Meenu Maharjan

Daayitwa

Nepal aspires to graduate from least developing country to an inclusive, equitable, and prosperous middle-income country by 2030. However, the excessive focus today of the development community on socio-political empowerment has not yielded desired economic transformation in Nepal. In reversing this development paradigm by prioritizing critically-needed economic empowerment, Daayitwa Abhiyaan envisions an enterprising Nepal where every youth has opportunities for a prosperous future. Driven by principles of social justice, community empowerment, and impact sustainability, the Abhiyaan comprises four organizations: Daayitwa-an NGO, Nepal Leadership Academy-a non-profit company, Governance Lab-a for-profit research firm and Daayitwa-US (Nepal Rising) - a US-based non-profit. Towards reaching this larger vision, Daayitwa executes 3 projects that strive to: Promote inclusive and enterprise-led economic growth; Strengthen governance of inclusive enterprise ecosystem; Bolster community engagement for enhanced livelihoods; In the last 9 years, we have accelerated 85 rural youth entrepreneurs (45 women) in 3 provinces (Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini Province) to embrace innovation, access investment, grow income and create employment. Leveraging the grassroots learning, we have supported 141 youth trained in 30 countries to support 51 government organizations and 24 parliamentarians with entrepreneurship and employment policy research. We have conducted more than 60 leadership courses for over 700 participants to build their capacity to lead teams and architect innovative solutions. We have conducted research on various topics such as MSE growth, dignity of labor and COVID19-related financial and health issues in order to support federal and provincial governments to make evidence-based policy decisions. We have organized Nepali diaspora and friends of Nepal to financially support more than 100 NGOs to grow their social impact.