The Nepal GoodWeave Foundation introduced the Weaving Economic Opportunities for Women project with the support from Greater Impact Foundation to tackle the issue of child labor in carpet supply chains by developing a replicable, market-driven training and job placement procedure to support vulnerable women and their families. It also aimed to encourage and reward ethical business and labor practices in the carpet weaving industry of Nepal.
Nepal GoodWeave Foundation has provided weaving training under different phases at different time. The 1st phase of training started on July, 2013 to July, 2014. 50 women got the weaving training and 10 people got Dyeing training during this phase. Similarly, The 2nd phase of training started on May 2014 to May 2015. 250 women got the weaving training during this phase and 15 people got designing training. Lastly, the 3rd phase of training started on May 2016 to July,2017. 300 women got the Weaving Training, 20 people got Carpet Designing Draining and 35 people got Carpet Finishing Training. The training has enhanced women's capacity to earn for a livelihood and empowered them to live life with dignity and confidence. The Weaving Opportunities activities also includes three-month intensive designing training for unemployed youth and finishing and cutting training for unemployed men and women.
All participants of the programme have an access to psychological counselling to build their capacity throughout the programme. Facility of ECD center is provided for the participants' children of the age group 2-6 years .Furthermore, a CTEVT certification test is processed to ensure that skills that the trainees acquired from the training meet standards. Only these participants are the weavers in Nepal who have had the opportunity to take the CTEVT skill test with the potential of being awarded certificates by the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT).
This initiative has further strengthened the NGFs relationship with concerned stakeholders. The Central Carpet Industries Association (CCIA), the Nepal Carpet Exporters Association (NCEA), the Trade Export and Promotion Center (TEPC) and the Department and Labor and Employment Fund have welcomed the NGF initiatives to empower vulnerable sections of society with employable skills and have offered their coordination for further activities. This has given a hope to carpet entrepreneurs who are facing a huge shortage of skilled laborers and to women who are the sole earners in their families. Exporters have also expressed positive comments about the project and shown their commitment to do their part for its success.
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