Khalti, a digital payment platform in Nepal has announced the launch of a special "Smart Daughter" program today. The program 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 who 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 Daughter program is launched with an aim to encourage women and girls into digital finance and help them to be ready for what's there to come in this rapidly advancing digital world.
Smart Daughter program is a free e-learning platform inside Khalti Digital Wallet app where girls can 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 program.
Through this program, Khalti 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.
Announcing the launch, Amit Agrawal, Director of Khalti and Coordinator of Smart Daughter program says, “‘Digital Nepal’ and ‘Smart City’ have become buzzwords recently. However, physical infrastructures alone are not sufficient to turn this dream into reality. Digitally literate population and public participation is very essential.
“And, talking about public participation, we shouldn’t forget the role of females who comprise 51.4% of Nepal’s population (World Bank: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL.FE.ZS). Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) have been playing a significant role to promote health care in villages across Nepal. We can mobilize 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.
“Smart Daughter program 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 Daughter program and be Smart Role Models in their communities.”
By enrolling in this program, 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.