Kathmandu, July 13, 2017: The tenth session of EmpowHER held on July 8 was a totally new experience for all of us cohort members.
It was the first ever session on the program with men engagements; each change makers were asked to bring a male member for the session. In the session facilitated by Kripa Basnyat, we split into groups on the basis of our district, in terms of travelling alone, in terms of properties we had in our names, in terms of relationship status, in terms of thinking we are leaders and other similar groupings. The objective was to know what kind of similarities and differences the cohort and their counterpart males had.
The session turned more towards gender. Anecdote of Bhunte and Bhunti was shared on what are the expectations of society on behavior, identity and gender roles to be performed by Bhunte and Bhunti. An exciting activity on body mapping and labeling was done where one of the teammates laid on the flip charts and silhouette was made. Each part of the body where we feel power, pain, pleasure and shame was to be labeled. The main motive was to know how comfortable we are to talk openly about our own body parts and the differences we have as males and females talk about it.
The session then proceeded on as another guest speaker Anil Parajuli who came up with ‘Katha and Serofero’ where he shared his life experiences of visiting different places and interacting with different people. He also shared what he liked about the interaction and the life stories and experiences of the people he met. A patriotic person, Anil, encouraged us to stay in Nepal. He suggested us to think of innovative ideas according to time and the necessity to add value to our business and selling our ideas.
The session was followed by a very filler reflection session of our journey at EmpowHER till date by Yajaswi Rai where we all reflected and wrote short reflections for ourselves. We also discussed and planned for an event, that we EmpowHER changemakers are gonna organize soon.
The next session was delivered by Niraj Khanal from Anterprerana about Minimum Viable Product. In the process of hearing our ideas, he also provided constructive feedback on our ideas. He mentioned the importance of stories for any idea pitching. He also suggested us that we should do what we love to do and never be scared of failure as nothing is small and whatever we do is big on our part.
All the three sessions had their own uniqueness but came together and concluded to have each of our own stories and be proud of the individual we are.
By Anjana Jarga Magar, Rojina Parauli, and Nancy Sherpa
Over the course of four months, the EmpowHER cohorts will go through various activities related to leadership development, and get involved with the community. Glocal Khabar, as the official online media partner, will bring out regular updates about the program throughout the project duration.
