Youth Empowerment Program | Active Citizenships

Definition of Youth – “women, men and third gender of 16-40 age”- The National Youth Policy 2010

International youth day – 12^th August

Nepali Youth on Foreign Employment – The Department of Foreign Employment estimated that around 1,500 young Nepalese leave for employment in countries other than India each day.

First Nepali Scientist to join National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – Rajendra Bhatta (age 30)

Nepali young scientist in NASA Conference – Rijan Karki, inspired by Newton’s theory, succeeded in securing the Student Achievement Award (SAA) in 2009 at the age of 16 by presenting his theory on operating a railway in the mountains without electricity or any fuel in an energy conference organized at NASA in the USA.

Youth as Mt. Everest climber:

Babu Chiri Sherpa (June 22, 1965 – April 29, 2001) – reached the summit of Mount Everest ten times. He held 2 world records on Everest by spending 21 hours on the summit of Everest without auxiliary oxygen, and making the fastest ascent of Everest in 16 hours and 56 minutes.

Ang Rita Sherpa known as “The Snow Leopard” climbed Mount Everest ten times without the use of supplemental oxygen. When he made his sixth climb of Everest in 1990 he set a world record for the number of successful ascents, eventually reaching 10 in 1996. He died 21 Sep. 2020

First amputee to stand on the summit of Mt. Everest – Nawang Sherpa became the first person to climb Mount Everest with a prosthetic leg by reaching the summit on his first attempt, and the first differently abled person from Asia to stand on the summit.

First Non-Sherpa Nepalese women to climb Mt. Everest – Moni Mulepati is a first Newa woman to climb Mount Everest and also the first woman to be married at the summit by marrying her climbing partner Pema Dorjee.

Nepali Youth Athletes:

Paras Khadka (b. 24 Oct. 1987) – Winner of the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Three, Division Four and Division Five

Shakti Prasad Gauchan (b. 22 Apr. 1984) – Only Nepali cricketer to take an international hat-trick.

Anil Gurung (17 Sep. 1986) – Nepali international football player selected for a trial for Chelsea reserve team and Working F.C in England.

Karishma Karki (b. 18 Jul. 1993) – Nepali Olympian swimmer. She created national record by bagging 12 gold medals at the Fifth National Games. She was awarded The Best Female Player Of The Year by Nepal Sports Journalist Federation in 2009.

Pratima Sherpa (b. 27 Nov. 1999) is the first ranked amateur female golfer from Nepal.

Nepali youth in beauty pageant:

Ishani Shrestha, born 5 May 1991 is the winner of Miss Nepal 2013 and Miss Best walk subtitle holder. She represented Nepal in Miss World 2013 in Bali, Indonesia where she made history securing top 10 position and bagging Beauty With a Purpose title.

Fact-Sheet

What has ViN achieved in Youth Empowerment Programme by now?

1,569

Youth Clubs & Life Skills

3,265

T. Beneficiaries

226

Entrepreneurship Development

1,470

English & Career Development

Why the Youth Empowerment Programme?

what is Youth Empowerment Programme?

The Youth Empowerment Programme in Nepal has been designed to address the current needs of Nepalese youth between 16 to 40 years in the country’s workforce. The 16-40 years age group is considered the youth population in Nepal (Nepal’s 2010 National Youth Policy). According to the Census 2011, this age group forms nearly 40.3% of the total population and faces significant challenges as it merges into adulthood. This is a huge workforce, and the government of Nepal could have nurtured, motivated, and involved to achieve sustainable development of the country, rather than let it be a greatly missed opportunity.
Nepalese youth have always played a very important role in cases of political change. The youth participated actively in the various political reforms of Nepal whether it was in the formation of a multiparty democracy or in the case of Maoist insurgency or while ruling out monarchy from the country. All these political transformations took place and became successful in the leadership of young politicians. Yet, the senior politicians have not considered this factor. Whether it be the State or the political parties, none of these stakeholders have given these youths a chance to exhibit their potential in politics or in other forms such as entrepreneurship.
The government has prepared a National Youth Policy in 2015. Yet, to implement this policy effectively the Nepalese youth are not provided sufficient training and employment opportunities. Therefore, skilled and unskilled workers, over 50% of the Nepalese youth of this age group, leave for foreign countries, casting a black shadow over the future of Nepal. 25% of Nepal’s GDP is contributed by the remittance the youth send back from the Middle East, India and elsewhere.
On the contrary, to conduct any developmental work, Nepal has to depend on Indian workers. Nepal’s GDP is barely 30 billion US dollars (2018) and Nepal has over 12 billion dollars in trade deficit (2018). This deficit has largely been covered by the Nepalese youth workers abroad. If the youth stayed in Nepal and became entrepreneurs, Nepal could export more goods to foreign countries and balance the trade deficit. The youth, however, will not stay in the country without a concrete strategy and programs.

What’s the goal of the Youth Empowerment programme?

The goal of the Youth Empowerment Programme is to empower youth socially and economically through education, life skills, and entrepreneurship development so that the youth can contribute to achieving sustainable development goals for Nepal.

How does VIN Empower Nepalese youth?

Establishing clubs for youth participation and active citizenships: Through a baseline survey, we have found that most of the communities where VIN works, do not have any formal institutions where youth can unite and practice their active citizenships. We have now formed quite some youth clubs where the youth can actively participate in creative, educational, and social activities in youth empowerment activities. The youth clubs include youth from minority and disadvantaged groups. We facilitate youth participation and active citizenship for increasing social cohesion and reducing the democratic deficit, by teaching youth social and democratic values. Youth participation is an essential part of democracy, as excluding young people from decision-making would mean excluding a large part of the population. Youth participation and active citizenship increases the effectiveness and sustainability of projects and processes. Active citizenship and youth participation contribute to a civil society by building a sense of belonging, solidarity, justice and responsibility, caring for people in need, and sensitivity towards people who are different.

Educating youth on their rights and life skills – There is a gap between what youth learn in school and what they actually need in real life practice. So to enhance knowledge, life skills and positive attitude (KSA) level of youth, we conduct relevant training on their rights and life skills. We have identified a set of essential life skills like self-awareness, empathy, critical thinking, creative thinking, decision making, problem solving, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, coping with stress, coping with emotions and public speaking. We deliver all these life skills lessons through the youth clubs. So the youth clubs are a fundamental platform for youth to practice their rights and life skills.

By inspiring youth for volunteering activity: The Nepalese youth can participate in year round volunteering activities with us free of charge. We inform youth to volunteer in our charity projects through on site presentations, websites and social media. By volunteering in charity activities, they can use their academic knowledge into real life practice, gain life skills and build confidence. Volunteering is a rewarding opportunity by which they can shape their future path.

By increasing employability through training on income generation and entrepreneurship development: We carry out a lot of activities for youth income generation and entrepreneurship development. For this, we collect the list of available youth from disadvantaged and socially excluded communities. We deliver soft skills training on entrepreneurship and identify who is passionate for what kind of services and business skills. Some youth may be good for service related professions (such as teachers and nurses) and others for more hands on activities. For example, working in agriculture and dairy production, animal husbandry and beekeeping. As well as executing trade professions such as plumbing and electrics, mechanics, building, carpentry, solid plastering, wall and floor tiling, etc.