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Path to Prosperity: First batch of 50-women trainees graduate from the Palpali Dhaka Association with special recognition from the Tansen Municipality

“Let’s make Tansen the city of entrepreneurs.” - Mayor Ashok Kumar Shahi, Tansen Municipality, Palpa. Yesterday, this historic city moved one step closer to that vision as the first batch of 50-women skilled in Dhaka weaving graduated amidst a special ceremony.

These women will now have the option of working with the Dhaka manufacturing entrepreneurs in Palpa or starting their very own home-based business. We’re honored to be part of this Palpali Dhaka revival journey with the Palpali Dhaka Association, Municipality of Tansen, and the Lumbini Province. 

This journey, in addition to a three-month apprenticeship-based training to create stronger gainful employment prospects for women weavers, also entails building reliable access and linkages to the following.

  1. Financial solutions with partners like the NMB Bank, for women weavers to buy hand-loom technology to set up their self-employed business; and for the entrepreneurs to access growth capital. 
  2. Yarn suppliers inside and outside Nepal, like the Triveni Spinning Mill in Birgunj and Aquafil in Italy, to build reliable raw material supply chains as well as work with recyclable products.
  3. New emerging markets inside and outside Nepal, including innovation and standardization in design and product quality, through consortium partner Label STEP. 
  4. Stronger story-telling, traceability, and marketing capability; and institutionalization of fair-trade standards to boost the Palpali Dhaka brand. 

These solutions, collectively, will optimize value of the skilling for the women and enable lasting growth for the Dhaka enterprises and industry—by addressing critical systemic constraints and gaps at the firm, industry, and worker-levels. This work is also an embodiment of a real public private sector partnership unfolding between the Lumbini provincial government, Tansen municipality and the private sector enabled through FCDO support.

Thank you Butwal Today and Nawachetana Dainik for covering our story.