ABOUT NEPAL

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world’s youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People’s Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India.

Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in Asia with 31% of the population or 8 million people living below the poverty line. Nepal ranks 136 out of 177 countries in the UNDP list.

Due to caste discrimination, gender bias, economic circumstance or lack of facilities the poor lack formal education. This condemns them to a life on the edge of society, battling every day to survive. If the main earner falls sick or there is a natural disaster effecting opportunity, there is no medical insurance or financial safety net, and the impact on the family is quite literally critical. The poor have no option but to send their children out to work.

In Nepal, 800,000 children do not go to school. These children, like their parents miss out on a education and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. Educating girls and women is widely acknowledged as the most powerful and effective way to address poverty. Women who finish secondary school earn more money, have smaller, healthier families, and are more likely to educate their own children – breaking the cycle of illiteracy in one generation.