Sabina Bajgain, a resident of Baneshwor, was confused about how to properly utilize months-long free time after her +2 board exams. However, no sooner than her exams were over, she came to know about the Smart Chhori campaign. She took no time to apply for the program and luckily got selected. She was eagerly waiting for the program to begin.
Today, she began her journey towards becoming a Smart Chhori.
The session today was quite fruitful for me. I got to learn so many things that I had not learned in my entire school or college life. I loved learning about safe internet browsing and social media usage. The session on ‘The art of Money Management’ was even more interesting. I am waiting for the next session to begin. I am confident in becoming a Smart Chhori by the end of this training. – Sabina Bajgain
Bajgain is just a representative example from the total of around 5000 girls in Nepal, who, over the course of the next 9 months, will rise as Smart Chhoris and leaders in their communities.
Today, Khalti kick-started the campaign and conducted the first workshop at its premises in Lalitpur. Priyasha Maharjan, Director at Samartha Nepal gave a session on ‘The Art of Managing Money which turned out to be a very interactive session. Likewise, Binita Shrestha, Co-Founder/CEO at WiSTEM Nepal gave a session on ‘Safe Internet Browsing and Online Security’, and ‘Dos and Don’ts of Social Media’. The girls, who mainly comprised +2 exam appeared and Bachelor’s level students, seemed inspired and motivated after learning life-skills at these sessions.
Now, these girls will no longer need to go to the shop just to buy recharge cards nor their neighbors. They won’t need to go to bill payment counters to make water, electricity, ISP, DTH, or any other bill payments either. Instead, they will be able to make every such payment from their own smartphone. They will start earning and getting economically empowered in the process.
Along with digital skills, the girls will learn management skills, improve their speaking skills, become financially independent, and ultimately evolve as Smart Chhoris.
While the entire country is talking about economic revolution and smart cities, no one is thinking that it is impossible without participation of 51% of the females that our country has. There is a stereotype that Girls don’t understand investments and hence can’t manage finance, but are good only for household chores. To change this mindset and bridge the digital gender divide, we have launched a special Smart Chhori project with an assistance from Spring Accelerator.
Through this project, we want to empower girls so that they can act as smart agents of change for financial inclusion and literacy, as well as digitization. The project seeks to give much-needed fuel for entrepreneurship and innovation in our emerging economy. The project seeks to bring digital financial inclusion to girls.
This program will be the first Job for many girls. Initially, the campaign is targeted towards students in urban areas. This flexible work experience will help these girls get full-time jobs easily after they complete their studies too. It will help in their Independence and growth.
After the successful completion of the project, more parents will see their daughters as assets, not a liability. Society will believe in their girls.
Willing to grow your digital & financial skills and leverage your smartphones & internet to make an impact in the lives of your loved ones and your community?
Join the ‘Smart Chhori’ campaign today: http://www.khalti.com/smartchhoris
