Sewing courses for women in Nepal

In Nepal’s underdeveloped regions, there are few prospects, as not everyone is needed in agriculture and educational opportunities are limited. Many Nepalese therefore go abroad to work. Young women face a particularly grim fate: they are forced into marriage abroad or end up in prostitution. For this reason, our partner organisation Aim Aid Nepal (formerly United Serve Society Nepal) is committed to providing these women with a six-month tailoring course. This enables the women to set up their own businesses and thereby secure a more stable source of income. The following section describes impressions and information regarding the courses held to date.

Nepal is a beautiful country and, as such, attracts many tourists. Away from the tourist attractions, however, there are few prospects for the people who live here. The government encourages Nepalese people to work abroad and send money back home to support their families, rather than creating domestic infrastructure. This is because the country is very rugged in the mountainous regions, hardly suitable for agriculture and has limited road access. But even in the flatter foothill regions, such as the Terai Plain, many people live on low incomes and have a low level of education – because although schools are free, books, stationery and school uniforms must be bought privately. Many Nepalese therefore work in the Gulf states, China or India, often under inhumane conditions. Whilst the men are mostly employed on construction sites (e.g. those for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar), young women with little education from Nepal’s villages face a high risk of being forced into marriage abroad or ending up as prostitutes.

To give women from remote mountain villages and the Terai a better chance of setting up their own businesses and securing an alternative source of income, our partner organisation Aim Aid Nepal (formerly United Serve Society) is strongly committed to training young women to become tailors. A course lasts six months, during which the women first learn basic maths, how to take measurements correctly, how to create patterns, and how to cut and sew garments. They work on simple, mechanical sewing machines, as a constant power supply cannot be guaranteed. Upon completion of the course, women from very poor families are allowed to take their machine home to set up a start-up.

Since 2023, three sewing courses have been run – usually with 20 participants, and one with 30.  Demand is extremely high, and many of the women undertake a long and arduous walk every day just to be able to attend. And their efforts are paying off: four women from the first course have joined forces to form a business and are now taking on commissioned work.

Participants in the first course with their first garments.

Successful graduates of the second course.