Women LEAD is the first professional and leadership development organization for young women, led by young women, in Kathmandu. Since 2011, we've empowered over 1250 female high school students to become leaders in their schools and communities. Our goal is to empower 300 more young women with the self-esteem, confidence and resources to not only become leaders in Nepal, but role models and mentors for the next generation of girls.
Nepal is a deeply patriarchal society. We know that it is women themselves that best understand their own needs, and still, women and girls voices frequently go unheard and their experiences remain marginalized. Women must have a seat at the decision-making table if this is to change, yet, in Nepal, and globally, so little is invested in empowering girls to advocate for themselves. We address this issue at it's root; giving young women the tools they need to be active, powerful leaders.
WLEAD addresses this challenge by training young women how to be strong leaders in their individual communities. We do this through: The LEAD Course: An intensive year-long after-school youth leadership and activism program for 30 high school girls. The SLP, a series of co-ed workshops led by our LEAD participants in schools across the Kathmandu Valley addressing issues such as gender discrimination and violence. Our community; a dedicated network of 250+ alumni, peers, mentors and staff.
Our model of paying-it-forward means that our program has built in sustainability, creating enduring and long-term positive outcomes. WLEAD's program is designed to foster a generation of independent, female leaders; we don't create dependence, we uproot it. After going through our program the girls are equipped with the skills to study at the university of their choice, enter a leadership position in their school or community and have much greater access to employment opportunities.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
