Completed Partnership: Dadagaun

Dadagaun is an isolated, mountainous village in Nepal with a large ethnic minority population and historically limited opportunities for education and income-generation. In this small village lives the incredibly ambitious and visionary Dhorje Tamang. Dhorje began teaching in Dadagaun Village when he was just 16 years old, out of a small tent in his backyard with hardly any materials or support. After decades of hard work, Dhorje’s dreams have become a reality; he is now the principal of Bal Vikas Samaj, the only school in Dadagaun, with all the local children regularly receiving high-quality education and the entire village rallying behind them.

“The future of Nepal is in the hands of our children… the future of our children is in the hands of our teachers.” – Shree Bal Vikas Samaj School in Dadagaun’s philosophy

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP

After the earthquake in 2015, which affected 90% of the homes in Dadagaun, GoPhilanthropic knew the best way to contribute to recovery efforts was to get funds directly into the hands of villagers and community leaders, which led us to partner with Dadagaun Village and Dhorje’s incredible school.

During our partnership, the GoPhil community supported the village in the following key ways:

  • Contributing to a compressed earth brick-making machine and helping facilitate community meetings to mobilize a coordinated village reconstruction effort including individual family homes; 
  • Funding additional teacher salaries and training, enabling the school to provide quality education and extracurricular activities to all students; 
  • Providing grants for much-needed educational tools and materials at the school, such as books and computers.

Click infographic above to enlarge.

PARTNERSHIP RESULTS

Towards the end of our partnership, GoPhil contracted a non-governmental organization to conduct a formal assessment of the school and put together recommendations for long term financial sustainability. This left Dadagaun in a strong place, ready to move forward more independently and pursue new, local funding streams. Although our formal partnership has now come to a close, we remain in contact with Dhorje and check in from time to time about the health and progress of the village and school. 

Over the years, with Dhorje’s dedication and community leadership, school enrollment in Dadagaun Village went up to 100%!