help annual report 2013-14
DESCRIPTION
Report on the works and activities HELP, a grassroots NGO carries out in partnership with its international partner MondoChallenge Foundation.TRANSCRIPT
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ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT July 2013 - July 2014 (Fiscal Year 2070/71 BS)
Helambu Education and Livelihood Project (HELP)
MondoChallenge Foundation
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
II TABLE OF CONTENTS | www.help-nepal.org
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY _____________________________________________________________________ 1
2. BACKGROUND ____________________________________________________________________________ 2
3. RESULTS TO DATE ________________________________________________________________________ 3
3.1. BASIC SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT SCHEME (BaSIS) ___________________________________________________ 3
3.1.1. BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE _________________________________________________________________________________ 3
3.1.1.1. CLASSROOM BUILDINGS/REPAIRS ____________________________________________________________________ 3
3.1.1.2. TOILET BUILDINGS ___________________________________________________________________________________ 4
3.1.1.3. DRINKING WATER SUPPLY ___________________________________________________________________________ 5
3.1.1.4. FENCING, PLAYGROUND & RETAINING WALLS ________________________________________________________ 5
3.1.2. VITAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ________________________________________________________________________ 6
3.1.2.1. LIBRARY BOOKS AND MANAGEMENT _________________________________________________________________ 6
3.1.2.2. BOOK SUPPORT GRANT ______________________________________________________________________________ 7
3.1.2.3. SPORTS AND MUSIC EQUIPMENT _____________________________________________________________________ 7
3.1.2.4. SCHOOL UNIFORM GRANT ___________________________________________________________________________ 8
3.1.2.5. FURNITURE (DESK & BENCHES, WHITEBOARDS & NOTICE BOARDS ___________________________________ 8
3.1.2.6. SCIENCE LAB EQUIPMENT ____________________________________________________________________________ 9
3.1.2.7. NURSERY CLASSROOM/ ECD MANAGEMENT/CLASROOM DECORATION ________________________________ 9
3.1.2.8. HOSTEL EQUIPMENT FACILITY_______________________________________________________________________ 10
3.2. EDUCATION QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME (EQuIP) _______________________________________ 10
3.2.1. TEACHERS SUPPORT GRANT ____________________________________________________________________________ 11
3.2.2. TRAININGS AND WORKSHOPS ___________________________________________________________________________ 11
3.2.2.1. TEACHER’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (TPD) TRAINING _________________________________________ 11
3.2.2.2. TRAINING ON TEACHING USING MORE INTERACTIVE SKILLS _________________________________________ 12
3.2.2.3. TRAINING ON TEACHING MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT __________________________________________________ 12
3.2.3. EXCURSIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 13
3.2.4. SECOND HIMALAYAN OLYMPICS _________________________________________________________________________ 13
3.3. VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMME ____________________________________________________________________ 15
3.4. PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS ________________________________________________________________________ 16
3.4.1. SCHOOL IN A BAG (SIAB) ________________________________________________________________________________ 16
3.4.2. KIDS ON THE GRID (KOTG) _______________________________________________________________________________ 17
3.4.3. GREENHOUSE BUILDINGS _______________________________________________________________________________ 17
3.5. SCHOLARSHIP AND SPONSORSHIP PROGRAMME (S & S) _________________________________________ 17
3.5.1. SCHOLARSHIPS _________________________________________________________________________________________ 17
3.5.2. SPONSORSHIPS _________________________________________________________________________________________ 18
3.6. OTHER ACTIVITIES _______________________________________________________________________________ 19
3.6.1. VILLAGE EDUCATION PROGRAMME (VEP) ________________________________________________________________ 19
3.6.2. SERKATHALI DISASTER RELIEF EMERGENCY FUNDING __________________________________________________ 19
4. FINANCE _________________________________________________________________________________ 19
5. PROJECT VISITS __________________________________________________________________________ 20
5.1 MONDOCHALLENGE FOUNDATION TEAM AND HELP SUPPORTERS ________________________________ 20
5.2. IAN AND LINDSAY HARFORD _____________________________________________________________________ 20
5.3. ACTION4ASIA ____________________________________________________________________________________ 20
6. NEWS AND DEVELOPMENT _____________________________________________________________ 21
6.1. JIMMY LAMA _____________________________________________________________________________________ 21
6.2. RETREAT ________________________________________________________________________________________ 21
6.3. BOARD OF GOVERNANCE ________________________________________________________________________ 21
6.4. STAFFING AND NEW OFFICE LOCATION __________________________________________________________ 21
6.5. INTERNS _________________________________________________________________________________________ 22
6.6. WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT _________________________________________________________________________ 22
6.7. LOCAL VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMME ____________________________________________________________ 22
APPENDIX __________________________________________________________________________________ 23
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | www.help-nepal.org
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report, prepared by HELP team, takes account of the work HELP and MondoChallenge Foundation (MCF) has undertaken in Nepal, with support from and in partnership with various organisations and individuals, over the past 12 months- from mid July 2013 to mid July 2014 (Fiscal Year 2070/71 BS).
The past 12 months have been filled with excitement and many achievements. We started by hosting a record number of nearly 60 volunteers. We are now looking forward to welcoming 45 more volunteers this summer to work across 18 partner schools. The new addition into our volunteering programme is our partnership with Loughborough University in the UK.
The start of autumn saw us expanding our projects to 3 new partner schools, reaching out to benefit about 800 additional children. We were also delighted to see the completion of our delayed projects at Solshing and Lekharka, which faced many difficulties and took over a year, but are thankfully complete now. We also completed the new Greenhouse Building Project, launched in 2013 with the generous support from Green Building Associates based in the US.
As part of our School in a Bag Project Phase III, we refilled 500 school bags and distributed some 160 school bags to various schools in Helambu and Haibung. This was aimed principally at empowering girls with difficult access and to encourage new admissions, and was done in partnership with the District Education Office, Sindhupalchok. We are now preparing to distribute 650 more bags across 5 different schools in the coming weeks.
Many of the MCF members and various other
supporters were able to visit our partner schools in
February, following the wedding of HELP/MCF Nepal's
Director, Jimmy Lama. This
resulted in renewed
commitment from our
supporters at Mondo and others
and further encouragement to
the small HELP team.
The long awaited “Himalayan Olympics” was organized for the second time at Nurbuling School where more than 320 children
from 20 different schools participated competing in 116 different events. Coordinated by the District Education Office and the host school, it was jointly funded by MondoChallenge Foundation, Helambu Project, the participating schools, HELP volunteers, Helambu Project and the Melamchi Drinking Water Project.
We organized a number of teacher training activities during the past 12 months, one of which was given by our Manchester based supporter, Mrs. Lindsay Harford, who ran two workshop sessions- one each in Gunsa and Kiul. We also partnered with a local government education authority to organize training for pre-primary level teachers and as a result of this, many of the privately funded teachers will now be welcomed and encouraged to participate in government sponsored teacher training events in the future, which was not so much the case in the past. We also had the opportunity to extend our partnerships with Kids on the Grid by distributing 7 more laptop computers to three schools. We are now looking at the prospect of connecting many of our partner schools with internet connections in the near future, for which Mr. Ian Harford, a patron/supporter of the KOTG project, is liaising with potential partners in the US and UK.
Further, we had the unique opportunity of hosting our first international intern, Priska Komaromi, a former volunteer and CUHELP President, whose knowledge about the UK side of volunteers’ recruitment was tremendously helpful. She led us to come up with a new and more effective way of running the volunteering programme in the future, to reduce the administrative strain, increase the number of volunteers, as well as the income they generate. She has also helped improve our online presence, and we
will shortly launch our new website- www.help-nepal.org!
On the financial side, our total income from 17th of July to the 15th of July stands at Rs. 15,248,631 (approximately £100k), which is more than our total annual income in any previous year. It is also
Total Income: Rs. 15,248,631
BaSIS: Rs. 9,416,296
EQuIP: Rs. 24,97,049
School in a Bag: Rs. 14,57,790
Scholarship &
Sponsorships: Rs. 9,53,400
Overhead Costs: Rs. 10,45,680
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
2 BACKGROUND | www.help-nepal.org
important to note that the reason for such a huge surge in our income is because we completed two of the unfinished projects at Solshing and Lekharka from 2012/13 in 2014 and there were new projects at Bhotenamlang, Gufa, Ichowk and Dhundeni where most of the works went smoothly over the last six months, thus drawing large expenditures. The total expenditure recorded was Rs. 15,490,097 (fifteen million four hundred ninety thousands and ninety seven rupees only).
None of these works carried out would have been possible without the support from our valuable funding partners as well as individuals who have trusted our work. HELP and MondoChallenge Foundation would like to thank everyone for supporting us during the course of the 2013/14 year, and we are very excited to expand our projects in the coming year to impact more communities and thereby more children who would otherwise be neglected.
2. BACKGROUND Helambu Education and Livelihood Project is a
Nepalese NGO working with local communities to
improve quality of education in community managed
government schools and promote sustainable
development in the wider Helambu region.
MondoChallenge Foundation is a UK based charity
which supports community-based, grassroots,
education and livelihood development projects
around the world including in Nepal. MondoChallenge
Foundation is HELP's funding partner in Nepal. We
take a ‘bottom-up’ participatory and holistic approach
to improving education, and to streamline our various
activities, we have grouped them into the following:
2.1 Basic Education Improvement Scheme (BaSIS):
BaSIS is aimed at creating a better learning
environment by means of providing missing facilities,
educational resources and infrastructure. Through
BaSIS, we seek to address many basic issues that
hinder students from learning and help transform the
environment of our partner schools into places that
foster growth and learning. This covers all projects
related to infrastructure and educational resources
(building classrooms, toilet and drinking water
facilities, providing sports, music and science lab
equipment, providing textbooks and desks and
benches etc.) Our work as part of BaSIS is further
categorized into sub-categories to include the works
carried out Outside the Classroom (Basic
Infrastructure) and the works carried Inside the
Classroom (Vital Educational Resources).
2.2. Education Quality Improvement Programme
(EQuIP): EQuIP aims to open up spaces for teachers,
children and local communities to engage with and
take charge of education, and experience growth and
development both at a personal and institutional
level. This covers all kinds of training and capacity
building related projects. It also includes the funding
to support additional teachers’ salaries and their
training as well as special event programmes such as
the Himalayan Olympics.
2.3. Partnership Projects: This includes the projects
we run in partnership with other organizations who
we share common values and goals with. An example
of this is our very successful partnership project with
School In A Bag.
2.4. Scholarship and Sponsorship: In order to improve
the quality of education and nurture the ambitions of
children in rural communities it is vital that educated
local people return to their communities as role
models and entrepreneurs for social and economic
change. To support and encourage this to happen, at
present, HELP and MondoChallenge Foundation
provide scholarships to the most talented and needy
candidates with clear vision as we reach out to an
increasing number of secondary schools in the region.
On average, we currently provide around 30
scholarships per year.
2.5. Volunteering Programme: Placing volunteers
from overseas at our partner schools has become one
of our key projects over the past years. We do this
because we strongly believe that connecting rural
schools with people from around the world who bring
new ideas, enthusiasm and long lasting friendships,
will allow children to broaden their horizons and
unlock their potential. With the help of various
international partners such as CUHELP, CUELST, and
ITA, we are currently placing 50-60 volunteers at
partner schools per year.
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
3 RESULTS TO DATE | www.help-nepal.org
3. RESULTS TO DATE
The collaboration between HELP and MondoChallenge
Foundation has resulted in significant support going to
over 25 schools reaching out to nearly 5000 children
and bringing tremendous changes in the local
communities where we work. Compared to 2009,
there are less crowded classrooms, schools are better
equipped with educational resources and more
children, particularly girls have started going to school
especially in the Tamang villages. Last year,
MondoChallenge Foundation and HELP were
recognized with a Runner Up Influencers Award for
their work in promoting gender equality through our
varied educational programmes. The year 2013/2014
has been very successful for both HELP and the
Foundation in terms of increasing the size and scale of
operations. The report on our latest activities and
achievement are described below and they follow the
categorizations of our programmes.
3.1. BASIC SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT SCHEME (BaSIS)Improving educational quality is difficult when
classrooms are overcrowded or in a state of disrepair,
there are no educational resources, drinking water
supply and toilet facilities are missing. As neither the
government nor the local communities have the
capacity to equip the schools adequately with the
above facilities and resources, the schools look for the
support that organizations like us can bring.
3.1.1. BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE
3.1.1.1. CLASSROOM BUILDINGS/REPAIRS
In many of our partner schools, the number of
classrooms is lower than the number of rooms
required to smoothly run teaching and other
administrative works of the school. This has often
forced the schools to combine different classes in the
same room or create makeshift classrooms, where
teaching is very difficult and quality education hard to
imagine. In some of the higher schools they may have
enough classrooms but they don't have separate
rooms for library and science lab because of which, it
becomes very difficult to capitalize on the resources
the schools have.
In view of this, this year, we have supported the
construction of some 34 new rooms, as listed in the
table below. In all the work we do, we seek significant
contribution from the local community’s side.
Figure 1: Graph showing expenditure on various headings of
Basic School Improvement Scheme (BaSIS)- Infrastructures in
the Fiscal year 2013/14. As 34 new classrooms were
completed during the year in 13 different schools, most of
them already had toilet buildings, drinking water facility and
only some of the schools had the need for fencing. So, the
expenditure on classroom building contributed to most part of
our expenditure on BaSIS- Infrastructures.
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
4 RESULTS TO DATE | www.help-nepal.org
S.No. School Rooms Status Purpose Expenditure
1 Pading 2 Complete & operational. Classroom Rs. 1,59,129
2 Solshing 4 Complete & operational. Classroom Rs. 9,22,137
3 *Kotgaon 2 Complete & operational. Classroom Rs. 2,00,000
4 Lekharka (Carried on from 2012)
4 Complete & operational. Classroom Rs. 4,23,855
5 Ichowk 2 Complete (to be used from 1st
week of Aug, 14)
Classroom (ECD) Rs. 8,75,531
6 Gufa 2 Near completion (to be used from 1st
of Sept, 14)
Classroom Rs. 6,46,726
7 Namlang 4 Work in Progress Classroom Rs. 11,50,000
8 Nakote 3 Complete & operational. Boarding House Rs. 7,50,000
9 Tartong 2 Complete & operational. Classroom Rs. 2,74,918
10 *Kiul (Bhumeshori) 4 Near completion Library, Science Lab and Computer Lab
Rs. 2,50,000
11 Dhundeni 2 Near completion (to be used from 1st
of Sept, 14)
Classroom Rs. 6,50,000
12 *Churetar 3 Near completion (to be used from 1st
of Sept, 14)
Classroom Rs. 2,50,000
13 *Birkharka (Rs. 50,000 to be paid)
3 Completed Classroom Rs. 50,000
Total 34 Rs. 66,02,296 NB: * shows classroom buildings carried out in partnership with the government or other partner funding; e.g. at Birkharka
and Churetar, our contribution has been based on what is required to complete the rooms.
The total expenditure in completing the 34 classrooms in the 13 schools has been Rs. 67,13,057.
3.1.1.2. TOILET BUILDINGS
Building toilet facilities at schools is vital for improving the schools'
sanitation as well as increasing girls’ attendance. In the past, we
found that many girls didn't attend schools regularly or dropped out
of schools that lacked proper toilet facilities. While some schools
have toilets, they were often inadequate, resulting in students
wasting time waiting for the toilet or having to go off site to find
toilets.
Thus, our focus has been in ensuring that schools have separate
toilets for boys and girls. This year we have supported toilet building
projects at three schools in Solshing, Namlang and Gufa. While the Solshing
toilet block was completed in August 2013, the toilet building at Gufa has
just been completed in June, 2014. We are now at the final stage of work to
complete the building of a toilet
block at Namlang, which will be
for 6 small cubicles, 3 each for
boys and girls.
The total expenditure on building toilet facilities has been Rs. 3,75,000 and the local community contributed a
huge amount of free labour.
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
5 RESULTS TO DATE | www.help-nepal.org
3.1.1.3. DRINKING WATER SUPPLY
Unavailability of drinking water at
schools disturbs regular
operation of classes as children
must go off site to find water or
suffer from dehydration. Also,
toilets cannot be properly
operated without a regular water
supply. At schools where we
provide this support, we provide
pipes to connect the school to a
reliable source (clean and
continuous water supply),
materials to construct a small
tank near the source and a
Hiltake tank at large schools
where water can be collected
during the night to maintain a
constant supply. At each of the schools, the villagers contributed labour to
lay the pipelines under the ground.
This year, we helped Nurbuling School get
a better water connection from its main
source by providing 400 meters of
pipeline at Rs. 20,000. A 1200m pipeline
and a 1000L hiltank and stand were
provided to Lekharka at a total cost of Rs.
90,000. 800-meters of pipe was laid at
Gufa to help them connect to a reliable
water source at a cost of Rs. 75,000. At
Namlang, which is a large school with
over 550 students, we helped build a
concrete tank at a more reliable source
and to install a 900 meter pipeline at a cost of Rs. 100,000. As soon as the
new classroom and the toilet building are complete, the villagers will be
working on installing drinking water taps around the school premises.
The total expenditure on installing reliable drinking water supplies has been Rs. 2,85,000.
3.1.1.4. FENCING, PLAYGROUND & RETAINING WALLS
Most of our partner schools are
located on terraced hills. As well
as preventing small children
falling down steep ledges that
surround the schools, fencing
prevents balls from rolling down
the mountain during play
activities. Also in some of the
schools, horned cattle enter into
the school compound and pose a
threat to the students. Having
the school area fenced and gated
not only ensures safety for
children, but also protects the
schools from theft during the
night.
Similarly, some schools lack
adequately sized playgrounds,
therefore expansion of the
playground becomes very
important to ensure that the
children get to play a variety of
sports. To keep the fencing and
playground as well as school
building solid and strong, there is
sometimes also the need of building a retaining wall so that the monsoon
rain doesn't weaken and wash the fencing away. This year, we helped the
following schools under this heading. The table below shows the details
of the work done.
The total expenditure on the heading of fencing, playground and retaining walls this year of Rs. 6,35,000.
In total on the basic infrastructure side, we expended a total of Rs. 78,97,296.
S. No. School Activities Carried Out Status Budget
1 Solshing Playground Expansion and Fencing Complete 1,25,000
2 Kotgaon Playground Expansion and Fencing Fencing Complete and Playground Expansion in progress
2,20,000
3 Ichowk Fencing Complete 90,000
4. Nurbuling Fencing Complete (50 % support pending) 75,000
5 Birkharka Retaining Wall Complete 100,000
6. Gufa Playground Work in Progress 25,000
Total Rs. 6,35,000
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
6 RESULTS TO DATE | www.help-nepal.org
3.1.2. VITAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
3.1.2.1. LIBRARY BOOKS AND MANAGEMENT
Libraries help students to
develop their reading skills and
enhance their creativity and
imagination. Libraries engage
students to get a broader
understanding of the subjects
they study at school and expand
their vocabulary. Having a library
is not only helpful for the
students to gain extra resources
but also for the teachers, who
can use the books as a reference
to provide additional information
about the subjects they teach.
We have encouraged the schools
to make a weekly schedule for
different classes to use the
library facility.
As part of the library support programme, we provide
library books (200-400 per school depending on the
level of the school) and usually the partner schools
build shelves for the storage and display of the books.
This year, we funded the establishment of mini library facilities at 4 schools - Lekharka, Solshing, Namlang and Gufa. Shree Bhotenamlang, a secondary school, received over 400 books, Solshing received some 320
books and the remaining two schools, which are primary level schools, received around 250 books each. In this case, we also provided each of these schools with funds to buy proper library shelving or to build it locally. Volunteers from abroad often bring books to their placement schools for both children and teachers and we strongly encourage this.
The total expenditure on providing library facilities has been Rs. 2,20,000.
Figure 2: Graph showing the
distribution of funds among the
different headings on BaSIS
(Resources), which mainly includes
support for programmes that are
more closely related to inside
classroom activities rather than to
infrastructures. The chart shows that
the resources are fairly evenly
distributed among the different
headings under BaSIS (Resources).
14%
7%
9%
5%
33%
4%
15%
13%
BaSIS (Resources) Expenditure 2013/14Library Books and Management
Textbooks Support Grant
Sports and Music Equipment
School Uniform Grant
Furniture
Science Lab Equipment
Nursery/ ECD/Classroom Decoration
Hostel Management and Equipment
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
7 RESULTS TO DATE | www.help-nepal.org
3.1.2.2. BOOK SUPPORT GRANT
The government has a programme to provide free textbooks, but
they use their own curriculum which is often not the one that most of
the schools are using. The replacement is more interactive, private
curriculum books, which are published in English, but are more
expensive, and parents in most villages cannot afford them. While
even private curriculum texts make repeated grammatical errors and
have content that may not always be suitable for the children’s
standard, they are nonetheless considered of a better standard than
the government books.
We have thus been providing a lump sum grant to various schools
based on the children’s financial
circumstances in order to subsidize the
cost of purchasing books from the private
curriculum if they wish so to do.
This year, we sponsored books for over 500 children from 9 schools at Rs. 100,000 in total.
3.1.2.3. SPORTS AND MUSIC EQUIPMENT
Sports and music equipment entice many children to come to
school on a more regular basis as they can play different
games with their peers, something they don't get to do at
their home. It is also our belief that children who participate
in sports and music activities have better cognitive skills.
Sports activities help children build team skills, self confidence
and creativity, and musical activities help with their emotional
development. Play activities during break time help children
to return to their classroom refreshed. We provided various
items of music and sports equipment to Lekharka, Namlang,
Solshing and Bangare Schools. At the beginning of the year,
we also assisted with sports equipment for all the 20 schools
that confirmed their participation in the Himalayan Olympics.
The cost of sponsoring Music and Sports Equipment for various schools
has been Rs. 1,40,000.
Further, around 20 sets of Manchester United Football Club (MUFC)
sponsored Football kits sent to us via our former volunteer, Paula
Nightingale, were handed over to Nurbuling School and Bhumeshwori
School, the team that bagged the
first and the third position
respectively in the Second
Himalayan Olympics (see Page 13
for details.)
Figure 3: Graph showing the lump sum
grant amounts provided for the
different partner schools. The amount
is largely based on the number of
students and socio-economic condition
of most of the communities the schools
are located in.
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
8 RESULTS TO DATE | www.help-nepal.org
3.1.2.4. SCHOOL UNIFORM GRANT
Wearing uniform is mandatory in Nepali
schools. It develops a sense of pride and
gives students a feeling of inclusion despite coming
from different ethnic groups or family economic
conditions. Often, having a good uniform becomes a
prime motivation for students to attend school. This
year, in an effort to make the program more
participatory and sustainable, we supported students,
recommended to us by the School Management
Committee, at Rs. 600 per head for uniform, shoes
and socks, while the parents contributed the rest. The
total expenditure on providing uniform grants has
been Rs. 82,000 on this programme.
3.1.2.5. FURNITURE (DESK & BENCHES, WHITEBOARDS & NOTICE BOARDS
Desks and Benches: For an interactive and effective
learning environment, it
is important for children
to feel comfortable in
their classrooms.
Government schools
receive very little
support for desks and
benches (D&B) and what
the community can
manage with their own
resources do not last long and are inadequate. This
means 5 to 6 children must sit on a bench that
normally seats 3. The but those who don't get too
tired to focus on their lessons and tend to leave school
early. This year, at Namlang School, more than 250
children did not have any desks and benches at all,
while the classrooms that had
desks and benches were
seriously overcrowded
Thus, to manage enough desks
and benches, we provide the
metal frames, while the local
community fixes wooden planks
on them.
We provided 10 sets of desks
and benches each at Nurbuling, Nakote, Kotgaon and
Gunsa (A) at a cost of Rs. 95,000. At Lekharka, we
provided 12 sets of desks and benches at Rs. 30,000.
And at Namlang alone we provided over 75 sets of
desks and benches at a total cost of Rs. 2,45,000.
So, in total, we provided 127 sets of desks and benches at a cost of Rs. 3,70,000.
Figure 4: Graph showing number of students
that received uniform support at each school
and the corresponding grant amounts. Amount
of uniform support is largely based on total
number of students in the school and the
economic condition of the villages.
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
9 RESULTS TO DATE | www.help-nepal.org
White Boards and Notice Boards: Whiteboards (WB)
or blackboards (BB) help teachers explain what they
are teaching more clearly. Notice boards (NB) help
students and parents to keep updated on what is
happening at their school. Also, children draw
and write articles to decorate their classrooms, the
best of which may be selected and pasted on the NB
for children’s encouragement.
To make sure that the new academic sessions at the schools start smoothly, we funded a total of Rs. 1,27,000 to
provide 30 new whiteboards and 10 new notice boards at various partner schools.
The total expenditure on furniture including desks and benches, whiteboards and notice boards was Rs. 4,97,000.
3.1.2.6. SCIENCE LAB EQUIPMENT
Practical lessons, which are only possible with the
correct science lab equipment, help children
understand better and inspire an interest in science.
We provide the basic science lab equipment according
to the curriculum for lower secondary and secondary
level schools, for which the school should have a
separate room and a qualified science teacher as a
prerequisite. Science is the subject with one of the
lowest pass rates (along with English), mainly because
lack of practical work
makes science difficult to
understand.
This year, we provided
science lab equipment to
Namlang School and
supported Nakote School
to update their science lab
equipment.
The total expenditure on science lab equipment was Rs. 60,000.
3.1.2.7. NURSERY CLASSROOM/ ECD MANAGEMENT/CLASROOM DECORATION
The government recommends
that classes up to grade 2 have a
floor seating arrangement to
provide a child friendly
environment, where children can
learn by playing, singing and
other activities. Most of our partner schools don't have ECD programmes
and the children go straight into class one, where the classrooms are set
up with desks and benches. We partner with communities to set up the
youngest children’s classrooms in a child friendly setting and this year, we
supported ECD classroom management in Kumbeshowri School at Gunsa,
Kyulethane School at Gufa, Dabsung Primary School, Dabsung and Majuwa
ECD Centre, Pading.
The cost of setting up these various ECD facilities has been Rs. 1,80,000.
Further, at a recommendation of our previous volunteers, we helped
Bhumeshowri to paint their classes for 7,8, 9 and 10 and decorate them
with relevant educational materials useful for their academic purpose at a
cost of Rs. 50,000.
Figure 5: Graph showing number
of WB and NB provided at the
start of this academic session to
various partner schools that
either didn't have them in
adequate numbers or hadn't
received any in the past or were
HELP's new partner schools.
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3.1.2.8. HOSTEL EQUIPMENT FACILITY
As education quality has improved in some of our partner
schools, we have supported a couple of them to run a
boarding facility to make their education accessible for
children from elsewhere in the region. We helped set up a
boarding house at Nurbuling School in 2011, which has
grown to host 75 children. In 2014, we have started helping
Nakote School to set up a hostel facility, particularly to host
girls.
In August of 2013, we helped provide 6 additional new sets
of beds and bedding to Nurbuling school at a cost of Rs.
40,000. In May of 2014, we funded a whole range of
equipment required for Nakote School to run the boarding
house at a cost of Rs. 1,50,000.
In total, we have funded Rs. 1,90,000 towards expanding and setting up hostel facilities this year.
Our total expenditure on funding vital educational resources has been Rs. 15,19,000.
Overall, under BaSIS (including infrastructures and resources), we have spent a total of Rs. 94,16,296, making up
the majority of our budget.
3.2. EDUCATION QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME (EQuIP) While improving the physical infrastructure of a school
and providing basic educational resources are crucial
first steps towards creating a better learning
environment, we recognise that improving the quality
of education requires much more than this. Besides a
lack of resources, some of the key problems our
partner schools face are inadequately trained,
unmotivated teachers, poor management and
monitoring of academic progress, and a lack of
engagement with education on the part of the
community and parents. EQuIP aims to open up
spaces for teachers, children and local communities to
engage with and take charge of education and
experience growth and development both at a
personal and institutional level.
Under EQuIP, following are the key activities
undertaken.
1. Providing grant for funding additional
teachers’ salaries.
2. Designing, organizing and delivering training and
workshop opportunities for teachers.
3. Designing, organizing and delivering training and
workshop opportunities for SMC members.
4. Providing support to encourage maximum
child oriented activities and events at the schools and
outside to promote their leadership skills, enhance
their confidence and foster hidden talents.
Figure 6: Pie-chart showing expenditure on
different headings under EQuIP. Teachers grant
support, which has covered a large chunk of our
expenditure this year is our largest ongoing project.
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3.2.1. TEACHERS SUPPORT GRANT Teachers support is the largest ongoing project under
EQuIP, which we hope the government or the
community themselves will take over in the near
future. At most of our partner schools, there are fewer
teachers than classes being run. We have been
providing teacher support grants to fund the salaries
of 17 additional teachers to work across 10 different
schools. The school or the local community normally
contributes 30% of the total salary.
Based on the schools’ performance and need, we have
been providing funding for additional teachers since
2010 and on an average the expenditure on this
heading is near to £8500 per annum. We (HELP and
MCF) would like to thank various donors including
some very generous individuals like Jonathan Turner
who provided us £5,000 in 2012 and Osaumu
Yamagati who provided us £2,000 whose donations
are spent on covering the cost of teachers' salaries.
HELP is also thankful to International Teachers
Association (ITA) Denmark which funds the salaries of
one additional teacher in Tartong and two teachers in
Nakote. Alongside this generous help , donations
raised by our volunteers are also used to cover a large
part of the expenses under this heading.
The total expenditure on funding grants for the salaries of additional teachers has been Rs. 15,18,300.
3.2.2. TRAININGS AND WORKSHOPS
We hold a number of workshops, gatherings and
training events to help teachers understand and
address many of the day-to-day problems experienced
in the classroom. Particularly, we have aimed at how
teachers can mprove their teaching techniques and
skills, become more interactive and engaging in their
teaching style, and more confident. Some of the
major training activities held in the last 12 months are
described below.
3.2.2.1. TEACHER’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (TPD) TRAINING
We organized a week long teachers’ training in October, during the Dashain and Tihar festivals vacation, for some 18 teachers from 11 partner schools at the Career Training Foundation (CTF), a private training institute. The training focused on teaching methodology, classroom management, developing teaching materials, child psychology, Multiple Intelligence (MI) and effective lesson planning.
On 19th and 20th December, we
arranged for one of the senior trainers
from the training institute to go on a
follow up visit to observe the
implementation of the training at
Kotgaon and Gunsa School. The trainer
provided feedback, which the teachers
found very helpful. The teachers at both
the schools appreciated our follow up of
the training, something they had not
experienced before from government
trainings.
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3.2.2.2. TRAINING ON TEACHING USING MORE INTERACTIVE SKILLS
Lindsay Harford, a former teacher and educationalist
in the UK organized separate training sessions in the
two valleys on "Improving teaching skills and students’
learning" to make classroom teaching more
interactive. 28 teachers, of which 9 were female, from
17 different schools in the Helambu and
Gunsa regions attended the sessions,
walking as much as three hours to attend.
Both the training days proved to be very
interactive and participatory. The training
mainly targeted three key elements of
teaching and learning, i.e., planning how to
understand, different ways of learning and
lastly how to make things simple for
learning. These elements were all later
discussed, worked out and explained both
individually and in groups.
This training was held at two venues namely Shree Kumbheshwori Primary, Gunsa on 3rd May 2014 and then at Kiul Resource Centre on the 4th of May. Our colleagues, David Tashi Lama and Priska Komaromi co-facilitated the training.
This training was designed and sponsored by Ian and Lindsay Harford at almost no cost to HELP.
Testimony by Tika Uprety from Timbu:
“The training was a grand success. It not only focused on the pedagogical aspects but also in utilizing teachers skills to
the utmost possibility to simplify the tasks we assign and present to our students taking into account of all the level
and types of learners.”
3.2.2.3. TRAINING ON TEACHING MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT
In co-ordination with Kiul Resource Centre and
another NGO, Child Nepal, we co-sponsored
training on “Teaching Material Development” from
the 10th to the 14th May 2014. It is not always
financially possible for schools to purchase
educational resources or materials for resources.
This makes teaching, especially in lower classes,
very difficult. Thus, the training was organized to
encourage the pre-primary level teachers to make
educational materials from locally available
resources. 10 ECD centre helpers and 22 grade
teachers teaching in grade 1 participated in this training.
Besides these activities, we held an interaction programme with headmasters and SMCs to discuss their annual
school improvement plans, organized a gathering of the HELP Teachers to discuss their teaching experiences,
challenges, and potential solutions and an interaction with Principals and SMC Chairs of higher secondary level
schools in the region on how tertiary education can be improved and localized for students from the Helambu
region.
The total cost of carrying out these various training activities has been Rs. 2,41,249.
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Figure 7: Graph showing
number of participants
(boys, girls and overall)
from the various partner
schools in the Second
Himalayan Olympics.
Suffixes 'P' and 'L' to school
names mean schools
competing in the Primary
and Lower Secondary
categories respectively.
3.2.3. EXCURSIONS
A large chunk of Social Studies- a compulsory subject, is related to culturally and historically important sites, most of which are located in the Kathmandu valley. However, most children don't go to Kathmandu until they complete their SLC. So, their knowledge on this subject is limited to books with little or no practical understanding of such things. Opportunities like this provide children a much needed exposure and confidence to think beyond their small villages and to view the outside world from a different perspective. Nakote and Gunsa School: We organized a tour of Kathmandu valley for 40 students from grades 5 to 8. During the 4 days,
the students visited important sites like Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Changu Narayan, Pashupatinath, Bouddhanath; visited some exciting places like Chobhar and Central zoo and participated in a cultural show at City Hall, movie at KL Tower and wall climbing at Pasang Lhamu Foundation. The students enjoyed the trip very much and some of them even wrote reports on their experiences, which were evaluated as part of their curriculum.
The school and students contributed half the cost, while HELP subsidized the other half using funding from volunteers’ donations.
The total cost of this excursion for the two schools was Rs. 1,10,000.
3.2.4. SECOND HIMALAYAN OLYMPICS
After the successful 1st Himalayan Olympics in 2012, we organized the second Himalayan Olympics at Nurbuling School from the 10th to the 12th of April, 2014. Around 316 children from 20 HELP Partner Schools- 10 primary and 10 lower secondary participated in this three day event. Overall there were 19 events with separate categories for Primary
and Lower secondary level with further subcategories for boys and girls. The overall programme included training for sports teachers from all the partner schools, distribution of sports equipment to all the participating schools, organizing intra-school sports competition to select the best players for individual events and hosting the 3 day event. The event had
significant participation of girls from the different schools, with some schools having up to 70% girls’ participation.
Nurbuling, Yangrima and Bhumeshwori came first,
9
5 5
7 7 7
13
9
5
9
4 4
10 10
7
56
78
4
4 51
8 86 6
42
6
10
18
12 11 1214
9 10 11
18
13
10
6
15 15
13
19
13
7
1514
22 2221
19 19
15
17
19
22
0
5
10
15
20
25
Participants No. by Partner Schools
Girls No.
Boys No.
Total
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second and third respectively in the lower secondary category while Tartong, Churetar and Kotgaon stood first, second and third respectively in the primary category. The tournament was a much-improved version of the Himalayan Olympics held in 2012, with the local host school taking all responsibility for the organization and logistics of the event. For further details, please see our Second Himalayan Olympics Report or Second Himalayan Olympics Pictorial Report or Second Himalayan Olympics Video.
The total expenditure for Himalayan Olympics was Rs 6,27,500, or Rs. 1985 per participating child. The funds were raised from various sources including Rs. 91,500 from Helambu Project, a donation of Rs. 65,000 from Melamchi Drinking Water Project as well as entry fees of Rs. 3,000 from each participating school. MondoChallenge Foundation contributed Rs. 3,12,000 which included funds raised through volunteers and individual supporters.
Our expenditure under the EQuIP program has been Rs. 24,97,049 this year.
Figure 8: As shown in the bar graph, Tartong, Churetar and Kotgaon; and Nurbuling, Yangrima and Bhumeshwori bagged first,
second and third position respectively in the Primary and Lower Secondary categories correspondingly. 'P' and 'L' at the end of
names have the same connotation as in Figure 7.
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3.3. VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMME The volunteering programme we run has a long
history attached to it. Some of us at HELP, including
Jimmy, went to Yangrima school in Helambu where
many volunteers from abroad came to teach in the
1990s.
From having been taught by volunteer teachers
during our own school days and having gained so
much out of the experience, we developed our own
Volunteering Program with support from our past
volunteers from Cambridge. Through CU HELP
committee, we now get over 50 volunteers a year
and this programme is primarily aimed at helping
improve students' overall English standard, but also
to bring new ideas and energy into the classroom.
Further, International Teachers Association has helped
us to recruit some Danish volunteers.
In 2013, we received a total of 46 volunteers to work
at 12 schools, and the volunteers raised donation in
excess of £17,000. Funds raised by volunteers this year
helped us fund several of our core projects. You can
find more about this in our HELP Volunteers Funds
Impact Report 2013.
So far in 2014, we have already had 14 volunteers,
including four from our new partnership with
Loughborough University in Spring 2014, who
sponsored and worked on various school painting and
improvement works. We are expecting a further 45
volunteers from the University of Cambridge this
summer.
In preparation for this year’s volunteer placements,
we held two Volunteer Orientation days for head
teachers, local English teachers, hosts and SMC
chairmen of our placement schools, explaining the
school’s responsibilities, as well as how to make the
most effective use of volunteers’ time. This was
particularly important for the schools who will be
receiving their first ever volunteers this year.
Figure 9: Graph showing
spread of volunteers across
partner schools in 2013.
Altogether 13 schools
received 2 or more
volunteers. This year, we are
preparing to host over 60
volunteers to work across 18
of our partner schools just
during the summer.
Namlang, Lekharka, Pating,
Timbu and Gufa will receive
volunteers for the first time
this year.
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3.4. PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS Often we meet organizations and individuals whose work and mission is in line with our own. This year, we have
continued our partnership with School in a Bag as well as Kids on the Grid.
3.4.1. SCHOOL IN A BAG (SIAB)
SIAB is a partnership project sponsored by Piers Simon
Appeal (a UK charity) to help children around the
world in poor communities and in difficult situations.
Our aim with this programme is to help reduce
students drop out rates, irregular attendance and
absenteeism, and increase enrolments. The bags are
filled with stationery materials as well as a lunch box
and umbrella. It is also aimed at increasing parent’s
awareness and engagement with the school and their
children’s education and help reduce the financial
burden of poor families.
We have so far distributed over 1650 bags and refilled
500 bags with vital stationary and educational
materials as part of phases 3 and 4
of the School in a Bag project in
the last 12 months.
In Phase 3, we refilled 503 bags in
schools that received SIAB in Phase
I where parents lacked the
resources to provide their children
with stationary.
In Phase 4, we distributed 100 School Bags to students
from 7 schools in the Haibung VDC in coordination
with the District Education Office. The goal of phase 4
was to ensure the admission of some 100 or more
students staying out of school by providing them with
school bags.
Similarly, we distributed some 57 bags to support girls
attending Timbu School from far off villages who walk
anywhere between one to two hours each day to
reach school.
The total donations we received in the last 12 months for the SIAB project was at Rs. 13,47,790. The expenditure
on Phase 3 and 4 of SIAB has been Rs. 5,41,250 and in August 2014 we are planning to distribute some 650 more
bags (Phase 5).
Figure 10: Graph showing the
number of students whose bags
were refilled in Phase III against total
student number in different schools.
Number of students whose bags
were refilled depended the total
student number as well as the
economic level of the villages the
schools are located in.
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3.4.2. KIDS ON THE GRID (KOTG) Kids On The Grid is a project that began in
2012 initiated by Chloe Harford (Jimmy’s
former teacher when he was at Yangrima).
This collaboration aims to connect children
in rural Helambu to the internet. In 2012,
we handed over 25 laptop computers to 6
different schools to help them run
computer classes. To complement this, we
organized a training session for computer teachers during
the summer vacation.
Ian and Lindsay Harford, parents of Chloe
Harford, brought 7 more laptops to Nepal in
2014, which have been distributed to Nakote,
Timbu and Nurbuling schools. In order to
explore partnerships with other
organizations/ individuals doing similar
projects in Nepal, Ian Harford held a one to
one to meeting with Mr. Mahavir Pun who
has successfully set up internet connections in rural western
Nepal.
3.4.3. GREENHOUSE BUILDINGS
To pilot a livelihood project, this
year we have also partnered
with Tom Wagner of Green
Building Associates in the US to
launch green Hhuse building
projects in Helambu. Mr.
Wagner visited a couple of
villages in Helambu including
Tartong and has donated $1000 for greenhouse
projects. Mr. Sameer Bajracharya helped us design
the greenhouse and Mr. Yogi Kayastha of Humla
Development Initiative (HDI), in cooperation with our
former colleague David Tashi Lama, provided the
expertise to set them up. While
the greenhouses at Tartong and
Ribarma are complete and the
farmers have already started
consuming and selling their
produce, the greenhouses at
Nurbuling, Thalo and Gunsa have
just been completed. Apart from
Gunsa, four other greenhouses have been built using
the GERES structure. We plan to do more greenhouses
this year in partnership with Tom Wagner and Humla
Development Initiative.
The cost of building each Greenhouse was approximately Rs. 22,000, bringing our total expenditure on this project
to Rs. 1,10,000.
Under the Partnership Projects, our total expenditures have been Rs. 14,57,790.
3.5. SCHOLARSHIP AND SPONSORSHIP PROGRAMME (S & S)
3.5.1. SCHOLARSHIPS
Since 2010, we have awarded scholarships to more
than 80 students passing their SLC. Graduates of the
Scholarship Scheme have returned to their
communities as teachers, become involved in local
politics, pursued further study, often in fields such
as medicine and nursing, or gone on to work in
development organisations. In 2013, we awarded
scholarships to 27 students from 14 schools. Each
scholarship is worth between Rs 12,000 and Rs. 20,000
depending on students’ needs and their overall
Figure 11: Graph showing number of Scholarships we
have provided for boys and girls since the start of the
programme. While expanding the programme in
numbers, we have also covered students from
increasing number of partner schools reaching 14
schools this year starting from just Melamchigaon in
2010 which now extends to the whole of Helambu
valley and the Upper Indrawati valley.
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circumstances. We also set up a MONDO HELP
Excellence Award, worth Rs. 15,000 for the student
securing the highest percentage in SLC among
community managed government schools from the
Sindhupalchok district.
To fund this programme, we received generous
support of Rs. 4,30,000 from Freedom on Ice (funded
by Laura Levtov) to support 21 girls. MondoChallenge
donated Rs. 1,24,890 and the rest Rs. 75,000 came
from our past volunteers (Miskako Ohashi and David
Low).
Our total expenditure on scholarships was approximately Rs 6,30, 000.
For the Scholarships Scheme this year, we received nearly 100 applications from schools from across the Helambu
region.
3.5.2. SPONSORSHIPS
The child sponsorship
programme we do operates at a
very small scale to support
children from vulnerable family
situations. Under this
programme, we have been
supporting 13 children at
Nurbuling School who have lost
one or both parents to ensure
that the children have access to
quality education regardless of
their family situation. We spent
Rs. 1,57,000 for Nurbuling
Boarders Sponsorship in 2013.
Similarly, we have supported 2
students by the name of Ang
Maya and Karshang Lama who
has very difficult condition both
their parents have passed away.
They were students a Sarkathali
Primary School until last year and
now are boarding at Melamchigaon School to continue higher classes. We
are supporting their tuition, stationery and uniform expenses at a total cost
of Rs. 55,000.
We have also been
supporting two
children to attend
Deneb International
School in Kathmandu
since 2009 due to their
special circumstances,
at the cost of Rs.
100,000 annually.
Further, we supported
two students from
Nurbuling to study at
Yangrima and Timbu at
the sponsorship value
of Rs. 21,000. We are
thankful to Paula Nightingale and Dave and Ingle Chandler for contributing
towards the sponsorship project. Our total expenditure for Sponsorship
programs has been Rs. 3,33,000.
Our total expenditure on both Scholarship and Sponsorship programs has been Rs. 9,63,400.
Figure 12: Graph showing the
distribution of applicants by partner
schools in the Helambu region and
others where we have sponsored
students for their scholarships. We
have altogether received 90
applications this year, up from 55
we received last year.
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3.6. OTHER ACTIVITIES
3.6.1. VILLAGE EDUCATION PROGRAMME (VEP)
At the request of Kiul VDC resource person, we funded the Kiul VDC to produce VEP as part of the requirement from the
government. We provided a sum of Rs. 10,000 to the KIUL VDC Resource Person to develop the VEP and we are very satisfied
with the report that was produced afterwards.
3.6.2. SERKATHALI DISASTER RELIEF EMERGENCY FUNDING A village house in Serkathili where often the school, teachers and our past volunteers were hosted was burnt down to the
ground. We were very sorry to witness the sadness of the house owner and particularly to see the children who no longer had a
home. The whole community started raising funds to rebuild the house as quickly as possible and they also requested us if we
could provide any support. While this is not an educational project, on humanitarian grounds, we decided to provide a sum of
Rs. 25,000 to the affected family.
4. FINANCEOur total income in the fiscal year 2013/2014 was
Rs 15,248,631 (fifteen million two hundred forty
eight thousands six hundred and thirty one
rupees only) and our total expenditure was Rs.
15,490,097 (fifteen million four hundred ninety
thousands and ninety seven rupees only). Of the
total income, around 17% (Rs. 26 lakhs or £17K)
came from volunteers funding, thanks to the
volunteers fundraising efforts.
Nearly 62% of the total budget (or Rs.
9,4162,296) was spent on BaSIS (Basic School
Infrastructure Improvement Scheme) projects,
and 16% (around Rs. 2497049) on EQuIP
(Education Quality Improvement Programme)
projects. Our Partnership Projects made up to
nearly 9.5% of the total budget (around Rs.
1457790), of which our ‘School in a Bag” alone
was at 8.5% income, thanks to Luke Simon at PSA!
Our other projects, namely sponsorship and
scholarships made up just over 6% of our budget
so far (around Rs. 953400). We are very pleased
to report that we have been able to keep our
overhead expenditure very low at 6 % or Rs.
1045680, of which more than Rs. 1,50,000 was
earned from our popular Teach and Trek
Programme. We hold reserves of Rs. 1,41,747,
which makes less than 0.7% of the total budget,
which are earmarked for some projects to be
spent on.
NB: The reserves hold for sponsorship of a
student's medical at Birkharka and payable bills
for the School in a Bag Programme.
Figure 13: income sources of all income in the year 2013/14.
Figure 14: Pie-chart showing the expenditure headings and percentage of expenditure on particular headings.
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5. PROJECT VISITS
5.1. MONDOCHALLENGE FOUNDATION TEAM AND HELP SUPPORTERSExecutive members, trustees, and representatives from different
supporters of HELP gave their time to visit our partner schools.
MondoChallenge Foundation Chief Executive Mr. Anthony Lunch visited
some of the schools where major construction works were under
progress. MondoChallenge Foundation trustees also visited several
schools. Between all, Pating, Solsing, Ichowk, Nurbuling, Nakote,
Melamchigaon, Gunsa, Thangpalkot, Lekharka, Bhotenamlang, Gufa and
some new schools were visited. The ITA Team including Jytte Svendsen,
and Elizabeth visited Nakote and Tartong schools separately.
5.2. IAN AND LINDSAY HARFORD Ian Harford and Lindsay Harford- parents of
Chloe Harford who initiated Kids on the Grid
Project in 2012, visited many of the villages
in the Helambu region to be familiar with
the education system before organizing
teacher training in the two valleys. During
their visit, they also helped us distribute
school bags as part of our SIAB Partner
Project at Timbu School and handed over
laptop computers they had brought as part
of Kids On the Grid Project, to some of our
partner schools.
5.3. ACTION4ASIA Action4Asia is a charity that is
raising money and documenting
the works of social development
organizations in Asia through
team members cycling 9000
miles across Asia. Three such
members, David Paul Cook, Paul
Cave and Arja Grenager Sormo
visited 4 of our partner schools in
Gufa, Namlang, Lekharka and
Gunsa. The team's focus was to
document the overall works and
activities of HELP and its
volunteering programme in order
to produce a short video later on.
(Pic: Action4Asia team with the HELP team celebrating the World
Environment Day 2014- 'Raise your voice not sea level' at Gufa School.)
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6. NEWS AND DEVELOPMENT
6.1. JIMMY LAMA
For HELP/MCF Nepal Director Jimmy
Lama, the year 2014 began with
important milestones to cross in his
life. Soon after graduating from IDS,
University of Sussex, England at the
end of January, 2014, where he was
also elected as the Nepal's IDS
Alumnae Ambassador, he tied the
knot with his long time fiancée Dhiki Lama. We congratulate him and his wife and wish him a happy conjugal life
ahead.
6.2. RETREATThis year, we have had two
retreats, one in December and
another just recently in the
first week of July. These
retreats are basically about
going out of our normal
working environment with the
full team to rejuvenate
ourselves so that we can return to work as a better team. For the first retreat, we went to Trishuli coinciding with the
departure of our former colleague Mingmar. Our second retreat, to Pokhara, Tansen and Bhandipur was also timed
to bid farewell to our very wonderful intern Priska Komaromi.
6.3. BOARD OF GOVERNANCE HELP has grown phenomenally since its humble beginning five years ago. We therefore felt it was time to create
some clarity and reorganization in the governance structure of the organization. We are working to formalize a new
system of governance at HELP with support from his current board and advice from donors and supporters over the
next six months.
6.4. STAFFING AND NEW OFFICE LOCATION The core team members at HELP are the most crucial part of the organization. Especially because we have such a small team, it is vital we have the right people with the right responsibilities in order to ensure all operations run smoothly. HELP has realized that in order to professionalize the organization, a new dynamic team with newly defined positions is necessary. We have therefore been recruiting for a Programme Manager to manage the EQuIP and Volunteering Programme as well as an Admin and Communications Officer to provide strong support to the whole team. Some 400 plus applications have been received and we are now at the final stage of the selection process. Come August, HELP will be joined by new faces and we are looking forward to working with our new colleagues. As a small charity, we try to keep our overhead as low as possible, thus for the initial few years we ran our projects without even a proper office. However, as we have grown in activity and the number of people working at the office, we are forced to have a bigger space. Thus, we are now moving to a new office, which has much larger space. The new office will be located at Pasang Lhamu Road, Mahankal, Boudha, the map of which can be found here and will soon be uploaded on our website.
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6.5. INTERNS
Priska Komaromi, who
volunteered at Nurbuling School
in 2011 and served as CU HELP
President in 2013 joined us as an
intern at HELP in April 2014. She
has spent three months working
on various projects, including
improving and expanding the
volunteering programme, enhancing HELP’s online presence and
communications strategy and various organizational documents, as well as
gaining an in-depth insight into HELP and its partner schools. She also
worked on exploring HELP get some corporate contacts in Nepal and will
explore more back in Europe. Part of the expenses of her trip was funded
by MondoChallenge
Foundation.
Alongside Priska, we have
recruited two Nepalese interns
from Kathmandu University,
who have been working on
developing a Local Volunteers
Programme (see below), creating a health awareness programme for some
of our partner schools and helping us evaluate the impact of our School in a
Bag programme. Rabindra GC and Iroj Shrestha spend half their time in our
Office and the rest in the field.(Pic: left- Rabindra GC; right: Iroj Shrestha)
6.6. WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
With help from two
interns, Priska
Komaromi and Iroj
Shrestha, and
additional support
from Mr. Manish
Shakya, we have been
carrying out a
complete overhaul of
our website at
www.help-nepal.org
and will be launching it
on the 1st of September 2014.
6.7. LOCAL VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMME In a bid to further support our partner schools, we are currently developing a Local Volunteering Programme to
encourage talented, motivated and skilled Nepalese students/youth to volunteer in remote villages. We are calling
this project Serve First and already some 13 Nepalese volunteers have been confirmed to take part in teaching
activities across 7 schools.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
CU HELP
CU ELST
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
23 APPENDIX | www.help-nepal.org
APPENDIX
APPENDIX I: Mondo HELP PARTNER SCHOOLS SITE MAP
ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT- FISCAL YEAR 2013/14 (2070/71 BS)
24 APPENDIX | www.help-nepal.org
APPENDIX II: LIST OF HELP PARTNER SCHOOLS 2013/14 (2070/71)
S. No. School's Name Address Student No. Project Name
FIR
ST B
ATC
H O
F SC
HO
OLS
1. Shree Pema Chholing LSS Nakote, Helambu-06 120 Nakote
2. Shree Nurbuling LSS Kharkadanda, Kiul-09 130 Nubuling
3. Shree Deurali PS Tartong, Helambu-01 78 Tartong
4. Shree Serkathali PS Serkathali, Helambu 50 Serkathali
5. Shree Narayan LSS Ichowk, Ichowk-02 400 Ichowk
6. Shree Satdhara PS Bhirkharka, Kiul-02 97 Bhirkharka
7. Shree Risankhumani PS Dhundeni, Kiul-01 87 Dhundeni
8. Shree Golmadevi SS Timbu, Helambu 350 Timbu
9. Shree Chitre PS Chitre, Kiul-05 55 Chitre
20
11
10. Shree Melamchi Ghyang SS Melamchigaon, Helambu 255 Melamchigaon
11. Shree Dhapsung PS Dhapsung, Ichowk-01 21 Dhapsung
12. Shree Manikanteshwori PS Churetar, Kiul-01 120 Churetar
20
12
13. Shree Bhumeshwori HSS Muktitar, Kiul-01 399 Bhumeshwori
14. Shree Satkanyamati LSS Gunsa-02, Gunsa 280 Gunsa (A)
15. Shree Kumbheshwori PS Gunsa-08, Gunsa 160 Gunsa (B)
16. Shree Taltuleshwori PS Kotgaon, Thangpalkot 160 Kotgaon
17. Shree Bachchhalamai PS Lekharka,Thangpaldhap 140 Lekharka
18. Shree Pating LSS Pating, Ichowk 255 Pating
19. Shree Mahankaleshwori LSS Solsing, Ichowk 120 Solsing
20. Shree Keulethana PS Gufa, Jyamire 140 Gufa
21. Shree Chandika SS Baruwa, Baruwa 255 Baruwa
20
13
22. Shree Janapriya LSS Jaden, Banskharka 245 Jaden
23. Shre Sita PS Pipaldanda, Gaurati 130 Gaurati
201
4 24. Shree Bhotenamlang SS Namlang, Bhotenamlang 500 Namlang
25. Shree Harisiddhi PS Bangare, Ichowk 45 Bangare
*NB: PS, LS, SS and HSS stand for Primary School, Lower Secondary School, Secondary School and Higher Secondary
School respectively.
ON
LY S
CH
OLA
RSH
IP
PR
OG
RA
MM
E
PA
RTN
ER S
CH
OO
LS 26. Shree Saraswoti HSS Gyalthum, Mahankal Gyalthum
27. Shree Indreshwori HSS Melamchipul, Melamchi Indreshwor
i 28. Shree Raithane SS Raithane, Thangpalkot Raithane
29. Shree Mahendra HSS Suparitar, Ichowk Mahendra
30. Shree Kshetrapaleswori HSS Tipeni, Lagarche Tipeni
31. Shree Chilaune SS Manikharka, Thangpalkot Manikhark
a 32. Shree Balsudhar SS Keureni, Duwachaur Duwachaur
33. Shree Shitaladevi SS Baguwa, Shikharpur Shikharpur