Shifting and adapting to changing livelihoods: the increased importance of financial capability training in Nepal throughout the pandemic.

The recent UN World Humanitarian Day was an important opportunity to recognise the thousands of volunteers, professionals and communities who deliver urgent health care, shelter, food protection and water in times of crisis. However, in this discussion with Helen Sherpa, Country Director of World Education Inc. Nepal and Mimu Raghubanshi, Nepal Country Coordinator at Good Return, we learn how a humanitarian response is also about building resilience, strength and opportunity for the future. Good Return and World Education Nepal’s financial capability training (CAFE or ‘Consumer Awareness and Financial Empowerment’) played an increasingly vital role during the pandemic, assisting portering families in the Sotang and Manakulung rural municipalities of Solukhumbu District in Nepal to shift and adapt to changing livelihoods. 

Participants completing their financial literacy training during peak of Covid pandemic.

The pandemic hits Nepal.

“The need for additional assistance and financial capability training became immediately clear as soon as the covid-19 pandemic hit” explains Helen Sherpa. In Nepal, the impact of the pandemic was particularly devastating. At several points in 2020 cases of COVID-19 outgrew India per capita, yet Nepal had fewer than 2000 ICU beds for a population of around 30 million. From March 2020 onwards World Education, Nepal in partnership with Good Return commenced assisting ‘portering’ families in the Mount Everest region, a community of majority remote, low-income indigenous and Dalit families. Historically, these communities rely on tourism for their income by carrying tourist’s loads up Mount Everest. However, even before the pandemic, improving infrastructure and better roads in the Mount Everest region was creating a reduced demand for porters. When the pandemic struck this caused the tourism industry to come to a grinding halt and the income of these families immediately dried up. 

The impacts of the pandemic were also deeply gendered with millions of women and girls world-wide forced into extreme poverty (UN Women). For women in these communities, the halt in their normal income stream meant their household responsibilities were immediately increased as they strived to manage household daily expenses, responsibilities and food management in a more cost effective way. Compounding this, the impacts of climate change have become obvious in recent years with increased difficulty planning agricultural outputs and ensuring sufficient yields. Consequently, Helen explained, there was widespread fear of the impacts in the region during this time.

Shifting livelihoods

Equipped with CAFÉ financial capability training knowledge, local rural women of Pratifal project meet to discuss prioritising loans from the ‘Justine Samson Health Emergency Fund’. The local treasurer is keeping record of the loans.

With the collapse of the tourism industry signifying the break-down of reliable daily wages, these families were required to shift their source of income and livelihoods. ‘In difficult times there is a tendency for local governments and donors to pull back and play “wait and see” until the crisis is over before investing to help in these communities” explains Helen. “However, this experience with Pratifal and previous experiences after the earthquakes in 2015 have taught us that waiting doesn’t help as communities become deeper in debt”. This meant that the need for Good Return and World Education’s longer-term development financial capability programs took on a new sense of urgency: with the need for tools to save money, long-term savings plans, business skills and planning for emergencies becoming more crucial than ever. “These families were so motivated throughout this time of crisis to make tough decisions. However, they needed the appropriate resources and training to make these decisions and feel supported” says Mimu. In particular, The CAFE Initiative played an important role in bringing together rural village women to share vital health information, and provide them the resources, knowledge and tools on how to collectively save money during the pandemic.

Providing financial training in a covid-safe environment.

It wasn’t just that the need for financial capability grew. ‘One of the biggest challenges the local on-the-ground team faced during this time was finding ways to keep providing financial literacy fully-masked and in a covid-safe way’ explains Helen. At times World Education. Nepal and Good Return were also required to shift their focus beyond financial capability, as communities increasingly requested local NGOs, in addition to key humanitarian organisations, to assist with providing food and masks to senior citizens, children, pregnant women and people living with disabilities.

Collective strength and women’s savings groups in Pratifal.

This year’s World Humanitarian Day also aimed to highlight collective endeavour: the idea that it takes a whole village to raise a child but it also takes a whole village to provide humanitarian care. This metaphor was exemplified by the inspiring collective strength demonstrated by the women’s savings groups supported by the Pratifal project. 

The local woman pictured joined the collective savings and credit group and is using her individual pass book to keep record of emergency loan.

During this time the ‘Justine Samson Health Emergency Fund’ was set up by Helen in memory of her sister. The Justine Samson Fund was a collective fund used primarily to assist women during this period in post-natal and pre-natal health, health transportation and for women living with disabilities, controlled by local women. Equipped with CAFE knowledge, these women collectively saved and contributed to this community fund through personal savings so that when they faced hardships or emergencies they could access more money than they had individually, backed by their local community. “The sense of community, strength and the way these women bound together during this crisis and when faced with adversity was truly inspiring” says Helen.

For example, Helen reflected on one woman’s bravery throughout this time: Sita. For 20 years, Sita and her family worked as tourist porters in the Mount Everest region. Through access to group funds from the Pratifal project alongside financial capability and small business development training from Good Return, Sita was able to establish a new small business raising goats. When interviewed in early 2021 Sita explained that: “We took a loan and then started a goat raising business. Other friends from the savings group frequently come to help us monitor the goats and provide feedback for us to care for the goats properly.”

Sita

Good Return’s CAFE Initiative is delivered in partnership with the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and with support from the Accenture Australia Foundation #ANCP. Good Return works in partnership with World Education Nepal with field level support from local NGO’s - Hill Development and Conservation Group and Solukhumbu Development Society.

Thank you also to Mochan Bhattarai from Good Return, and Laxmi Ghimire and Dinesh Karmacharya from World Education for their continued commitment to financial inclusion in Nepal.