Nepal
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Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Help communities achieve greater prosperity and food security, decrease social marginalization, and improve environmental sustainability.
The context
Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with nearly a third of citizens living below the national poverty line — less than U.S. $0.25 per day — and another third living on less than $2 per day. Half of the population are youth, and 90 percent of them are unemployed. The country is also at high risk of earthquakes and floods.
Our work
- Agriculture & Food: Improving incomes of smallholder farmers by expanding access to financial services and supporting production of high-value crops like ginger, cardamom and potato
- Disaster preparedness: Helping communities identify vulnerabilities and build protections against floods; working with the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology to build early warning systems and emergency coordination
- Children & Youth: Creating school programs that educate children to protect themselves and others in emergencies
- Women & Gender: Teaching financial literacy so women can develop and expand microenterprises
All stories about Nepal
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Nepal: Harikala, green mango pickle maker June 28, 2012
Harikala makes green mango pickles. Thanks to Mercy Corps, she received a loan to purchase spices, oils, tools and containers. She repaid that loan and took out a second one to expand her business.
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Nepal: Teaching kids to prepare for floods June 6, 2012
Young students at a school in flood-prone western Nepal learn how to stay safe in the event of disaster.
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Nepal: Protecting natural resources April 12, 2012
Villagers in southwestern Nepal gather to tell Mercy Corps staff about their needs and how they make use of their surrounding environment — land, plants, water. The work is part of an assessment to figure out how to reduce natural resource-based conflict in the area.
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Nepal: Women channel healthy sanitation March 20, 2012
Toilets are a luxury in Kanchanpur District. In fact, throughout this rural area of southwest Nepal, few people have access to even rudimentary latrines.
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Nepal: Shoring up communities in Nepal February 14, 2012
Savitri Devi Chaudry is a member of her village's Disaster Preparedness Committee.
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Nepal: From unbanked to borrowers December 14, 2011
If you’re a bank, eastern Nepal might not seem like the most desirable place to open new branches.
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Nepal: Who’s got the power? June 21, 2011
You’re serving a customer or running a machine and the power quits. This is a regular occurrence in Nepal. If you’re well-off, you pay to have a generator installed in your business and home so you’re not dependent on the electric grid.
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Nepal: Where the river brings life, it can also bring death June 18, 2011
Krishna Bahadur Giri is standing thigh-deep in the swollen Mohana River, studying the best place to cross. The road we were going to use is washed out; Plan B is to turn our Jeep into an amphibious vehicle.
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Nepal: Janaki Bhatta in Samaijee village, Nepal June 16, 2011
With support from a Mercy Corps program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Food Crisis Response, Janaki is working hard to make her farm more productive.
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Nepal: To combat hunger, Janaki learns new ways to grow, store and sell June 16, 2011
I’m pretty sure Bill Gates hasn’t met Janaki Bhatta. But I’m just as sure he’d see in her a kindred spirit — a feisty entrepreneur who’s taking some smart steps to increase her yields of aloo (potato) and audha (ginger) — and the income she earns from them.