With your help we were able to start the “Build Back Better” Campaign shortly after the earthquake.
Three years on we are extremely proud to be able to say that 166 classrooms have been rebuilt in 47 schools and around 7,500 students are enjoying being able to go back to school in much safer, earthquake resistant classrooms!
After the two eartquakes in Nepal in April and May 2015 and inspired by many unprompted donations, the Himalayan Trust UK Trustees quickly assembled and decided to
- Launch a formal appeal
- Work in close collaboration with our New Zealand and Australian partners
- Provide some emergency and relief support, but to spend most of our efforts on the longer term rebuild
- Ensure that the rebuild is based on priorisation of need and follows the principles of the Himalayan Trust worldwide – execution by Nepalis themselves and meaningful contribution by the community to ensure that they had a stake in the outcome
We raised £525K in a short period of time – 9% was allocated to emergency relief and 91% invested in building schools.
It has taken many people collaborating together to get to this result, often working in very difficult weather conditions and on challenging terrains. We worked closely with our New Zealand and Australian partners, recruited teams of Nepali engineers. We have had huge support from the local communities in the Taplejung and Solukhumbu districts. Their support ensures important buy in for the use of the schools for decades ahead.
In April 2017 the global Himalayan Trust family, global partners, Government officials, engineers and accountants came together at the British Embassy in Kathmandu to celebrate “reaching Camp 5” and to thank everyone involved. It was a very memorable evening for all of us, celebrating the huge achievement at that point in the project.
To read our full report click here.
