Teenage trainer Laxmi helps Returnee Migrants become Electricians

Even after being badly jolted by electricity while training to become an electrician, Laxmi overcame her fears and became a lead trainer to help train returnee migrants to become electricians

There was a great deal of activity at the two-story house of farmer couple Shiva Kumar Chaudhary and Minder Devi Chaudhary in Chandranagar Rural Municipality of Madhesh Province just before the start of the Tihar festivals. Some 20 men wearing yellow safety helmets and orange jackets were all over the Chaudhary household — on the veranda, balcony, inside the rooms and kitchen — poking, hammering away, or drilling holes to install electric wires and fittings in the semi-concrete and wooden house and facilitating connections in the partially finished rooms for the ceiling fans to beat the sweltering Terai heat.

In the middle of all this noise and commotion was a 19-year-old Laxmi Thakur, 19, who was pacing up and down the house making sure her trainees are using the right tools and fitting the electric wires correctly. For she was the lead trainer of the Building Electrician training program in which the 20 men — all returnee migrant workers (RMWs) — were participating as part of UNDP Nepal’s reskilling/upskilling and certification project to reintegrate returnee migrants in their own communities and local economy.

According to the Government of Nepal, over half a million Nepali migrants returned home after losing their jobs (primarily in India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia) owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. After their return, 43% of them were engaged in self-employment, 18% in wage employment, and 39% reported not being employed (National Planning Commission, 2020). A high proportion of RMWs, 81%, reported that the skills they had acquired abroad were not useful in Nepal, pointing to a mismatch between current skills and jobs available locally. Based on the evidence available, UNDP developed a project “Enhancing Returnee Migrant Workers Skills for Employment” to contribute to inclusive economic growth and livelihood of Returnee Migrant Workers (RMWs) and their families in collaboration with the British Council managed Dakchyata Project and financed by the European Union in Nepal.

Laxmi would not have been training this group of returnee migrants had she not overcome her own fears after being badly jolted by electricity while training to become an electrician herself.

“But thanks to the constant encouragement of my brother-in-law who is also an electrician, I soon got over my fears, learned the safety measures to be followed and continued receiving the training. I like all aspects of this work, including installing wiring and lighting, rewiring fixtures, fixing electrical problems, safety inspections, and establishing connections to make a house glow with lights,” she said with a smile, adding that soon after finishing her 10th grade she had joined CTEVT level 1 building electrician course and recently appeared in a CTEVT level 2 building electrician examination.

Having spent the last month instructing this batch of returnee migrants, Laxmi was impressed with the eagerness with which the trainees tried to learn and practice the skills they have learned, something which she believes is borne out of their need to do something in their own country after returning from abroad.

“But above all, it is their respect towards me, their trainer, even though I am a girl much younger than them, and their regard for the work they are doing in which they want to build their career or do business which makes them one of the best students I have ever trained,” she affirmed while talking about the returnee migrants she was training.

All the returnee migrants training under Laxmi to become building electricians concurred that Laxmi was indeed the best teacher they could have and that they learned a great deal from her. One returnee migrant among them, Ajay Kumar Mahato, said that despite being so young, Laxmi was able to train a group of returnee migrants from diverse backgrounds in a free and friendly environment which made it easy for them to understand what was taught to them.

And at a time when young people in Nepal are heading abroad in droves for education, work, or just for better opportunities, Laxmi said that her experience of working with the returnee migrants and listening to their stories of hardships abroad has made her realize that her decision of staying in the country and pursue her own field of interest was right after all.

“Unlike some of my friends, I never aspired to go abroad. I want to continue to work as an electrician trainer, that is until I pass the Civil Service Examinations and secure the post of an officer at the Nepal Electricity Authority. And I am certain I will make it through,” Laxmi expressed her determination.

Women rarely opt for electrician courses as it is traditionally thought of as a male-dominated occupation, but it is even rarer to find women trainers for various skill-related occupations. For instance, of the total 332 lead trainers and co-trainers who imparted skills training to more than 1600 returnee migrant trainees in various occupations in Lumbini and Madhesh Provinces, only 11 lead trainers and 8 co-trainers were women.

“As an electrician and electrician trainer myself, I encourage my women friends to get technical skills rather than pursue general education only because that way they can not only secure jobs more easily, but can motivate themselves to become self-employed or even entrepreneurs,” Laxmi said

Meanwhile, after serving afternoon tea and snacks to returnee migrant trainees, the farmer couple said they were thankful to the RMWs who had installed wiring and lighting for free to light up their partially finished house for Tihar, which is also called the festival of lights.

Over the last year, this EU-funded project has provided a wide variety of skills training to over 1600 returnee migrants in Madhesh and Lumbini Provinces. Out of the total RMW trainees who received short-term skills in 11 occupations, 64 were women, 1548 were men and 8 were Persons with Disability. The project has focused on productive employment opportunities in the labour market, particularly for the women, historically disadvantaged, poor and marginalized groups through skills training in three key economic sectors: agriculture construction, and tourism. These three sectors offer the most employment/self-employment opportunities for promoting the transition to a greener, climate-resilient and low-emission economy in Nepal.

Story by Anand Gurung/UNDP SKILLS Project