WOW 2018 Activities

According to the United Nations, one in three girls/women globally will be sexually assaulted or beaten in her lifetime. Self-defence training can often be an effective tool for women in alleviating risks and preventing dangerous situations. For WOWKTM 2018, Women Empowerment Nepal is organizing a mass self-defence class as the Festival’s Morning Activity.

Self-defence means to defend from any type of harm in any situation. Self-defence is not about fighting, it is about keeping safe. Fighting is the last resort when to hurt the aggressor is our only means to defend the right to life and safety. This training session was a basic course that focused on risk mitigation & preparedness, basic defence and strike Techniques and demonstration of advanced skills by the instructors.

Language of Instruction: Nepali

About Facilitator(s):

Women Empowerment Nepal (WEN) has been working towards a safe and free society, where individuals and especially women can live free from fear and from harm. WEN has been running self-defence programs to increase awareness and provide a variety of skills which are intended to improve the participant’s safety and make ready for situations they may encounter in everyday life. WEN’s program also focuses on understanding the psychology of the perpetrator, the importance of verbal assertiveness and on incapacitating physical techniques. The main goal of the program is provide preventive measures. Since 2013, WEN has reached over 2500 women and girls with their trainings.

 WEN instructors are mostly martial arts experts. Its self-defense course is endorsed by WEDO (World Eskrima Defense Organization) and TNTC (Traditional and Tactical Combact) Switzerland. Instructors for this course are: Ajay Manandhar and Rashmila Prajapati; & Assistant Trainers are: Sapana Rana Magar, Nirmala Bajracharya, Anita Yonjan and Rohit Shrestha.

The British Council organised a three-hour masterclass, The Girls’ Guide to Graphic Novels, on 17 February, 2018 at the IOE-Pulchowk Campus during the Women of the World Kathmandu Festival. 

The masterclass aimed towards individuals who have ideas (but can’t draw) or young women (and men) artists who wish to start on a graphic novel. This entertaining workshop was opened to people of all abilities. Prior knowledge of graphic novels or drawing was not required. 

The masterclass was facilitated by award-winning British graphic memoirist Dr. Nicola Streetan who introduced participants to some approaches to the graphic novel, referencing her own work and those of others. A practical workshop was followed based on the ideas of American graphic novelist Brian Fies.

Language of instruction: English

About the Facilitator

Nicola Streeten is an anthropologist-turned-illustrator and author of award winning graphic memoir, Billy, Me & You. She co-founded the international forum Laydeez do Comics in 2009. She has a PhD from the University of Sussex on A Cultural History of Feminist Cartoons and Comics in Britain from 1970 to 2010.

Streeten co-edited The Inking Woman: 250 years of Women Cartoons in Britain, which will be launched in March 2018. Since 2014 she has lectured on the BA Illustration and Animation courses at Kingston University and London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London and in Cultural Studies in the Media, Film and Music department at the University of Sussex.

About Creating Heroines

Creating Heroines is a project by the British Council which aims to unite artists with members of the public to explore heroines from their past and to imagine and create heroines for the future. It explores the incredible stories behind the side-lined heroines of history and mythology, and uses them to inspire new, imagined heroines of the future!

Learn how to plan your travel better!

Love travelling? Ever travelled solo? Or wanted to? So what's stopping you?

This workshop was designed to help anyone who likes travelling or wants to travel, to learn the basic elements that go into making your travel successful: risk management, itinerary building, budget planning, female hygiene. 

SOLO TRAVEL is an introspective, experiential journey of courage and discovery, and it requires you to be well prepared. 

We believe that wisdom cannot be learnt; it has to be gained from personal experiences of triumphs and misadventures. Solo Travel inspires confidence and builds character. Solo Travel enhances ability to create, curate, and connect.

Language of instruction: Nepali 

About Facilitator(s):

Nepali Travellers is a travel community by and for all who identify themselves as Nepalis who create and publish travel content that are intimate and localized, within Nepal and beyond. The community organizes events and grants to facilitate travel plans that are substantial in their intent and experience. This workshop will be facilitated by a group of Solo Woman Travel Challenge 2017 winners.

Inspired by the Yoruba proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ - implying that a new future is a communal effort - Fearless Collective has curated a mapping process to explore and re-imagine our feminist geographies - spatial, social, economic, spiritual, political and more.

To enable the process of imagining new geographies, a huge life-size map was designed by Fearless Collective. The map was woven with symbols representing ideas of systems, structures and social constructions we navigate every day. In our fearless future, truly intersectional work values a deeper recognition and integration of art and imagination. This all-day activity had participants work together to create more art and beauty to replace fear and oppression; to give creative thinking as much allowance as we do to critical thinking; to replace fear with love while imagining and working towards a feminist future.

Language of instruction: English

For registration, please email: anjanaluitel@gmail.com

 About Facilitators:

Shilo Shiv Suleman is an Indian artist whose work lies at the intersection of magical realism, technology, art and social justice. She started the Fearless Collective in 2012. Nida Mushtaq is an activist from Pakistan whose work focuses on programming for social development embedded in critical narratives of local relevance. Together they run Fearless Collective from across the border, united by their love for poetry, beauty and imagination. www.fearlesscollective.org

This workshop focused on effective use of disposable income. Facilitators shared instruments and platforms employed to maximize savings, investments and how to diversify one’s portfolio to mitigate potential risks. Insurance will be discussed as an effective tool to plan future expenses and risks. Information was specific to the Nepali context.

About Facilitators:

Pravin Raman Parajuli has been associated with the financial sector for approximately 15 years and has recently joined Reliance Life Insurance in the capacity its Chief Executive Officer.

Sandeep Kasaju has been associated with insurance sector for around 4 years and currently heads the Training wing of Reliance Life Insurance.

Please visit www.relifeinsurance.com for more details about the facilitators and their associated institution.

Let us put a stop to toxic Machismo!

Have you ever felt the pressured as a man to act strong when you are not? Have you ever had to hide your tears, your vulnerabilities because you did not want to be shamed? Have you ever used force or used your sexuality to suppress others?

This workshop was designed for men to examine what images of masculinity and patriarchy men consider to be their own and explored how men often use their sexuality to gain power over others.

Language of instruction: Nepali

About Facilitator

Kapil Kafle is a social activist and a journalist. He is the national coordinator for MenENgage Alliance South Asia (MEASA). He is the focal person to Institute of Human Rights Communication Nepal (IHRICON): secretariat selected by the Steering Committee of the SA alliance for the MEA since May 2016 for two years and also holds the responsibility of Executive Director of IHRICON since 2006. 

This workshop focused on the rights of Nepalese women. As the workshop was out for the general public, the workshop contained plan and simple languages on the rights of Nepalese women guaranteed by the state including the status of the guaranteed rights as well as the rights yet to be recognized. 

As this topic was a burning issue till date and though the rights are recognized, insufficiency of awareness and implementation still stands a major issue and dealing with such issues was also be a part of the workshop. The struggles for achieving the recognized rights were also discussed as well as the struggles to be made to achieve the unrecognized rights will also be a part of the workshop. 

Topics: 

1. What all rights are recognized by the state.

2. Status of implementation of the recognized rights.

3. Rights yet to be recognized by the state. 

Language of instruction: Nepali

About the facilitaor 

Sabin Shrestha is an Advocate and Executive Director of Forum for Women, Law & Development (FWLD). Mr. Shrestha is also known as a champion in advocating for equal citizenship rights and has been involved in much research regarding citizenship, such as Acquisition of Citizenship Certificate in Nepal: Estimated Prevalence (2013), Analysis of Nepalese Citizenship Laws from a Gender Perspective (2014), Acquisition of Citizenship Certificate in Nepal: Understanding Trends, Barrier & Impacts (2014) among others. During his career he has been deeply involved working in the field of law reformation and policy development primarily on matters relating to discrimination against women and marginalized groups. He has accrued extensive experience in leading legal projects.

Who was it for? A small group of children (Age group 6-10).

Ms.Luna Bhattarai facilitated one hour workshop to explore what it means to be a girl or a boy in their world (at home and at school). She facilitated to explore different gender roles for girls and boys and discuss why it exists. 

Language of instruction: Nepali 

About the facilitator 

About Luna Bhattarai 

Luna Bhattarai is a professional facilitator with an expertise on participatory methodology. She has an extensive experience of designing and facilitating learning processes. She is very active in Social media where she initiates conversation around feminism, justice, sexual harassment and abuse and is present in those initiatives outside of the social media. She has worked in Nepal and abroad. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication and Journalism.