Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Challenges and Measures to Equality, Participation and Inclusion of Women and Girls in the Context of COVID-19

The virtual national conference on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Challenges and Measures to Equality, Participation and Inclusion of Women and Girls in the Context of COVID-19 took place from August 13-14, 2020, which brought together approximately 286 experts and rights activists from diverse sectors from Nepal and from UK representing the Government of Nepal, development partners, CSOs working for gender equality and women’s empowerment, private sector, academia, development as well as media sector to reflect and discuss on various conference themes. This is the first biggest event organized in Nepal to discuss the issues of women and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference was supported by Water Aid Nepal, FHI 360 International, TAYAR Nepal/DAI/USAID and Nepal Bangladesh Bank. This two-day conference, formally inaugurated by the Member of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Hon’ble Mohna Ansari through her key note remarks in the first panel, provided a unique opportunity to learn key insights from experts and concerned actors from around the country and from United Kingdom. The conference discussed about the challenges and explored strategies as well as approaches for women’s equality and empowerment amidst COVID-19. The virtual conference held 4 separate plenary sessions over the course of two days.