Kavre: Ujyalo Foundation, a feminist organization working for women, has successfully concluded a one-day feminist conference ‘EmpowHER 2024’ in Panchkhal Municipality of Kavre on Tuesday.
EmpowHER is a leadership and idea incubation program for young women between 18-29 years old.
The main objective of the program was to highlight feminist agendas in local contexts, and foster discussions on issues including child marriage, gender-based violence, and access to healthcare.
Speaking at the event, the deputy mayor of Panchkhal Municipality, Surya Maya Danuwar, stated about the problems faced by women in Panchkhal and urged donor orgazations and government to support the programs initiated by Municipality.
“Physical infrastructure are tangible and visible but intangible things such as trainings and skills are intangible. Hence, local level and government hesitate to invest in skill development program. But, the overwhelming participation and enthusiasm from our youth has compelled the authorities to invest in such skill-based programs as well. I hope sufficient budget will be allocated for us to invest in such programs as well,” stated Danuwar.
According to the Executive Director Of Ujyalo Foundation, Amuda Mishra, the program was organized in Panchkhal to address various challenges faced by women living in Panchkhal.
“Last year, we dared to dream – dream big! We wanted to make women living in villages believe that dreams are not only for women who live in big cities like Kathmandu. We wanted to know what we could do for women in Panchkhal as it is most vulnerable to child marriage, organ trafficking, and unemployment in women, especially. With this aim, we organized this program outside of Kathmandu in 2024,” she said.
Panel discussions, storytelling sessions, the journey of participants from EmpowHER, and various handicraft and organic vegetable stalls were also a part of the event.
Similarly, the graduation ceremony of 24 participants was also conducted for completion of their leadership program.
The program was organized in collaboration with Helvetas Nepal, and Panchkhal Muniicpality.
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