help annual report 2013-14

evis

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


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

http://www.help-nepal.org/



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.


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.



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)


12 *Churetar 3 Near completion (to be used from 1st

of Sept, 14)


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.



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



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



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.



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.



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.



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.



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.



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.



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



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.

http://issuu.com/helpnepal/docs/second_himalayan_olympics_report/1



http://issuu.com/helpnepal/docs/second_himalayan_olympics_2014_pict

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyDcjSRvD6o



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.

http://issuu.com/helpnepal/docs/volunteer_funding_impact_report_201/0





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).


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.



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.



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.


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.


19 FINANCE | www.help-nepal.org

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.


20 PROJECT VISITS | www.help-nepal.org

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.)


21 NEWS AND DEVELOPMENT | www.help-nepal.org

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.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Chabahil+Chowk,+Ring+Rd,+Kathmandu+44600,+Nepal/27.7228206,85.3552246/@27.7205211,85.3485742,16z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x39eb197ada3e4963:0xbc420a370950f168!2m2!1d85.34658!2d27.717158!1m0!3e2

http://www.help-nepal.org/contact-us/


22 | www.help-nepal.org

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



23 APPENDIX | www.help-nepal.org

APPENDIX

APPENDIX I: Mondo HELP PARTNER SCHOOLS SITE MAP


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

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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

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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

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OLA

RSH

IP

PR

OG

RA

MM

E

PA

RTN

ER S

CH

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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

help annual report 2013-14

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evis annual progress

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teaching material development