CSR at Hike Himalaya Adventure

Project 2013
Hike Himalaya Adventure is facilitating another projects- Nepal Friendship Project- Community Development and Training Project in 2013 which will mainly work on the following areas:

Teaching/ Training
This project will build on the work that was carried out last year at Amarawati Secondary School in the Maidi area of the Dhading District, Nepal. The teachers from this area have asked for further support in the areas of Maths, Science and English.
It is intended that a training team consisting of teaching specialists in the areas of:
1.    Secondary maths,
2.    Secondary science,
3.    Secondary English
4.    Primary literacy/numeracy
5.    Special education

The teachers would work with a number of staff from the schools in the Maidi area, providing the Nepali teachers with teaching techniques and strategies that would more effectively support the learning needs of their students.

Building
This aspect of the project will build on the knowledge that the villagers already have a high level of skill in traditional building so by providing additional training with some of our more modern techniques, these skills will be improved.

The villages who will be trained will then be able to use their new skills around the villages and continue to train others in building and repairing their homes to a higher standard.
The two room Community hall in the village has been built to meet the current needs of the community using traditional materials and techniques and is reflective of the construction used in other village buildings. The community hall is adequate for current uses however, it is hoped to develop a preschool and also house a travelling medical centre.

This building has been chosen not only for the benefits its improvement will bring to the village but most importantly it is a perfect vehicle to use in training to introduce a range of new materials, tools and techniques to the villagers.

As well as being able to broaden the ability of the village builders or training team would be able to learn a range of traditional Nepali skills to bring back to Australia to use in their schools.

A team of three highly qualified Industrial Arts teachers from Australia will be involved in this training. They have been chosen because of their ability to teach and also because of their high level of technical skills associated with all forms of building and construction

 

Health: There are two keys aspects of this project

1.    Mental health
2.    Dentistry
 
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an invaluable tool developed in Australia to educate people about mental health issues and how to respond at a "grass roots" level to mental distress with their relatives, neighbours or colleagues. It has been implemented across Australia and now across many countries in the western world and in Asia.
 
In Nepal the MHFA manual has just recently been translated into the Nepali language and cultural context by senior clinicians Dr Pramod Shyangwa and Prabhat Kirin Pradhan(PK) with the support of Dr Arun Jha, International Coordinator, South Asian Forum on Mental Health.
 
Dr Jha has written " In the western model, participants pay for the MHFA course, but in Nepal it is other way round. We are therefore looking for partner organisations to help us train at least 100 people in each of 75 districts in next 5 years."

In 2013,with a small amount of support, PK can bring some of his trained MHFA instructors up to the villages in the Maidi area to work with the primary care health workers who are at the face of "barefoot health work" in Nepal. MHFA will help demythologise the belief that mental illness is an evil that demonises people and help people understand that it can be effectively treated with the right health care.
 
If this initial program is successful we will scope further work with possible supporters like Rotary to chart a program of MHFA implementation across Nepal. Bringing local Rotary clubs from Nepal into this venture would be essential.

Dentistry
It is envisaged taking a dental team to the villages in the Maidi area to:
1.    Cure any pain of dental origin. 
2.    Begin a preventative program,with particular emphasis on children. Oral Hygiene and diet would be the main focus,

 As there is an intention to return annually, progress could be monitored and initial programs could be reinforced.

 If time and resources are sufficient it would be hoped to extend the preventative program to the adult population.


Project 2012
Hike Himalaya Adventure closely working with Rotary Australia World Community Service(RAWCS) for the education, health and renovation in some of the rural areas of Nepal, especially, Dhading district of Nepal. Read more to know the details of the projects that Hike Himalaya Adventure has co-worked with and is co-working this year. Teachers’ Training Program 2012 at Amarawati Secondary School in Dhading district of Nepal

With an objective of sharing some of the most effective learning skills with the government teachers of Nepal, Hike Himalaya Adventure facilitated for a Teachers Training Program in 2012 held at Amarawati Secondary School of Dhading District of Nepal. The training program was conducted with the support of Rotary Club of Orange Daybreak, and Rotary Club of Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. This was one of the important projects under Nepal Friendship- Community Development and Training Project. The training focused on teaching learning skills/techniques. As reported by some of trainee teachers- “The Training has made the trainee teachers competent and self confident into their real classroom teaching learning process because the training was the most effective means of teachers’ professional development.”

According to the reports prepared by trainee teachers, the training has made the trainees learn:

    How to use effective strategies / techniques to open and end a lesson.
    How to use group work activities in a lesson
    How to use effective questioning techniques
    How to use Classroom aids and resources
    How to give learners feedback
    How to motivate learners
    How to make students practice the reading and writing
    How to use language games. pictures/charts in a lesson
    How to use learner - centered techniques
    How to make learners participate actively in a lesson
    How to give learners equal opportunity in teaching learning process
    How to assess the learners’ achievements

The training may support to decrease the dropout rate, repeaters rate and absence rate and increase the learning achievement rate.

The compatibility between text books, curriculum/syllabus and the techniques, exam oriented teaching found to be unbalanced.

The training has provided input from experts.
The training has offered teachers practical classroom applications.,
The training has raised teachers’ motivation.
The training has developed co legibility.
The training has supported innovations.