An update: empowerment in action

Janice Laurent wrote, just a few weeks ago, about her experiences teaching dressmaking to a group of women at Samunnat. Kopila has, excitedly, updated us on where this training has led.

When COVID surged again in Birtamod, four of the women who had been through the training were able to return to their villages. These were the women who had somewhere safe to return to. The great news is that all of them have been able to set up tailoring businesses in their local communities. This is a terrific outcome for individuals who had not, previously, been able to work independently. Although several had received government-run training in the past, they had only been taught to cut things out under direction. Now, empowered by the ability to make patterns and manage the whole tailoring process, they have become independent.

A tailoring shop in Dharan, eastern Nepal. Not run by a Samunnat graduate but you get the idea. Maybe one day…

Several of the group have stayed in the Samunnat house because they don’t have a safe alternative. They work from the tailoring shop built on the ground floor of the building. Part of their work is making bespoke bags to package Samunnat necklaces, they sell these bags to Samunnat. These women previously ran a successful training program in tailoring in a nearby town. Since then, they have run two more successful programs! They say that the teaching skills that Janice modelled have been just as important as their tailoring skills. They know about being supportive, encouraging learners to ask questions, learning through mistakes and about making it fun. Many local people have never experienced this kind of teaching before. Samunnat remains very grateful for the seed that Janice planted.

Here are some of the trainees learning to make re-usable pads