Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Nepal (DoEIA Nepal), officially registered as ‘Saksham Yuwa Nepal’ has been part of the Nepal Communitere community since early 2019! You can find their dynamic team in the bright yellow-walled room on the first floor of our building! Saksham Yuwa Nepal is one of the committed tenants who have been coworking at our space and were holding hands with us together to tackle COVID survival challenges in the year 2020! In my conversation with Baybina Shrestha, Senior Operations & Programme Officer at Saksham Yuwa Nepal, she shares the inspiring work they are doing in the education sector of Nepal!
- Can you share briefly about your organization Saksham Yuwa Nepal?
Saksham Yuwa Nepal is the licensed operator of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award (DoEIA) in Nepal. DoEIA program is the global leading youth achievement Award, equipping young people for life. It is the largest non-formal education program geared towards youth between 14-24 years of age. The Award equips young people to tackle the challenges of life, pushes their personal limits to help them recognize their potential. Since 1956, millions of young people have taken part in the Award in more than 140 countries and territories but the reach in Nepal was very limited. This Award was formally introduced in Nepal with the aim to develop across multiple formal and non-formal education sectors as well as sectors that focused on capacity building including Nepali Scouts, NGOs, orphanages, etc. After officially registering in Nepal in 2015, the Award program is currently running in over 60 schools including schools in Jhapa, Pokhara, Solukhumbu, Janakpur, and Kavre. Saksham Yuwa Nepal as a national Award office aims to make this invaluable program accessible to as many Nepali students as possible, especially in the public schools of Nepal.
“Our vision is to give this platform for the holistic development of all the youth (age 14-24) of Nepal; complementing their formal education, providing opportunities for them to challenge themselves, and bringing out their hidden potential!”
Baybina Shrestha, Saksham Yuwa Nepal
The Award provides students with unique international accreditation of their experiences and increases their options for accessing and achieving further study and employment. Besides, Saksham Yuwa Nepal (DoEIA Nepal) aims to develop partnerships and relationships with organizations across Nepal that share a similar vision: to deliver the Award to all the youth of Nepal. Currently, they are doing this strategically and creatively through collaboration with schools, NGOs, INGOs, businesses and corporations, government agencies, and more while using these relationships to assist marginalized youth to participate in the Award.
2. So what does the Award include and how Nepali youth can reach it?
The Award consists of four key aspects of development: 1) Community service i.e enable students to lend a helping hand and give back to society), 2) Physical Recreation: Helping participants in physical activities and maintaining good health 3) Skills: Helping participants explore their hobby and skills, and 4) Adventurous journey to explore the world and learn. The key focus of the program is to help develop life skills that last a lifetime for Nepali youth! Education programs based on Skills development are a crucial need for Nepali youth, the education sector which is also the Nepal government’s priority for increasing employment and DoEIA aims to do this by providing access to this internationally recognized platform so that Nepali youths can grow and enhance their life skills.
3. How do you feel about being a co-worker and community member at Nepal Communitere?
When we were looking to set up the office for Saksham Yuwa Nepal back in 2019, we looked for almost every coworking space around in the Lalitpur area but none could win our hearts as Nepal Communitere did. We’ve found this space to be fun and collaborative which matches well with our values. We really love the space and network in the hub so far and are still looking forward to many more years of being part of this community.
4. What is next for Saksham Yuwa Nepal?
Our key focus is to make this Award widely accessible, as much as possible to public schools, marginalized communities, and groups. So, we are now planning to provide access to the DoEIA programs to young and juvenile offenders of Nepal aged 14-24 years starting September 2021 through our project called “Extending the Reach of The Award in prison”. Juvenile delinquency is a serious and rising problem in Nepal. We cannot underestimate the need and impact of such formal and non-formal education opportunities for the young and naive offenders as part of juvenile justice. We are also working with organizations like SOS Childrens’ Villages Nepal, CWIN, Nepal Youth Foundation Nepal, Early Childhood Development Center, and many government schools to enhance their potential and provide access to these programs to young people who are considered “marginalized” or “at-risk”.
For more info or partnerships with Saksham Yuwa Nepal:
Email: doeianepal@gmail.com
Phone Number: +977 9860334638
Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/DoEIANepal
