urban spaces with native, dense forests using the proven Miyawaki method. We believe that by investing in people and planet, we can create a more resilient and equitable future for Nepal.
Our flagship program takes place in Province 2 (Madhesh Province), where we offer intensive Six-months tailoring training to economically marginalized women. Many of these women face significant barriers to employment and financial independence, making skill development a powerful pathway to self-sufficiency. Our comprehensive curriculum teaches essential tailoring techniques, from basic stitching to garment creation, equipping participants with marketable skills.
The true impact of this program unfolds after graduation. Recognizing that access to tools is as vital as training, each participant receives a sewing machine and a stool. This crucial support enables them to immediately launch their own tailoring ventures from home or find work in existing tailoring centers. Thanks to this direct assistance, many graduates now earn a regular income, helping to improve their families’ financial stability and overall quality of life. For instance, Priya, a recent graduate, shared how she now confidently supports her two children by stitching garments from her home, a life she never thought possible just months ago. This model fosters not only financial security but also a profound sense of self-reliance and dignity within these women and their communities.
At Lily Leaves, we take immense pride in our team of hearing and speech disability, most of whom come from very poor rural families. These remarkable women often face significant societal barriers to employment and inclusion, making our initiative particularly impactful. They live and work with us full-time, earning a consistent monthly salary and learning valuable skills in tailoring and in some cases, jewelry making. This commitment to full-time employment with fair wages is a rarity in Nepal for individuals with disabilities, setting Lily Leaves apart.
Importantly, these women have become the backbone of many of our operations, including crucial tasks in urban planting and nursery care. Their dedication and meticulous attention to detail are invaluable to our environmental initiatives. This initiative not only provides vital financial support to their families, allowing them to improve their living conditions and invest in their children’s education, but also actively breaks societal barriers. By offering full-time, meaningful employment to individuals with disabilities, we demonstrate their immense capabilities and challenge prevailing stereotypes, paving the way for greater inclusion across Nepal.
Environmental stewardship is central to our work, and we are committed to actively addressing Nepal's pressing environmental challenges, including air pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change impacts. We have carried out extensive urban plantation projects, transforming degraded spaces into green oases. Our most significant work has been along the Bishnumati corridor, structured in three impactful phases:
Phase 1: Focused on planting thousands of native saplings on a severely degraded stretch of the riverbank, transforming it into a vibrant green space that now acts as a natural filter for the environment.
Phase 2 and Phase 3: Involved extending the plantation over a total area of 4,600 m², planting tens of thousands of saplings from a diverse range of native species. These efforts not only beautify the landscape but also actively contribute to improving local air quality and supporting urban biodiversity.
On July 20 (2025), we also celebrated a significant milestone: the completion of a major planting project at the globally recognized UNESCO preserved Swayambhu site. Here, we meticulously applied the Miyawaki fast-forest method. This innovative Japanese technique involves planting native trees densely (three to five saplings per square meter) to rapidly recreate native forest ecosystems. These fast-growing forests offer a myriad of benefits: they absorb significant amounts of pollutants, enhance local biodiversity by providing habitats for various species, offer crucial urban cooling benefits in increasingly hot cities, and contribute to the well-being of urban residents by providing serene green spaces.
We understand that planting a forest is only the beginning. To ensure the long-term survival and thriving of our planted sites both along the Bishnumati corridor and at Swayambhu rigorous, ongoing maintenance is paramount. We have established scheduled frequent site visits by our dedicated team to monitor the health and growth of the saplings. Crucial watering regimes are set up, especially during Nepal's dry seasons, to ensure young plants receive the hydration they need. We also implement growth tracking to follow sapling progress closely during the critical first two to three years, when the young forest is most vulnerable and needs the most care.
Our hearing and speech disable members are absolutely key to this effort. Their meticulous attention to detail and unwavering dedication ensure the success of our environmental initiatives. They are responsible for carefully tending seedlings, ensuring proper watering, and diligently reporting on site conditions. This hands-on involvement not only guarantees the health of our forests but also provides these invaluable team members with fair pay and consistent employment in a meaningful and impactful role.
Our environmental focus is not limited to urban planting; it stems from a profound commitment to addressing the pressing environmental issues facing Nepal. We see our green initiatives as essential to combating pollution, restoring ecosystem health, and actively fighting climate change. Nepal, particularly the Kathmandu Valley, has experienced very poor air quality in recent years, impacting public health and quality of life. By creating dense green corridors along polluted riverbanks and planting native forests in city spaces, we directly contribute to reducing air pollution, mitigating temperature extremes, and improving mental health in dense urban zones. These green spaces act as vital lungs for the city, absorbing CO2 and releasing oxygen, making our communities healthier and more livable.
The tangible impact of Lily Leaves Social Enterprises is evident in the lives we touch and the landscapes we transform:
Tailoring graduates are now running small tailoring businesses or earning stable wages in local tailoring centers, directly contributing to their household income and fostering significant economic independence.
Our deaf and mute team members have gained regular, dignified employment and are successfully supporting their families back in their home villages, becoming role models within their communities.
Our urban forest sites are rapidly transforming once degraded public land into thriving native forests. With impressive growth and survival rates, these projects demonstrate the immense power and effectiveness of the Miyawaki method in urban Nepal, creating vibrant green spaces for all.
Looking ahead, Lily Leaves aims to significantly scale its impact in both women's empowerment and environmental protection:
We plan to expand tailoring training to more sites in Province 2 and potentially beyond, reaching a greater number of marginalized women through new training centers and mobile outreach programs.
We aim to scale employment opportunities for additional deaf and mute women, exploring new craft enterprises such as intricate jewelry making and sustainable forest-related crafts.
Our goal is to increase the number of urban Miyawaki plantations, focusing on more degraded public lands, riverbanks, and other significant UNESCO sites across Kathmandu and other cities in Nepal.
We will deepen our educational programming, including providing more reusable hygiene products, school supplies, and even exploring scholarship opportunities for promising young girls.
We aspire to link forest products and handicrafts to sustainable enterprise lines, building on our strengths in both environmental and social impact to create new economic opportunities.
What makes Lily Leaves distinctive is our truly integrated and holistic model:
We uniquely combine women’s empowerment, with a special focus on physically challenged individuals, with crucial environmental regeneration efforts in dense urban spaces, creating a synergistic approach to sustainable development.
Our unwavering commitment to full-time employment (with salary) for deaf and mute women is a pioneering effort; we are one of the very few organizations in Nepal offering such comprehensive support and opportunities.
We offer practical, tangible support in the form of training, machines, and supplies, alongside ongoing ecosystem care for our planted forests, ensuring long-term success and impact.
Since our establishment in 2020, Lily Leaves Social Enterprises has consistently pursued a powerful vision of social change rooted in education, skill development, and environmental stewardship. Through our impactful tailoring training in Province 2, meaningful employment for deaf and mute women, transformative urban Miyawaki forest plantations, and vital community support for girls, we have created a robust blueprint for sustainable social enterprise in Nepal.
By empowering marginalized women, diligently restoring urban green spaces, and meticulously caring for our planted forests, we demonstrate how Nepal can become healthier, greener, and more equitable for all its citizens. With your support and collaboration, we eagerly look forward to scaling our impact training more women, growing more forests, and building greater community resilience across Nepal.
Interested in learning more or supporting our next phase of growth? Contact Lily Leaves Social Enterprises today to join our journey toward empowered communities and a greener, more sustainable Nepal!
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