Following the success of a short-term project supporting 100 women in Jumla, Nepal, Assisi Aid Projects and BPW Nepal are delighted continue their partnership with the launch of a second phase, longer-term project, ‘Advancing Women in Agroforestry Business Enterprise (AWABE) Post Covid 19 Pandemic in Jumla and Nuwakot, Nepal (II)’.

Gendered social norms impact women’s capacity to enter and engage with the workforce.

A 2021 study conducted by Himalayan Climate Initiative and The Asia Foundation found that only 37 per cent of Nepalese women were in work, and of that, only 9.5 per cent held employment in the formal sector.  

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, these barriers to employment have been further exacerbated. Small businesses have experienced widespread setback and many women have seen a substantial decrease in demand for their products, leaving them without income and more vulnerable to additional external shocks.

AWABE II will support at least 380 women-owned agroforestry-based small businesses in Jumla and Nuwakot to adopt more sustainable and resilient business models, enabling disadvantaged rural women to be economically self-reliant entrepreneurs capable of contributing to the local economy.

This project is supported by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).

---

Himalayan Climate Initiative and The Asia Foundation. (February, 2021). South Asia Economic Policy Research. COVID-19 & The New Normal for Women in the Economy in Nepal. Report. https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Covid-19-The-New-Normal-for-Women-in-the-Economy-in-Nepal.pdf