Meeting with the Secretary. Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen

10 February 2020

Subsequent to a circular letter sent by Ministry of Foreign Affairs introducing FIPMO to other Ministries and asking them to discuss and look at possibilities and ways of positively getting benefit of using expertise and experience of FIPO members in plan and program of individual Ministries as and where applicable, Chandni Joshi(CJ), FIPMO Advisor had, kindly coordinated and obtained an appointment with the Secretary of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens (MWCSC). As scheduled, FIPMO Executive Committee met with Mr. Ghimire at 11:00 am on Monday 10 February at his office. In attendance were:

MWCSC: Mr. Chandra Kumar Ghimire(CKG), Secretary

Mr. Shiva Ram Neupane(SRN), Joint-Secretary

FIPMO: Dr. Suresh Raj Sharma (SRS), Chairman

Dr. Surendra Bahadur Panday (SBP), Secretary General

Mr. Gyan Jung Thapa(GJT), Joint-Secretary

Dr. Pushpa Acharya(PA), Joint-Treasurer

Subsequent to exchange of greetings participants introduced themselves.

MWCSC

Welcoming the FIPMO members in the meeting, CKG recalled the conversation he had with SRS and SBP at a social gathering. He also mentioned that he also had heard about FIPMO from CJ, FIPMO advisor and Chair of Ministry Think Tank on Women Affairs. He was very happy to meet FIPMO Executive Committee and appreciates the offer made by FIPMO to support the Ministry’s efforts with experience and expertise of FIPMO members. He mentioned that this meeting was in opportune time for CWCSC as it has been in a process of conceptualizing and drafting proposals for economic empowerment of marginalized women. Further, he reiterated that CWCSC has already a good number of rights-based projects for women in place, but believed that economic empowerment of vulnerable women at the grass-root level is very important for other initiatives to be effective. He asked if FIPMO can help CWCSC in this respect. CWCSC was very positive and optimistic about FIPMO’s possible assistance.

FIPMO

SRS gave a quick briefing about FIPMO and handed over to CRG a letter, together with the list of expertise and personal details of members. SRS presented FIPMO’s wish for the appointment of a focal point at the ministry to liaison with FIPMO, and the establishment of a system to reach out to FIPMO expertise when the Ministry is participating in the discussion on policy issues of the relevant UN organizations. He further mentioned that FIPMO will be happy to assist the Ministry with expertise in the areas as identified by CWCSC.

Contributing to the discussion in the meeting, SBP elaborated on the assistance of FIPMO for income generating activities for women in Daplung village. SBP and PA offered their availability to support the initiative of CWCSC with expertise and experience in project conceptualization, development and implementation in their respective fields. The proposal was much appreciated by CPG.

SBP reiterated in the meeting that FIPMO’s involvement and inputs to CWCSC’s initiative from the very start of the conceptualization of the project would be much more useful. Such an approach will smooth and keep the process sound from the very beginning and there would be no need to get back and forth for number of times on the same issues for discussion / clarification afterwards. The suggestion was appreciated and taken positively.

CWCSC

CRG mentioned that he was very happy to have the meeting with FIPMO at a time when they were much in need of expert support. CRG confirmed that SRN was invited to the meeting as he is the responsible Joint-Secretary of the Project and will be the Focal Point for FIPMO to liaise and work further.

Follow-up Action

· CWCSC is expected to revert to FIPMO with respect to Project. SBP to follow with SRN (already followed-up with SBP who informs that they are working on some budget submission issues currently and will be busy until the end of February. Agreed that SRN will call SBP during the first week of March to have a chat).

· SRS will inform all subscribed members about the development with CWCSC and ask if any of the colleagues would think that their expertise and experiences are relevant, and they are available to offer pro-bono services to the Ministry.

FIPMO Meeting with the Secretary, Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens