In partnership, Assisi Aid Projects and BPW Nepal are launching a new project, “Advancing Women in Agroforestry Business Enterprise in the Wake of Pandemic” (AWABE).

The project will support 100 women in Jumla, Nepal, whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by the pandemic.  

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, with the remaining 90.5 per cent contributing to the economy through their work in the informal sector.  

The barriers women in Nepal face to employment have been further exacerbated since the onset of the pandemic, leaving them without income and more vulnerable to additional external shocks. 

This AWABE project supports women in rebuilding their agro-forest-based enterprises, enabling them to be financially independent and to contribute to the local economy. The project focuses on supporting women to respond to the particular challenges they face in the wake of the pandemic and provides them with tailored skills to help address specific needs for recovery and improvement of their business enterprises.  

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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