Marking International Women’s Day 2021, ‘We’ for Change in collaboration with Life Project 4 Youth – LP4Y organized a two-hour long session among girls and women of Sinamangal slum area to spread awareness against gender inequality by empowering community women. The session covered informative topics such as gender inequality and its forms, representation of women in different sectors of Nepal, legal rights of women regarding citizenship and property rights, early marriage and consequences of early pregnancy and health status of women in Nepal. The informative session was followed by a highly interactive group discussion on restrictions for women as a gender and barriers against women empowerment in their homes, community and national level. 

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2021, “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”, ‘We’ for Change in support of AHF Nepal took part in global #ChooseToChallenge movement. In this initiation young changemakers came together to take a collective stand against gender bias and inequality, seeking and celebrating women’s achievements to create an inclusive world. Similarly, we organized a day long Tech-Skill Development Workshop empowering 20 girls on MS Office and graphic designing.

Marking Earth Day 2021 ‘We’ for Change organized a two-day virtual session ‘Environmental Sustainability: Restore Our Earth’ on April 21 and 22.  Based on the theme ‘Restore our Earth’ the sessions were all about learning tips and tricks to upcycle easily accessible products.  Also, ‘We’ had come up with the challenge to showcase the efforts of our participants on how they are restoring the beauty of our Mother Earth through pictures and short clips. The challenge contained activities like gardening, highlighting upcycled/recycled products. Here are some of the pictures shared by the participants. 

Amid the pandemic, ‘We’ had our members meet virtually on May 14. It’s anything but a day full of interaction between members,  fun games, laughter, performances, and a celebration of togetherness as a ‘We Family’.

‘We’ for Change celebrated World Menstrual Hygiene Day on 28th May in support of AHF Nepal by conducting different activities through social media platforms. 

• ‘No More Shame: Open Contest’: In this contest, we took submissions from contestants in different mediums as art, music, dance, poetry, speech and many more with a focus on reducing the gap of menstrual dignity, stigmas, taboos, and acceptance of menstruation as a natural phenomenon. A total of 86  entries were received. The submissions were creative and had powerful messages. 
• Period Positive: Let’s Talk: ‘We’ for Change designed this program to learn about how the male counterparts of Nepalese Society perceive the menstruation process as a whole and also positively engage them in maintaining menstrual dignity. It also aimed to reduce the age long stigma that shames and doesn’t encourage boys to talk about menstruation and menstrual products openly. 
• Discussion Session on ‘Menstrual Problems and Hygiene in COVID-19’: It was a virtual discussion session facilitated by SRHR experts aimed to reduce menstrual gaps between genders on how young women are maintaining their menstrual hygiene in this pandemic situation along with its importance.

Marking World Environment Day 2021, ‘We’ for Change  and Upcycle Store collaboratively organized a one month long ‘We’ Upcycle Program based on the theme ‘Ecosystem Restoration’. It started on June 5 with the discussion on ecosystem restoration followed by an upcycling training workshop. Upcycling Training Workshop was given to 20 participants and they were requested to make a craft of their own by upcycling waste from their surroundings. Eventually the products will be sold to raise funds to provide upcycling training to the young girls of slum area.

As a member of Network of Youth Against COVID, ‘We’ for Change ‘We’ for Change organized a two-day session ‘My Power, My Emotions’ on 7th and 8th June considering the ongoing pandemic and increasing use of social media targeting to increase awareness and knowledge of participants regarding social media anxiety, management of emotions and ways to cope up with mental health. On the first day, a Game Therapy Session (Color-to-Emotions Board, Tree of Life, and Problem Solving wheel) was conducted and day 2 was all about a session on social media anxiety and its management facilitated by a psychological counselor Ms. Kripa Sigdel. 

‘We’ for Change, in collaboration with youth volunteers of Sochai-Youth For Nutrition conducted a short one hour session for 20 youths on ‘New Tradition, Good Nutrition’ under the Sochai Thari Tharika program on 24th June. This session helped create a base for youths to advocate about consuming and promoting local food choices as well as creating a platform where youth of diverse backgrounds can share their ideas, experience and knowledge related to nutrition and healthy eating habits. The session was quite well received from participants; especially the breakout room discussions and fun quizzes.

On June 15, ‘We’ for Change successfully held an online ‘Menstrual Hygiene Management Session’ for Scouts and Non Scouts in cooperation with Societal Youth Rover/Ranger Crew and Pinnacle College. A total of 65 participants from Scouts and Non- Scouts participated in this 3 hour long informative program. This session helped youths aged from 14 to 26 years to learn about Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management, Common Menstrual Products, PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome), and PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome).

On August 12th to celebrate International Youth Day 2021, ‘We’ for Change hosted a two-hour interactive virtual session on ‘Start Simple with Your Plate’ for 20 participants, based on the year’s theme “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health,” to encourage youths to make sustainable food choices. The session was led by Ms. Renu Khadka, a Nutritionist and Lecturer at Pokhara University’s Nobel College, highlighting concepts such as  ‘My plate,’ healthy food choices, local food alternatives, and planetary health diets.

On the 2nd and 3rd of October, ‘We’ for Change had its Members’ Retreat 2021 with the entire ‘We’ team. Through various team building games and interactive knowledge sessions, the new and old members strengthened their bonds and made plans for different team initiatives. We also got leadership training from our Co-founder, Nischhal Kharal.

‘We’ for Change, jointly with People’s Climate Mobilization Nepal-a network of environmental enthusiasts/CSOs, organized a civic space highlighting the need for climate actions in the wake of COP26 happening at Glasglow UK. In this one-day event on November 8, we urged the public to commit to climate justice through  ‘Creative Placards Demonstration’, hanging individual messages for the climate future from the pedestrians  on ‘Tree of Hope’, and collecting their signed commitments for eco-friendly behavior. To thank them for their commitments for the planet and serve as a reminder that our life is possible only because of suitable climate conditions of the Earth, a silk bracelet with tree charm (Thread of Life) was tied on their wrist by volunteers. Altogether 150+ messages of hope and 150+ commitments were collected from the public in this one-day event. The event was covered by more than 5 different newspapers, TV and radio stations in Nepal.

On the occasion of International Volunteer Day on December 5, ‘We’ for Change, in collaboration with United Nations Volunteers Nepal, participated in a ‘Volunteer Mela’- a one-day carnival model event to bring together volunteers and partners to celebrate this day and recognize the efforts of the volunteers for their community. We performed a unique musical drama narrating about the effects of human behaviors on the planet and the urgency of mitigating the effects of Climate Change. We also had an information booth set up where we gave visitors information about how they can support our youth-led initiatives or start one of their own.