Gender Equality Nepal Project #38083

Help Young Women Break the Glass Ceiling in Nepal!

by Women LEAD

Project Report | May 23, 2022
Our Alumni as speed-mentors at WOW Nepal 2022!

By Dipasa Bista | Development Officer

Speed Mentoring session, WOW Nepal 2022, Lumbini.

Women LEAD Nepal in collaboration with the British Council Nepal curated a series of Speed Mentoring Sessions for the Women of the World (WOW) Nepal festival in April 2022 in Lumbini. There were 30 mentors from diverse backgrounds (academic/professional/caste/culture) who mentored 41 mentees (aged 18-26) from Lumbini. We, at Women LEAD, emphasize mentoring to create a supportive environment for young women to grow their confidence and establish the networks they need to achieve long-term success. Out of the 30 mentors, 9 were our program alumni.

Hear from them about their experiences:

"Mentoring at WOW Lumbini was a rewarding experience as I have always considered mentorship a two-way learning process. I saw the critical role that mentorship programs serve in empowering and supporting women. I had the opportunity to mentor girls from a different socio-demographic background than mine. As a result, it was an eye-opening experience that allowed me to have a better understanding of the challenges and struggles that girls and women face in this region of Nepal." - Simrika

"My major takeaway is that change is coming. I met beautiful souls who want to do something for the society and for themselves. There are many unheard stories and so these young women want to be heard. Their words have inspired me to be a better human being. I have formed sisterhood across different geography." - Elina

"This was my first time doing a speed mentoring - talking to many young women, listening to their stories, sharing my own experiences with them in hope that it might be of some help, and trying to navigate the way out of a problem (that they were facing) together. One of my major takeaways is that no matter where (geographically, economically, socially) we 'women' are, we are fighting against the patriarchal system, gender norms, expectations, and roles that are put on us and that we are striving hard to realize our own dreams despite our own hardships. This realization has been empowering for me!" - Aksha

"From being a mentee at OWN IT 2020 to being a mentor in WOW Lumbini 2022's Speedmentoring, the journey has been amazing. This experience as a mentor helped me understand the daily livelihood of young girls, and their struggle toward being empowered, in various stages of their lives. Similarly, hearing success stories of young women smashing traditional norms and values changed my narratives about the power these women carry within themselves. With the experiences gained from this speed mentoring, I will always try to assist young women in their leadership journeys." - Kajal

Simrika, 2021 YWPLI Fellow

Elina, 2014 LEADer

Aksha, 2016 LEADer

Kajal, 2021 YWPLI Fellow

Links:

Check out Women LEAD's website!

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Jan 24, 2022
Alumni Engagement at Women LEAD!

By Sarun Khadka | Development Intern

Sarun, 2020 YWPLI Fellow, 2021 Development Intern

Women LEAD has been a life-changing journey for me since the day I started my Young Women Political Leadership Institute (YWPLI) with a motive to bring transactional changes in the understanding level of the political dimension. Now as 2020 YWPLI alumni and a development intern at Women LEAD, every day is like a new day of learning. During YWPLI, I got a chance to witness the power of mentoring. I had an incredible mentor who guided me to mould my career path and empowered me to be a visionary persona.

Women LEAD has a large community of alumni where there are ample opportunities that one can seek and access. The engagement with the organization doesn’t end after the completion of the courses, rather it will be the opening of new chapters on how one can get connected with the organization or take advantage of networking from the vast community.

Considering the privilege of being mentored, I want to retrieve back to others to create a change. Therefore, as an alumnus, I got an opportunity to enrol in the program “Leading by Mentoring'' which was conducted by Women LEAD in collaboration with Nepal Leadership Academy. It was a program targeted at the alumni of the YWPLI and LEAD course with the main objective of equipping alumni by coaching them to be future mentors.

One of the participants of the program & Women LEAD program trainee Kajal said, “Talking and working as a leader has always been intriguing for me. These two days long training “Leading by Mentoring” has been a whole new experience as it led me to acknowledge that leadership is not only about me or you, but It’s about the things that need to be done. Working in pairs in breakout rooms taught me to build transformational relationships with one another and helped me to be a better version of me to coach my mentor in the forthcoming future”.

Before attending the program, I used to label leadership with position & authority but now I have a clear understanding of leadership as a continuous process. The key learning from the two days session was distinguishing between the technical and adaptive challenges of the leadership. In addition to that, we learned about the framework to build an intentional relationship with mentees.

2020 YWPLI Fellow and participant of the program Bima shares her experience, “As an aspiring mentor, a program like "Leading by Mentoring '' can help me to make a transformational relationship with my mentee. It helped me to make effective communication with intellectual stimulation. Through this program, I'll be able to build trust, nurture and encourage my mentee and ultimately bring the best out in both of us and our growth. Being a mentor can be energizing, re-ignite my engagement in different aspects and create a stronger sense of value upon things through the relation with my mentee. All these experiences I've collected as a mentor, I can pass down to my mentee as well, as she can become a mentor one day with a consistent supply of support and encouragement.”

Of all the sessions that I attended, I found the breakout session to be more impactful because participants were divided into small groups of people who could share their idea on the coaching and discuss the various case scenarios on mentorship. The discussion was very productive and I learned about the importance of mentoring in different life cycles of an individual’s life.

The program was designed in such an effective way that the facilitator made us re-evaluate our values and re-invent them if necessary. I believe the alumni engagement in programs like “Leading by Mentoring” will prepare us to be a changemaker and have a positive impact on the individual’s life.

Kajal, 2020 YWPLI Fellow

Bima, 2020 YWPLI Fellow

Links:

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Sep 27, 2021
LEADer at Women LEAD and beyond.

By Praju Dotel | 2013 LEADer

Praju, 2013 LEADer

I started my journey at Women LEAD in 2013 as a LEADer, participant of the 2013 LEAD Course, with a very faint idea of my stance as a young female leader. With my engagement in the organization, I became more aware of my socio-cultural environment and how actions are needed to promote growth and awareness not just within an individual but within the society itself at large. Women LEAD helped me to grow as an empowered young woman who was able to speak not just for herself but also the others. Over the years, I have had several roles in the organization; as an intern in 2014 and 2018, as a board member in 2015, and mentor since 2015.

One of my proudest achievements was coordinating the Sujata Baskota Changemaker’s Project on “Consent”. It was an opportunity, not just for the students to learn about consent, but for me to explore my bounds as a facilitator and a trainer. Women LEAD’s Sujata Baskota Changemaker Award program provides grants to its alumni to implement their own community projects in Nepal.

Another rewarding engagement in Women LEAD has been the mentorship program, with which I have had the honor to mentor 5 young girls over the years; mentees are LEAD course participants. The atmosphere at Women LEAD and its members has always been the most encouraging.

With my educational background in law, I wanted to pursue my interest to facilitate better policy practices especially in consideration of women and underrepresented communities. So, I found it reasonable to approach the issue not just as a young voice in activism but as a drafter of law. Currently, I have been appointed as a Legal Officer at the Ministry of Social Development, Bagmati Province. I am excited and looking forward to this new journey of working for the Government of Nepal.

Links:

Check out Women LEAD's newly updated website.

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