Dang, Nepal –, Rejina Nepali counts her best friends on her fingers. “There’s Sandhya, Mamata, Bipana, and two different Sushmitas in our main group,” she says. Most of the girls live a few minutes from one another in their neighborhood in Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City in Dang District in mid-western Nepal. And they all attend the same school, the Shree…

Bhaktapur, Nepal –, 12-year-old Thakur Chepang is the first to arrive in his class. In the time that the first session is set to begin, he carefully takes in the writings on the charts and posters in his class room’s walls. It has only been about a month since he started at the Chitrapur Basic School in Suryabinayak, Bhaktapur district, and the rooms of this school…

Rautahat, Nepal –, Anarjit and Rahul Kumar Ram are both eager to show off their newly-acquired skills in handwashing. “You need to rub your hand over the back of your other hand five times like this, and then turn it over and do the same on the other side,” 12-year-old Rahul explains, as Anarjit, 10, nods solemnly in agreement. Two days ago, on 16 July, the two…, In the crosshairs, For the past quarter of a century, Gaur Municipality has undergone floods on a yearly basis, owing to its proximity to the Lal Bakaiya and Bagmati Rivers, both prone to overflowing during the monsoon season. It had been deeply impacted in the last major disaster in August 2017. This year too, water levels in both rivers had been rising steadily…, Local-level response, Walking through the narrow, muddy lanes of Sabagadha, one can still see damp streaks on the houses, testament to just how high floodwaters had risen. Road access to the village and many other parts of the district had been severely affected for several days, and communications systems were down, rendering rescue and relief work challenging. Still…, A second disaster, Jamuni Devi, 30, sweeps a disparaging hand towards her front yard, now a mess of trash and wet straw. She lives in a small settlement of ‘Dailt’ (traditionally marginalized community) families, another area in Gaur deeply affected by the flood. Jamuni and her family – including four children – had taken temporary shelter in a building owned by…

Dolakha, Nepal –, Gita KC lives just a short walk from the Indrawoti Basic School of Bhirkot in Dolakha District, where she works as an Early Childhood Development (ECD) facilitator. Every morning, on her way to school, she is accompanied by a few of her students whose homes are close by and who insist on walking with her. And those who live further away are found…

Okhaldhunga, Nepal –, From as early as he can remember, Beni Bahadur Khatri of grade 4 wanted to be an English teacher. English is his favorite subject, after all, although he says he enjoys all his lessons at the Shivaduti Basic School in Champadevi, Okhaldhunga District. Not only is he one of the most diligent students in his class, Beni also maintains a strict study…

Gorkha, Nepal –, Samriddhi Gurung is a staunch believer in the transformative power of information. The 24-year-old has been working closely with communities in the Kavre and Gorkha Districts for the past year, teaching them to use a mobile-based app designed to collect data on the state of water supply schemes in the area. The experience, she says, has opened her…

Mugu, Nepal -, Early on a Sunday morning, in her home in Gamgadhi Gaunpalika in Mugu District in mid-western Nepal, Dev Laxmi Malla is getting ready for work. She puts on a little make-up and then drapes a light blue saree around herself. This saree has become something of a symbol in Nepal, worn by around 52,000 women across the country. It’s the uniform of the…

The clacking of donkey’s hooves on the narrow cobbled streets and the jingling of bells around their necks as they shuffle through town are nothing new to the residents of Martadi bazaar.  Martadi is the headquarters of Bajura district in the remote northern part of far-western region of Nepal, and two days’ journey away from Kathmandu.  Due to…, The Unforgettable Mela Day, On the Mela day, Prashant went to the large play-ground of Shree Kalika Higher Secondary School in Martadi with his mother Sushila Shahi. He was welcomed by the volunteers with badges, stickers and book-marks. The playground was decked with eight stalls  displaying different reading materials, games, locally made educational materials, story/…, Benefitting 16,000 people the donkey way, Since the children and teachers in the remote northern districts of far-western region lack access to adequate reading materials and appropriate learning techniques, UNICEF and its partners have launched the concept of donkey library and Reading Mela to promote reading culture. UNICEF’s formal education consultant Dipu Shakya explains, “Because…, Changing norms, creating social movement,  “These Mela s are aimed at creating a bigger social movement on how society perceives the concept of reading,” says Helen Sherpa, Country Director of UNICEF’s partner World Education. . “They help children decode reading independently through games, blocks, cut-out letters, stories and pictures and encourage parents to converse with the children…

“Chhange”, and, “Dhitaltole", were amongst the many communities affected by 2015 devasting earthquake, which also damaged the WASH infrastructures. UNICEF Nepal, in partnership with the Government of Finland, provided technical and financial support to the Government of Nepal for the Recovery and Reconstruction of WASH Infrastructure by engaging local civil society…

Okhaldhunga, Nepal –, Mandira Kafle, teacher at the Parijat Smriti Basic School in Okhaldhunga District in eastern Nepal, asks student Nishan Rai to come up with some four-syllable words in Nepali. Eleven-year-old Nishan thinks a moment before reciting: “ Jha-la-ma-la (bright lights), Da-la-da-la ( swamp) .” “How about three syllables?” the teacher follows up. “ Ka-la-…