Gorkila lives in a remote village in Kalikot with her husband, four children, and a brother in law. Her husband works as a daily wage labourer in the village, and whenever there is no work in the village he goes to India to support the family.

They own very little land, so their food crops are only enough for around 3-4 months a year. Gorkila also worked as a daily wage labourer to support the livelihood of her family: “It was very hard to run her family with little income from the daily wage. Moreover, I could not work as the labourer throughout the year as it would be very tough.”

Gorkila joined a self-help group in her home village through INF Nepal’s community development project in Kalikot, and had the opportunity to participate in the small business creation training organised by the project. She then started a small grocery shop, investing about NPR 50000 (about £300) to start the shop. She now earns around £60-£70 per month from her business.

She added: “After gaining the knowledge about business through the training, I decided to start a small shop in my own community. I used to face many troubles because of lack of money. No one would lend us money when we needed. But now, I don’t need to turn to people for money.

“I would like to give many thanks to INF Nepal and their friends for helping me to stand on my own feet.”