18- 23 January

Youth Development Center (YDC) Nepal is going to organize “ Nepal Study Visit 2022” & "Namche Bazar to Cox's Bazar Connectivity Conference" taking place in 18-23 January 2022. This is an opportunity to learn from interaction of more than 200 Nepali people from diverse sector during 10+ program/meetings & also space to promote your idea, action, business, culture & tourism.

Who can be the Team Members?
People from diverse sector including university youth, entrepreneur, municipality representative, social worker and so on.

Total number of delegates: 30

Tour & Conference Fee: $ 300 (18-23 January)
Conference Fee: $ 150 (21-23 January)

Registration fee covers accommodation, food, transportation, kits & certification for the delegate per person including pick up & drop airport. Fee does not cover the any taxes, covid test, insurance and any contingency cost.

Nepal Coordinator: Arun Khadka- +977 9851018425 (WhatsApp/Viber)
Bangladesh Coordinator: Asif Rahman Shaheen- +880-1914908348


Background
Bilateral Relations between Nepal and Bangladesh:
Diplomatic relations were established between Nepal and Bangladesh on April 8, 1972. Nepal is the seventh country to recognize Bangladesh as an independent country before the establishment of diplomatic relations. The two countries have a mutually beneficial and cordial relationship. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the bilateral relations between Nepal and Bangladesh have been characterized by cordiality, harmony, mutual understanding and common values and aspirations of the people. The two countries also have same kind of cultural behavior, food, and customs and so on. The environment and geographical area of Bangladesh is similar to the Terai region of our Nepal. Bangladesh is a country with a aerial distance of about 27 kilometers from Nepal and 37 kilometers in distance in road via India.
Nepal and Bangladesh share similar views on various issues of common interest and work closely in various regional and international forums, including the United Nations, NAM, SAARC and BIMSTEC. As underdeveloped countries, the two countries have been raising issues of common interest in the World Trade Organization, UNCTAD, the United Nations Economic and Social Body (ECOSOC) as well as in regional and international forum such as SAARC and BIMSTEC.
The Joint Economic Commission was formed between the two countries in 1978 at the level of Finance Minister. The two countries have launched new initiatives in banking, finance and finance for cooperation. Areas of joint trade and investment potential have been identified in the areas of readymade garments, leather and pharmaceuticals. Bangladesh has been providing scholarships in medical and engineering for Nepali students.
The exchange of visits at various levels has strengthened the ties between the two neighbors. High-level visits have also been exchanged between the two countries from time to time. The Government of Nepal has been attaching special importance to foreign relations in the process of identifying new areas of trade and investment by expanding mutual relations with neighboring and other countries with the national aspiration of prosperous Nepal.
Economic and trade relations:
Economic and trade relations between Nepal and Bangladesh have been steadily increasing in recent years and there is a huge potential to expand and diversify trade between the two countries. Nepal's exports to Bangladesh are mainly yellow pulses, oil, cakes, cardamom, wheat, vegetable seeds, handicrafts, pashmina, etc. Bangladesh's exports include industrial raw materials, chemical fertilizers, textiles and textiles, jute products, electrical and electronic goods. The exchange of visits at various levels has strengthened the ties between the two countries. Nepal and Bangladesh work closely on issues of common interest by discussing various issues such as expansion of bilateral trade, development of multipurpose transport and connectivity network, improvement of transit facilities and investment promotion.
Introduction to Youth Development Center:
The Youth Development Center is a non-profit social organization which works in different areas including Youth Participation & Empowerment, Young Women Empowerment & SRHR, Youth Entrepreneurship & Livelihood and Youth Volunteerism & Community Service. The main responsibility of the Youth Development Center is to enhance the personality of the youth, to develop the youth entrepreneurship, to strengthen the organization of youth leadership and to serve the society. It was established in 2062 BS (2004 AD) in Itahari, Sunsari. It currently has its head office in Itahari and a branch office in Kathmandu. YDC has been working within the local level to the national and international level. The organization has been expanding its branches in Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, working in South Asia.

International programs of Youth Development Center
The international programs of the Youth Development Center are as follows.
• Nepal Bangladesh Youth Conference (2017, 2019, 2020, 2021)
• International Youth Conference (2017)
• India Study Tour (2018)
• Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Youth Camp (2019, 2020)
• Global Youth Flash (2019)
• Bangladesh Study Tour (2019)
• International Youth Policy Conference (2019)
Brief information about the visit:
Youth Development Center Nepal and Youth Development Center Bangladesh in collaboration with Trek Hill are organizing the Nepal Study Visit 2021 from 11 January to 16th January. The main objective of the visit is to bring together the work, business and tourism initiatives taken by the governmental, non-governmental, and private sectors of Bangladesh and Nepal, as well as cultural exchanges.
This visit will help to promote Nepal-Bangladesh bilateral relations and strengthen the ties between the citizens of both the countries. The problems of both countries, Nepal and Bangladesh are characterized by similar nature and such visits will help the citizens of the two countries to get to know each other. This type of visit provides an opportunity for everyone to study common problems and find common solutions.
This initiative will help encourage regional cooperation for a cooperative approach to current issues of the two countries. Observation tours of various tourist and business areas of the country can be used in the country by learning the technology and style used there.

Major Insights of the Visit
1.  Homestays in Nepal
The homestay meaning in Nepali is ‘Gharbas’, which means to live in a home. The concept of home-away-home implies to a homestay. Homestay let people experience the local lifestyle with an understanding of the living standard of the locality along with the social life and local civilization. Homestays in Nepal are beautiful as they offer wonderful experiences to the people. The authentic taste of local cuisine, the lifestyle and the true essence of living like locals in the diverse geographical locations is the best part of staying in the local homes. There are a lot of things to do while staying in the homestay. Homestays are specially developed to give an experience of being involved in the local community. Homestay in Nepal is mostly centered in small villages, where life is easy and simple, and regeneration from the daily troubles of urban life.  The community-based tourism practice submerged the homestays concept. The diverse ethnicities have their own culture and identity and for tourists, every identity is a new experience and a learning process. The elite travelers visit Nepal to get an authentic rural experience. While the homestays are primarily designed to facilitate travelers with the accommodation but it can also act as an experience hub. The local people will be showing their traditional culture in the form of dance & music and it will be great opportunity for the delegates as well for the cultural exchange.
To know more: https://holidaystonepal.com/blogs/homestay-in-nepal 
2. Municipalities Visit
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country located along the Himalayas and bordered to the north by China and to the south, east, and west by India. On September 20, 2015 a new constitution established Nepal as a three-tiered federal democratic country (previously, one centralized authority) with seven provinces and 753 Local Governments which include six Metropolitan Cities (Mahanagarpalika), 11 Sub Metropolitan Cities (Upa-Mahanagarpalika), 276 Municipalities (Nagarpalika) and 460 Rural Municipalities (Gaunpalika).
The constitution has made the local level a 'government' with legislative, executive, and judicial powers, just like the provincial and federal governments. Local governments have constituent power to enact laws as per their necessity. They can executive them. The judicial committee is existed at each local level to give decisions on local disputes. Local governments share the powers along with the provincial and federal governments. They can make a plan and budget. They can determine the rate of local taxes and levy taxes. The chief and vice-chief of local government have voting right to elect members of the National Assembly - the upper house of federal parliament. These constitutional provisions prove that local governments of Nepal entertain full-fledge initiative power.
3. Microfinance & Cooperative Visits
Nepal is highly heterogeneous in terms of population density, per capita income, poverty incidence, economic structure and social development. Great variations exist across development region and ecological belt in term of physical and financial infrastructure facilities; macroeconomic stability and policy environment for growth in general and microfinance in particular. These factors together with legal framework have a significant bearing on existing state of outreach and operational and financial self-sufficiency of actors in Nepalese microfinance industry. There exists a very good indication that poor and low-income households and their microenterprises have a strong demand for deposit services as indicated by couples of behaviors. There is positive response of the poor to voluntary savings products provided by microfinance service providers and growth in deposits is quite significant. There is a large but heterogeneous demand for micro-credit in rural Nepal. The poor households demand microcredit for consumption smoothing, to meet their expenses related to life-cycle events such as sickness in family, death of family members, education of children and for investment purposes. They also demand other financial services such as insurance, money transfer and leasing.
4. Community Organization in Nepal
Mothers’ Group is one of the oldest civil society groups in Nepal’s history which is one of the examples of community organization in Nepal. Mother’s group “Aama Samuha” are mainly engaged in the works such as  facilitating community conflict resolution, establishing savings and credit schemes, taking care of the environment, helping community health workers, supporting victims of domestic violence, working on family planning issues, improving the overall economic situation of women, campaigning around children’s education and other issues. Besides this, local health centers are established in around every municipality in Nepal which focus on health promotion, and disease prevention and management, and are dedicated to improve the health and wellbeing of local residents through their swift services. Along with this local youth clubs are actively engaged to facilitate leadership and capacity development and mobilization of its members; develop youth-friendly programmes in coordination with the local level; raise public awareness against deep-rooted social malpractices and anomalies and so on.
5. Namche Bazar to Cox's Bazar Connectivity Conference
Conference will be held at Kathmandu, Nepal where the Bangladesh delegates will have interactive sessions with Nepalese youth and stakeholders regarding the common social issues faced by the people of both countries and discuss its solutions and it is also an opportunity for them to expand their business among both countries.

Youth Development Center (YDC)
Minbhawan, Kathmandu
ydc.network@gmail.com, www.ydc.org.np, www.facebook.com/ydc581323