Mamata's journey from early marriage to entrepreneurship
Meet Mamata, a 23-year-old cook who has realised her dream by running a successful breakfast shop and championing gender equality.
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Girls and young women in Nepal have limited access to inclusive, high quality and relevant education for the future they desire.
The causes of limited access to education include:
- Families’ lack of money, location and awareness of the importance of education
- Child marriage
- Unequal distribution of household chores between girls and boys
- Disability
- Discriminatory gender norms and abuse
- Lack of menstrual supplies and cultural norms around menstruation
- Inadequate gender and disability-friendly sanitation and menstrual hygiene facilities
- Education policies that do not cater for girls’ needs
- Insufficient scholarships for girls
- Lack of safe, inclusive and resilient school buildings
- Lack of learning opportunities in girls’ mother tongue, especially in early grades
- Lack of educational materials, including in ICT
- Lack of sufficiently trained teachers for the delivery of high-quality education.
As a result, girls drop out of school which has a detrimental effect on their futures.
What do girls need to learn in Nepal?
- Girls and young women must have access to inclusive, high quality and relevant education which equips them for the future they desire.
- Girls and young women must be able to develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes to secure employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for a positive future.
What is Plan International Nepal doing?
Inclusive, quality education:
We create safe learning environments that meet girls’ specific needs in coordination with key stakeholders such as school management committees, teachers, local governments and girls themselves.
We strengthen local governments’ education departments by training local authorities and key stakeholders on topics like girls’ educational needs. We also provide technical and financial support to develop federal, provincial and local level education policies and plans. We have done this in Banke, Bardiya, Dolpa, Jumla, Kalikot, Makwanpur, Sindhuli and Sunsari, allowing authorities to prioritise their education initiatives and focus on quality.
We also train teachers in a number of key areas:
- Early reading and learning
- Developing teaching materials
- Education that meets girls’ needs
- School improvement planning
- Disaster risk management
- Science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).
Through parental education, we help create a conducive learning environment at home and in communities which helps children to learn effectively.
We have recently started promoting STEAM education in the areas we work and will work to ensure it is integrated into curricula to prepare students for the modern world of work.
Skills and opportunities for youth employment and entrepreneurship:
We provide market-driven skills training for young women aged 18-24, including life skills and on-the-job training, to create job or entrepreneurship opportunities. We identify key sectors where we can link employers with young people.
Creating a safe working environment in which women are not discriminated against is another key area of our work. We train organisations on gender equality, workplace safety and labour law. The objective is for private sector employers to start taking measures to adopt inclusive work conditions at their businesses.
An enabling environment at home is also equally important for young women. Parents, guardians and other members of household are provided with training on gender equality and we run media campaigns to spread awareness that young women must be able to pursue their ambitions without discrimination.
STEAM
STEAM supports students to learn through creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving and communication.
It is an approach to improve the curriculum to interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary models. To include STEAM into education policy, we work closely with federal, provincial and local governments.
STEAM provides digital and communications skills that will equip young women for employment or entrepreneurship. Discrimination is a key factor holding girls and women back so we ensure our programmes are inclusive and actively work to reduce inequality.
We work with school management committees, parent and teacher association members, parents and students to conduct gender assessments of textbooks and school environments. Action plans are then developed to promote an inclusive, equal environment. This has been helpful to change the perceptions of teachers, parents and students.
We also influence local and provincial governments to create and implement gender responsive and inclusive education policies, plans and strategies. We work with stakeholders to make classrooms accessible for children with mobility challenges by removing physical barriers on school premises and in classrooms. We raise awareness on inclusiveness and make learning materials accessible for all. We also promote inclusive sanitation and menstrual hygiene facilities and challenge behaviors to reduce the shame and stigma around menstruation in schools.
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