Gender Equality Nepal Project #38083

Help Young Women Break the Glass Ceiling in Nepal!

by Women LEAD

Project Report | Feb 5, 2020
How Women LEAD Changed My Life

By Sajju | 2016 LEADer

Sajju Presenting to Students at Women LEAD

Since the day I stepped inside Women LEAD Nepal's doors in 2016, a life-time of opportunities has opened up to me.

As a 2016 LEADer, I was able to grow my leadership, public speaking, communication and other professional skills through Women LEAD's flagship 12-month program, the LEAD Course. The LEAD Course sessions also played a big role in moulding my personality, by giving me the confidence to express my opinions and stand up for what I believe in.

The LEAD Course was only the start of my journey with Women LEAD. After the LEAD Course ended, I entered into Women LEAD's Alumni Community and was able to access an entirely new world of opportunities. I received the opportunity to mentor two LEADers which has given me the great responsibility of contributing to younger girls' leadership journeys, as well as the chance for me to grow my own leadership skills.

As an Alumni, I was also able to participate in the Sujata Baskota Changemaker Award. Through this initiative, my fellow alumni and I received a grant to implement our own community project called Naritwa to improve sexual and reproductive health knowledge and services in Mid West Nepal. My teammates and I travelled to a community in Surkhet in Karnali Province to support a health camp for women and conduct sessions on sexual and reproductive health for school students. The success we achieved through this project is one of my life's greatest achievements. It felt so great to see the smiles of women after they received the health services, some of whom had never accessed such services before.

Another amazing opportunity I received from Women LEAD Nepal was the chance to be part of the With and For Girls Collective Asia-Pacific Award Panel in 2017. Being one of the panellists, I got to interview 10 girl-led organizations decide which five of the organizations to award funding from the With and For Girls Collective. I also received the wonderful opportunity to represent the Asia-Pacific Award Panel at the With and For Girls Award Ceremony in London! This visit was a huge opportunity for me to experience being on a global platform and learn about the issues that girls are facing around the world. It inspired and comforted me to know that the whole world is fighting to realize girls rights and create a better world for girls.

Women LEAD has not only given me a wealth of opportunities but being involved in the organization has influenced how others in my community view me. At college, my classmates view me as a role model and look up to me due to my confidence and strong public speaking skills. I feel that I now have built up a solid set up skills to deal with a range of different people and help them to achieve their potential.

Women LEAD has helped me to learn how important it is to step back for others to step ahead, to care for others' growth and to find happiness in other people's achievements.I can proudly say that who I am today is the reflection of what Women LEAD has given me.

Sajju with her Naritwa Project Team in Surkhet

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Dec 7, 2019
My Experience Being in a Decision Making Position!

By Reeya | LEADer 2018

The panelists Nisha, Timila, Reeya, Labbi, Niraja

After graduating from the LEAD Course in June this year, I was keen to still stay involved with Women LEAD. When Women LEAD Nepal posted about With and For Girls Award Interview Panel on our Alumni Group on Facebook, I was super excited and couldn’t wait to apply for it!

The With and For Girls Collective is a group of 11 funders who give grants to grassroots organizations working with and for girls in five regions around the world. I was lucky enough to get selected to be one of the five panellists to interview 10 organizations from the Asia-Pacific region and decide which five organizations would get funding.

Before the interview, we were given two days of training by one of our fellow Women LEAD alumni who had been through the process before. During the training, we discussed each organization’s applications which helped us to learn more about the organizations. We also divided our roles for the interview and did a practice interview to make sure we were all prepared beforehand.

Our learning didn't end at the training- conducting the interviews was a humbling experience. We had the enormous responsibility of choosing the best organizations in such a strong cohort of applicants who were doing such magnificent things to empower girls. From this opportunity, we learnt about girls issues not just from our country, but from different countries like India, Pakistan, Tonga and Japan. After lots of intense discussions and deliberating, we were finally able to choose the five winners. Deciding the winners was a challenging experience and I couldn’t have done this without the decision-making and leadership skills I gained from participating in the LEAD course.

One of the best moments of this experience was when one of the interviewees complimented us on our stellar performance conducting the interviews. I am grateful to Women LEAD for not only providing young women like me with opportunities to learn leadership skills but also giving us a platform to practise these skills.

After we completed all 10 interviews, I felt empowered and proud of myself. This couldn’t have been possible without the constant support of Women LEAD and the trust of the With and For Girls Collective. I am thrilled that I was selected for this opportunity as it helped me to explore and give the best of myself.

The panelists after taking the interviews

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Sep 9, 2019
Our experience as Communications Interns!

By Labbi and Dilasha | 2018 LEADers and Communication Interns

A few months ago our 2018 LEADers Labbi and Dilasha graduated from our year-long LEAD Course. Over the last few months, they’ve made the transition into the professional world, interning for Women LEAD with our Communications Department.

We conducted a Question and Answer session with Labbi and Dilasha to share with you some insights and highlights from their internship experience:

Q: Why did you apply to be a Communications Intern?

Labbi: After completing the one-year-long LEAD course, I applied for the Communication Internship post, partially because I was interested in working with computers, making graphics, and improving my writing skills. However, most of all, I applied because I wanted to give back to Women LEAD.

Q: What did you do as Communications Interns?

Labbi: We made a strategy to recruit online applicants for the 2019 LEAD course, used graphic design to make social media posts more attractive, took photos of alumni to highlight the benefits of joining women LEAD, and shot and edited videos. We also made designs for Women LEAD merchandise such as mugs and totebags.

Dilasha: During the internship, we worked on graphic designs, photography and video shoots. We also worked on the online recruitment process which included handling social media and online applications. All our hard work paid off and we were thrilled to meet our target of receiving 100 online applications!

Q: What challenges did you face during your internship?

Dilasha: It was a bit challenging learning how to use the design tools to make infographics during the first few days of the internship. Taking headshots of the alumni and interns in the correct compositions was also a bit challenging for me as it was something I hadn’t done before.

Q: How did you overcome these challenges:

Dilasha: For me, I started asking more questions to my supervisor, Prajesh, which slowly built up my confidence in using the design tools. I also began experimenting more with different designs, which helped me master the tools.

Q: How did Prajesh, Women LEAD’s Communications Coordinator, support you?

Dilasha: Prajesh Dai supported us throughout our entire internship journey. He helped us to learn the basic design tools and editing applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator. He showed us many interesting videos related to videography and photography and gave us amazing books to read to grow our skills and knowledge.

Labbi: Prajesh Dai was the best mentor I have ever had! He was always patient with us and even when we made mistakes, he used to motivate us by saying that failure is not the end. He helped and guided us every step of the way.

Q: How was your experience overall?

Labbi: These past three months as a Communications Intern has been one of the best experiences I have had! Women LEAD was a great learning environment and we had the opportunity to participate in opportunities outside of the Communications Department, such as interviewing participants for the next LEAD Course.

The best thing has been the additional opportunities we’ve received due to the skills we’ve gained through our internship. Dilasha got the chance to work as a freelance logo designer for a company, and I got a chance to design a t-shirt for Xaviers’ Model United Nations.

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