A beginning for change

My dear fellow, Praramva means beginning for change; we seek to spread the light of hope and care wherever we find the darkness of anguish and despair. We attempt, in a humble way, to reach underprivileged children and give them an encouraging new lease of life. Since its establishment in 2069, Praramva has played a significant and unique role in international exchange and cooperation, thanks to the unceasing efforts of all the people who have supported us.

The focus of Praramva is not just limited to children. We provide support to needy women, offering them vocational skills to enable them to lead lives of financial independence and self-esteem. We also support an old age home, where our elderly are provided with the best possible care. Apart from this we focus on health, agriculture and environment. We particularly look forward to receiving enhanced outcomes from education, health, agriculture, life-skill training and practical education.

Since our establishment we have been actively working by organising awareness programmes, promoting quality education, providing scholarships, and supplying books, educational and sports materials, along with organising health camps in Kavre, Sindhupalchok, Lalitpur and many other remote areas, consoling and comforting the injured. The organisation has creatively managed libraries and provided technical items such as computers to many schools.

I have always held the belief that through an NGO's innovation and grassroots effort our young people can transform this country. Whether rich or poor, the next generation has the power to change this world for the better. The broad spectrum of our activities and their success rate speak of the dedicated work done by Praramva. I am happy to say we have been blessed with generous donors and a dedicated staff, due to which our expectations have been surpassed.

It is a matter of great pride that Praramva has achieved the honour of becoming part of the reconstruction project. As an organisation we stand committed to the values of integrity, excellence, respect, teamwork and trust. Should we simply continue with our current activities, we would no doubt produce results up to a certain level, but in order to move forward as a multi-purpose foundation engaged with a wide variety of issues, we must undertake initiatives that allow us to go beyond the boundaries of what we do today. We aspire to do much more, and we have already started planning for the change to be brought.

Welcome to Praramva. Praramva is a social welfare organisation. The organisation upholds a people-oriented approach, striving to provide members of the public with a wide range of welfare services, including social security, services for the elderly, rehabilitation and medical social services, family and child welfare, services for young people, and work in environment and agriculture.

Our welfare services cover a range of preventive, nurturing, supportive and remedial measures. We seek to allocate resources to the most needy to meet their basic needs, and help them move from welfare to self-reliance.

Praramva's founder-president Kalpana Rai founded Praramva in 2069 in accordance with the Agency Registration Act 2034. Kedar Koirala is actively working as secretary of the agency. The organisation is located at Jhamsikhel–3, Lalitpur. Ghambir Kumari Chhetri is working as vice-president, and myself, Badri Raj Timalsina, as director. The continuous effort of these people has accomplished many of our objectives, with many more in process.

Praramva is concentrating on the reconstruction of community infrastructure damaged by the earthquake, conducting awareness programmes, raising awareness against girl trafficking driven by poverty, discouraging dropout rates, working to eradicate inhuman acts, organising programmes for disadvantaged and marginalised groups, discarding untouchability and gender bias, empowering women, and countering child abuse and child labour.

Along with the construction of schools, community halls, taps, toilets, libraries and labs, the organisation has begun providing life-skill training through a training academy. Praramva plans to emphasise help and support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse, those disabled by war, and orphans, providing them their rights and facilitating shelter with a training centre.

A set of villages benefits from our health, education and skill-development programmes in Sindhupalchok. We work for the proactive engagement of these beneficiaries on issues such as the prevention of girl trafficking, health hazards, water and sanitation, and women's and youth empowerment. We have always been proud of the fact that individual donors are our main support, and we hope to gather the support of more institutional donors in future. We cannot close without thanking the Singapore Red Cross for its continuous support and coordination, which has made us successful in accomplishing our reconstruction projects.

It gives me immense pleasure to write about Praramva. We are glad that our organisation has acquired a clear vision. Getting the vision right is a major task for any organisation, and on that score we are lucky to be steadily building our strength in education, health, agriculture, anti-trafficking and environment.

Praramva is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation registered under the Social Welfare Act 2049 and established in 2069, situated at Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur. We take pride in the fact that we are different from others, as our service covers a wide range of social services. We are non-profit, non-governmental, non-religious and non-political, dedicated to ensuring services for the needy, and to working on social, economic, physical, gender and environmental issues to promote sustainable development.

Our accomplishments this year included our continued association with our partner and donor, the Singapore Red Cross. Reconstruction projects have given us enriching experiences and opportunities to expand our contacts. Praramva has plans to make people aware enough to educate their children, teach them healthy habits and motivate them to be independent, as with the singers and spokespeople brought into the village who made that campaign successful. Soon after completing the work in Piskar, Praramva will start its project in Lalitpur.

Our president dreams of a Nepal where no discrimination prevails on the basis of caste, creed, sex or religion; where every Nepali is educated and independent enough to live a respectful life. So does Praramva. As a philanthropic institution we intend to work in education, health, agriculture, tourism, skills and culture, and communication and technology. We aspire to fill the gaps in government services and achieve change at grass-roots level, helping people develop a clearer understanding of the social, political and economic factors affecting their lives, and strengthening their awareness of their own potential through life-skill training.