A three-day physical training program was held from the 1st to the 3rd of February, 2024 in Pokhara, Nepal to train community leaders on violence against women home-based workers. The participants included 30 women leaders from the Pokhara Women’s Skill Development Organisation (WSDO), which is an affiliate of HomeNet South Asia. The objective of the training was to equip these leaders with the necessary knowledge and strategies to address the issue of violence against women.
The training covered various topics such as the importance of organising home-based worker communities, gender, power, and violence, different types of violence faced by women, laws and redressal mechanisms on gender-based violence (GBV), advocacy, and support networks for home-based workers, and the role of community leaders in movement building.
As a result of the training, the women leaders gained increased knowledge on the issue of violence against home-based workers, identified the various kinds of violence women face at home and in the workplace, learned strategies to address the issue in their region, strengthened their collective voice and organising efforts, and understood the existing laws on violence against women in Nepal and how to seek redressal using those laws.
The women agreed that it is crucial to learn and equip themselves with knowledge on the issue in order to change attitudes that normalise various forms of violence and to challenge it at the community level.
The training aimed to increase the solidarity and movement of home-based workers while tackling the issue of violence and harassment, which impacts their work and income. It was also a step towards empowering women HBWs to recognise violence and take action against the same at home and at the community level.
