The $4.09-million project has been targeted at benefiting 48,000 individuals in 20 districts in the West, Mid-west and Far-west regions by building skills related to literacy, nutrition, education, life skills, entrepreneurship and access to finance.

Launching the project, Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said poverty, illiteracy and disease among others are the major challenges for Nepal and to remove Nepal from such phenomenon, Nepal need to make its every population productive.

“If Nepal needs to grow faster, every Nepali needs to be an entrepreneur,” he said, adding such an initiative will help make targeted groups more productive, ultimately contributing to the society.

As Nepal is endowed with rich and diverse natural resources and has vast agriculture potential, these opportunities need to be seized, he said. “As Nepal’s agro products import stands at $1 billion annually, there is a need to substitute import.”

Beth Dunford, USAID Nepal’s mission director, said the project aims at empowering women and increase in their entrepreneurship.  “There is consistent and compelling evidence that when the status of women is improved, agriculture productivity increased,” she said, adding the project would help women, including youth and marginalised communities, become entrepreneurs and generate income that will ultimately support the government’s initiative to end poverty. The business literacy project is a part of he US government’s five-year Feed the Future Initiative in Nepal that aims to raise incomes and improve livelihoods for vulnerable households.