The beginning of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what we accomplished in the previous year and plan our course for the rest of the year. In that spirit, it is my great pleasure to share some numbers, milestones, and projects from 2010 and also discuss some of the challenges we face moving forward.

Students

In 2010, NCEF provided financial assistance to 70 students.  This is an increase of four students from 2009. 65% of our students are girls. Our students have done well in school despite coming from socio-economically disadvantaged families. Sumaiya scored 77% in her national School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams. A distinct achievement! Meera won a scholarship for further education. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Congratulations! We are proud of all of our students.

Budget

NCEF's budget for the academic year 2010/2011 was NRs. 707,280 (approx. US$  9,742), which is an increase of 5% over the previous year. The budget was bigger due to the increase in the number of the students. We raised $16,871 during the year. When we accept a student to our program, we make a commitment to support the student through the 12th grade. The surplus will be used to fund this commitment.

Fundraising

The majority of our funding comes from individual contributors. We continue to raise money through wedding donations, Recycle for Education, restaurant donations, and events, such as Prakash Ojha's campaign to raise $1200 for a marathon. We continue to receive donations for Mira Rana Michaud's memorial fund. In five years, this fund has grown to US$ 37,303 and made it possible for many children in Nepal to attend schools and purchase school supplies.

Publicity

In 2010, we ran publicity events at Stanford University, the annual convention of Association of Nepalis in America, and Abilene Christian University. We distribute our monthly newsletter to over 5,000 subscribers. 888 supporters follow us on Facebook, where we post regular updates about our work.

Volunteers

Our work is done by 25 volunteers in the US and about 20 volunteers in Nepal. Although we had fewer volunteers in the US compared to last year, the amount and quality of work has gone up. We recruited a new editor-in-chief for the newsletter and a new student selection officer during the year and they have set an example for the rest of us. Many new volunteers are playing increasingly active roles in the organization, including the formation of a fundraising team. 2010 was one of the best years in volunteer recruitment in the US.

 Volunteer Training

In the US, new volunteers are paired with an executive committee officer to get to know the workings of the organization while working on a project that is interesting to the volunteer. This approach to volunteer training works quite well. In Nepal, we conducted our first volunteer training program in Kathmandu. We gathered the area coordinators and volunteers from different parts of Nepal where we do our work to participate in a one-day training program with Cecilia Mo, one of our directors. The response was overwhelmingly positive and we plan to conduct similar programs in the future.

New Areas

We conduct pilot programs for 1-2 years in a new area to evaluate the feasibility of a long-term program in that area. This mechanism ensures that the volunteers understand the requirement of the program and develop skills necessary to run the project thereby decreasing the possibility of having to withdraw from an area in the future. We graduated three provisional areas (Birgunj, Rasuwa, and Dolakha) into regular areas in 2010. We currently have four new areas in Lamatar, Taksar, Chitwan, and Darchula. We expect some of these areas to be upgraded to regular areas in 2011.

Challenges

Recruiting and retaining volunteers in Nepal has been a challenge. Many volunteers who were recruited when they were younger now have less time due to their family obligations or have gone abroad for further studies. Some field volunteers would feel more motivated if they had a greater say in student selection and received a stipend to minimally compensate for the time they spend with the organization. We are closely discussing these issues with the volunteers in Nepal and will keep our donors and well wishers updated.
There are other challenges that we face in Nepal. As we work in more areas in Nepal, navigating the government regulations requires more paperwork and significantly more volunteer time. None of the paperwork can be done online. Each paperwork requires multiple multi-hour trips to various government agencies. We invest significantly more time on legal work compared to many other organizations of similar size because of our core commitment to not support and not be a party to corruption in government offices. We have not been successful raising funds from foundations, which might be instrumental in funding the logistics to coordinate our field work in ever increasing number of areas in Nepal.

We are blessed with students excited to learn, volunteers dedicated to the cause, and donors eager to support the project. I am confident that 2011 will bring the students, volunteers, and donors even closer in this fruitful partnership. I invite you to join us in this journey.