Gender Equality Nepal Project #59425

Empower young women in Nepal to be leader in tech

by Women Leaders in Technology

Project Report | Jul 27, 2026
WLiT Fellowship

By Nhasala Joshi | Lead

The journey began with an open call that drew 64 applications from across Gandaki Province. The 15 selected fellows dove into an intensive two-week bootcamp in May, learning JavaScript, Node.js, and MongoDB alongside leadership skills like goal-setting and inclusive team building. By the end, they'd built five original web platforms during a three-day hackathon — a huge leap for many who started the program unsure of their technical abilities.

Each fellow was then paired with a local female tech professional as a mentor, and after training in CV writing and interview skills, all 15 secured internships at Nepali tech companies, gaining real workplace experience that many said transformed how they saw their own futures.

The numbers tell a powerful story: fellows' technical confidence jumped from 2.96 to 3.86 out of 5, and their sense of being able to "make a difference" and lead teams rose across every measure we track. Twelve of the 15 said they now feel genuinely prepared to walk into a job interview.

But the fellows themselves describe something harder to measure: a "sisterhood" — a network of women in tech who share opportunities, advice, and support long after the program ends. On October 18, all 15 fellows graduated in front of mentors, alumni, and local government representatives, sharing their internship stories and celebrating six months of growth together.

Because of donors like you, another generation of young women in Pokhara now sees themselves not just as students, but as builders, leaders, and role models for the girls coming up behind them.

Thank you for supporting another WLiT Fellowship Cohort, where 15 young women from Kaski District completed the WLiT Fellowship in Pokhara.

Attachments:

WLiT_Fellowship_Pokhara_2025_Report.pdf (PDF)

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Jan 28, 2026
WLiT Fellowship

By Nhasala Joshi | Lead

Women Leaders in Technology (WLiT) completed the WLiT Fellowship Pokhara 2025, our annual flagship program in Pokhara, Gandaki Province.

The WLiT Fellowship program is an annual technical and leadership program for young women studying computer science, to enable them to be the leaders and innovators through capacity building, advocacies, and building supporting ecosystem.

The program specifically designed and implemented for the region, with the objective to bring more young women into tech, help them attain leadership positions in personal and professional endeavors, and use that knowledge and influence to ensure the technology sector is gender inclusive, equitable, and used for positive causes. 15 young female tech students were selected for this 3rd cohort of fellowship in Kaski, through an open call, application and interviews. The selection process engaged WLiT Alumni from previous fellowship in Pokhara.

The program took a hybrid model, with part of the learning session happening online. Online sessions were held from May 13 to 15, and were held for 4 hrs each day to manage the screen time. During the 10 days bootcamp, they were trained on leadership skills alongside technical training, at the end of which they built a product prototype solving an issue close to them in the form of a website/app. Over the next 6 months, they received mentorship with program alumni or a tech professional. Many kickstarted their tech career with an internship/traineeship at a partner company.

This year, the fellowship reached students across multiple schools in Gandaki Province, with the majority of sessions conducted in Kaski district. Sessions were conducted in 13 schools, including 11 public schools, 1 community school, and 1 public educational trust school. In total, the fellows reached 520 students across all sessions. Among them, 263 were boys and 257 were girls. Sessions were primarily conducted for grades 8 to 12, with most participants in grades 8 to 9.

During this entire fellowship, many of the alumni from previous fellowship from the region got engaged and at times led parts of the program, facilitated sessions.

The graduation ceremony for the WLiT Fellowship 2025 Pokhara was held on Saturday, October 18, 2025, at the Science Lab of Pritivi Narayan Campus, Bagar, Pokhara. The program was attended by 30 people, including all 15 graduating fellows, their mentors, past alumni from Pokhara, company representatives, and government officials. The program marked the end of the 3rd cohort of the Pokhara fellowship, with the certificate distributions, experience sharing from fellows, and remarks from other attendees.

The alumni of the program go on to become part of the larger community also engaging in conversations such as gender equality in tech, feminist technology and inclusive workplace, etc. They even join WLiT as the mentors, facilitators, curriculum developers, etc in a few years of being in the community. The collective cadre of young women in tech thus create more space for upcoming women in technology and advocate for feminist technological principles

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Aug 1, 2025
Empower young women in Nepal to be leader in tech

By Nhasala Joshi | Co-founder

Graduating participants of WLiT Fellowship Pokhara

Women Leaders in Technology (WLiT) completed the WLiT Fellowship Pokhara 2024-25, our annual flagship program in Pokhara, Gandaki Province. The program specifically designed and implemented for the region, with the objective to bring more young women into tech, help them attain leadership positions in personal and professional endeavors, and use that knowledge and influence to ensure the technology sector is gender inclusive, equitable, and used for positive causes.
15 young female tech students were selected for this 2nd cohort of fellowship in Kaski,through an open call, application and interviews. The selection process engaged WLiT Alumni from previous fellowship in Pokhara.
During the 2 weeks bootcamp, they were trained on leadership skills alongside technical training, at the end of which they built a product prototype solving an issue close to them in the form of a website/app. Over the next 7 months, they received mentorship with program alumni or a tech professional. Many kickstarted their tech career with an internship/traineeship at a partner company, and each led a School Activity Program introducing coding and internet safety to 484 young public school students, of whom 259 were boys and 225 were girls, and showing them scope of tech careers. During this entire fellowship, many of the alumni from previous fellowship from the region got engaged and at times led parts of the program, facilitated sessions.
This second cohort graduated in 24th May, 2025. After the fellowship completion, some have joined in as volunteers for the next cohort that started on May 2025.
The alumni of the program go on to become part of the larger community also engaging in conversations such as gender equality in tech, feminist technology and inclusive workplace, etc. They even join WLiT as the mentors, facilitators, curriculum developers, etc in a few years of being in the community. The collective cadre of young women in tech thus create more space for upcoming women in technology and advocate for feminist technological principles

WLiT Fellowship Pokhara 2024-25 Mentor Mentee

WLiT Fellowship Pokhara 2024-25 Tech Session

WLiT Fellowship Pokhara 2024-25 Bootcamp Session

Attachments:

WLiT_Report_on_Pokhara_Fellowship_Report_2024_25_for_Global_Giving.pdf (PDF)

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