Just as the number of cases rise, the pressure to ease the lockdown in Nepal is also rising. With many people reliant on daily labor to support their families, the situation is certainly dangerous in Nepal. The pressure to get kids back into school is also increasing due to a lack of remote learning options. There have been talks about schools opening back up in August, but a clear plan with clear guidelines on how this can be done safely does not seem forthcoming. We know that Nepal is not alone in this, but it does not make it any less worrisome for all of us.

While the ongoing pandemic and its impacts are well-documented and very disheartening, the resilience of our team and the girls is inspiring. Despite the months-long lockdown and limited access, our level of activity has continued throughout. Those with some level of connectivity has been engaging with our mentors and each other, and we are very happy to see that. As we work to bridge the digital divide in the future, we hope that more girls are able to connect with each other this way. In July, we held several virtual gatherings, which included the celebration of Virtual Teacher's Day where the students wrote about their favorite teachers and made cards to thank their teachers. Girls also celebrated World Population Day to share what they believe are important ways to protect girls and women.

As  the lockdown has been eased in Nepal, we are looking at ways to come together in a safe and responsible manner. We are still continuing to all we can remotely, but we held a couple of programs in person to help distribute materials and to engage with mentors who did not have computer / Internet access. 

In short, we are staying active, and we know that we have to do much more. We have to do more to provide more remote access, and we have some projects upcoming to address this. We will share more in the upcoming newsletters. We also know that we have to support the girls that will not have remote access and we need to do it in the safest way possible. We continue to stress the need for social distancing as much as possible and to use best health practices like wearing of masks and improved hygiene. The next few months will be very challenging, but our team is ready to help the girls, their families, and our community through these difficult times.

The COVID-19 lockdown has obviously affected everyone in the world, but we know that in such situations girls and women face greater challenges. To help maintain their physical, mental and emotional health, we organized a home packet program where girls could stop by to pick up some essentials. The packet included: hand sanitizer, soap, masks, sanitary pads as well as construction paper, pencils, crayons and other stationery. We believe that creative tools to help keep them occupied are essential items.

We are so grateful to our partner Global GLOW for their support, which allows us to do things like this. Since not everyone could make it to this program, we will have our mentors deliver these packets to the other girls.

Some photos of how we created and distributed the goodie bag.

We have already highlighted the importance of being able to use technology to keep students connected and engaged during this pandemic, and we have also highlighted our challenges in doing so due to a lack of resources. This month, we were so fortunate to make friends with a wonderful organization out of India called Next Skills 360.

Next Skills 360 is an Ed-Tech social enterprise founded in 2018. This is the second venture of the Founder & CEO Mr. Suraj V Meiyur, who has 18 plus years’ experience in IT and Education having worked in the US, UK and India with several MNCs . 

Next Skills 360’s the primary objective is to develop innovative, low-cost and easy-to-use learning solutions aimed at imparting Technology Education to students around the world. We aim to bridge the digital divide by imparting quality IT education to students who do not have an access to computers and gadgets.

Awards & Recognition 

• Best Indian Social Enterprise by Action for India (AFI)
• Best Emerging Startup Award in 2019 by HYSEA
• Third-best Ed-Tech Company in India by GESA (Global EdTech Startup Awards)

We are so excited to have a new addition to our team in Nepal. Please join us in welcoming Usha Poudel to the team.

Usha joins us as the Technology Officer to support our team's technical needs as well as looking for ways to incorporate technology education as part of our program. With the recent need for remote learning and virtual clubs, our team realized that we needed to strengthen our technical infrastructure, and bring in additional expertise. We are fortunate to have a local talent like Usha available to work with the team.

Usha has earned a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Information Technology from Academia International College and she is also studying for her Master’s in Public Administration at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu.

She has previously worked as a Lab Assistant in Academia International College and is also working as a freelancer doing web development and other technical work. She says that travelling and reading books brings her joy and she is most excited about encouraging more girls to pursue technology as a potential career. She realizes we have a lot of work to do to make these opportunities available, and is excited about what the foundation is looking to do with technology.