Danfe, a Nepali clothing brand, promotes locally made products. They also provide employment opportunities to young marginalized women. Danfe envisions establishing themselves as a local brand catering to the needs of their loyal customers. One can always walk in the store and explore possibilities in creating endless designs of their own choice.
Danfe Works Enterprises Nepal, is a social enterprise of SAATH, designed for girls affected by the earthquake in Nepal in 2015. They stand for what they believe in and SAATH means “support” or “togetherness”. So, basically, SAATH is a social work organization that works together with different individuals, groups and organizations in order to provide necessary support to marginalized communities with a major focus on needy children and girls.
Danfe got their products locally stitched by their own beneficiaries (they were given advanced tailoring training for 1 year), who came from Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, Kavre and Makwanpur. The co-founder Kritishma Karki says, “Our effort aims to add additional depth to the lives of the people we work with and for. As the Danfe has various colors, our clothing, too, represents individuals of all backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures coming together as one”.
SAATH also has a sustainable livelihood development program, Awasar, meaning creating opportunities. It mainly focuses on promoting and securing livelihoods of disadvantaged women/girls by undertaking market-relevant skilled-based training. They are also made familiar with women empowerment and women’s rights. Danfe Works Enterprises Nepal is running under the Awasar program with a goal of leaving a sustainable social and economic impact on the beneficiaries it serves.
They also have another program, Hakuna Matata, which caters to children belonging from marginalized groups where there is only one sole working family member. From supporting them financially by securing their future education to savings accounts for them with a yearly deposit of a certain sum of money.
They also help the children in capacity building by providing soft skill training where they learn public speaking, leadership, social relationship, higher order thinking skills and career development. Both the financial support and the capacity building lead to the ultimate goal of the project which guides the children to have a better future.
Talking about women empowerment, Karki says, “For me, I feel empowered when I am not being compared to a man, and I think it’s more important to know what women want than making a comparison.” When it comes to encouraging someone, she thinks, rather than preaching about it, it is better if someone gets motivated by her achievement in any way.
“If a company has a female chief executive officer (CEO), then it depends on the employees how they treat her. Just because there is sustainable gender equality that doesn’t mean that one would comply with it," she adds.
She wants to remind everyone that giving love, respect and support to each other is all-important. It might sound a bit corny but it is true, anything is possible as long as you believe in yourself even though there are some hurdles on the way.
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