Publications

Appalachia, June 2003

The idea for starting Empowering the Women of Nepal grew out of a realization that guiding could be a great source of employment and income for mountain women, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. At that time, there was no avenue for providing these women with the training necessary to become successful guides. But the prospect of a strong and growing market for women trekkers seeking women guides brought new confidence in the potential for success of such an enterprise.

In 1996 the sisters organized the first all-women’s guide-training workshop in collaboration with the Council for Technical and Vocational Training (CTEVT) in Pokhara. The program was successful, and half of the 12 women trainees continued guiding for Three Sisters Trekking. Word spread quickly, and in 1998 the sisters registered Empowering the Women of Nepal as a nongovernmental organization (NGO) with the mission “to offer education, skilled training and gainful employment to the rural women of Nepal, encouraging them to become self-supportive, independent, decision-making women.”

Since 1998 EWN has organized seven one-month training programs for women from around Nepal. Their objectives are perhaps best stated in their own words:

Our aim is to uplift and empower the women of Nepal through equal opportunity to gainful employment. Our goal is to provide the rural women of Nepal the tools needed to become self-supportive, independent, decision-making women. Our project works to combat the grossly unequal access Nepalese women have to education, employment, and basic self-determination. Through counseling, education, and skills training we offer Nepalese women the opportunity to escape bondage and victimization and to make a place for themselves within the backbone of Nepal’s economy — the tourism industry. Women currently occupy just 2 percent of the available jobs in this industry despite a growing demand for female trekking guides.

There are two levels of training in the current curriculum. Level One provides basic training in immediate and practical skills such as English language, first aid, foreign trekker psychology, nutrition and hygiene, and self-confidence. Level Two training focuses on more advanced skills: route-finding and map use, rescue techniques, natural history, and group management. Amazingly, there is no charge for the training. Food, lodging, materials, and transportation are all included. Funding comes primarily from proceeds from the trekking business, with past support coming from the Nepal Tourism Board, the Peace Corps, and donations from tourists.

Training programs are advertised by word of mouth and through postings in nationally distributed newspapers. Applicants are interviewed and screened for health problems. So far, every healthy applicant has been accepted. Each training session has included between 16 and 20 participants, averaging 20 to 21 years of age. The women come from all over Nepal. During the fall 2001 training session, there were young women from Jumla in the west of Nepal and from as far east as Ilam and the Kanchenjunga region. The sisters have made vigorous efforts to keep the groups diverse, and the number of applicants has grown steadily.