Category: Completed project

Employment can be generated by promotion and development of off-farm micro-enterprises besides diversification, modernization and commercialization of agriculture. Enterprises have certain minimum threshold for operation which the poor households will not have as single entity. But if they are organized in one place for producing the same product, they can produce in commercial scale and enter into market jointly in a single trademark. In this way they will have economies of scale. Otherwise if they have a single enterprise for one product in one place, they will have to go for marketing, procurement of materials and services to far-off places individually whose cost they cannot meet and will be unviable at the end of the day. In this way, Non farm based enterprises such as food processing e.g. Squash, Juice, jam, jelly, pickles, dalmoth bhujiya making, potato chips making, noodles making and bamboo based handicraft production etc. These products have been identified based on their comparative economic advantage recognized as collective rural enterprises.

 Activities for One Village One product enterprises

• Careful selection of Nirdhan financial Center and entrepreneurs selection
• Local institution mapping and information collection
• Program orientation with relevant stakeholders
• Detailed product identification, availability of raw materials, input output market, expert service providers
• Provision of credit for enterprise creation
• Training on production, entrepreneurship and marketing aspects of the products
• Formation of cooperative of the entrepreneurs and registration with concerned government organization.
• Industrial estate creation
• Quality control and market facilitation

Nepal is one the poorest country of the world having 31% population below poverty level (per day income less than 1 US dollar per day).  Rautahat are one of the most densely populated terai districts of central development region of Nepal. Based on overall composite index of Rautahat district rank is  53. Poverty situation of these districts is very severe mostly in rural areas. Severe poverty has consequences like illiteracy, malnutrition, child mortality, poor health etc. Children are compelled to work as child labor in domestic work, hotel and factories. The poor and disadvantaged are socially and economically exploited and facing high discrimination and exclusion. Most of the families belong to the so called Dalit ethnic minorities such as Dhobi, Dom, Chamar, Musahar, Dusad, Majhi etc

Microfinance can be a more powerful tool for giving the poor more economic options. World wide microfinance has been proved to be an effective tool for poverty reduction and women empowerment. Micro financial services (saving, credits, insurance) help break out of the vicious cycle of poverty enabling women to better manage their money and start investing in assets.

The business skills enable microfinance clients to put their loans in more productive use and generate more profit and savings.

Objectives

• Transfer livelihood skills to enable exploitation of economically viable opportunities, particularly agricultural opportunities.
• Increase access with loan and loan consumption capacity of the target families.
• Enhance entrepreneurship of the 400 NUBL clients.
• Increase self employment opportunity of the 400 Dalits and disadvantaged group at community level.

Major Activities.

• Social mobilization.
• Capacities build and training on goat and pig keeping.
• Market linkage.
• Linkage with micro-finance of NUBL.

The financial system of a country plays a key role in the growth and development of a nation. In the agenda of financial literacy, it has rightly been said, “Financial literacy needs to be embedded in our way of life. Everyone who earns an income is a potential saver, every saver is a potential investor and every investor ought to be financially literate.” Peoples are suffering from financial diseases like underinsurance, debt trap, insufficient retirement funds and low return on investment – all of which is caused due to financial illiteracy. The consumers need to be financially literate to be able to understand the financial world and make well-informed decisions that will be profitable. When comparing and evaluating financial products, the consumer should be well aware of the basic terms of financial markets and the latest trends to manage their savings. The program took place on 4th Jan 2017 at Parbat District of Rahale,on 6th Jan 2017 at Baglung District of Galkot and on 8th Jan 2017 at Myagdi District of Babiyachour supported by Nepal Rastra Bank, Governor Office, Baluwatar, Kathmandu.

Objectives of the Project

• To teach people about the basics regarding savings, credit, insurance, remittance and investments.
• To introduce entrepreneurs to successful management strategies they can apply in the everyday operations of their activity.
• Use of proper banking system.

Location	Target Participants	No. of Participants	Result
Parbat District of Rahale	50-100	97	Achieved
Baglung District of Galkot	50-100	72	Achieved
Myagdi District of Babiyachour	50-100	81	Achieved

The populations of the hilly and mountainous regions of Nepal still remain under-served in terms of access of micro finance. Since these areas are considered risky and expensive to serve, most of the financial institutions are hesitant to operate in these areas.  Nevertheless, Mercy Corps have enabled the related MFIs expand into these areas with innovative product and qualitative service for these needy poor households through the DFID funded Sustainable Access to Finance and Livelihoods in Nepal (SAFAL Nepal)” program. To supplement SAFAL, Financial Literacy Training (FLT) are being carried out in Rukum, Banke, Kalikot and Jumla by Mecry Corps and Nirdhan in order to increase the loan repayment capacities of these rural poor households so that they can better utilize the loans they take out from the MFIs. With the help of financial literacy trainings, the target groups are able to make informed decisions about savings, money and risk management and practice sound financial behavior. The target clients are also able to participate more confidently in micro-enterprise creation and increased productivity.

The overall goal of the project is to improve the overall livelihood status of the poor rural MFI clients by providing them with helpful financial management knowledge:

• Carry out FLT for the MFI groups according to the curriculum developed by Mercy Corps; Each group will receive 26 sessions of training
• Each group of MFI will have 20-25 participants
• By the end of the project period, the following number of 204 MFI groups will have been trained: Banke (Fattepur) – 28, Kalikot – 28, Jumla – 28, Rukum (Chaurjahari) – 24
• To train additional facilitators to deliver the training if needed according to the ToT provided by Mercy Corps
• Monitoring and supervision of the FLT by Mercy Corps and Nirdhan
• Periodic evaluation of the FLT