PlaNet Finance Launches YUWAccess Project to Support Women and Youth in Nepal

YUWAccess, a program funded by the European Union, was officially launched in May 2011. PlaNet Finance's objective is to improve access for vulnerable populations to employment, entrepreneurship and financial services.

PlaNet Finance will act with two technical partners on the ground: The Rural Microfinance Development Centre (RMDC), a microfinance lender, and the "Federation of Nepal Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI)", an organization of small and medium enterprises specialized in industry and handicrafts. They offer counseling, support and training, working with centres for vocational training, microfinance institutions and beneficiaries of the program.

The project was named "YUWAccess" because Yuwa means young in Nepali. But women will also be part of the direct beneficiaries of the program. In fact, in Nepal, 55% of the population lives below the poverty line and young people and women from certain castes and ethnic groups are most affected by unemployment.

The YUWAccess provide an innovative response to the problem of unemployment. It is expected to strengthen the technical and pedagogical training centers already operating in urban and rural areas. These centres offer computer training, crafts, beauty treatments and agriculture, and they help local people to acquire skills to find employment or develop their own income-generating activity. PlaNet Finance will use its experience and expertise to make these centres more operational.

 By 2014, the program aims to:

• Train at least 450 people on how to achieve self-employment
• Train at least 30 vocational training centers to adapt their services to the needs of their target
• Develop useful financial services for micro-enterprise development with partner microfinance institutions