This summer in a remote Nepalese village, Sarahna Khadka '28 will seek to help about 35 low-income, mostly single, women learn financial literacy and start a small business.

"A lot of the women in this region have traditionally been under-represented, under-educated, or have less access to any spaces outside the home," Khadka says. "Some of their husbands have abandoned them and for some they have no family support to pursue formal work or education."

With a $10,000 fellowship she received from the Davis Foundation Projects for Peace, Khadka is purchasing three machines from a Nepal manufacturer that uses large, durable leaves from the native hard-wood sal tree to make biodegradable plates.

"This project will help those women by providing them training to use these locally available leaves to make leaf plates using the machines," she says. "Then they will be able to sell those leaf plates for profit to generate a livelihood."

Potential customers range from nearby homes, hotels, and eateries to religious and cultural stores, Khadka says. "The leaf plates can be used for multiple purposes or even stored for long periods."

Sarahna Khadka '28 is in a remote Nepalese village this summer, working to help low-income women learn financial literacy and start a small business.

An economics major, Khadka has the skills and experience to help these women; she has participated in the New York City-based nonprofit Girls Who Invest program, worked last summer with the Nepal Economic Forum, and interned at The Kathmandu Post, where she wrote about emerging businesses.

Working with a nonprofit in Nepal, the Institute for Rural Development, Khadka designed this 10-week project herself, which she titled, "Crafting Leaves to Rebuild Lives."

"She's established a secondary aspect to the project," says Julia Adams, director of fellowship advising at F&M. "She will teach them how to budget and how to manage their finances independent of their husbands or whoever is managing for them; to create some financial independence, and knowledge."

A native of Kathmandu, Khadka was motivated for this project in part because of her work with a Nepal nonprofit focused on empowering women in her country's still male-dominated society.

"We interacted with a lot of women who were in their homes, taking care of their children," she says. "We were able to have so many conversations with them about what governance, leadership, female engagement and leadership means for them."

As she prepares to leave for Nepal, Khadka says of her project, "I think it will be a good start for the women in the region."

The Davis Foundation funds Projects for Peace for specifically-approved academic institutions, including F&M. The process is open to International and U.S. citizens, and to students in all phases of undergraduate study. There is a required internal F&M review and nomination process; the application typically opens in October.