Women Awareness Center Nepal
Trainings
WACN offers trainings in micro finance, cooperative management, leadership, agriculture, and gender development to WACN cooperative members, NGO leaders and other grassroots workers. Within the gender development training WACN addresses issues of violence against women, trafficking, and health. The trainings cover a broad range of themes from skill development to the improvement of health and gender relations to the reduction of poverty through self-reliant economic activities. They help reinforce the lessons the village women learn from their cooperative activities. The overall focus on human resource development equips women with the tools to work in an autonomous and sustainable fashion. The legal, gender, and literacy trainings, combined with the income-generating activities, promotes equality between women and men. Together, these initiatives improve the socio-economic status of the entire community.
WACN’s Training Program involves the village women and men at every level, from designing to implementing the programs.
In addition to the trainings, WACN organizes a serious of field visits to encourage the women to build alliances with one another. WACN also holds meetings for the co-operative leaders once a month so that the women can exchange ideas and receive support from WACN. All the cooperatives hold an annual general meeting for all their members to keep the women informed about cooperative activity.
Bamiya Chaudhari is a shareholder of Bachhauli Nari Chetana Cooperative. She was one of two women that WACN sent to the Dang District for Biogas Plant Training. At that time, society did not permit women to travel, but with the support of the women’s groups, she was able to participate in the training. She is now an established technician, a job traditionally reserved for men. As a technician, she travels to remote districts to install biogas plants. To date, she has installed over 300 plants, which has produced a steady income for her. She is proud of her skill, her self esteem is high, and she is now facilitating the training for other women.Biogas can be used as a substitute for firewood in rural households. Biogas use, replacing conventional fuels like kerosene or firewood, helps conserve the environment.