Food/Micro-business
Foundation Nepal works with basic food production and micro-business projects such as vegetable growing and poultry rearing. We also support literacy training and micro-finance groups with a view to kick-starting more advanced micro-businesses.
We work with local community groups comprised largely of women in Simikot, Thehe and Bergaun to start micro-business projects primarily focused on vegetable farming and poultry. These projects help women increase their food production to supplement their family’s nutrition, and they can sell the surplus, leaving them with a cash income to invest in education, healthcare, improved seed varieties and so on. Such projects are relatively straightforward to implement as women do not need their husbands’ permission to take part because they are already responsible for farming, and they do not need to be literate either.
Taking micro-business to the next level
In order to start more advanced micro-business projects, women need access to micro-finance (savings and credit groups) – yet, for micro-finance to work, women require basic levels of literacy. In Humla, only 8.87% of women are literate and most of these are 10-12 year-old school leavers[1]. As a result, we are further developing our literacy projects for women and vocational training for men this year. It is a slow process, but it means that projects will be sustainable. We currently have seven micro-finance groups that are in the initial start up stages and this number is set to increase. We plan to help these groups to set up successful businesses in the areas of herbal plant processing and distribution, tourism and trekking, advanced agricultural production and other commercially viable opportunities.
Read about income levels and malnutrition in Humla >
Find out about the other parts of the CHEWI Programme
1 District Development Plan 2008, District Information and Documentation Centre, District Development Committee, Humla
