Project Partners and Collaborators: 20 partners from Europe and Asia (10 Europe, 10 Asia) spanning universities, research institutes, NGOs, and policy/communication organisations
Funded by: European Union, Horizon Europe
Duration: 48 months (2026- 2029)
Project Description:
FEMENA is a Horizon Europe research and training network bringing together 18-20 partners from Europe and Asia to investigate, strengthen, and promote female entrepreneurship as a driver of gender equality, sustainable growth, and social transformation. Drawing on expertise across nine academic disciplines including economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, business, law, and gender studies along seven non-academic organisations, the project supports around 80 researchers through international secondments, interdisciplinary training, and policy engagement. The project takes an interdisciplinary approach, analysing cases across Europe and Asia from South Asia and Southeast Asia to the Asia-Pacific to understand how cultural, institutional, and policy contexts shape women’s entrepreneurial opportunities. Its methodological framework is built around four phases of secondments and draws on Amartya Sen’s capability approach, focusing on how individuals across different contexts and sectors assess their own opportunities and abilities, rather than applying fixed categories. Through this work, FEMENA generates new data, comparative case studies, and policy recommendations, contributing to SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
Through this project, we aim to bring Nepal’s context into a wider comparative understanding of female entrepreneurship across Asia and Europe, and to help shape policy and practice that better supports women entrepreneurs both in Nepal and beyond.
Read more: https://www.femena-se.eu/home
Project Lead: Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland
Project team at SIAS: Gyanu Maskey, Sushant Acharya and Dil Khatri