Protect & Inspire Street Connected Children, Nepal

This year marks 25 years since Kidasha was officially founded as a charity and as a result we are launching a campaign to mark our Silver Jubilee and raise funds for our ongoing work in Nepal, where the current economic crisis and rising inflation is pushing families into extreme poverty. 

The challenges in terms of increasing needs, delivery constraints and reduced income we experienced during the COVID pandemic are being exacerbated and prolonged by soaring inflation and wider economic uncertainty.  Our target beneficiaries, whilst benefitting from some increase in labour opportunities in Nepal are still struggling to survive. Not only are all of them facing dramatic increases in food, fuel and other living costs, many are also under pressure to pay off debts built up during the pandemic. The unrelenting stress and anxiety within families is putting children at risk of increased domestic violence, alcohol abuse and neglect, which in turn leaves them prey to seeking misguided ‘respite’ through early marriage, child labour or by joining others living on the street. As such the need for effective protection and education support is greater than ever and our street shelter has a huge role to play in caring and rehabilitating these vulnerable children. 

Thank you as always for your support and if you were able to make another donation today, we would be very grateful.

With best wishes

The Kidasha Team

As thankfully the whole world emerges from the pandemic, we thought we would share with you an update about all our projects in Nepal during and after covid.

Throughout the height of the pandemic, unlike some others, the extraordinary dedication and commitment of the Kidasha team and our local partners ensured continued and increased support to the most vulnerable children and families. Now, whilst reported Covid rates in Nepal are minimal, the wider social and economic impacts of the pandemic are still being felt particularly by the very poorest, with many families struggling to survive in the absence of livelihood opportunities and many children being unable or unwilling to return to school after such a long gap. Hence it is imperative that we maintain the same, if not even greater level of commitment and help the most vulnerable to recover and thrive in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Our Rehabilitation Centre for Street Children has been operating at full capacity throughout the pandemic. It’s currently supporting 25 boys to recover physically and emotionally from their time on the streets, with the mission of reuniting them with their families wherever possible.  Our teams go above and beyond to continue supporting over 75 children that have passed through the centre and reintegrated with their families. This includes Sanam, a 13 year boy who was recently reunited with his mother after spending 5 years at our centre. Our staff visited him recently to make sure that he was doing well, and to give the family supplies for the coming months. Sanam seemed incredibly happy and settled back at home; a hugely heart-warming result for our team and the best outcome for Sanam and his family.

The demand for our other projects has also been huge - Kidasha’s ‘Life Skills’ initiative is currently available across 30 schools in Nepal. These education sessions focus on giving year 8 students important lessons around health, wellbeing, and sex education; helping them make informed, safe choices as they head into their teenage years. We hope that these classes will become a key part of the curriculum and in due course be funded by the government. 

Additionally, our ‘Breaking Boundaries’ sporting programme uses cricket coaching to support students’ holistic development. It is currently operating in 15 schools and has been received incredibly well by both boys and girls across the community.

Our ‘Learning for Life’ project is another successful initiative, one which works to empower adolescent girls (many of whom are already mothers) and provide them with the necessary skills to build more positive futures for themselves. This initiative ensures that girls are able to identify and avoid dangerous situation and make responsible decisions about their future.

Your support is invaluable in making sure our teams can run these vital projects and provide young people with the practical, educational and emotional support they need to thrive.

Thank you as always for your phenomenal support.

The Kidasha Team