SHENPEN Skills Training is proud to say that through our partner, the Women’s Cooperative Society (WCS), and with the financial support of C.H.A.N.C.E for Nepal (UK), SHENPEN Skills Training sponsors an average of eight farming skills training a year and reaches out to 185 women every year.

Shenpen first began supporting WCS in 2009 by providing funds for training so that women taking out loans for income generation purposes could learn both the technical and small enterprise management skills needed to run a successful small business. Training courses offered to date include vegetable farming, mushroom cultivation, and pesticide use training.

Between 2009 and 2016, Shenpen supported 51 skills training courses for 1,484 women at an average cost of $14 per woman. Out of 1,484 trainees, a survey showed that 82% have utilized their new skills to expand their farm or to start new businesses, leading to a real improvement of their living conditions.

According to our estimate, following our training, women’s income increase by 20 to 30%. Moreover, such income seems to gradually increase with the passage of time. More importantly, these trainings have a direct impact on the social and economic level of women. Children of these empowered women benefit directly from the trainings, for the main concern of these mothers is to offer a sound education to their children.

Next year, SHENPEN Skills Training wishes to outreach to over 250 women for their own benefit as well as their family’s and community’s.

Would you like to have more information about the economic and social impacts of skills training sponsored by Shenpen? Please read the story of Srijana Lama Thapa, a 35
year-old woman who attended one.