Educate the Children, Inc.

Watching the incredible work of Educate the Children is an inspiration! Their efforts to help women and children in the foundation’s targeted areas has local, regional and international impacts that will make positive change lasting decades.

A wonderful, high impactful NGO. The organization works at any given time with approximately 1,000 women, 4,000 children, teachers and headmasters in a cluster of villages for a 5 year program cycle. ETC then moves into another suitable area where they have been invited. By the time ETC has completed in an area, women are self-sufficient, making money, and their children are getting educated. Everyone has adequate food. The family finally has a bright future.

I have been supporting ETC for years. It’s cool to see what effect a little money can do to improve the lives and education of the women and children of Nepal. I know the organization uses the money well.

I’ve been donating to this incredible nonprofit for over ten years, and plan to continue to do so in perpetuity. ETC has an unparalleled network of grassroots people on the ground in Nepal that organize to significantly improve conditions associated with poverty. As a sponsor of a women’s group, I receive detailed and personal letters and photographs of the group’s activities and accomplishments. Being an adoptive parent of two Nepali children, I really appreciate this way of giving back to Nepali women who are provided with economic literacy and empowerment skills. Through ETC’s efforts, in small but important ways, the cycle of poverty that leads to women being forced to relinquish their children is broken.

I love ETC! I've been involved as a donor, and earlier as a board member and staff member. The model ETC follows takes communities through a process of literacy, school improvement, as well as agricultural and income-generating techniques. This holistic approach brings community development for all, but with a laser focus on children and women. Also, ETC never enters a community without a serious period of discussion and discernment to ensure that expectations of all stakeholders are very clear. ETC has moved from community to community, always refining the model and making the most of the experiences learned in previous project areas. Finally, all of ETC's in-country staff is Nepali, ensuring that no funds are diverted to expensive consultants. I would recommend ETC to to anyone who wants to make sure their funds get to a motived community.

I'm a long-time supporter, having seen their fabulous operation in Nepal. Their work plan for developing the oppressed classes of Nepal is the best I have seen in 30 years of experience in Asia as a researcher. Highly recommended.

ETC Nepal works with the poorest and most disenfranchised families in the communities they engage. Helping these needy families to improve agricultural opportunities, increase earnings, educate their children, and empower their women raises the economic and social profile of the entire community. ETC does this very efficiently and effectively, hands on with community members over a 5 year project period. Money well spent, and results that endure.

Educate the Children is a small gem. It has spent over 25 years refining a model of community development with an emphasis on women and girls that has proved to be effective in four different areas of Nepal. It works hard to provide targeted interventions, to not create dependency and to foster initiative on the part of local people to develop solutions to their most pressing problems. I have visited two of their four project sites and can genuinely say it is a very special and committed community of people - from the participants to the staff to the Board to the volunteers. Support it!

I have been involved with ETC for many years and support them financially. As a Peace Corp volunteer in the 60s in Nepal for two years I taught in a school south of Pokhara and worked in agriculture and lived in a hill village. While life was hard, the Nepali people I worked with were wonderful. Unfortunately most of the people I worked with were upper caste people who owned land. ETC is unique because it focuses on untouchables and lower caste people and helps them live a better life and improve their financial position. Emphasis on education, particularly girls, is a total contrast to the Nepal in the 60s. While Nepal is still one of the poorest countries in the world, ETC has made a huge difference for the people it contacts.

As a supporter for a number of years, I am filled with admiration for Educate The Children’s ability to execute its mission regardless of obstacles like the 2015 earthquake or this year’s Covid. ETC is small, flexible and rooted in the communities, so it can just adjust to current needs and keep going with helping women and children in the villages it serves improve their own lives.

I am an ETC Board member who has worked for many many years in education in Nepal. This gives me the advantage of seeing ETC both from the perspective of a US board member and a Nepal based educator. From both these perspectives I am continually impressed by what the organization accomplishes. The Americans and Nepalis involved with ETC are incredibly dedicated to assuring that that our limited funds are spent with careful thought to maximize their impact on improving the lives of Nepali villagers, especially women and children. When we revisit areas where we had worked 6 or 7 years previously, women are still meeting in groups, saving and loaning money, and supporting each other. They talk about being more valued members of their households and their communities now that they bring resources to improve the lives of their families. ETC's impact is lasting and deep. It is a privilege to be involved with such an organization.

As ETC prepares to complete its program in one area it is looking forward to moving to another area and adjusting their programs to the needs of this area of Nepal. It is this vision and flexibility that has allowed this special organization to meet the needs of the women, children and families they work with and for in Nepal. We look forward to see the special programming they will create in meeting the needs of their new community.

I knew of Educate the Children (ETC) around 2009 when I was a graduate student at Cornell University. I understood then that the organization works with women and children to alleviate generational poverty through its action at the core of poverty alleviation which is building self-sufficiency and women empowerment. I am a strong believer that helping women helps generation, it changes the trajectory of her children towards a better future and hence of the generations that follow and this is at the core of what ETC does.
I have recently been fortunate to be invited to serve on the ETC board. The work ETC does and the commitment of all the board members is impressive!

I continue to be thoroughly impressed with ETC. The board is very effective and thoughtful. The staff are among the most hard-working and efficient that I have ever encountered. The results that ETC gets through their long-term, sustainable program are truly impressive. I would give more than 5 stars.

My husband and I have supported Educate the Children with an annual gift for years. They have figured out an approach that works--grassroots, on the ground help. The older I get, the more I believe that helping women and children in small but significant ways is the key to a better world. Nepal is such a lovely place. I'm glad to give back to a country that has given me so much.

I've been involved with this nonprofit for more than 25 years, starting as a volunteer/intern in Nepal and continuing on through a variety of volunteer, staff, and board roles, including former Executive Director. Educate the Children is a fabulous organization doing very good work with communities in Nepal. There are so many good things I could say in this review; I'll focus on what I think is most important for potential donors to know. Few international nonprofits, whether small or large, manage to run integrated community-based programs the shape of which is not driven by funder interests but rather by community needs and careful design. This is made possible by generous unrestricted donations and donations that fit within the framework of the integrated community development program model and plan. It makes a huge difference in terms of the sustainable impact of the programs. In Nepal the staff is composed of all Nepali nationals; they are very committed and do a terrific job. The US staff is very very small, and they, too, are very committed and do a great job. When current and past staff people are donors, you know the organization is doing good work! This is a truly a treasure of an organization and program.

We have watched ETC grow and blossom from the dreams of one amazing woman, Pamela Carson, to a very powerful "change agent" in Nepal. During the years we lived in Ithaca New York we heard first hand about the improvement in the lives of women and children. Now I must keep in touch with the accomplishments of ETC via their newsletters and excellent web site. I have always been confident that our donations make a real difference in the day to day lives of Nepalese families. Thank you for all you are doing!!

These people use the money to do hand on work that is very measurable and personal. I know just where my money is going and I can see the tangible results. I love their attitude and the personal nature of the relationship that I can feel despite the number of folks involved. A wonderful non profit that i have been a part of supporting for many years.

I became aware of Educate the Children through a beloved member of my church: the more I looked into it, the more I became impressed with ETC's work - it's on the ground, tackling a problem which may generations to fully solve, and ETC is starting right where the solution will have the longest lasting impact: with the children and women who will lift up themselves and following generations.

ETC is the model of an excellent nonprofit that has made a huge difference in the lives of many people. I have donated to them for a number of years, both because I have personal ties to Nepal and because I am very impressed by how effectively the organization is run. It is very much an on-the-ground effort in which rural Nepalese women work with Nepal-based ETC staff to develop and sustain effective community development programs. Education is central but it is not just aimed at children: it also crucially involves their mothers. Nor is education pursued in isolation from other community needs such as sanitary toilet facilities. ETC follows an integrated community-centered vision, and the results have been consistently impressive. The US-side of the organization is also superb--a very small but exceptional staff and an excellent and knowledgeable volunteer board. Money given to ETC has far greater impact per dollar than money to larger, less locally accountable, organizations. I strongly endorse ETC.

I have been donating to this charity every year since 2001. It started when I read an obituary for my friend from Bowdoin College Jim Roux, who was onboard one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. His family asked for donations in his memory to ETC, which I had never before heard of. Through the last 18 years I have been consistently impressed with their work and the improvements they have achieved in life for women and children in Nepal.

I have been involved with ETC for the last 10 years. Because I spend part of each year in Nepal, yes I came originally as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I have been able to travel regularly to visit ETC's current project site in Dolakha. Several things are immediately striking. The ETC staff in the field are incredibly dedicated to their work. They connect regularly with the women they work with unlike many NGO staff that are rarely at the project site. ETC staff are recognized wherever we go with people constantly accosting them about advice on their kitchen garden or ideas for taking a loan. Another striking feature is the commitment of the women themselves. They meet monthly without fail, often outdoors in a courtyard as they have no sheltered meeting space. The women all sign in proudly writing their names. Records are kept of every transaction as women hand in their monthly contribution to the savings program, pay back loans, or take out a new loan. All the women are witness to all the transactions. If a woman wants to take a loan, she has to be vouched for by another women in the group who stands to say she supports the loan and she will repay the amount of the loan taker is unable to. The women are incredibly supportive of each other. My visits to the areas where ETC works always leave me feeling humbled and awed by what these women are doing with ETC's help.

My wife is a former Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal and thinks the world of this organization. I have become a donor and have been amazed at the results that have been achieved. If you are looking for a genuine, grass-roots non profit that has helped thousands of rural women and their families climb out of abject poverty, ETC is for you. Every dollar you donate goes a very long way in Nepal and you are helping women and their families learn skills that eventually enable them to earn money and live a life that is far better than they every could have imagined. The results are just outstanding.

I have been involved with ETC for 12 years. As a former Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal, I became intrigued with the methodology and successes of ETC. Their integrated community development model of skill-building - women's empowerment, agriculture, and schools - has helped thousands of families move from abject poverty (malnutrition, ill-health, illiteracy, and so forth) to lives in which they can make a sustainable living for themselves. These women have worked so hard to improve their lives and that of their families. Formerly illiterate women are respected members of their communities, even holding public office. Formerly penniless women are earning money with their farms and have built up savings in their co-operatives. Formerly malnourished children are thriving in schools. It is remarkable.

This is a nonprofit that is doing an amazing amount of good. Helping people in Rural Nepal make their own lives better. Education is the cornerstone to their work. It allows the Nepalese women to truly make their family lives better.

I've been involved with Educate the Children since I met the founder, Pamela Carson, in 1992. As a volunteer, board member, former paid staff ... and board member again later ... I have watched the organization grow in impact throughout this time. ETC is among the few US-based non-profits in Nepal that imbues its Nepali staff with programming and implementation. From a small child sponsorship group, ETC has evolved into a community development organization with a well-rounded, nuanced approach, focusing on education and women's empowerment. Funds are used thoughtfully in ways that lead to maximum impact. Donors can be confident their contributions will be put to good use. I would encourage anyone to support ETC's work!

My wife and I have supported Educate the Children for twelve years and look forward to continuing our support in the future.

As a professor of Indian and Tibetan religion, I have been doing research in Nepal, India and elsewhere in South Asia since 1983. Over the course of this time, I have seen firsthand how NGOs either succeed or fail in their attempts at changing social and economic dynamics for good or for ill. The worst simply dump money into the hands of social predators or criminal gangs in the name of 'development' allowing these parasites greater license and power than already encoded in the post-colonial social fabric, thus compounding the catastrophe.

Consequently, before we began our support of Educate the Children, I looked into ETC's plan, their operation, their efficiency and their integrity. Suffice it to say that I was extremely impressed with all aspects of their operation on the ground in Nepal.

Instead of just throwing money at a problem — and hoping for the best — ETC sets up over the course of six years place-specific institutional co-op structures (women's cooperative groups) that continue after ETC withdraws from an area. The primary target of our support is the oppressed (dalit) peoples of specific areas of Nepal, as these people are without any kind of indigenous resources and they never will be, since they are outcaste pariahs in their own country.

ETC has correctly understood that the women of the dalit families are the key to social transformation in South Asia. They have the moral authority in the village and the motivation to succeed. If the mothers and daughters in a family are educated and economically empowered, then they become agents for their own success. For the last twelve years we have received letters from our women's groups, saying over and over again, in various ways what is essentially the following story:

In the first years of the six-year cycle, initially the women's husbands strongly resisted their involvement with the women's cooperative, and would treat them badly if they were caught returning from a meeting where they were being taught to read and write, to count and keep records. But once the goats/chickens/buffalo purchased with co-op funds began to give eggs/milk/offspring, then the husbands changed their behavior and began to brag about their wives in the village. Other men then wanted their wives to become educated, and gain access to the co-op funds, so they could brag about their wives as well. Seeing how the process was dependent on education, the women then wanted their daughters to gain an education so that they could be a source of family support as well.

These institutionalized women's co-ops, after developing their own people for six years, are now endowed with funds (as the women must pay back what they borrowed) for their own continuation, and can maintain themselves as self-governing entities. This is all made possible by the extraordinary central office ETC maintains in Kathmandu and the field offices set up wherever they provide support.

Thus, not only does ETC funnel donor funds to these groups, but develops skills among those people for their success, and establishes long-lived institutions that will survive for some time. The benefits extend to social perception as well: seeing that the oppressed classes can raise their economic position, their sanitation and their living conditions with ETC support, then their status in the larger Nepalese society is slowing changing.

We are now at the beginning of the third cycle for the support of women's co-ops among the dalit groups of Nepal, and we are extremely satisfied that our hard-earned money is being well invested in the future of those groups. I strongly recommend that you seriously consider supporting ETC for many years.

ETC is an organization of the highest integrity.
I have been associated with ETC for over 20 years, having volunteered in its struggling early days, and am continually inspired by the work, and the development, it carries out.

Litearally thousands of Nepalis have had their lives changed for the better and they now have dreams for the future where, formerly, they had resignation about their condition.

All staff are recruited and trained in Nepal, a further commitment that EFT has. Donors are encouraged to visit the projects to see EFT's work and many do, which further supports fundraising.

in the USA, it is a bare-bones, pared-down organization; no office; no full-time staff. This allows for the maximum amount of donations to be forwarded to the projects and staff support in Nepal. That said, it is totally professional in its dealing with donors, who are treated with the respect and gratitude they deserve.

I have been volunteering in Nepal in education-related projects for over 10 years (including 8 months for ETC's Dolakha development project!) and have seen many different NGOs' development model, and in my opinion ETC's is one of the best and most effective. They don't come in to a community to "fix" the community's problems for it--they come in to a community to help the community fix its problems itself. They offer much-needed skills, such as teacher trainings that help teachers learn other teaching techniques besides "drill and kill", which is almost universal in Nepali schools. And in a very male-dominated society, they really help women empower themselves. When I was in Dolakha, I lived in a village family's house and I can remember hearing groups of women walk by my window at night as they returned from their literacy classes, laughing and talking. And I remember hearing the mother of the family, who was usually so busy with the daily chores of farming and feeding her family that she rarely smiled , happily humming to herself during those quiet moments of the day when she had time to practice her literacy lessons. And now, years later, the women of that region have formed their own micro-lending group and are managing it quite well--now that's empowerment!

Outstanding work promoting the well being of Nepali communities through education programs for women and children.

My friend Mary told me about ETC, which was started by a friend of hers. For the many years since first learning of the wonderful work that ETC is doing, my neighbors and I have been very happy and proud to support this organization with annual donations.

ETC does great work educating the children of remote villages in Nepal.

My husband saw the benefits of this nonprofit over 25 years ago and has been donating since. We have 2 daughters and he wanted to help educate girls in Nepal. Our daughters wanted to see the schools we had been donating to so 15 years ago we visited the schools. We enjoyed meeting the children, teachers, the parents and seeing the home and school gardens that benefitted from agricultural classes also from ETC. Women were so proud of how much more productive their gardens are due to knowledge about good garden practices. They were proud of having better and more food for their families and having extra to sell.

I was on the board of ETC in the late 1970s, early 1980s. I continue to be impressed with the work they do in rural Nepal. I particularly like that they work to make their work sustainable in one area before moving on to the next. Empowering women in the villages has made a big difference in the lives of many people of this beautiful country.

I have been thrilled to be able to support Educate the Children for more than 25 years, since I first heard about the excellent work they do. And over the years I have been impressed by the further reach of their activities, from helping children to making a broader impact in the communities they serve in Nepal by helping mothers, which benefits the entire family. I have some expertise in the field of family and children's welfare and believe that ETC is an excellent example of what a nonprofit group can do.

What an exceptional staff. So communicative. Love how efficient they are with funding. Keep up the great work.

I have known, worked with and supported Educate the Children (ETC) for many years now. I am an anthropologist and linguist and have been working in Nepal for 25 years now. The community-focussed approach to engagement and ethical development to which ETC is committed is truly transformative and unique. I remain a great supporter of the work they do - and HOW they go about it. Keep the fire!

I learned about ETC and met volunteers in the nineties while I lived in Ithaca NY, and I was impressed by their focus on how to empower people. Since then, I have sponsored ETC rural women's groups. The members of these groups prosper by helping each other, by improving their farming skills, learning management, and acquiring literacy! They are proud to send their children - especially their daughters - to school.

I have been a Board member on Educate the Children, Inc. for two years and can say it is the finest group of people with whom I have ever worked. The organization supports women and children by empowering them with the dream of education and a better future. All members of this organization strive tirelessly to bring hope to people in the most remote parts of Nepal and do so with the courage of champions.

With 4 friends, I had the privilege to see in person ETC's positive impact on the lives of Nepali women and children. ETC is one of the most efficient and effective nonprofit organizations among the many I am familiar with. When women learn literacy, numeracy, leadership and how to improve their family's economic standing, it's clear that ETC's work brings about real change

ETC is a small NGO working with women and children, and hence, entire communities. I have been involved with them for 16 years and am so impressed with all that they do. I was originally drawn to their work with education of children, where scholarships, teacher training, and school improvement were making a difference. Over the years I have seen the development of their focus on women's groups, using an amazing six year plan in literacy, sanitation, animal husbandry, kitchen gardens, scholarships, and community organization including micro lending that has noticeably changed the lives of the women, the children, the families and the entire community for the better. I met a woman who had learned to read and to write who had opened a small store for her village. She showed us her ledger where she kept track of her business. I shall always remember the very proud smile from ear to ear that she had. I was also impressed with the changes I saw in the communities where ETC had been involved with double crop gardens, animals kept in neat pens, the villages overall cleanliness. and the sense of empowerment in the women's groups that welcomed us. The staff of ETC has worked diligently to improve life in Nepal.
This is the organization that I feel does the most with the money it is able to raise.

I have followed the good work of Educate the Children (ETC) since its inception in 1988. I am an Emeritus Professor of Agricultural Economics from Cornell University, and have worked my entire professional career on the problem of increasing the level of living for poor people in low-income countries of Asia, with an emphasis on Nepal. ETC has developed a superb program of increasing the well-being of individual families in Nepal. They concentrate on the establishment of women's groups, which provide knowledge and credit to increase family food production, improve literacy for women, improve sanitation, and improve education. Their work in providing schools with reading material and other aids to improve childhood literacy and education has been exceptional.

Educate the Children's work following the devastating earthquake of 2015 has been remarkable. It is interesting to note that many other agencies with considerably more funding provided aid in the form of housing, agricultural seeds, etc., to earthquake victims by routing their aid through ETC, thereby acknowledging the high esteem that the agency is held in and also acknowledging the integrity and ability to move quickly exhibited by ETC. I personally donate funds to ETC.
-Prof. Daniel Sisler

ETC has a remarkable track record getting things done in rural Nepal. I've been honoured to work with the organization in an advisory role over the last 15 years. They have the local relationships necessary to make real change happen.

As an Ithacan, I have long supported this wonderful group. Although unlike others I have no direct link to Nepal, I know people who have Nepali adopted children and who themselves have worked in Nepal. I know how great the need is, and how helpful ETC is to women & their families by helping them to help themselves, not simply with handouts.

Pamela Carson, the founder of Educate the Children, was a dear friend. I have shared her commitment to educating children and women in Nepal from afar. What this small, effectively managed non-profit does for the people whose lives it touches, should be a model for other non-profits. These people are helped and learn to help others. What more could we ask for our financial support?!

I have supported Educate the Children for over 20 years, and have seen the organization grow and expand its focus from supporting individual students to working on a regional basis to improve the lives of women and children through adult and childhood education. I'm proud to be a donor and supporter.

ETC really stepped up in the wake of the devastating Nepali earthquake in April. With the scramble for donor aid, and horrible mismanagement and allocation of funds by the government, it was extremely important that organizations with an already-established presence in the country step up to the plate. ETC did so, expanding the scope of their operation to include relief and rebuilding for the rural communities they were committed to. I have heard positive things from my friends in Nepal, and am amazed by their work.

Educated the Children is exceptionally knowledgeable about the areas it commits funds to. I have full confidence that any money I donate is carefully used.

I have worked as an anthropologist in one of the communities assisted by ETC. In that community/region, ETC helped schools and students, built educational facilities, established local women's groups that are now undertaking development works on their own, ran literacy and numeracy adult education classes, built latrines, and assisted households to install bio-gas plants for cooking gas. In short, ETC accomplished more than any of the much larger projects that have worked in the region.

Educate The Children is filled with compassionate, hard working individual dedicated to the work they do. Deeply rooted in Nepal, the folks who work for ETC build lasting relationships with communities, ensuring that the voices and needs of the people they are working for and with are heard. I loved my time volunteering with ETC, and commend them on all the good work they have done over the years, and continue to do. Three cheers!!

There is so much I could write about ETC. As a former Peace Corps teacher in Nepal and someone who is familiar with Nepali culture, I am astounded at the impact of ETC's work. This is an organization that is worthy of the support of anyone interested in women's issues, children's education, literacy, agriculture, nutrition, health, general community development, and on and on.

ETC is grassroots, molding its three program areas (education, women's empowerment, and agriculture) into the most powerful village level development approach that I have seen - ever. ETC works with impoverished, generally landless, and illiterate women, who, within five years become literate farmers and small business people who earn a living. Schools in the area are vastly improved; teachers and headmasters trained; agricultural practices are strengthened; and women have the skills and experience to continue to improve themselves and their families.

ETC's approach is truly transformational. Every child of a woman who has been involved with ETC will be able to carry on the family's newfound ability to read and write, understand basic health and nutritional issues, and make a living, As one woman told me "we will never go back" to illiteracy, passivity, and extreme poverty.

When I first got involved with ETC, I flew to Nepal to visit villages where ETC had completed its work. The contrast between villages where ETC had worked and nearby villages was visible and remarkable: they were cleaner, every house had a latrine and a kitchen garden, children were in decent schools with clean water and latrines, along with improved classrooms and playing fields. I met women who had been penniless and illiterate - who now owned chickens or goats to feed meat to their families and to sell at market; they had vegetable crops which they sold. While they had not been to school a single day in their life, all of their children were now in school.

They described to me how much their lives had changed since they had joined ETC. As one woman told me, she now had a future, she now felt she could control aspects of her life, and she knew that if bad times came, she had a support group who could help her. It was remarkable, a genuine transformation in her circumstances, outlook, and future.

ETC is truly an inspiration.

ETC does remarkable work. When I visited their project site in Dolakha in 2010, I was so impressed by the huge difference they were making in the lives of the local people, along so many dimensions, that I decided to join the board. ETC's integrated community development approach involves teaching low-caste women to plant and cultivate kitchen gardens, upgrading local schools, forming women's groups, microcredit, scholarships, and more. The overall effect is to create new opportunities for better lives, and to prepare women and their children to take advantage of those opportunities. I would urge anyone looking for a way to help the world's poor to consider supporting ETC. It's a small organization, so even a little money makes a big difference in the good that ETC can do.

I have had the privilege of being involved with ETC from it's inception, as an acquaintance of Pamela Carson and as one of the first sponsors of a child, with whom I am still in touch. My Nepalese daughter is now 25 and a teacher, with a child of her own. Before ETC she was begging on the street . This organization has truly made a difference in the lives of so many like her, and has grown into a powerful organization with programs for women as well as children. And they have done it with integrity and compassion. Unlike other charitable organizations, ETC has very low administrative costs, which translates into more money going directly to the programs it has developed and the people who need it most. ETC deserves your support as they continue to make a positive and valuable impact on the lives of women and children in Nepal.

This is quite simply my favorite charitable organization. They do superb work in Nepal helping poor rural communities through education projects, women's groups, literacy efforts and other desperately needed help. My husband and I were close friends with its founder and travelled with her in Nepal. Her commitment and vision lives on in the board and staff. The work has a tremendous impact and donations of any size go a long way in Nepal!

This is a wonderful organization that serves impoverished women and children in Nepal in education and helping with micro businesses. It has helped thousands! And nearly every cent goes to helping, with only a tiny percent to support administrative costs.
Ours is a mixed Nepali/American family and we find ETC to do incredible work. A truly helping organization!

A Small Organization
from which
Governments and International Aid Agencies Could Learn

“Leader Urges People to Revolt”, “Local Government Consolidation Recommended”, “Homeless Tell Their Stories.” These were fleeting stories recently - there one minute, forgotten the next. They had to do with dysfunctional government and social arrangements, a source of discontent in many places around the world. Let’s take Nepal where Ithaca based ETC (Educate the Children) works. Long standing and unfortunate social conditions there festered into a bloody civil war which is finally coming to an end. As will be the case one day in Iraq and Afghanistan, peace in Nepal will open the door, ever so slightly, for humanitarian relief and for the rebuilding of individual confidence, family cohesiveness, community cooperation, government services, national infrastructure, businesses and employment. Peace will not automatically eliminate lingering grievances and without the skillful repair of fundamental conditions, things will eventually come apart again or at least not work very well. The end of war in Nepal leaves social marginalization, economic disparity, gender discrimination, illiteracy, disease, landlessness, malnourishment, orphan-hood and homelessness intact. Somehow people’s fear and distrust, caused by both sides when kidnapping, property destruction, killing, torture and detention were practiced, will need to be addressed if neighbors will ever be able to face each other and communities work together again.

Several governments and international agencies will no doubt move to help the people of Nepal. Multi year, sector wide projects, farmed out to international companies and costing millions, will be designed. Complicated programs costing even more and designed to work through broken government departments, will be put into place. Donor motives will be honorable and the potential for considerable good will obtain. But much of what is done in this way will eventually run off. Donors could learn from a small Ithaca based NGO called ETC which has been working in Nepal for years. Large donors will understandably have objectives like 4000 classrooms repaired, 1500 wells opened, 500 clinics stocked, 4000 teachers trained, 300 miles of freight path restored, and so on - all worthy and needed. The thing of it is, displaced and disenfranchised people, together with alienated communities, will need to be brought together as part of the repair and redevelopment of Nepal. Wind will have to be breathed into the body. Otherwise accomplishments will be shallow, partial and temporary. This by the way would be necessary to any rooted development which has a chance of being sustained, even where there had been no war.

ETC/Ithaca is an organization that works hand and hand with local people as they are ready, depending on them to decide what needs to be done and relying on them to bring about needed change. While it has always worked in this fashion, this is especially critical at a time when an abundance of cynicism, fear and fatalism has accumulated and makes any, lay it on approach, suspect. ETC personnel work shoulder to shoulder with individuals, project groups and communities, trusting and respecting their insights and integrity. Development objectives are based on locally identified needs and desires. ETC has learned that the ownership which comes from participation is necessary to the sustainability of any accomplishment. Efforts are not limited to any sector but rather take on whatever is needed as a group or community progresses. Development is understood as a continuous problem solving process. Interventions are not seen as stand alone but as building blocks. Attention is given to the needs of whole families and communities, knowing that progress and motivation are interrelated. There is willingness to engage in every element of an endeavor, e.g. cooperative planning and decision making, group or community organization, advocacy with government offices, fund raising, training, child care, family nutrition and so on as needed. Each local success is seen as putting understandings and skills into place which make higher order accomplishments possible. The satisfaction of aspirations induces further ambitions. Surely the work of large donor organizations is important and productive in places like Nepal. However, the thoughtful approach used by ETC Ithaca could increase impact considerably while providing opportunity for the development of relationships which are so important in times like these.

Donovan Russell
3627 Rockefeller Road
Moravia, NY 13118
Tel 315-784-5706

The ETC website for anyone interested, is www.etc-nepal.org

I am currently a PhD student conducting research in Nepal. I did my MS research here as well in addition to working here seasonally as trekking/rafting guide for over 20+ years. So I am well aware of the many different NGOs working in communities in Nepal and the types of programs they promote. Having seen ETCs previous work in a community where I did some of my research I can say that their programs directly benefit the community. Their approach of working both with health issues and sanitation as well as women's empowerment and education are several of the most important areas that have over time been shown to most directly benefit local communities in Nepal. ETC is an excellent model for effective collaborative NGO community engagement which I highly support and recommend.