Senior members of GIZ/INCLUDE, including Mr. Horst Ammann, Programme Manager, and Ms. Kumudhini Rosa, Senior Advisor, met with the Honourable Finance Minister of Nepal, Mr. Surendra Pandey, and Mr. Kush Kumar Joshi, President, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), on March 14, 2010, to discuss GIZ/INCLUDE’s findings of the Youth and Small Enterprise Self-Employment Fund Programme’s (YSESEF) situation assessments and to report on the programme’s progress and challenges.

Mr. Ammann and Ms. Rosa apprised the Honourable Minister of the findings and situation assessment of the programme in the four districts of Kailali, Sunsari, Chitwan, and Rupandehi. Advocating the necessity of the YSESEF programme for the vast majority of unemployed youth in the country, Mr. Ammann said, “GIZ is ready to support the further capacity development of trainers for this programme and staff of the established One Stop Shops at local Chambers of Commerce to enable them to provide a better service to the YSESEF applicants.”
 
Minister Pandey shared his concerns about the practicalities of entrepreneurship development trainings and methods, the issue of guaranteeing bank loans with approval and consensus of financial institutions, and the method of distinguishing between aspirants. He forewarned that more discussions on distinction between the genuine, interested applicants and the mere curious ones were necessary. Minister Pandey added that banks and financial institutions should arrive at a mutual consensus for credit and loan facilities. This would then help facilitate greater credit loans for the interested applicants.

Ms. Rosa highlighted the importance of a documentation of the experiences gained so far from the programme, especially from the stakeholders, which would form a reference basis for future activities. She further stressed, “Proper monitoring and guidance by all concerned stakeholders, including the government, FNCCI, and GIZ, is a necessity.”
 
Thanking GIZ/INCLUDE for its support till date, Mr. Kush Kumar Joshi said, “The programme should be continued by making some reforms in the process.” He then recommended the setting up of a webpage for greater transparency and better access to information, provision of matching fund by the government and proper screening of the participants for the entrepreneurship development trainings. 

The three parties concluded by agreeing to conduct a meeting with financial institutions to present the contents of the entrepreneurship development trainings and discuss possible options of providing loan to the trained applicants of the YSESEF programme. Further, it was decided to organise jointly entrepreneurship development trainings for the YSESEF applicants in the districts of Palpa and Chitwan.