NGO Involved: JEPC  |  Location: Pokhara, Kaski District

Project Period: Feb 2020 – Aug 2020

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Building Education believes in empowering not enabling.

It is our mission to provide the available resources so that we can create sustainable communities and local leaders.

Our project with JEPC in Pragatitole Village started with a simple school rebuild for Phase I of our Community Development Project.

From there, we began Phase II which was to fund education, food, materials, and medical needs for the 70 children at the education center. Educating the children became a vital part of the plan to end poverty for future family generations.

Phase III began as the children and their parents began to recognize their own power in creating change in the community. They began to see their needs for water, electricity, and proper roads as a right. We have worked alongside the community to install pipes, electricity, and petition to the government to have the streets repaved.

Phase IV of the Community Development Project in Pragatitole with JEPC is to create a sustainability project in which JEPC can earn an income and become financially independent.

We want to create a successful model in which leaders of the community can earn an income for the school so that Building Education is no longer needed for funding and we can hand over the community to them.

The idea is to create success in this Community Development model and bring it to other needy areas of Nepal so that we can scale our impact and help more villages.

The Sustainability Project that we believe will be most successful in this area is Aeroponics/Hydroponics.

Aeroponics/Hydroponics is a type of controlled and consistent farming that doesn’t require a lot of lands for the vegetables and crops to be grown.

It uses the combination of agriculture and technology to provide crops that are free from pesticides, herbicides, and does not require too much maintenance as the growing is soilless and automatic.

There are 3 parts of the system which include, vertical or horizontal tubes for the plants; the water reservoir where water nutrients circulate; and the high-pressure nozzle which serves to pump the water and nutrients through the tubes to the roots of the plants.

One of the greatest problems today in Nepal is that farming is shrinking due to it being much more laborious than any other country because of technology. It requires a lot of work and not enough pay for farmers. Farming is also currently not controlled which makes the crops inconsistent.

Aeroponics/Hydroponics provides solutions to mass farming production that doesn’t require a lot of space, creates controlled growth, and does not demand a lot of labor or maintenance. It can be easily learned. Plants also grow healthier in a shorter amount of time.

With shrinking markets in big cities such as Pokhara, farming, and access to vegetables is highly needed and profitable.

Our 5-year plan with JEPC is to install aeroponics/hydroponics at the education center so we can create a return on investment within 9 months.

We will need to install about 5-6 systems which will produce enough vegetables for 70 children daily so that we can sell and feed the children as needed.

By our third year of the sustainability project, we plan that JEPC will be able to provide a source of income to fund the children’s education whereas Building Education can reduce funding to about 50%.

Within our 4th year of the Sustainability Project, we will increase our market scales so that we are distributing directly to production lines for pickles and to restaurants in the nearby areas. As the business grows, Building Education plans to reduce funding to 20% so that we give the opportunity for JEPC to thrive in business and support the children.

Our 5th year is when Building Education will continue to oversee the project and provide support as needed but regular funding towards the JEPC project will cease so that we can support other children and projects that are in dire need and beginning stages of development phases.

We plan to create a successful Community Development and Sustainability Model that we can utilize for other areas in need all over the world.

Donate to our Sustainability Project here!