GIRA Presentation

March 2015

ccharamnac@women-lead.org

www.facebook.com/womenLEAD I @womenLEADnepal

Our Organization

• What we do: leadership and professional development for female high school students

• Who we serve: 14 to 18 year old female students in Kathmandu, Nepal

• Established in 2011

• Who has funded us: 10 foundations, including Georgetown University Social Innovation Public Service Fund and the National Endowment for Democracy

• Significant awards: Echoing Green Semi-Finalists 2014, Women Deliver’s “Top 50 Solutions Delivering for Women and Children” in 2012, United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative’s Innovative Solutions of 2014, One of Dell’s 10 Most Promising Projects in 2014

Our Vision and Mission

Vision: Women and girls leading alongside men in Nepal.

Mission: To provide young women in Nepal with the skills, support &

opportunities to become leaders and change-makers in their schools,

communities & nation.

“Before joining Women LEAD, I

thought that society and family

dictated what women should do.

Now I’ve realized that a woman’s

life is like a blank paper and that

she herself chooses what to make

of it.”

-Menuka Gurung,

2011 LEADer, 2012 Fellow &

founding Board Member

“Before the LEAD program, I

never felt like I could lead

things, but now I feel like I can

lead anything at any time. I

believe in myself much more

than I could ever imagine.

After Women LEAD,

everything changed.”

-Sharmila Dhungana, Women

LEAD 2011 Participant &

founding Board Member

After the Leadership Institute, I felt more empowered to bring change to

my community. I’m more confident now and have more faith in myself! I

want to become a social worker, and Women LEAD has really helped

me become a more skilled communicator. What I’ve learned here will

help me talk to ministers in the future and advocate for others!

-Datenzing Ongmu Tamang, 2012 LEADer

On-site voter registration during the 2012 Leadership

Institute

Why Women LEAD?

Young women represent a strong force for change: 30% of Nepal’s population are women under the age of 24* but…

• Their voices are not being heard: Women hold fewer than 20% of national decision-making positions globally, and only 10% in Nepal.

• They don’t have access to resources & opportunities: they do not receive the same educational and professional opportunities as men do. Less than 2 cents of every development dollar goes to girls and 9 of 10 youth programs are aimed at boys.

* 7,336,363 (27.7% of the total population) according to Nepal’s 2011 National Population and Housing Census

The founders’ story

• Claire Naylor grew up in Nepal witnessing profound

discrimination against women, Claire Charamnac grew

up in Singapore

• They met at Georgetown University and started Women

LEAD as a two week program with 28 girls in 2010,

winning a small grant from Ashoka’s Youth Venture

• After graduation, they officially launched the organization

and have worked as co-Executive Directors, Claire N in

Nepal and Claire C in the US

Our Solution

We are the first and only leadership development

organization for female high school students in

Kathmandu, Nepal.

We identify & invest in a small group of diverse young women

(16-18 years) and youth (14-15 years) who have the potential

to become the next generation of leaders in Nepal.

Our programs provide young women with intensive yearlong

afterschool leadership training, skills building, mentoring, and

a peer-support network.

Our Solution

• Empower & Equip Our signature LEAD program empowers high school students with

the tools to succeed and lead through youth leadership and activism. It launches with

a two-week Leadership Institute followed by a year of internships, participant-led

leadership trainings in schools in their communities and mentorship.

• Build Networks The Resource Center and Incubator in Kathmandu is a safe space for

women and girls in Kathmandu, where they can take our books from the Library, do

research and study using our laptops, and hold events for our alumni and participants.

The Incubator will be a working space for promising female innovators who want to

start their own project.

• Expand Opportunities We open doors for our participants by connecting them with

people and opportunities. From our mentorship program to meeting with ambassadors

and policy makers to joining youth councils and networks, we amplify their voices,

expand their awareness and create possibilities.

WLEAD selects an intelligent and passionate high school

senior with leadership potential through a competitive

application process. She attends a two-week Leadership

Institute where she connects with like-minded peers, builds

her leadership and professional skills through workshops and

field trips, and learns about current issues in Nepal by

engaging with female guest-speakers.

The LEADer is then paired with alum from our program who

mentors her over the course of the year as she participates

in one of two activism tracks (5 hours/ week for 9 months).

LEADERSHIP

DEVELOPMENT

A LEADer’s year-long journey

She interns at a Nepali NGO to build her professional skills

and gain experience in a field of her choice.

She is provided with a curriculum and trained to co-lead

weekly two hour leadership workshops for 30 students

aged 14-15 in schools in the community. She leads the

entire project: selecting the school, speaking to principals,

recruiting participants and leading trainings.

Program timelineAUGUST- SEPTEMBER: Orientation & School Selection

1. Orientation2. Pairings3. School Selection

OCTOBER- NOVEMBER: Preparation & Training

1. Training on selecting participants2. LEADers prep materials for their schools3. Training for LEADers on learning styles, classroom methods, participatory methods, and

peer counseling

NOVEMBER- FEBRUARY: 15 sessions and Closing Ceremony

1. Preparation for the intro session2. Bi-weekly trainings 3. Monitoring of sessions and additional trainings4. Organizing the Closing Ceremonies

FEBRUARY-MARCH: Evaluation

Participant Selection (08/09 – 22/10)

1. Introduction & Goal Setting (Parent’s Orientation) (OCT 31)

2. Teamwork (NOV 7)

3. Leadership & Followership (NOV 14)

4. School Success: Effective Studying, Time Management, Public Speaking (NOV 21)

5. Human, Women & Child Rights: how to stand up for your rights (child

marriage, kamalari, corporal punishment etc.) (NOV 28)

6. Gender Discrimination & Violence Against Women (Domestic Violence,

Human Trafficking, Chaupadi, street harassment) (DEC 5)

7. Communication Styles & Presentations (public speaking) (DEC 12)

8. Conflict Resolution & Bullying (rumors/ gossiping) (DEC 26)

9. Healthy Relationships (dating, friends, families) & Peer-counseling (Active Listening) (JAN 2)

School Leadership Program Curriculum

10. Youth Issues (Peer-pressure: bunking class, cheating, addictions- drugs/ alcohol/ smoking) &

Emotional Intelligence (anger & stress management, self-awareness, depression) (JAN 9)

11. Civic Engagement (JAN 16) – Civic Schools

12. Reproductive Health & Menstrual Hygiene (JAN 23

13. Servant Leadership (Service-learning trip) – (JAN 30)

14. The Future: Studies (SLCs, choosing a +2 subject) & Financial Management (FEB 6)

15. Closing Session (Visioning the future & SWYS) (FEB 13)

Closing Ceremony (FEB 14 / 19/ 21)

Our LEADers…

• Gain confidence in their abilities

and skills

• Self-identify as leaders

• Raise their voices to advocate for

change

• Form and articulate their career

goals

• Become more politically aware

and active

Results

• 800 leaders have graduated from our

organization since our pilot program. It’s

part of our Pay it Forward model!

• 87% of our 2010 graduates are attending

university, studying subjects such as dental

surgery, biotechnology, business,

physiotherapy, architecture, civil

engineering and accounting.

Thank you!

How we’re unique

• We are the only organization in Nepal specifically focusing on empowering adolescent girls to be leaders.

• We intensely invest in a selective group of young women over a significant period of time (at least one year) to ensure permanent change. We know leadership can’t be learnt in a day or a week.

• We are youth-driven and youth-led: Women LEAD is run by passionate, driven young women under 25 and over half our team are program alumnae.

• We address the critical gap in services needed to bridge basic education and adult success.

• We multiply our effect: our programs have a greater impact as our participants are encouraged to “pay it forward” and not only transform their own lives, but directly impact up to 20 other young women in their schools and communities through our programs.

Our progress since our launch

• Since our launch in June 2011, we’ve established offices in the US (our fundraising base) & Nepal and are registered as non profits in Nepal and the US/

• We’ve trained over 650 Nepali youth (aged 14-18) to become leaders and change makers

• We’ve built a dynamic community of supporters, 9 Board members, & donors in the US, raising $120 000.

“On the first and last days of our Leadership Institute, we

asked the girls how powerful they were on a scale of 1-10.

Watching the girls move from the 1-3 range to the 7-10 over

the course of two weeks was a huge achievement. Seeing

them self-identify as leaders and own their power is simply

awe-inspiring.

The young women we work for, women who will one day

change Nepal, have left us unable to be anything but

impossible optimists. The LEADers have a bold, unapologetic

vision of creating a nation different to the one they were born

into.”