How to build a school in Nepal

• Be enchanted by the idea, imagine what it will do for the community, and be very sure this is your life’s good work. It is a privilege few will have as your new community will become good friends – and who will call on you for more than you bargained for (such as naming their children).
• Commit in front of hundreds of local people and a few friends.
• Have a legal document drawn up on rice paper.
• Work out what the commitment means eg catchment areas (2 hours walk each way)…resist borders unless you are sure of how to do safeguarding; age group eg kindergarten? Years 1-7? Numbers? Class size (without agreeing class-size, you will be amazed how many children can squash into a classroom). How will that affect running costs, books, school uniforms, access to computers etc?).
• Agree to whatever school name the village want with an English version as well (makes it easier if fund raising).
• Work out how to get money to the village….intermediary, Bank Account, Western Union and, if possible, open a bank account with more than one signatory with different surnames (not the same family/ caste etc).
• Create a group of diverse people who are trustworthy: an outsider to the village but living in the locality, a local teacher and someone in Nepal eg an NGO…these are like Non Exec Directors.
• Create governance in the village for a community school, all expenditure printed/ written and posted in public in the village, 50/50 men and women on a committee, with an agenda and all work done signed for.
• Any cash should be given in public with a photo…do not put any poor person in a difficult situation where they have been handed money that could improve their life and no witness.
• Photo of all work done as it progresses (for evidence and potential website).
• Ask to have all decisions run past you eg design of school, who will provide the work, what the local community will do themselves…otherwise costs can escalate and you may run out of funds/patience.
• Find at least three good teachers who will commit to at least 5 years of start-up.
• Set up a legal trust/charity in Nepal for the school.
• Write up what you are doing on a website as people will ask and a few might want to contribute.
• Involve the Nepalese government as they might help, although, more likely, they will want to control what happens.
• Make sure the building is properly planned with government engineer agreeing to the design that must be earthquake proofed…and the land registered to the school.
• Try to have communication with at least two people in the village and perhaps your ‘NEDs’ at least fortnightly.

• There is little point in talking to others who have tried and succeeded in building schools as their experiences are unlikely to be similar to yours and may be downright discouraging.
• Unless your school is to be in the far West of Nepal, the UK Government through DIFID will not help.
• You may happen chance upon someone who can help – just as the UK government provide aid to West Nepal, the Swiss provide help in East Nepal (Province One). More likely, unless your school is near Kathmandu, remoteness is simply too difficult for most Governments and NGOs.
• Agree a wish-list with the school committee – everything they want and everything you think should be done (eg toilets, levelling land and fencing for the playground, electricity, clean water, computers, school uniforms, school books, specialist teachers) and prioritise them with hoped-for timescale.
• Seek volunteers to bring ideas into the school and demonstrate /explain what you cannot with words alone…never less than two at once.
• Visit annually to inspire, listen and keep in touch.
• Try to get corporate sponsorship for computers etc…not big sums of money ….and one-off commitments.
• Set up a website.
• Set up a charity in the UK.
• If working, agree a salary sacrifice to save tax on money given.
• Be prepared to reset boundaries eg saying no (more than once) to borders and no to more than agreed numbers in a class and no to grandiose ideas for the school building.
• Say thank you every week to the headmaster and tell everyone what a wonderful job they are doing in difficult circumstances – try to set up a reward system for teachers who consistently turn up to teach as well as perform well.
• What are the extras that will make a big difference eg chess club, Lego building, recorders to play…
• When the school is functioning well, start thinking about sustainability. Can the village have help in bringing in money such as tourism, crafts etc and could this provide employment especially for women (you are more likely to get assistance if the project is for women’s empowerment).
• Start introducing ideas to be listened to by the community as they do really want to hear from you….how do they ensure no-one marries before the age of 20? How can clean water be collected and saved? How can cooking be made safer with bottled gas and a chimney and reduce cases of tuberculosis? How do trees help reduce the risk of mudslides? What can people do to improve their nutrition? Why should women go to a district hospital to have babies (rather than in the buffalo shed)? All of this needs balancing with respect for their traditions (but not all: you don’t want to discover you have tacitly supported inequality for women!
• Be prepared to have a go at researching anything and everything from how to catch and cleanse water, or what you need sent out from UK to create an intranet, to what teaching methods and materials might enhance the plain walls and learning by rote methods.
• Expect everything to take years not months but have an unstoppable source of impetus!