SOLVE Nepal Society of Local Volunteers Efforts

Project Name: “Economic Empowerment of Women For Social Justice: Supporting efforts of the women in Southern Lalitpur to scale up their business initiatives and combat inequality” (EESJ)

RIGHT HOLDERS: 4500 economically poor and socially marginalized women of Southern Lalitpur inclusive of single women, women with disability, women from ethnic minorities, Dalits and marginalized communities.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS: Rural and Urban Municipalities, 12 Women Cooperatives, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), District Cottage and Small industry Development Committee, Agriculture Knowledge Centre and Agriculture Section of the Rural Municipalities, District Cooperative’s Association, District
Chamber of Commerce, Wholesale market actors, Collectors etc.

IMPLEMENTED BY: FCA, Society of Local Volunteers’ Effort (SOLVE), and Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal (FWEAN)

TOTAL BUDGET: €480,000 for three years

SUPPORT: Women’s Bank Finland/FCA-Nepal

DURATION: 1st January 2020 to 30th December 2022

With the aim to utilize the local resources and to improve livelihood of women, SOLVE Nepal in collaboration with FWEAN has been implementing “Economic Empowerment of Women For Social Justice: Supporting efforts of the women in Southern Lalitpur to scale up their business initiatives and combat inequality” (EESJ)

‘Economic empowerment for social justice: Supporting efforts of the women in Southern Lalitpur to scale up their business initiatives and combat inequality’ (EESJ) is the third phase of Women’s Bank/FCA funded project focused on women’s socio economic empowerment. The first phase of the current project was ‘Promotion of Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (POWER) implemented from 2014–2016; the second phase was ‘Socio Economic Empowerment of Disadvantaged Women and Girls’ (SEED) implemented from 2017–2019, and the current project is EESJ, is being implemented from
2020–2022. EESJ is helping to develop and strengthen the socio economic status of women in twelve wards of Southern Lalitpur. EESJ is focused on increasing dignity ,power and influence of women in household and community level in southern Lalitpur through consolidation of achievements made in the previous two phases on; access to finance, expansion and scale-up of business and market skills, and promotion of gender justice through Gender Based Violence reduction subcommittees and skilled Vigilance groups. The focus of EESJ is investing on strengthening skills, capacities of women and on creating sustainable and viable structures through cooperatives and enterprises.

The project has two key outcomes and five key outputs

OUTCOME 1: Women are economically empowered – EESJ will further consolidate capacity of eight women cooperatives out of twelve already established. Series of thematic trainings and onsite coaching to cooperative manages and sub-committee members on account management, product development, documentation, expansion of membership, Gender Based Violence (GBV) reduction, etc. will be implemented. Likewise, women entrepreneurs’ skill will be further developed and different support will be provided to establish, enhance and expand enterprises along with building sustainable market linkages and market outlets.

Output 1.1: Increased capacity of cooperatives to provide quality
services and financial requirements of women to strengthen
their business

• 80% cooperatives maintain 15–18% Rates of Returns to share members
• 15% income increment of 70% of cooperatives’ current shareholders
• The average loan size reach €400 by the end of the project (Baseline value: €340)
• Average monthly saving reach €3.25 (Baseline value: €2.84)

Output 1.2: women’s on-farm and off-farm enterprises are strengthened and scaled up

• 100 additional new entrepreneurs engage in farm and off-farm based production
• At least 100 existing entrepreneurs to do value addition to their products to meet market expectation upon quality and quantity
• 75 enterprises are formalized (Baseline value: 25)

• Output 1.3: Women entrepreneurs have secured access to sustainable markets in and outside the project area
• At least 7 products secured sustainable market through value addition
• 3 collection centres and 1 functional market outlets established
• 2 farmers’ markets are operational for at least once a week

OUTCOME 2: Duty bearers and other stakeholders promote women’s socio-economic rights and Climate Change Adaptation in local level – This outcome addresses barriers of women for meaningful participation in the decision-making process, ensure support of male counterparts to operate enterprises and control over incomes, and lobby/advocacy for local budget allocations for Climate Change Adaptation, mitigation and men’s engagement in addressing gender
based violence.

Output 2.1: Stakeholders including male counterparts are sensitized to create supportive environment at home and community for women to engage in socio economic spheres

• 3500 people sensitized on Gender Equality

Output 2.2: Capacity of GBV reduction sub-committee of women’s cooperatives strengthened to monitor GBV cases, provide support for affected and coordinate with judicial committees to promote access to justice

• # of people affected by GBV received support from GBV reduction sub-committees of women cooperatives to access justice (based on number of cases reported )
• # of cases documented and referred to judicial committee and police (based on number of cases reported)
• 27 C2C (Children to Community) events conducted to end child marriage and sexual harassment

Output 2.3: Women’s cooperatives and saving groups advocate for economic opportunities for most marginalised and vulnerable groups and for climate change adaptation

• At least 75% cooperatives have implemented advocacy plan of action
• 15 proposals presented to local government by women groups and cooperatives on economic opportunities
• 3 Climate Change Adaptation advocacy initiatives by women’s cooperatives towards the local government