Namaste! Welcome to Girls Education Nepal

Girls Education Nepal programme was established in May 2005 by Nonna Giri (Lamponen) and Amanda McKay. GEN provides scholarships to Nepali girls from underprivileged families to attend school near their homes.

Our mission is simple ‘ to enable girls to have a better future through education. We actively seek to find girls whose situation is particularly vulnerable. Hence, sponsorship is aimed at the most desperate cases ‘ girls who otherwise would have little or no chance of going to school, mainly due to poverty, but also because of other kind of hardship. All girls are welcomed regardless of age, religion, location, previous education or background. We guarantee the scholarship until SLCs (School Leaving Certificate, normally taken at the age of 18) but will try to also encourage and financially support further education, be it vocational or higher education.

Our selection criteria is very simple. To qualify for our sponsorship a child needs to fulfil three conditions:

• To be a female
• To be from verified underprivileged background
• Currently not attending school

 

The GEN sponsorship covers all education-related expenses, and in some cases provides a small, daily lunch allowance. All fees are paid directly to the schools and the girls remain living with their families. Although there is no requirement for academic excellence we expect the girls to study as hard as they can, and attend school regularly.

Our sponsorship is for one year at a time, and will be automatically renewed provided that the girl attends school regularly and shows enthusiasm and willingness to learn.

In extreme circumstances (e.g. death or illness in the family, loss of home, etc.) we will continue to support a girl whose attendance has not been regular due to outside pressure, provided that she still is keen to continue her education.

GEN is a small charity, operating without middlemen or heavy admin costs. We have three part-time staff in Kathmandu (a co-ordinator, an assistant and an accountant) and one part-time co-ordinator in East Nepal. These people receive a salary from GEN. Nonna and Amanda donate their time and effort for free, which means that 100% of your donation goes towards running the programme and educating the GEN girls. We personally know all the girls in the programme and follow their progress closely.

DEAR VISITOR! WHILST GEN CONTINUES TO OPERATE IN EXACTLY THE WAY WE DESCRIBE HERE, THIS WEB SITE IS BADLY OUT OF DATE AND IS NOT BEING UPDATED. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN OUR WORK, CLICK ON THE ‘CONTACT US’ LINK (EMAIL WORKS) OR FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK. MANY THANKS!