Outcome NPL_D_2.1

Vulnerable women’s groups in Nepal have income generation opportunities and are resilient to climate change and disasters that affect their livelihoods by 2022

There has been notable progress on this outcome. Vulnerable women’s groups who received economic empowerment support from UN Women have recovered their businesses and demonstrated resilience to thrive back in the post pandemic context. Income Generation: This year, 300 additional women from excluded groups, composed of 255 women engaged in sex work (WESW) and 45 women from Community Kitchen initiative, started and/or expanded their micro-scale business. Based on the lesson learned from COVID-19, WESW diversified their livelihood opportunities by joining the vocational skills trainings, so that it would be easier to pursue new livelihoods in the event of another crisis or decreased profitability of their current business. Among them, 183 started their business after attending the vocational skill training provided by UN Women through its partner, Community Action Centre (CAC) Nepal . Their daily income ranges from NPR 600-2,000 (USD 4.62-15.4). Also, the 72 WESW who received carts from CAC Nepal are now engaged in vending street food, clothes, vegetables and spicy snacks in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts of Bagmati Province. They earn NPR 500-2,000 (USD 3.85 -15.4) per day from their business. One of them passed the licensure driving test and is now attending orientations to work with Pathao, an online platform for food delivery and cab services. A traditionally male occupation, her engagement in this job is envisioned to help break perceptual barriers, including stigma, to women’s entry in traditionally male occupations. Similarly, 45 women from excluded groups supported under the community kitchen initiative improved their income generation capacities. Evidence collected from the field in November 2022 showed that participants of the ‘Women in Value Chains’, which ended in December 2021, continue to produce market-oriented products and earn income in agriculture, food, small scale garment and handicraft value chains. For example, Rita Karmacharya, a project participant from Kavre, is currently selling her products (shoes) in the national market and exporting to Australia. She has moved moved up in the value/supply chain. Bimala Deula and Manila K.C, from Kavre are producing vegetable pickles and earning around NPR 30,000 (USD 231) per month, transforming them from being vegetable producers into processors. Access to productive resources: In 2022, 17 women’s groups (2 groups from Community Kitchen initiative and 15 groups part of the Community safety nets) enhanced their access to productive resources to expand and leverage their economic competency. A post-project follow-up in December 2022 revealed that women’s groups from Milanpur of Kailali district had started a third round of poultry raising through the previous support from the project. They reported an average earning of NPR 50,000 (USD 385) from the first round, which were reinvested in the subsequent rounds. Most of them used their earnings to meet health, education and food needs of their households. Others saved their income for further reinvestment. UN Women provided them with in- kind support, including chicks, sheds, poultry feed, and medicines. Similarly, the women’s group in Kathmandu, engaged in vegetable farming and received support from UN Women to build fertilizer storage accessed a loan of NPR 150,000 (USD 1,154) to expand their storage capacity for off-seasonal vegetable storing. They are paying the interest on a monthly basis with their saving of NPR 100 each. The group was also able to secure a room in a local ward office and has advocated for a share in the local budget. Further, 15 CSNs (out of 21) have saved around NPR 50,000-65,000 (USD 383-498) through contributions of group member s. The total membership is 1620 (31 with disability) which includes 1404 female, 206 male and 10 LGBTIQ+. The saving is being used to support elderly people in old age homes, survivors of violence, and chronically ill people in their communities. Participants from the Storytelling initiative shared that the in-kind support provided as part of the comprehensive relief package, enabled them to make savings, as they did not have to procure essential items for their households, including food. Access to legal identity and social assistance: Further, 64 women and excluded groups were able to secure social assistance from local governments. This was a result of their ability to secure a legal identity as citizens, and disability and senior citizenship cards through the facilitation support of UN Women’s partner agencies, KOSHISH Nepal and CAC. They were provided with briefing, guidance in preparing application forms, and accompaniment support in approaching pertinent government offices. Access to banking services: Out of a total of 500 WESW, 470 were able to secure access to banking services. This was facilitated through technical and coordination support to fill up the form, open a bank account and access information on banking services. There has been a demonstration of behavioral changes among CSN members, translating their enhanced understanding of gender inequalities into transformative action. For example, CSN member, Ms. Devi Paswan, got her son married in Bara district without any exchange of dowry, a practice regarded as mandatory in many places. The CSN project was implemented in all provinces by Tewa with funding support of UN Women. Increased support from family and community members have been generated in the project locations where they helped facilitate positive norm change around mobility, household chores, and women’s leadership in socio-economic activities. A male CSN member in Jajarkot district stated that, “I am now aware of women’s human rights and gender-based discrimination. I will support my women family members in household chores and ensure that they enjoy equal rights .” UN Women provided technical and substantive inputs to design and implement livelihood models on women’s economic empowerment (WEE). This includes sharing of lessons learned from past interventions and coordination support with local government/relevant stakeholders, building on UN Women’s substantive equality approach to WEE. UN Women’s meaningful approach is widely recognized. For example, Kandala Rana, Deputy Mayor of Dhangadi Sub-Metropolitan City appreciated its support to most vulnerable women in Milanpur, Kailali District. She said, ‘The women who were former free-bonded laborers and residing in one of the disaster-prone areas are now able to earn their livelihood. I hope they would be able to reinvest their earning in the longer term”. UN Women’s theory of change for WEE in Nepal remains valid. The impacts described above show that vulnerable women now demonstrate economic strength and resilience. They are expanding income opportunities to enjoy economic security and rights (including legal identity as citizens and entrepreneurs), moving up in the value chains, securing resources from local governments, increasing their decision-making roles in families and communities, promoting behaviour change, and exploring opportunities for integration in the formal economy. As they earn adequate and predictable income, their identity as entrepreneurs helps raise their confidence and self-worth and build their ability to re-shape gender relations, advance transformative change in families and communities, and set a model of what vulnerable women can become when provided with appropriate support as a group. UN Women learned that in the post-pandemic recovery efforts, comprehensive relief package, collectivisation, sustained interventions for norm change, livelihood diversification to adapt in the changed market landscape and in non-traditional sectors, coordination with the local government for project ownership and access to resources, timely monitoring and technical guidance are powerful in achieving economic resilience among the most vulnerable women.

Vulnerable women’s groups in Nepal have income generation opportunities and are resilient to climate change and disasters that affect their livelihoods by 2022

Significant progress was made on this outcome. Additional 4,190 women from vulnerable groups ins three provinces started or increased income generation through micro-scale businesses and paid employment and an additional 4,047 women now have access to productive resources. This brought the total number of women expanding their income generation with UN Women’s support to 6,194 in this SN period. Resilience was demonstrated during the pandemic in the sustained profitability of select value chains, such as agriculture and garment, especially those that diversified into the production of face masks and personal protective equipment. Women’s capacity to access and control productive resources and create safe space was strengthened through the formation of 138 new groups with 3,180 members across UN Women’s project sites. In addition, 3,670 rural women farmer/entrepreneurs who were supported on branding and marketing gained access to new markets in the local and national supply chains. The roll out of a mobile app (Mero Pasal/My Shop) linked the project participants to e-commerce platforms. Testimonies of women using the app highlighted a critical need to enhance women’s digital access and literacy in the current context. Public procurement opportunities were facilitated by LGUs in the project locations, where women were able to sell 13,500 masks to the Banepa and Panauti municipalities. A total of 335 participants accessed financial assistance/services and secured representation in local/community level platforms, which demonstrated their capacity for leadership and social networking. These results were achieved through interventions implemented jointly with UN Women’s partners who received technical and funding support from UN Women to provide technical, material and facilitation support for skills development, business development, access to financial services, and market linkages to the participants. Leadership development and engagement with families/communities to transform adverse social norms are part of UN Women’s WEE interventions. Further, 3,500 women and excluded groups received the comprehensive relief package in Provinces 2, 3, 5 and 7, claiming that it was lifesaving. The food, cash, survival items and information and communication received from UN Women’s partners enabled them to explore options, invest in small businesses, raise issues to authorities, and regain confidence to live productively amid the crisis. With project’s facilitation support, women were able to secure legal identity and open bank accounts, enabling them to access financial and other services from financial institutions and LGUs. UN Women actively engaged in the Cash Coordination Group and UN Common Cash Framework to advocate for GESI consideration in cash programming. While advancing long-term agenda on GESI, the package helped women and most vulnerable people to recover from shock and take steps to resilience and recovery. The relevance of such a holistic approach was further validated by local government authorities who committed to replicate it in other areas. The above results were achieved with strong partnership with SAARC Business Association of Home-Based Workers, Women Act, Aasaman Nepal, and Feminist Dalit Organisation who strengthened the technical /soft skills and access to resources of women and excluded groups for economic competency. With COVID-19, women, especially those from vulnerable groups, have borne the brunt of the pandemic. To respond to the evolving context, UN Women revised its theory of change in 2020 to focus on building women’s resilience capacity and support them to recover their livelihoods that were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. These results mitigated the impacts of the pandemic to women from vulnerable groups and their families. Their insights and experiences could inform the COVID-19 response and recovery programmes of government toward leaving no one behind. UN Women learned that (a) livelihood support and partnerships to strengthen market presence are key to achieving resilience, and (b) engagement with LGUs for public procurement helps ensure business continuity during lockdowns. The public procurement should be expanded to cover new products and services in addition to masks and PPEs. UN Women will advocate for the use of these lessons to ensure that no one is left behind in Nepal’s COVID-19response and recovery efforts.