THE GOOD PARTNERSHIPS

  This piece was published in March 2020 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times. You can find the piece here:  http://www.sharing4good.org/article/keshav-deserves-be-sponsosed-and-go-tokyo-2020 I am writing this piece with a bit of disappointment but at the same time with some hope. I should start this writing by thanking a foreigner, a frequent visitor to Nepal, a friend of this country, a philanthropist and dedicated person who believe that the nation should be more inclusive, just and fair. I wish many more citizens of Nepal could think and act like him. Now let me first let me explain a bit what I am talking about. Back in December I had written a column about a national top athlete, Keshav Thapa and his quest to attend the most important sports event in the history and his efforts to find local sponsors to support him. Keshav plays table tennis at highest levels and in my column back then I was trying to make the business case for some corporate donors to support his effo...

This piece was published in February 2020 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times. You can find the piece link here:  https://www.sharing4good.org/article/inclusive-educationthe-need-kick-conversation Ensuring inclusive education in Nepal is one of the biggest challenges we face but at the same time, if achieved, it is going to be a game changer for the entire country. The State at all the levels, from municipalities to provinces to the federal government, has to take a leading role in this difficult quest for making all schools, public and private, inclusive, open and accessible to those children that till now face insurmountable challenges blocking their personal growth and their rights to have an education and to conduct a meaningful and dignified life. When we talk about inclusive school settings, we certainly refer to inclusion of children living with physical, developmental and intellectual disabilities but also we refer to children belonging to other marginalized and disadvan...

  This piece was published in January 2020 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times. You can find the piece here:  Investing in a champion: Keshav Thapa | Sharing4good We started the first partnership column of the decade with an urgent appeal that, in reality, is an amazing opportunity for corporate houses of all kinds, from banks to insurance companies to cement producers to all major hotels and travel agencies to private colleges: sponsor Keshav Thapa to be able to play in the upcoming Paralympics games in Tokyo 2020. Who is Keshav first of all and why should you sponsor him?   Keshav is a para-tennis table player and he is the best player in his own category in Nepal and perhaps, if we had held the Para-South Asian games, he would have proved he is also one of the players in the entire region. As the country is celebrating a new sports renaissance, it is high time we started taking notice of adaptive athletes as well, athletes with disabilities that are as well, put...

  This piece was published in December  2019 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times. You can find the piece here:  IVD 2019: AN INCLUSIVE VOLUNTEERING FOR ALL | Sharing4good The celebrations of International Volunteering Day 2019, IVD 2019 that, like every year are held on the 5 th of December, offered a blueprint on how to foster collaborations, synergies to create awareness about the important role volunteers play in the society. Celebrations could also be leveraged as a catalyst to further bring about new partnerships among all the stakeholders engaged in Nepal in the quest of promoting volunteerism. Here few suggestions from IVD 2019 and one proposition for the future. Coordination is key: Under the banner of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, United Nations Volunteer, UNV, brought together all the stakeholders, partnering for example with the National Youth Council, the government body mandated to support the development of youth, and with national and int...

  This piece was published in November  2019 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times. You can find the piece here:  Innovative Partnership for Social Inclusion | Sharing4good For not for profit organizations is not easy to partner with the private sector. It often depends on finding a common cause that align the work of the not for profit with the mission of the corporate counterpart as well as being able to build personal relationship, itself something that often is challenge itself. Frankly speaking is also about sheer luck. The recently inaugurated Aloft Kathmandu Thamel proved to be a generous and supportive partner of adaptive sports athletes, sportswomen and sportsmen working very hard, pushing themselves day in and day out to reach the best of their capabilities, often with excellent results. Aloft is a boutique hotel brand of the biggest hotel group in the world, Marriot, a corporation itself leading in the field of social inclusion and diversity. ENGAGE has...

  This piece was published in September 2019 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times. You can find the piece here:  http://sharing4good.org/article/great-job-great-job-jawalakhel-wheelchair-sport-club On the 7 th of September, the Jawalakhel Wheelchair Sports Club, J.W.S.C., a local association promoting adaptive sports for persons living with disabilities organized the 1 st Inter Valley Wheelchair Basketball Tournament at St. Xavier School. It was the first time that J.W.S.C. organized such an event and it was a glorious success. The event not only had the participation of two new teams, a great development as more and more youth living with disabilities decided to get into sports, but also saw a great efforts from the organizers to attract and include persons living without disabilities, involved them through fun wheelchair basketball games. Practicing wheelchair basketball is not only entertaining but also a great way to discover and understand more about disability ...