The startups can now avail a loan up to NPR 5 million or 50% of their total capital at a subsidized interest rate of 2%.

The government has announced the program with an aim to promote startups and businesses with innovative knowledge, skills, and capacities.

According to the Working Procedure, a five-member steering committee under the leadership of the National Planning Commission (NPC) will call for proposals from startups who have not been able to mobilize capital to innovate, run or operate their ideas.

The companies, including small and medium-scale enterprises from agriculture, energy, health, tourism, education, and information technology sectors, can submit their proposals.

In their proposals, the applicant should submit details about the innovative idea, associated risks, possible returns, required funds, expected seed capital, and positive impact on the economy, in a prescribed format of the working procedure.

The committee will then assess the proposals within 30 days and select appropriate proposals to offer the subsidy loans. Once the committee approves the proposal, the Finance Ministry will release the fund in three installments.

The first installment will be released to initiate the idea’s implementation, the second installment based on the work progress, and the last installment after the idea is implemented.

Stay Tuned to NepaliSansar for Latest Business News!

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The post Nepal Startups Can Now Avail Subsidized Loan Up To NPR 5 Million at 2% rate! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

It is the first women summit organized by the NIICE that brought together 80 female experts from 12 different countries to share their expertise with young aspiring women.

The 12-hour long summit featured 10 sessions with a discussion on over 20 themes.

The conference started with discussions revolving around Social Media, National Security, Labor Laws, Health, Global Governance, International Relationships, and Foreign Policies.

During the summit, the experts highlighted the need for a comprehensive framework consisting of four pillars, namely Health Infrastructure, Technology, Policies, and Environmental Sustainability.

The 12 Participating Countries include

• Nepal
• India
• Bangladesh
• Sri Lanka
• Pakistan
• The US
• The UK
• Russia
• Armenia
• The Philippines
• Switzerland
• Indonesia

The post NIICE Conducts Int’l Women Summit 2020 Digitally! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

According to Echidna Global Scholar Gautam Gupta’s research, beliefs and restriction surrounding menstruation are two of the primary factors that obstruct girls from achieving success with education in South Asia.

Close to 90 percent of Nepali girls are still bound by restrictions in terms of mobility and are subject to social exclusion during that time.

Furthermore, many girls miss out school in their initial menstruation cycle for almost a week and about 3-4 days in the following cycles. Added to this, girls are also subject to discrimination from families and communities.

Listed below are some of the restrictions faced by menstruating girls in Nepal:

• Isolation and confinement to floor corner in the house or a neighbor’s house
• Restricted access to the kitchen and prayer room
• Conditional access to family events and celebrations
• Unavailability of pills during excess pain
• Unavailability or no access to sanitary pads, especially in low-income families who find commercial sanitary pads expensive
• Leakage issues and embarrassment that follows
• Added responsibility of washing clothes and scrubbing the floor during menstruation
• Increased responsibility on younger girls in the family when their mothers or other women members in the family are menstruating every month
• Insufficient resources such as running tap water and trash bags to deposit pads at schools
• Safety concerns when asked to stay in other people’s houses during that time
• Lack of nutrition due to restricted access to kitchen, especially in the absence of family members

The impacts of these practices can have lasting impacts on the mental and physical well-being on the bearer. Lack of information on menstrual hygiene can result in anxiety and physical signs like rashes, infections and prolonged illness.

In addition, inability to manage school, pending lessons and doubled household work turn many young girls into school dropouts.

The recent success at enforcing laws to end the cruel practice of Chhaupadi is a big step towards stopping inhuman practices against menstruating girls in Nepal.

To ensure a better future for Nepali girls during the time, Gupta has come up with a three-point strategy that works to address the problem from the root: 

• Educating girls about Menstrual Health: According to Gupta’s research, girls can fight against societal taboos if they are aware of the science behind menstruation, get proper information about menstruation hygiene & management and knowledge of their rights. Additionally, girls who have gained training on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) use clean homemade pads and have educated other girls in maintaining the same. Furthermore, girls-centric empowerment programs inculcate leadership development, build girl-lead community events, and spread information about how health, safety, rights and resources contribute to the holistic development of girls.
• Enhanced Parent-Support: If girls get parental support, it reduces the number of obstacles in attending school. However, it is a big challenge as a parent do not easily give-up on such practices built over a long time. A systematic approach would include educating parents through literacy and gender-awareness programs. It has been noted that support from fathers encourages girls to continue their study. Some of the girls that Gupta spoke to said that their fathers were very supportive during their periods by buying sanitary pads and letting them sleep in their regular beds.
• A Supportive School Environment: At the school level, girl is confronted with many challenges. As per Nepal data, 50 percent of the schools in Nepal have separate toilets for girls. However, out of them, only a few had basic facilities such as running water, soap and trash bins. About half the adolescent girls miss school to avoid gender-unfriendly MHM facilities. Interestingly, two rural districts in Nepal were instrumental in proving that the availability of WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) facilities in schools including separate toilets increased the attendance of girls in schools and built their confidence to talk about menstruation. Moreover, the availability of female teachers in schools also has a positive impact on girls, the more the female teachers, the better the approach in dealing with menstruation issues.

Let’s hope that schools and communities implement the three-point strategy to land another milestone for Nepal.

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The post Three-Point Strategy to Address Nepal’s Menstrual Taboos appeared first on Nepali Sansar.