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Suryamukhi is a social project that began in February 1999 in order to provide economic support for CHILDREN-Nepal (CN) as well as giving low-income women the opportunity to acquire a basic income with which they can improve their living conditions as well as their families. Women aged 18 years and older are provided with vocational training in sewing, knitting and embroidery free of charge at the CN Center. The Suryamukhi project began on a very small scale with only six women and a very small work space on the ground floor where it shared space with three children's programs. Suryamukhi's operations now command an entire floor at the CN Center complete with a sewing room, cutting facility, counter, office, store room and a sales room Suryamukhi now employs 30 women and, since its inception, Suryamukhi has employed almost 100 women. The trained women are assigned work and are paid on an approved product basis. A program co-ordinator, Marketing Officer and Designer/ Production Supervisior runs the daily operations of Suryamukhi. The range of the products includes stuffed toys, fabric dolls, children and dolls clothes, puppets, T-shirts, bags, aprons, hairdresses, hand puppets and various other items. All products are made with locally available fabric and materials.

CHILDREN-Nepal has been a member of the Fair Trade Group (FTG), Nepal and a member of the International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT). The goals of CHILDREN-Nepal regarding Suryamukhi are consistent with the objectives of Fair Trade. Fair Trade believes that women have the right to earn a fair wage, work in a safe environment, and to produce quality goods using environmentally friendly material and methods. Suryamukhi incorporates all of these values and treats each worker with respect. Working at Suryamukhi gives women, who otherwise may not have had the chance, the opportunity to earn a fair wage and improve the quality of life for themselves and their families. They receive emotional encouragement and support from the staff and their co-workers, which increases their self-confidence. The increased self-confidence allows the women to become self-reliant and move from the margin of society into the mainstream.

The goals of Suryamukhi are:

1. To help women in social and economic need
2. To become self-supported by selling handicrafts
3. To provide economic support to the children's activities of CHILDREN-Nepal

1. Helping women in social need

The women of Nepal face many hardships because they are often treated as second class citizens and denied their basic human rights. Women must work much harder than men and are loaded down with many more responsibilities and often denied an education and basic nutrition. Many parents view girls as "some one else's property" because she will marry and leave the family so they see no point in investing in their daughter's future. This has lead to the negative social situation for many women in Nepal that find themselves uneducated, unskilled, burdened with work, in abusive relationships, and with little hope for the future.
Like many women in Nepal, the women working at Suryamukhi face the daily challenges of a socially and economically disadvantaged life. Some live in small rented rooms in the slum areas of Pokhara and, before becoming employed by Suryamukhi, they were unsanitary conditions in the homes and the women's personal hygiene was poor. Loneliness also played a part of some of the women's lives, as they had no family or friends. Some of the married women's husbands are manual laborers and therefore are often not at home or the husband is unemployed, an alcoholic, and/or abusive. On several occasions, these women went without money or food due to their financial situation. All of these factors contribute to their lack of self-esteem and sense of hopelessness concerning their futures. However, Suryamukhi addresses these problems and aims to ameliorate the situation.
At Suryamukhi, the women work in a supportive atmosphere that leads to increased self-confidence. They are able to earn a fair wage to support their children and their health and hygiene is improved. Additionally, the women's children are joining CHILDREN-Nepal's activity centre, or sent to school by CHILDREN-Nepal.

2. Becoming self-supported

As described above, the profits created by Suryamukhi are used to pay for the project's operation costs. This includes rent for the work space, materials, and the salaries of the Staffs. Suryamukhi has a sales network that provides opportunities for selling its handicrafts.
The sales network includes:
" Contacts to hotels, organizations and shops in Pokhara and Katmandu. Suryamukhi takes part in bazaars and other fairs organized by these contacts.
" Orders from other Countries: e.g. Europe and USA.
" Sales from the sales room at the handicraft center
" Orders placed through Fair Trade Group, Nepal
" Orders placed through Suryamukhi's own catalogue

3. Economic support to CHILDREN-Nepal

CHILDREN-Nepal receives 10% of the income of Suryamukhi, which is used to help run CN's social programs. However, 3% of that 10% is placed in a savings account founded by Suryamukhi, which is used for future Suryamukhi projects and programs.

Suryamukhi is still in the developing phase. Since the beginning the income generated and the number of products produced has increased. The number of different products that are made has grown from 17 in 1999 to 250 and more today. The total production capacity estimated per month is currently 2000 pieces. They are continuously expanding the variety of products that they produce. This enables Suryamukhi to continue to focus on and promote the three main goals of the project.

Suryamukhi is striving to become completely self-reliant. This makes the fast and regular sale of our merchandise a necessity. Therefore, we pay close attention to the design and durability of our products, ensuring attractive high quality goods.