Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Smart Chhori to promote digital, financial literacy among girls and young women

Khalti, a digital payment platform in Nepal is launching a special ‘Smart Chhori’ programme tomorrow. The programme is aimed at empowering girls and young women in Nepal through financial knowledge and skills. As part of this initiative, 10,000 adolescent girls and women from across the nation will be trained on financial and digital literacy expecting that they will later emerge as influencers in their communities.
Nepal has a high female unemployment rate and lacking digital skills has become one of the barriers for women and girls in enhancing their career. Still today, a lot of financial decisions are taken by the male members of the family and lots of women still struggle to use smartphones and handle basic finances. Smart Chhori programme – with an aim to encourage women and girls into digital finance – will help them to be ready for what's there to come in this rapidly advancing digital world.
Smart Chhori – a free e-learning platform inside Khalti Digital Wallet app – will help girls learn about the basics of digital payments, online security and personal finance. Girls and young women from age group 15-35 years having a smartphone and access to internet can enroll in the programme.
Through this programme, Khati aims to equip young Nepali girls with the knowledge, skills, and attitude which can change their lives by helping them become independent, establish good financial habits, discuss saving, budgeting, and expenses with family members and improve their future prospect for decent work opportunities, according to director of Khalti and coordinator of Smart Chhori programme Amit Agrawal.
"'Digital Nepal’ and ‘Smart City’ have become buzzwords recently," he said, adding that the physical infrastructures alone are not sufficient to turn this dream into reality. "Digitally literate population and public participation is very essential."
Females comprise 51 per cent of Nepal’s population. "Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) have been playing a significant role to promote health care in villages across Nepal. "We can mobilise our daughters in a similar way as the agents of change to promote digital literacy and simplify lives of people with the use of internet technology," he said, adding that Smart Chhori programme is launched with an aim to prepare female workforce to change Nepal into a Digital and Smart Nepal. "We request all interested girls to enroll in Smart Chhori programme and be Smart Role Models in their communities."
By enrolling in this programme, adolescent girls and young women can grow their digital and financial skills and leverage smartphones and internet to make an impact in the lives of people in their communities. Interested girls and young women aged 15-35 years can join the training programme by clicking on Smart Chhori banner on the home screen of Khalti app, available both in iOS and Android platforms. "This e-learning platform is available for female users only," he added.

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