Nepal-U.S. Alumni Network (NUSAN), in collaboration with Bikalpa an Alternative, organized the Movie Discussion program on the topic of “Entreprenurship and Livelihood” on June 28, 2022, at Hotel Shree Krishna, Biratnagar. The program’s objective was to create a platform for youths to educate and engage in regular dialogues on political economy, governance, democratic principles, and values of Freedom. Altogether, 43 youth participants from diversified fields, including the bikalpa members, attended the program. The participants were chosen on a rolling basis where bikalpa had opened the Application form regarding the program.
Distinguished Alumni, Mr. Vaibhav Nahata (Global UGRAD recipient 2022), IVLP (2011) Dr. Sandesh Das Shrestha, IVLP (2018) were also invited as the guest to observe and share their insights on the program. Also, Mr. Baman Ghimire (Nepal-U.S. Alumni Network (NUSAN)), Secretary, and IVLP (2017) joined us as a guest for the program.
The program started with a welcoming speech and objective sharing by Mr. Suman Rai(Program Coordinator of the Bikalpa). He also ice-break the session by introducing participants and program guests to each other. After the introduction, Mr. Baman Ghimire shared the objectives of the (Nepal-U.S. Alumni Network (NUSAN) ) and How they work in all seven provinces of Nepal. He also referred to the different programs the US Department of State Nepal offers young students, which helped the participants explore further opportunities. In his remarks, he also thanked bikalpa for organizing such a program for the youth.
The program session was facilitated by Suman Rai, in which, four short films, on Livelihood, Entrepreneurship, and Enabling the market, namely “Garikhana Deau”: Let me earn my Living. Working yourself in Nepal, Tootle ” Fight for Freedom”, and Effects of covid on small and medium entrepreneurs were screened in the program. The first movie put into the light bureaucratic hassles and the challenging scenario of conducting economic activities in Nepal. while the second video highlighted the difficulty of getting a registration for the city rickshaw. The third video was about enabling a market environment that creates a million entrepreneurs and the beauty of the market. The fourth video covered the different hurdles faced by the small entrepreneurs on pandemics due to the government Lockdown.
After each movie screening, The participants put their thought’s regarding the movie. The discussion also ranged from creating equal opportunity through government policy, Accountability, Roles of civic society, and identifying the knowledge gap on public policy regarding the video. Mr. Rai also took feedback from the participants and clarified the issues related to those movies. The sessions were very interactive and engaging. All the participants participated actively during the sessions.
The session was formally concluded by Mr. Baman Ghimire, who shared that such video discussion is very intriguing for knowing the fundamental fact of the society. He also assured of replicating such a discussion program in his region. After the event, Bikalpa recorded the feedback of 6 participants. The question included “Why is Entrepreneurship important?”,” What is the situation of Entrepreneurship in Nepal?”, and “What could be done to promote Entrepreneurship and support the livelihood of the people?”. The video will be published soon through the Bikalpa portal.
Program Photo link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3363072020604142&type=3
