Youth Development

"The opportunity of a lifetime"   Yeshoda Silwal, GAN Volunteer 2003

Rationale
Objectives
Outputs
Programme Details
Testimonies
Working Area
Current Status

Rationale

Despite recent improvements in the opportunities for young Nepalis to obtain a higher education, there remains very few opportunities for professional or technical training, and there is a very high incidence rate of both un- and under- employment.

GAN's Nepali Volunteer Programme (NVP) which was established in 2002, aims to provide young Nepalis with the skills and technical knowledge needed which they can transfer to the area of employment they go into, whether it be in the public, private, academic or technical sector.

Objectives

The overall purpose of the programme is the recruitment and training of sixteen young Nepalis (usually university graduates) every year to assist with GAN's social and educational work.

Outputs

Volunteers identified the following as areas where their skills had developed considerably as a result of GAN's training programme:

• Facilitation skills
• First Aid
• Communication skills
• Participatory Learning
• Conducting meetings
• Minute writing
• Fundraising
• Waste Management
• Making teaching materials
• Library management

Programme Details

To date 16 young Nepalis have benefited from the programme. The first programme took place between October 2002 and April 2003. 11 of the volunteers decided to continue with the programme for a further six months.

Testimonies

	"I have developed the confidence and knowledge for getting opportunities in the future." Anil Shrestha
	"I learnt the importance of building a rapport before working with people…Now I am fully confident in my ability to adjust to any situation." Minerva Sharma
	"GAN has given me the opportunity of a lifetime, and is working well for the development of the education system in Nepal." Yeshoda Silwal
	"I got a golden chance to work with teachers, students and parents. Working with these different stakeholders I learnt so many things." Dolly Pathak

Working Areas

Our Nepali volunteers work in our six working communities in the districts of Kathmandu, Kaski and Lalitpur.

Current Status

Or third Nepali volunteer programme is currently ongoing, and is due to finish in July 2004. Our fourth programme will begin towards the end of 2004. If further funding is received, we hope to be able to expand the programme as far as possible. That for the 2003 programme we had over 400 applications for the sixteen places demonstrates the popularity of the programme.

The end of 2004 will see the fusions of both our Nepali Volunteer Programme and our Overseas Volunteer Programme. We anticipate that the volunteers' different skill-sets will complement each other, and that there will also be a great opportunity for sharing knowledge and understanding of each other's cultures whilst the main work of teacher-training and developing educational capacity continues.

Next >> Water & Sanitation