Economic Skills Development Programme

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Economic Skills Development Programme for Chitwan

Skills development is crucial for empowerment, improving livelihoods and encouraging entrepreneurship. Skills development enhances both people’s capacity to work and their opportunities to find suitable work. For this reason, we have set up an extensive skills development training programme to enable marginalised women to get jobs within the Eco Village.

The following components are part of the programme:

Soap Making

We will be providing soap making training to the women, given by a local expert. We will also provide skills training complementary to soap making i.e., shampoo bars, facial scrubs, body butter and lip balm.

Organic Herb Farming

On the farming land leased by us on behalf of the women, organic herb farming training will be given by local experts. In this way the women will be able to use locally grown herbs as ingredients for the soap, giving the soap a unique local character.

Packaging

As we aim to make the whole value chain as sustainable as possible, we want to use sustainable packaging made from natural waste from the Chitwan area, like elephant dung, banana trunks or hemp. The candidates will be taught how to use sustainable paper to wrap the soaps produced in the factory.

Business Skills

To prepare the women (three in total) with the drive, potential and aptitude to run the factory efficiently and effectively, we will be providing business skills training including bookkeeping, marketing, HR, IT, inventory management and quality control. The women will be coached and supported until such time that they feel that they are ready to take over the running of the soap factory.

Adult Education

Many marginalised women in Chitwan do not have access to basic education, preventive health facilities and skills development training. Hence, a basic Nepali reading and writing skills training programme is introduced.

English Language

During the interviews with the Musahar women it became clear that they also want to learn conversational English.  We will be providing basic English lessons enabling them to improve their language skills.

Health and Hygiene

Besides basic hygiene training, we also want to provide additional hygiene training, procedures, and protocols necessary to run the factory in the most hygienic and safe way. The eco soap factory will also provide showers, changing rooms and safety clothing and equipment to maintain high hygiene and safety standards.

First Aid

In case of emergencies, we want our candidates to be able to provide first aid to anyone who is injured or feeling unwell. First aid training will also be part of the overall programme.

Hospitality

The Musahar women will also visit local hotels, restaurants, and shops to sell the soap once production starts. By providing hospitality training the Musahar women will feel more confident when talking to potential clients and buyers.

Project Status

march 2024

The women recently completed marketing training to be able to market the soaps properly. Evonne, our volunteer from Singapore, taught them in several workshops the importance of generating a sustainable source of income and how to successfully sell the soaps to, for example, hotels in Chitwan. The more soaps they sell, the more they can earn and shape their own future.
One of the training activities was role playing: everyone had to select a card containing information about a buyer or seller. Based on the information on the card (needs, budget, quantity, etc.), the women had to find a suitable buyer or seller that best suited these needs.
In a playful setting the women learned about different potential customers and how to make a sales offering. 

january 2024

A group of women were trained from October 2023 - January 2024 to make natural, high-quality cold pressed soap. The women really enjoy the soap making process and together with Asif Ahmad, our local trainer, they continuously improve their skills to make soap of a consistent quality. Evonne Quek, a Singaporean volunteer, will come to Chitwan in February/March 2024 to provide basic marketing training to the women, so they also learn how they can sell the soap and make money.

august 2023

The 8 women finished the first part of their basis Nepali reading and writing skills training programme. They really enjoyed the training and they will inform us when they want to have a more extended training to further improve their reading and writing skills.

Studying hard to improve their Nepali reading and writing

January 2023

Many marginalised women in Chitwan do not have access to basic education, preventive health facilities and skills development training. These women play an active role in the day-to-day survival of their families. They bear the double burden of work in and out of the house. The extreme low rate of literacy, poor economic conditions and lack of regular work are the main reasons for their poverty, and they do not have any other skills for earning income. This is why we initiated a basic Nepali reading and writing skills training programme for 8 women from the Musahar and Raut community jointly with our local partner Sapana Village Social Impact (SVSI) as part of our economic skills development programme. This programme is funded by Triodos Foundation. The women will have lessons six times per week for the coming six months. 

During our recent trip we were able to partake in one of their lessons and it was very heartening to see their enthusiasm and their self-confidence to express themselves growing. 

april 2022

The women started the first part of the economic skills development programme on 6 April 2022, ie Organic Herb Farming. The 10-day training was delivered by Herb Nepal and we used the training facility of our local partner organisation SVSI. 10 women participated in the programme, 5 Musahar women and 5 women from other marginalised communities (Tharu and Tamang). The feedback we received was that they were enthusiastic about the training, especially because they can directly apply the knowledge to the land they maintain and also immediately start growing local herbs for both sale and use in the soap.

January 2022

We are so proud that Triodos Foundation will sponsor our economic skills development programme for the marginalised women who will be working in our Eco Village and in our future eco-friendly soap factory. We aim to start the training programme in the first quarter of 2022.

Funding

The total programme budget is EURO 28,000 of which EURO 15,000 is being funded by Triodos Foundation. The remaining amount will be raised by 6° through various fundraising activities.

Objectives

The objective of the programme is to provide a comprehensive and customised skills training programme enabling the women to perform their jobs with confidence and with the required skills.

Project Partnership

Herb Nepal will provide the herb farming training.

Nature Nepal will provide the soap making training and business skills training.

Ecoorb will provide the sustainable packaging training.

Sapana Village Social Impact (SVSI) will coordinate the English, hospitality, health & hygiene, and first aid training.