Employment for Vulnerable Young Women Project (EVYWP) in Nepal SUMMARY 
Many young (ethnic) women in Nepal are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation due to poverty, cultural traditions and discrimination. The project trains 300 young vulnerable women (aged 18-24) from Pokhara region, Nepal, to obtain decent work in the tourism and hospitality sector. The project aims to socially and economically empower these young women by offering them an accredited market demanded vocational training, a life skills training and will conduct an internship. This 3 year project started in August 2018 by Plan International Nepal in partnership with various local public and private partners who have expertise in training and job placement. Due to Covid-19 the project was extended to March 2023. Tourism is an important source of income and foreign exchange for Nepal. Pokhara is one of the top destination for Tourism in Nepal. Plan Nepal conducted a research recently Speaking to 75 companies in Tourism sector in Pokhara, they indicated to currently have 314 vacancies for low, semi, and high-skilled labor. The sector’s size is estimated to encompass 500 companies in total which would result in an approximate labor market demand of 2000 employment opportunities. 

A major challenge for youth to tap into existing wage employment opportunities are their lack of adequate vocational and soft skills, practical experience, and at times attitude and behavior. In short, youth are not “work ready”. Low overall educational attainment paid with few skills keeps them in vulnerable low-entry barrier employment. Without adequate skills to bargain and negotiate, adolescent girls and young women are put into risky circumstances, making them highly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse. Young women in Nepal still face discrimination of all kinds and society still expects women to confine in the gender stereotypical roles.

This supply-side constrain is further aggravated by a labor market coordination and information failures where the sector-specific skill demands are not met with adequate supply. This “skills mismatch” has its roots in (i) training and education curricular which do not reflect market demands, but is also reflected in little available labor market information on job requirements (i.e. job profiles or job descriptions) for interested candidates as well as informal and semiprofessional private sector recruitment practices. The overall goal of the project is to increase the decent employment oppurtunities for young women in Pokhara’s tourism sector .

1. Vocational training ,soft skills , On The Job Training and Mentoring/ Coaching support is provided to the young women especially from poor and marginalized groups then they are adequately skilled and have relevant knowledge and are motivated and confident to take up employment.Thus Young women will be work ready for non –traditional jobs in tourism sector.

2. If decent work gaps are identified in tourism sector , business case for decent work and women’s employment developed and diseminated with employers, awareness and sensitization sessions for companies and other key stakeholders on decent work/women empowerment/gender is held , dialogue mechanism on gender equality and decent work is etsblished and institutionlised then and tourism sector has increased knowledge on gender equal and decent work principles and practices and will apply gender equal and decent work principles.Thus tourism sector will offer and practise decent work oppurtunities , especially for young women in targeted occupations.
  
3. If skill needs of tourism sector is identified , local labor market information system is established and dialogue mechanism on labor market established and operational then skills demand in non –traditional sectors are met.Thus, Improved functioning of local tourism labor market will be met.

These 3 outcomes  will contribute to achieve the overarching goal  of the project “To increase the decent employment oppurtunities for young women in Pokhara’s tourism sector “. Tourism is a major source of income for Nepal , a beautiful landlocked country which is famous for being the birthplace of lord buddha, majestic mountains and diverse topography.Tourism also bring oppurtunities to the local population for self and wage employment .However the current issues in the toursim labor market is :lack of skilled human resources , low rate of retention of skilled human , mismatch of skill provided and skills in demand.
On the other hand young young are confined to traditional roles in society and in workplace.Lack of skill and knowledge , cultural barrier, access to training programs are barriers to women to be engaged in decent employment in toursim sector in Nepal.Thus this project aims to fill this gap and promote young vulnerable women in employment in Tourism sector in Pokhara.There are few government run and private run training providers in the toursim sector but due to high fees, being centre based and scope of work being only limited to trainings(no on the job trainings, no job placements), the access to these facilities especially by young women are very limited.3 sisters/EWN  a local organisation has been putting efforts to promote young women in Toursim sector but they have limited resources to continue the  free programs .Similarly there are very few organisations that has are working on promoting decent employment through intense engagement and dialogue with private sector actors .
Thus Plan Nepal wants to implement this project with the vision of engaging more young women in the non traditional occupation in the Toursim sector . The project will support 300 girls /young women who are :
•	Between 18-24 years of age
•	From socio-economically marginalised families.
•	Atleast 80% of the beneficiaries will be from Parbat, Myagdi and Baglung districts
•	Committment to participate in full training and work in same occupation.
•	Migrant young women who are living in poor situations in  slum areas of Pokhara will be given priority.
•	victims of natural disaster, domestic violence, single mother will be given priority Young Women are work ready 
•	Social mobilization of 
•	Market scan , curriculum revision workshop 
•	Vocational trainings provided.
•	On-the-job trainings (OJT) 
•	Life skills trainings including basic financial literacy 
•	Computer Literacy Class 
•	Language Class (English)
 •	Skill Test through National Skill Testing Board (NSTB).
•	Alumni Association formation
•	Joint review and reflection, technical backstopping, regular follow up with young women.

Tourism sector offers and practices decent work opportunities, especially for young women
•	Actor mappingtTourism sector in Pokhara.
•	Study to identify decent work gap in tourism sector 
•	Business case development.
•	Labor law orientation to the private sector employers and their associations.
•	Gender equity and decent workplace orientation to private sector employers and their associations.
•	Media partnership to promote decent work.
•	Interaction sessions with parents/guardians of selected beneficiaries to sensitize them on decent work for women in tourism will be conducted.
•	MOU with Pokhara chapter of Hotel Associations of Nepal (HAN) and Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) to adopt the Code of Conduct.
•	Disseminate and roll out the Gender Policy, Child Protection Policy, Ethical Recruitment Policy and Decent Work (safety and security) and relevant code of conduct to the Pokhara Chapter of HAN and TAAN.
•	Coordination meetings with Municipalities and Pokhara tourism council on decent work agenda.
•	Regular dialogue with male staff at targeted employers (OJT/Internship providers) to promote decent work environment in their workplace.

Improved functioning of tourism labor market 
•	Rapid Market Appraisal (RMA) of Tourism sector in Pokhara 
•	Online promotion of job market through social media platforms 
•	Joint monitoring by the HAN and TAAN officials in training centers/venues.
•	Job fairs will be organized. There are two possibilities of the continuation of the project without financial help. They are listed below:
a)	One of the outcome of this project is a gender responsive (gender friendly and decent work practice) tourism sector in Pokhara which we aim to achieve through institutional strengthening and capacity building of Pokhara chapter of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) and other similar networks. The objective of enhancing the capacity of local umbrella network of tourism sector is to continue the effort to promote gender friendly and decent work practices in the tourism sector even after the completion of the project. The sensitized and aware umbrella networks in Pokhara will continue to lobby/encourage the member organizations in their network to adopt gender friendly policies.

b)	Establishing and strengthening networks of graduates and employers through formation of alumni organization as well as network of employers is an important activity that has been planned for this project. The project will foster these network throughout the project life and enable it to grow and operate autonomously beyond project period so that new graduates can continue be part of these networks.

The project will include girls and young women from most vulnerable and marginalised groups.A rigorous interview process will be used for beneficiary selection.Similarly a need assessment will be conducted of partner organisation based on which capacity building for partners organisations will be planned and implemented.Capacity building of partner organisations is one of  the priority approach Plan Nepal wants to focus on for long term sustainability.