Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

Help eliminate poverty; an education is especially important to woman. Once educated women practice birth control, take better care of their families, and educate their children. Only hope for Nepali children who would otherwise remain illiterate.

Project Message

Education is the only real ticket out of poverty for Nepali children.
- Olga Murray, NYOF Board President and Founder

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Janis Olson,
Executive Director
3030 Bridgeway, Suite 123
Sausalito, CA 94965
United States
415.331.8585
Email:

Project Sponsor

Marketplace 2005

Organization

Learn more about Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) and the project team.

Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF)'s Current Projects on GlobalGiving

Free and Educate 300 Bonded Nepali Girls

Rescue Children Suffering From Severe Malnutrition

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in Nepal and can also be found under Education.

For more information about Nepal, read the Human Development Report on Nepal or the Wikipedia entry for Nepal.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on August 03, 2008.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on August 16, 2007.

Latest Update from the Field

Update on NYOF's Rural Scholarships

By Olga Murray - President and Founder, June 25, 2008 05:07 PM

Although 70% of Nepali children enroll in primary school, many of them drop out before the fifth grade. In the rural areas where we work, the dropout rate is very high. Often, a family simply can't afford the cost of the school uniform and school supplies, or even the very small school fee.

In several rural districts in Nepal, we give scholarships to thousands of children to cover their school expenses. This is the first generation in most of these areas to receive an education. The cost—about $75 a year per child—is an incredible investment. An education will best prepare these youngsters for the very difficult future that awaits them, since an increasing number of the next generation in Nepal's overpopulated hills will inherit no land and will have no choice but to find their fortune in the cities.

We've seen some interesting ripple effects from this program. Our scholarships motivate parents other than those whose children we support to send their children to school, too. There is social pressure in the village when some kids go to school and others do not. (Keeping up with the Joneses, Nepali style.) Some parents hope that their children will also be sponsored if they start school. The headmaster at one school told us that there was a noticeable rise in general attendance at his school after our scholarship program began.

NYOF’s field worker visits the schools regularly to check on the children and to see how the school is functioning. To do the job, he walks the mountain paths of isolated rural areas, sometimes ten hours a day, stopping at various village schools along the way to survey the situation and discuss problems with the headmasters and students.

A super-generous donor is supporting the education of 400 girls in rural areas of Nepal for five years. Most of these are from the Dalit (untouchable) community. The members of these low castes are among the most downtrodden people in the world. A few of these girls have already graduated from high school, and there is a NYOF college schoolarship waiting for them.

We have asked some of the girls we support in rural schools to write about their lives and ambitions. Pushpa, a student in class five writes, “Despite the …adversities, I am not hopeless….I am studying hard because I am determined to become a nurse and take care of the poor.” Kamala, who is in the 8th grade says: “After getting this scholarship I have been able to go to school regularly and keep myself neat and clean.” And Menuka writes, “I am happy that this scholarship has provided an opportunity for us to get education on an equitable basis with other rich and high class people. We can also become a renowned person if we get equal access of education.”


Links:

• The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation
• NYOF's Scholarships

• NYOF's Spring 2008 Newsletter

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