active· Livelihoods· Education

F.a: Women empowerment through sustainable access to finance and business skills

1. Project: 11865 Women Employment through Sustainable Access to Finance and Skills #2. Project area and Country: Sindhuli district, Nepal. #3. Project justification: #The higher concentration of minority and indigenous groups in the Sindhuli district has significantly contributed to the overall poverty levels of the local populations. High gender based disparity and discrimination have negative impacts on income opportunities and womens control of production assets in the targeted area. Also, womens access to information, finance and skill training opportunities are low in. Womens participation in local level decision-making is still rare in Sindhuli and one of the major obstacles for women to realize their social economic and political rights. Prevalent ge nder based violence is a human rights violation and a strong barrier for women empowerment.#4. The main objective and the expected results:#The project aims to contribute to social and economic empowerment of women through the establishment and strengtheni ng of women-led local cooperatives, capacity building and advocacy towards local government on womens rights. Women, particularly from the socially marginalized and economically poor groups, will increase their access to business/income opportunities throu gh enhanced technical and entrepreneurship skills and better market linkages. The project will enhance rural womens access to finance through the establishment and strengthening of women owned and led cooperatives. Womens participation in decision making a nd networking will be strengthened. This will contribute to womens enhanced access to public resources and services. The rights holders comprise of economically poor and socially marginalized groups, including indigenous ethnic and tribal groups such as Da nuwar, Majhi and Magar.#5. Right-holders/ beneficiaries: 2900 persons (including 2400 women, 100 school drop-out girls and 400 other community people)#Duty bearers: local authorities and leaders, local institutions, community based organizations (CBOs) #6. Implementing partner: Sahakarya Nepal and Federation of Women Entrepreneurs Nepal (FWEAN)