About Nepal

Nepal is famous for having 8 of the 10 highest peaks, including Everest, 7 world heritage sites in Kathmandu and elsewhere - and its people have a legendary reputation for hospitality. Nepal is also the land of the Gurkhas and the Sherpas - hardy peoples who have gained a worldwide reputation. A very devout society, with over 350,000 shrines, temples, chortens, stupas and other sacred places, the small land-locked Himalayan country of Nepal is little known in the West.

The majority of Nepalis face huge challenges. Today, Nepal is the 16th poorest worldwide and the poorest in SE Asia - with between ten and fifteen percent of it's most able working abroad to send funds back home. Whilst people living in Kathmandu and the Kathmandu Valley are relatively well-off, much of the rural population struggles to put food on the table. Almost half of the population live on under half a dollar a day. Infant and maternal mortality rates are high and life expectancy is 60 years on average. Only half can read or write.

There are massive disparities in education and health care provision across the caste system. In most river beds, the poorest crush stones into gravel and sand for sale to building sites. It takes 6 adults to crush stones for 15 days to raise 1000 Nepalese Rupees (around £7.50) between them. For remote villagers this can be a lifeline - albeit at the cost of teaching their children as young as 18 months old how to crush stones into sand - rather than being able to provide for their children's education.

Nepali society exhibits various feudal tendencies. Most of the land is owned by a narrow elite and the state and government are dominated by the top two castes (Bramin and Chettri). The political system has until recently been unresponsive to popular demands, corruption has been endemic and it's who, rather than what you know that counts. The extreme poverty in the rural regions fuelled a Maoist insurgency which since 1996 has claimed in the order of 16,300 lives.

With Jan Aandolan II (People's Movement II) in April 2006, the democratic Seven Party Alliance joined forces with the Maoists in peaceful protests which eventually forced the King to hand back power to the democratic authorities. The Trust's activities continued long after large INGOs such as DFiD were pulling out - and we only had to stop our work about two weeks before the revolution.

Since 2006, peace has held and following the Constituent Assembly elections in April 2008, it is all the more vital to work to rebuild this deeply damaged society. We have received the support of the leaders of the three main parties for our Radio Guru project - designed to level playing fields and offer young Nepalis a real future by establishing a national FM radio station to broadcast lessons recorded by the best teachers in the country. (This will overcome larger teacher-student ratios, weak teacher training and does not require the construction of roads, schools or the provision of transport. It also avoids some of the problems of walking 3 hours a day to and from school in heavy monsoon rains and over hazardous footpaths.) It will also for the first time, make education available to children currently working in the river beds..