2015 has been an incredibly challenging year for Nepal and its people. First the devastating earthquakes last spring and now the four-month blockade at the Indian border that’s threatening lives and causing even more economic damage.
Fuel is scarce; creating days-long lines at gas stations for what little is available. People are cooking outside with wood because there is no cooking fuel. Hospitals are turning away non-critical patients because of a shortage of medicine and supplies. The government continues to negotiate with the groups leading the protests, and we all hope there will be a resolution soon.
Knowing the incredible resilience of the people of Nepal, we are hopeful that 2016 will bring an end to the political discord and the country can move forward with its work of rebuilding.
Our staff is working hard to push forward with our programs and we continue to care for the children under our watch.
Please keep the people of Nepal in your hearts and thoughts this holiday season.
With warmest wishes for the year ahead,
Nepal Youth Foundation
Links:
NYF's vocational training program has improved the lives of hundreds of young women who spent their childhoods as household slaves in the now outlawed practice known as Kamlari.
An independent analysis of Nepal Youth Foundation's Vocational Education and Counseling Program found that the training programs raised the average age of marriage among the young women, more than doubled their incomes, and raised their overall financial and social well-being, placing a majority into Nepal's middle class.
The report was commissioned by NYF to assess the impact of our program on the former Kamlari.
All of the girls surveyed increased their percentage of home ownership and had attained material goods such as mobile phones, refrigerators, bicycles and savings accounts.
Last year, NYF provided long and short term training courses to 336 freed Kamlari. These courses train the former indentured servants for jobs in nursing, lab assistants, fashion design, printing, electronics, auto mechanics and plumbing.
We also provided career counseling to another 818 freed Kamlari to help them find the right career path.
NYF has provided vocational training to more than 1,000 youth with a 76 percent employment rate since the program began in 2007. Nearly half of Nepal's young people are either unemployed or underemployed.
Thank you for your support.
Namaste!
Links:
We are expanding our Vocational Education and Counseling Program to train young people and home owners from the villages in the construction skills needed to rebuild after the devastating earthquakes that struck Nepal earlier this spring.
NYF plans to build 1,000 homes after the monsoon is over at the end of the summer. We will provide the materials and training so families from the villages who have lost their homes can rebuild.
The design of the new pre-fab structures is seismically safe and will be made from environmentally sustainable materials.
NYF has worked closely with the Nepal government in the tentative design, incorporating its design and size recommendations. We have already started work on some houses in Kavre District, an area especially hard hit by the second earthquake that struck in May.
The estimated cost of each house is $1,000.
NYF trained nearly 500 young people last year in a range of vocational trades, ranging from farming to cell phone repair.
The earthquakes caused widespread devastation, taking nearly 8,700 lives, injuring 22,000 more, and destroying 800,000 family homes. Nearly 45,000 classrooms were also severely damaged, putting a million children out of school.
Thank you for your support.
Namaste!
Links:
Our Vocational Education and Counseling program (VECC) staff recruited and trained 45 young women to act as peer educators and to spread the word among freed girls about NYF’s vocational training opportunities. Currently, 422 young women who spent their childhoods as household slaves are enrolled in a variety of vocational training programs.
Mobilizing the peer educators has been vital in our efforts to reach the girls who live throughout a large expanse of Western Nepal, mostly in remote villages.
The new peer educators travel to villages to meet with the former Kamlaris (child slaves) and tell them about the opportunities available through NYF. They also encourage the young women to get involved with one of NYF’s 38 business cooperatives. Currently, 3,485 former Kamlari are members of the cooperatives and running small businesses ranging from beauty shops to pig farms.
NYF has rescued 12,702 girls from the now banned practice of Kamlari since 2000.
These training programs will prepare them for jobs as midwives, cooks, computer technicians, graphic designers, furniture makers, pharmacy technicians, and farmers.
All of these young people attend an orientation session and receive career counseling before beginning a training program.
Nearly half of all Nepalis – even those with advanced college degrees – cannot find a job. Yet plumbers and electricians are often recruited from neighboring countries because most young people in Nepal lack training in these and other skilled jobs.
Unfortunately, vocational counseling and training is severely lacking in Nepal, and without this kind of support many young people languish in unemployment and poverty.
VECC staff work with each student to help them decide whether to pursue higher education or vocational training for a particular career path. Our staff has conducted extensive research throughout Nepal to identify vocational courses that provide high quality training and have proven success in placing young people in satisfying jobs.
VECC staff then identifies the best training program for each student's chosen field, pays for the cost of training, and helps them to find jobs. In some cases, VECC provides graduates with support for starting a small business of their own. More than 80 percent of our graduates are now employed!
Thanks in large part to the generosity of our supporters, the VECC program is proving to be a highly effective means of putting impoverished youth on a track for life-long success.
Thank you and dhanyabad!
Links:
We expanded our Vocational Education and Career Counseling Program last year and provided career guidance, training and employment to 1,292 youth --- exceeding our goal by 252 young people!
All of these young people attended an orientation session and received career counseling. Nearly 500 youth enrolled in vocational training programs -- 184 in short term trainings and 294 in longer training programs. These training programs will prepare them for jobs as midwives, cooks, compter technicians, graphic designers, furniture makers, pharmacy technicians, and farmers.
Of the 478 new trainees, 379 are freed Kamlaris who spent their childhoods working essentially as slaves.
Nearly half of all Nepalis – even those with advanced college degrees – cannot find a job. Yet plumbers and electricians are often recruited from neighboring countries because most young people in Nepal lack training in these and other skilled jobs.
Unfortunately, vocational counseling and training is severely lacking in Nepal, and without this kind of support many young people languish in unemployment and poverty.
Nepal Youth Foundation’s VECC program provides career counseling and assessment, as well as short and long term vocational training programs. VECC staff work with each student to help them decide whether to pursue higher education or vocational training for a particular career path. Our staff has conducted extensive research throughout Nepal to identify vocational courses that provide high quality training and have proven success in placing young people in satisfying jobs.
VECC staff then identifies the best training program for each student's chosen field, pays for the cost of training, and helps them to find jobs. In some cases, VECC provides graduates with support for starting a small business of their own. More than 80 percent of our graduates are now employed!
We also offered preparatory classes for the freed Kamlari girls to help them pass the entrance examination for some of the highly sought-after technical training programs. As a result, 51 of 133 girls who took the classes passed the entrance exam and enrolled in the program.
Thanks in large part to the generosity of our supporters, the VECC program is proving to be a highly effective means of putting impoverished youth on a track for life-long success.
Asmita was sent away from her family and spent five years of her childhood working as a Kamlari indentured servant before NYF rescued her in 2004. After high school, we sponsored Asmita in an agricultural training program, and then she started her own farm with a loan from the freed Kamlari business co-op. Now Asmita tills the fields with her family by her side. She's also trained 40 other former Kamlari in farming to help ensure their independence.
Renu learned a trade and is studying for a college degree. Bright and hardworking, she received an NYF scholarship and finished high school, passing the SLC exam. Renu then completed the 18-month Auxiliary Nurse Midwife training program and now earns 15,000 rupees ($150) a month (good money in this impoverished country) helping to deliver babies at a small clinic in Western Nepal. But Renu still has larger ambitions, and so she continues in college working towards a bachelor’s degree.
Thank you for giving young women like Asmita and Renu a chance for a brighter future.
Namaste!
Links:
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.
