Year: 2025 (On going)
Supported by: The Barack Obama Foundation, under Girls Opportunity Alliance
Focused on: Child marriage, teenage pregnancy, menstruation, family planning, safe abortion and gender-based violence.
Chepang community remains one of the underserved community, deprived of access to proper education, basic facilities and services, With the concern to enhance the community’s capacity, enhance knowledge and for authentic flow of information Visible Impact with the financial support of The Barack Obama Foundation aims in empowering the adolescent chepang girls. Empowered Chepang Girls Initiative project serves to enhance the knowledge of young chepang girls regarding Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, capacitating to lead and secure educational attainment. The initiative majorly focuses on the concept of child marriage, teenage pregnancy, menstruation, family planning, safe abortion and gender-based violence.
Activities
- Inception Meeting
On 13th November 2026, an inception meeting was held in Gandaki Rural Municipality, bringing together key stakeholders including municipal representatives, ward chairpersons, and school principals. The meeting introduced the objectives and planned interventions of the project and provided an opportunity to assess existing community challenges in health and education. Through this engagement, a strategic roadmap for project implementation was established. This collaborative approach ensured shared alignment, ownership, and momentum from the outset.
- Recruitment of Local Coordinators and Youth Champions
From each of the project’s four wards of Gandaki Rural Municipality, Ward No. 1, 2, 6, and 7 one Local Coordinator and five Youth Champions were selected. Local Coordinators mentor and support the Youth Champions, who lead community engagement sessions on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), child marriage, teenage pregnancy, family planning, menstruation, safe abortion and gender-based violence. This structure has anchored the initiative at the grassroots level and helped establish a foundation for long-term sustainability.
- Bootcamp on SRHR for Chepang Youth Champions
A three-day intensive bootcamp was organized from 23rd to 26th December to build the capacity of the 20 Youth Champions (five from each of the four wards) and 4 Local Coordinators (one from each ward). The bootcamp-built participant’s understanding of family planning, child marriage, teenage pregnancy, safe abortion, menstruation, bodily autonomy, and gender-based violence. Combining knowledge building with the development of technical and facilitation skills, the training prepared participants to raise awareness on these critical issues within their own communities.
- Community Engagement Sessions
Safe Space Meetings
Each month, Local Coordinators convene a safe space meeting with Youth Champions to plan upcoming sessions, determine which topic will be covered next, and identify key beneficiaries to be targete8 each month. A total of 28 safe space meetings has been conducted till date.
Community and School Sessions
Local Coordinators and Youth Champions conduct community engagement sessions each month. To date, 28 sessions have been completed, 16 in schools and 12 in communities reaching a total of 752 individuals.
- Monitoring Visits
Two monitoring visits were carried out in each of the four wards during the initial and mid-phases of implementation (Phase I), These visits assessed the facilitation approaches used by Local Coordinators and Youth Champions and provided feedback to strengthen future sessions. Brief meetings with municipal officials and school principals were also held to share progress updates and reinforce accountability and transparency. School-based visits further allowed the school committees to observe firsthand the active involvement of Youth Champions and Local Coordinators during sessions.
- Skill Based Training
Computer training
In collaboration with the employment section of Gandaki Rural Municipality, a 20-days computer training program was organized in Ghyalchowk, Gorkha. Eight Youth Champions, three from Ward 6 and five from Ward 7 took part in the program, which built a foundation in digital literacy, beginning with understanding the basic computer operations, operating systems, typing and the use of software applications such as MS Word and PowerPoint for the documentation purpose.
Sewing Training
A month-long sewing training was provided to 6 Youth Champions mobilizing the chepang community. The training aimed to equip adolescents with sewing skills to produce products such as cholo, bhoto, and caps as income-generating activities. It sought to foster their financial independence by enhancing their skills and creating opportunities for sustainable income generation.
Menstrual Hygiene and Hygiene Day Celebration
A series of awareness activities were organized in schools to mark Menstrual Hygiene Day.
Period Corner
A period corner was established in each school across Ward 1, 2, 6, and 7 to raise awareness on menstruation, with particular emphasis on hygiene management practices. Each corner featured informative IEC materials, displayed sanitary products including sanitary pads, menstrual cups, and reusable pads as well as hygiene items such as soap, sanitizer, and wipes. Students visited the corners to view the materials displayed, and a game session invited participants to understand more about menstruation and winners were rewarded with a period kit containing essential sanitary products.
School Competitions
Working closely with participating schools, Local Coordinators and Youth Champions organized a school based competition (Quiz and essay writing) for students, focused on understanding menstruation and dispelling related myths and misconceptions. Developing the quiz questions further strengthened the Youth Champion’s management, leadership, and critical-thinking skills. Winners were rewarded with stationery items, including school bags, exercise books, pens, geometry boxes, and colored pencils.
- National-Level Menstrual Hygiene Day Celebration
MHM Partner Alliance
Menstrual Hygiene Day is marked nationally each year on 28 May through a large-scale event featuring panel discussions, storytelling sessions, exhibitions, and advocacy activities, jointly organized by MHM Partner Alliance, including Visible Impact. This year’s event spotlighted first-menstruation experiences shared by young girls from different provinces. Ms. Kanmaya, Local Coordinators from the Chepang community shared her own experience, speaking about the significant challenges and barriers she faced due to prevailing misconceptions and stereotypes, and her subsequent journey to advocate for menstrual health, inspiring young girls in her community by providing accurate and accessible information to help ease the difficulties they may face.
Beyond Blood Workshop
Beyond Blood workshop was a storytelling and expression workshop organized under the Untold Period Stories initiative, supported by Life Project 4 Youth (LP4Y) and Visible Impact. Held on 22 May 2026 at The Green Village, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, the four-hour workshop brought together 30 young women aged 18–24 years from diverse backgrounds. The workshop created a safe and participatory space to explore the emotional, social, and cultural dimensions of menstruation beyond conventional menstrual hygiene narratives. The workshop also included a practical menstrual cup demonstration, with 30 menstrual cups distributed to participants. The session encouraged young women to connect with their bodies, share experiences, learn from peers, and engage in open conversations on menstruation, body literacy, and reproductive health with greater knowledge, dignity, and confidence.
Our Impact
- The Empowered Chepang Girls Initiative project has provided training for 24 adolescent Chepang girls equipping them with leadership skills to conduct session in their respective community. The local coordination and youth champions have conducted 28 safe space meetings, 28 sessions have been completed with 16 schools session and 12 community session reaching a total of 752 individuals.
- Celebrating the Menstrual Health and Hygiene Day, conducted school competition in each ward and 12 school students were rewarded with stationary items. Our local coordinator Ms. Kanmaya Chepang had an opportunity to share her lived experience regarding menstruation in National level event organized by MHM Partner Alliance representing the Chepang Community.
- To empower and enhance skills of the girls in income generation, 8 youth champions were provided basic training on computer with close collaboration with the Employment section of Gandaki Rural Municipality.
