Women’s Leadership, Cooperatives & Mountain Economies

This program integrates urban cooperative governance in Kathmandu, tourism-linked gender economies in Pokhara, and rural women-led cooperative networks.

Seminars introduce gender and development theory, decentralized governance, and cooperative economic models. Pokhara engagement focuses on tourism economies and women’s entrepreneurship.

In rural Nepal, students observe cooperative meetings, market access pathways, savings systems, and safety networks. Participatory mapping highlights how women navigate institutional ecosystems.

The Kathmandu synthesis phase focuses on empowerment pathway proposals grounded in feasibility and governance realities.

Students will:

Analyze cooperative governance structures shaping women’s leadership.
Map gendered market access within tourism-linked economies.
Conduct participatory inclusion and safety assessments.
Evaluate decentralization frameworks in practice.
Produce a cooperative empowerment intervention proposal.
Integrate feminist development theory with mountain livelihood realities.

Development Studies

Environmental Governance

Sociology

Political Science

Economics

Public Policy

Kathmandu

Pokhara

Rural Cooperative Communities

Day	Location	Academic Engagement	Learning Emphasis
1	Kathmandu	Seminar: Gender & Development Frameworks	Framing
2	Kathmandu	Workshop: Cooperative Governance Models	Toolkit
3	Kathmandu	Safeguarding & ethical interviewing lab	Preparation
4	Pokhara	Guest lecture: Tourism & Gendered Markets	Economic systems
5	Pokhara	Women entrepreneurs roundtable	Agency
6	Rural Nepal	Cooperative leadership observation	Governance
7	Rural Nepal	Market access mapping	Economic inclusion
8	Rural Nepal	Safety & mobility inquiry	Structural constraints
9	Pokhara	Reflection seminar	Integration
10	Kathmandu	Systems synthesis workshop	Linking scales
11	Kathmandu	Proposal drafting lab	Translation
12	Kathmandu	Peer critique	Refinement
13	Kathmandu	Final presentations & departure	Closure