Move 4 New Horizons (M4NH) is a holistic educational programme for disadvantaged children and young people in Nepal. The programme aims to ensure their successful access and completion of basic education and entry to the job market, irrespective of their gender, socioeconomic status, caste or ethnicity. Since 2012, the M4NH programme includes a vocational training component to equip youth from disadvantaged backgrounds with knowledge, know-how, skills and competences required to prepare for wage employment or self-employment.
M4NH introduced a dual vocational training programme integrating work-based and school-based learning to prepare young people for a successful transition into wage employment or gainful self-employment. The advantage of the dual vocational training programme is that young people are able to acquire the practical experience and technical skills that future employers expect through apprenticeships in local businesses; all the while building foundational life skills and competencies required to start and run their own businesses through theoretical ‘Business Knowledge & Vision’ sessions provided by M4NH project staff.
The present ‘Business Knowledge & Vision’ curriculum serves to impart the critical knowledge and social skills young people need to successfully transition into gainful self-employment or wage employment (“Knowledge”) and to define a realistic, future perspective (“Vision”). It provides business fundamentals on topics such as basic economics (supply and demand), market analysis, business planning, production, marketing, sales and accounting. Issues most young people come across (e.g. gender roles and gender differences in employment, reproductive and sexual health and family planning) are also incorporated in the curriculum, as well as games and sport activities to teach social and personal skills (e.g. teamwork, mutual support, respect, self-discipline, perseverance).
The ‘Business Knowledge & Vision’ Manual pursues five main objectives:
- Equipping youth with the required skills and knowledge essential for the development of realistic perspectives and strategies for their professional life
- Imparting knowledge on how to start and run a micro-enterprise by using teaching techniques suitable for low-literacy youth with little or no previous experience or knowledge of entrepreneurship
- Creating a sense of entrepreneurial spirit, self-efficacy and self-confidence among youth
- Stimulating creativity and critical thinking “outside the box”
- Sensitisation regarding gender issues
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