active · Livelihoods· Governance

Climate action financing through women and social enterprises (CaFiN)

Climate change affects people and economies across the world, but the impact is nowhere more pronounced than in marginalized communities in low-income countries like Nepal. Even within the impacted population, women are significantly more vulnerable than men because of an absence of economic independence and pre-existing social settings that leave them deprived of essential rights. On the other hand, climate-positive micro-enterprises in rural areas not only help address the climate change problem, but also provide opportunities for economic empowerment for women, thereby enhancing the resilience of such societies to the impacts of climate change. However, a major hurdle faced by such entities is access to finance. With inadequate scale, insufficient access to resources, unevolved business models, uncertain markets and absence of credit history, these micro-enterprises are considered ineligible for finance by traditional institutions. This project is aimed at developing a research-informed template for identifying constraints and impediments faced by women-led or women-benefiting enterprises in sustainable forestry in Nepal, and identifying meaningful appropriate pathways for access to finance for such enterprises. The research will also highlight the need for specific project preparation, including appropriate capacity building, for such enterprises, which will be utilized to design a funded project preparation facility that could potentially culminate in fundraising for select enterprises.