THE GOOD PARTNERSHIPS

  This piece was published at the end of January/beginning of February 2018 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times I have been spending some weeks away from Kathmandu visiting my family back in Milan and I took this visit as a great opportunity to network locally with some interesting realities working at the intercross between social inclusion, development and corporate social responsibility, CSR. One of the organizations I met with is Sodalitas , a membership based organization whose Latin name means “solidarity” in English set up by Assolombarda , the umbrella entity representing business groups in Lombardy of which Milan is the capital. Obviously Sodalitas has been embracing the CSR sector but in a very interesting way, working as a bridge and enabler connecting its members with a variety of not for profits organizations, working hard to create synergies and new understanding. The outcomes are a great variety of initiatives and projects jointly implemented by Sodalitas, i...

  This article was published in January 2018 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times All over the developed world there are increasingly more and more examples of cross pollination among social, developmental and business sectors. The driving force behind such dynamics is the achievement of the so called “common good”, something that might sounds intangible but can actually be delivered through practical collaborations and partnerships. Collaborations happen on a shorter horizon or with less intensity while the latter, partnerships imply a deeper understanding, a shared vision resulting in an enduring commitment for a cause or a goal, leading to a stronger bond among organizations. With the wrapping up of 2017 and the beginning of a new year, let’s take a reflection on the current status of partnerships in Nepal. SDGs are getting prominent: The Sustainable Development Goals are drawing more and more attention. The United Development Program, UNDP, has been doing a smart work in for...

  This piece was published at the beginning of August 2017 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times Recently the UNDP has announced a series of partnerships with important companies with the overall aim of promoting, on the one hand, awareness among the corporates on the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs and on the other hand, innovative actions and programs to make the goals real. The most re cent partnership was signed on July 14 th with the Chaudhary Foundation and follows the agreement with Yeti Airlines. Certainly the UNDP team is working on more collaborative frameworks with the private sector, something that is certainly very positive news for the development of the country. Moreover UNDP has been engaging public personalities with a series of weekly articles on the SDGs, a smart move to engage the public in a national dialogue. AYON , the leading network of youth organizations in the country is also working with UNDP to create awareness on the SDGs among the youth...

  This piece was published in December 2017 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times The 5 th of December was celebrated as the International Day of Volunteerism, a special day that is often overlooked amid many others important theme based celebrations. To have an idea the first half of December counts with International HIV/AIDS Day , International Day of Persons with Disabilities , Human Rights Day and in the same month sees the culmination of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence . Perhaps now that we have a stronger global development framework under the banner of the Sustainable Development Goals, we should find more innovative ways to do away with these special celebrations and try to come up with more holistic ways to link up together these important global symbolic days. Few years ago we successfully linked up International Day of Volunteerism often referred as IVD with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by forging a consensus among di...

  This piece was published in September on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times Few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend an event program organized by SPRING, an accelerator program supporting viable innovations that can transform the lives of adolescent girls aged 10-19 living in in 9 different countries, including Nepal. Given the inequalities and levels of oppression faced by girls across the world, the level of scale that SPRING wants to achieve is necessarily ambitious: 200,000 girls will benefit from existing and new products and services by 2019. A consortium of leading development agencies has come together to support such ambitious and as well innovative undertaking that promises to offer a new, market led approach to empower and support girls. With funding provided by UKAID, USAID, Nike Foundation and the Australian Government‘s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, SPRING has the mission of “ transforming the lives of adolescent girls by creating sustainabl...

  This article was published in 2017 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times Proper and systematic caring for senior citizens is one of the most defining issues that can make Nepal a more equitable and inclusive society. Yet despite some government’s efforts, the sector is neglected and certainly not a priority. The provisions that are in place, like a monthly allowance for citizens that was recently increased, are not properly implemented. Thousands of elderly people throughout the country are missing out on their right to have a dignified existence. Only recently the administration of Kathmandu Metropolitan city has started to offer such allowance in a more systematic way and surely it will take some time to make the delivery of the allowance hassle free. Therefore it is up to the civil society to step in to bridge the gap and try to offer services for the elderly. A great example of such attempts is offered by Saar Nepal, a local NGO founded by a young social worker, ...

This article was published at the end of October/Beginning of November 2017 on Perspectives of  The Himalayan Times Many foreigners come to Nepal and fall in love with the place but few could match Doreen Johnstone’s passion for the place. An educationalist by background with a British passport but the global outlook of someone who spent most of her life around the world, a second world war refugee born in Malaysia and then forced to flee due to the Japanese invasion in South East Asia, Doreen made teaching not only her life profession but her true life call.   The first time she came to Nepal was in 1998 to prepare her master thesis in education with Bath University and then again she was back from 2007 to 2010 to serve with VSO as educational advisor the Makwanpur District Educational Office in Heutada. It was there where Doreen forged incredible relationships with local schools. Once her volunteering time was over, she decided to head back to Malaysia to help establ...

  This article was published in October 2017 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times Bicycling around the Kathmandu Valley and around many other urban areas of Nepal is certainly not an easy task and yet there are people who do it out of necessity or simply because they are fed up with the public transportation system and cannot afford a motorbike. Many of these people are either expats commuting to work by bicycle, normally people who lives in wealthy areas of the town and use the bicycle for short distances or wealthy nepali who fell in love with mountain biking and can afford to buy amazing bicycles that are out of reach for most of the people. There is also another group using bicycles: low income, poor stricken citizens for whom the bicycle is not just a means of transportation but it is an indispensible component of their business. They use it to sell products. Surely fruits sellers moving around town are an example. Normally they use very old bicycles, most of them ol...