Nepal is a developing country with a developing economy, which totally relies on its human resources, yet women are not represented equally in various sectors of the economy. Organizations for women's skill development have an important role in bridging this gap by imparting vocational skills to women, making them economically independent, and contributing to national economic growth.
Organizations that are supporting women's skill development in Nepal have emerged to fill the above gaps. The organizations provide specialized vocational training, entrepreneurial skill training, and financial literacy training to empower women to gain the skills to become economically independent. Women are not only improving their own lives but also the Nepalese economy as a whole, by creating small businesses, offering long-term employment, and constructing communities.
Women's skill development is not empowerment alone—it's a key driver of Nepal's economic growth. With over 51% of Nepal's population comprising women, giving them access to skill-based training helps create jobs, support businesses, and increase national income. (Source: Trading Economics) Here's how:
More Jobs, More Economic Growth
As women are trained in vocations like agriculture, tailoring, IT, handicrafts, and hospitality, they become productive workers and add to the economic productivity of the nation. Skilled women fill the shortage of workers in most sectors of Nepal and curb unemployment and general economic activity.
Empowered Local Businesses and Entrepreneurship
Most women, once trained, turn into entrepreneurs—either they have a tailoring business at home, e-commerce websites, or food production ventures. These ventures create jobs and spur the rural economy. Small businesses and women's cooperatives in rural areas play a crucial role in rural development.
Increased Household Incomes & Improved Living Conditions
When women work, families thrive because their earnings are invested in their children's futures, healthcare, and basic needs, resulting in a better living standard. It is found that women will invest in their societies and families and contribute to a cycle of social progress and economic growth.
Economic Growth & Stability at the National Level
As more women join the labor force and become entrepreneurs, tax revenues increase, strengthening Nepal's economy. More jobs mean more consumer spending, which boosts demand for products and services, resulting in business growth and general economic stability.
Boosting Nepal's International Trade & Tourism
Women's handicraft skills, textile skills, and tourism services are helping Nepal to diversify its export market.These women-made products, such as pashmina shawls from House of Pashmina, self-made jewelry from Local Women's Handicraft, and organic tea from Nepal Tea Collective, are in high demand in other countries, helping Nepal earn foreign exchange.
Women also play an important role in Nepal's tourism and hospitality industries, with companies such as Trekking for Women and Sadhana Tourism providing unique, women-led cultural experiences that attract foreign tourists and help Nepal's economy thrive.
In Nepal, NGOs and social enterprises are empowering women by providing them with support in the form of vocational training and enterprise development. All these are building the future of women and contributing immensely towards the economy of the country.
Nepal's women's skills development associations are changing the face of the economy through the empowerment of women to gain essential skills that result in employment, enterprise, and development in general. Through access to training in most of the fields, from agriculture to beautification services and technology, the women are contributing their share to Nepal's developing economy.
Tailoring and Handicrafts
Women are imparted traditional weaver, sewer, and embroidery skills so that they can create viable businesses. They are enabled to produce local attire, accessories, and other crafts that are locally and internationally recognized.
Agricultural Training
Organic cultivation, animal rearing, and agribusiness training force women to make a direct input to the rural economy. Food security is boosted by women's enterprise, as well as the creation of rural sector jobs.
Technology and Digital Skills
Women are learning IT service skills, freelancing, and e-commerce, which allow them to work from home and connect to international markets. This capacity building offers avenues for income generation previously unavailable.
Beauty and Wellness Training
The organization provides beauty and wellness courses, such as hairdressing, skincare, and makeup artistry. These abilities create flexible work in salons, spas, and freelancing businesses that allow women to provide for their families and themselves.
Artisan and Craft Skills
Women learn skills in traditional crafts, including pottery, jewelry making, and textile arts. These technical skills allow women to transform their crafts into marketable products, creating new business opportunities and expanding access to local and global markets.
Culinary Arts and Catering Services
Training in cooking, catering, and food processing allows women to tap into the growing market for home catering and food products in Nepal. A few women set up small businesses offering traditional food, packaged snacks, or healthy meal delivery services catering to their own families and surrounding communities.
Renewable Energy and Eco-Friendly Skills
With a greater focus on sustainability, training in sustainable energy systems like solar panel installation and biogas systems is gaining prominence. Women are learning to install, service, and repair green energy systems, which are a sustainable source of livelihood and contribute to Nepal's green economy.
In addition to vocational training, organizations provide micro-financing and business guidance in order to empower women to start and expand their businesses. Women receive training in the management of money, marketing, business planning, and customer handling, which helps them run their businesses successfully and improve their success rate.
In industries like handicrafts, agriculture, health, and tourism, women's businesses are dominating to a great extent, which has boosted local economies and encouraged ethical business practices. Some of such businesses are:
Nepal Women's Cooperative Federation (NWCF)
NWCF is a pioneering organization that supports women entrepreneurs in various fields like handicrafts, agriculture, and small businesses. It helps women to gain access to resources and markets for their products.
MeroPashmina
MeroPashmina is a well-known company in Nepal that produces and exports pashmina products, which are typically run by women artisans who create high-quality shawls, scarves, and other accessories.
Shree Harsha Handicraft
This is a women's cooperative that promotes women artisans in Nepal who are skilled in hand-woven pashmina and other handicrafts. The cooperative aims to empower women through skill development and fair trade.
Women for Women Nepal (WFWN)
This organization empowers women in Nepal by providing them with skills training, educational sponsorship, and helping them set up their own businesses. They focus on sustainable entrepreneurship and eco-friendly products.
Kailash Organic Nepal
Kailash Organic Nepal is a women's cooperative that engages in organic agriculture and sustainable farming. Women farmers in rural Nepal produce organic herbs and vegetables and sell them in the local as well as foreign markets.
By acquiring more vocational skills, women are more likely to secure well-paying and stable jobs in various industries. These include manufacturing, fashion, hospitality, health care, and construction, which offer good opportunities for women to gain economic independence.
More participation of women workers is directly correlated with increased household incomes, standard of living, and overall prosperity. As women are being contributed to sectors such as tourism, agriculture, and services, women are contributing towards diversification of Nepal's economy and leading it to prosperity in the coming years.
When women achieve business and training success, the spillover benefits trickle to their families and society as a whole. Better education, healthcare access, and economic independence are some of the immediate advantages. These advantages lead to stronger and more resilient communities as women invest their profits back into community ventures and social welfare.
Apart from that, well-educated and employed women are good role models for the subsequent generations, encouraging them to work and study. Success of women in the workplace creates a good example of possibility, and that provides a healthy power cycle that assists the subsequent generations.
Women's skills development organizations in Nepal have become the prime movers of the country's economic progress. Through vocational training, entrepreneurship support, and placement, these organizations are empowering women to contribute significantly to national development. Women can contribute to the countries in the following ways:
Contribution to GDP Increase
Countries where women's involvement in the labour force is on the rise have stronger economies and become more developed. For Nepal, skill development for women has been directly contributing to the GDP.
Enhanced access to training has prepared women to occupy skilled occupations in industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, services, and IT, which fuel economic productivity.
Expansion of the workforce: As more women enter the formal economy, their collective economic output grows. This boosts productivity in several industries and contributes to the total national income.
Entrepreneurship: Women are increasingly becoming entrepreneurs, ranging from small-scale farming operations to handicrafts and ecotourism services. These businesses contribute to local economies as well as national exports, providing a diversified economic base for Nepal.
Technological innovation: Giving women digital skills also makes it possible for them to work in the quickly expanding technology industry, which increases Nepal's potential for economic diversification.
Poverty Reduction and Financial Empowerment
Women who are economically empowered create a deep ripple effect within their families, communities, and the country as a whole. Research has established that women reinvest as much as 90% of their earnings back into their households, as opposed to a lesser percentage of their earnings by men. Such reinvestment decreases poverty levels and stimulates local economic development.
Improved family earnings: By learning vocational skills, women have better earnings, leading to improved economic security for their families.
Reduction of gender inequality: As women become economically productive members, they move away from patriarchal gender roles, transitioning from male-dominated breadwinner systems. This reduces gender inequality in rural and urban areas.
Reinvestment in education and health: The income women earn from their enterprises or jobs allows them to invest in the education of their children, raising literacy rates and enabling the next generation to prosper.
Empowering Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Women's contribution to entrepreneurship is greater in the SME sector, which is the backbone of the Nepalese economy. Increasing numbers of women are establishing ventures in handicraft products, organic commodities, agriculture, and tourism, which is helping in building and adding to the economy.
Employment creation: Women's business enterprises employ other women and men from within the community in urban and rural areas.
Export growth: While women's businesses thrive, especially in handicrafts and farming, Nepal can enhance exports, earning foreign exchange and cultivating an export market that is diversified.
Sustainability: Some of the women's businesses are sustainable business models. Green product and environment-based tourism services businesses, for example, serve to meet the growing demand for green products, stabilizing Nepal's economy and positioning it to become competitive at the world level.
Some examples of women-led SMEs are Hatti Hatti by former Miss Nepal 2013, UG(Urban Girl) Bazaar by Nikita Acharya, Bags from the Sacks by Prakriti Mainali, etc
Increased Access to Financial Services
Women's capacity development programs have also provided entry points for women to access finance and business facilitation services. This includes offering microloans and business mentoring, which in turn allow women to establish and expand their businesses.
Micro-financing: Non-governmental organizations offer small loans to women business owners, which allow them to establish or expand their businesses. This not only improves their financial welfare but also contributes to rural development.
Entrepreneurship training and counseling: In addition to the loan, women are also provided with entrepreneurship training to help them handle money better, sell their products, and increase sales. The information empowers women to sustain and grow their businesses in the long term.
Women in Rural Areas Leading Local Economies
Some of the schemes for skill development are among rural women for whom formal employment opportunities are limited. Once these women are skilled in agriculture, crafts, or entrepreneurship, they are the prime movers in the local economies.
Self-reliance: Skilled rural women in organic production, animal rearing, or crafts have a crucial role in guaranteeing local food security, escaping poverty, and becoming economically self-reliant.
Strengthening the rural economy: With greater economic independence of rural women, they help to augment the overall economy of their local community, which leads to improved infrastructure, access to education and healthcare, and social development.
Recommended Read: How is Lily's Leaves Changing Women's Life?
The economic position of Nepal has increased significantly in recent years owing to the empowerment of women enabled by skills training programs. The participation of women in the labor market, entrepreneurship, and microenterprise has changed the face of the economic sector by increasing GDP growth, reducing poverty, and developing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Then: Restricted Economic Roles of Women
In the past, a number of barriers prevented Nepalese women from participating fully in the workforce. Due to cultural gender norms, restricted educational opportunities, and financial limitations, the majority of women were prohibited from starting their own businesses or holding official positions.
Restricted Access to Education: There was a skills shortage as a result of most women's limited access to formal education and vocational training, particularly in rural Nepal.
Economic Dependence: Most women were still economically dependent on male relatives and were mostly restricted to home roles.
Limited Workforce Participation: Women's work in formal sectors like agriculture, technology, or industry was minimal.
Now: Increased Economic Contribution from Women
Thanks to women's skill development centers, there has been a miraculous transformation. Organizations like Women for Human Rights (WHR), Lily's Leaves, and others have initiated vocational training, micro-financing, and business mentorship programs that have helped women enter various sectors.
Vocational Training and Entrepreneurship: The women have developed skills in fields like agriculture, IT, handicrafts, and eco-tourism, enabling them to be entrepreneurs and receive their share in the economy. For example, handicraft enterprises owned by women have increased, contributing significantly to the local economy as well as exports.
Financial Empowerment: The women got economically empowered through microloans and collateral-free financing, giving rise to the establishment of small women-owned enterprises.
Increased Workforce Participation: More women work in sectors like agriculture, tourism, technology, and manufacturing, directly adding to Nepal's GDP and economic growth.
Empowerment of Rural Economies
Women are using skills in agri-business, livestock rearing, and farming to gain an income in rural communities. This has helped improve food security, employment, and poverty alleviation in rural communities. Women's organic farming and ecotourism are particularly important in sustainable development and help the local economy, as well as in environmentally friendly business.
Strengthening the Informal Economy
Most of Nepal's economy is in the informal economy. Women's skill development has allowed them to set up small handicraft, tailoring, and food-processing enterprises, thus contributing to the informal economy. These enterprises not only support families but also start larger economic networks that support growth in local markets.
Women's skill development organizations in Nepal are quite crucial in making the country's economic future. Through entrepreneurship, vocational training, and job establishment, women can become self-supporting financially, help contribute to the nation's GDP, and improve an entire community's economic status.
Nevertheless, attempts on the part of the government, NGOs, and the private sector need to be made at regular intervals so that these efforts become further established and a wealthier and inclusive economy is developed within Nepal.
1. What are the well-known women's skills development organizations in Nepal?
There are a couple of organizations working in this area, such as Lily's Leaves, Women for Human Rights, and SAATH Nepal, that offer vocational training and business support to women.
2. In what ways do these organizations contribute to economic development?
By teaching women in a variety of skills, these groups enable them to start businesses or find work, consequently raising household incomes, GDP, and supporting small businesses.
3. What are the most commonly imparted skills to women in Nepal?
Women are trained in tailoring, handicrafts, agriculture, computer skills, and business administration so that they can get jobs or become entrepreneurs.
4. What are the challenges faced by women in accessing skill training?
Women face financial constraints, social stigma, mobility constraints, and lack of adequate access to markets while trying to join skill development schemes.
5. How do I support women's skill development activities in Nepal?
You can support by contributing to NGOs, buying women's products, volunteering, or lobbying for economic empowerment policies for women.
CEO representing Lily Leaves in '9th COMMUNITY CONFERENCE" organized by The British School.
One-Day Workshop At Lily Leaves - 17th June 2023
Lily was joined by Santosh Shah, a former student of the school and winner of BBC's MasterChef.
This act not only empowered the individuals to start their own tailoring businesses
CEO Lily Katuwal and a group of visitors from Lily Leaves Social Enterprises distributed 135 school bags and uniforms in Bandipur, Siraha, demonstrating a commitment to social responsibility and fostering positive change in education for students facing financial challenges.
Volunteer from rato Bangala school Environment club
Explore how Lily’s Leaves empowers women through sustainable fashion, blending ethical craftsmanship with eco-friendly designs for a better future.
