SEEDS is the brainchild of popular trekking guide K. P. Kafle. KP is a Nepali who cares deeply about the condition of his fellow villagers. He has inspired a group of his western friends to form a non-profit organization with the aim of funding relief projects at the most basic grass-roots level.
We adopt a low-key approach to providing assistance to needy communities in Nepal. Our basic principle is to deliver cost-efficient, grass-roots projects that foster indigenous knowledge through culturally appropriate health care, environmental, and educational projects. We eschew the top-down, “we the foreigners know what is best for you” attitude that has long characterized major development organizations, preferring to allow villagers to propose projects to our board of directors. Through a dialogue we arrive at solutions that are economically feasible, sustainable, and sensitive to local cultural concerns. Our strategy has proven successful. SEEDS has been able to adapt to the changing and unpredictable circumstances that now plague Nepal
Our projects are truly collaborative. SEEDS provides funding, material assistance, and professional advice; villagers provide land, labor, and local materials. SEEDS also provides training at both the individual and community levels so that villagers are able to maintain projects in our absence. By bestowing ownership, our recipients reciprocate by making commitments to sustain their projects, and use their initiative to develop innovative solutions when problems arise. Much of our success is contingent on the personal relationships and rapport that we have cultivated with people in the project areas. Familiarity between directors and project recipients is a formula for success; mutual trust derives from a proven track record of accountability on both sides.
Click below to find out about our educational projects, our composting toilets, our aid to needy individuals, and how you can help SEEDS efforts to improve the health, education and welfare of Nepali citizens who have asked us to lend a hand.
