The first couple weeks in Nepal have been spent at our partners offices furiously typing away, (hence why you haven’t seen so many Vlogs or photos). We’re simultaneously launching two large expansions to our programs, but each of them deserves its own blog post, so you’ll get that when we launch ;) This initial Kathmandu based phase has been much to the disliking of Into the Wild Trek Leader, Beebal Limbu, whose views on residing in an urban environment we’ve included for you below…
“ I’m going to go up to the mountains and just live in a cave…“
Despite this and many other, (questionable) reflections on Kathmandu, this ‘phase’ is a natural outcome of growing and scaling up our projects. The PMEAL, Program Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning phase, (which isn’t a mouthful at all) is a continuous process throughout projects culminating in essentially 1 of 3 decisions: 1. Termination 2. Continuation 3. Expansion Each decision covers a myriad of nuances, ie phase-out, hand-over, adaptation and that’s enough of all that because really its the title that you’re interested in. Our Menstrual Health Program, (MHP) coordinators Romi & Shristy, often finish their studies / day-time jobs and follow up on NERF comms in the evening. Last night, NERF’s very first formal ‘Master Training of Trainers’ on Menstrual Health and Menstrual Cups was finalised, set for the 29th of May. This will allow our partners, with support from NERF, to begin delivering their own MHPs and orientations on menstrual cups, provided by our UK partner Mooncup. Part of a multi-district Sexual and Reproductive Health program, working side-by-side with BYAN across 8 districts to bring new knowledge, best practises and support to a wide range of people with physical and intellectual disabilities, (PwDs). Yes I keep on tripping up on that acronym too, however what ever anybody tells you we are not working with PoWs, (…yet?)! Please do not be offended if I use the incorrect terminology, working between 2 different cultural contexts I may blunder at some point, no offence is ever meant. There are new challenges and issues we will face, working with PwDs, crumbling taboos piece-by-piece and uncovering the real situation for women day-to-day when dealing with both menstruation and a disability. This is a pioneering project, both in terms of its conception and its approach for target beneficiaries. But at NERF, that’s kind of what we aim to do…we’re not the biggest, and it’d be arrogant to assume we’re the leaders in any sector, but we like to think we’re contributing to the cutting edge in ways that nobody else we know of is trying yet. If this interests you, get in touch ;) Info@nerfinternational.org (Volunteering / Trekking / Trusteeships or just pitch us something!) While all this is going on the UK NERF Team have been prepping for the 10th Hogsozzle Festival! We’ve very kindly been named the charity partner for this year, and we are going to have lots of fun media and updates for you after the weekend. Thank you again to everybody at Hogsozzle! Here are a few snapshots in case your FOMOs getting out of control ;) Right now we are just sitting in Pokhara, waiting to travel to potential trek sites with The Pahar Trust Nepal, we’re leaving in 20 minutes and I haven’t packed yet so this is where I’ll be signing off. You can thank us for the 4am start tomorrow after you see the quality of the sunrise…and the beauty that emanates from every peak and valley across Nepal’s unique vistas. #menstrualhealth #volunteer #trustee #pokhara #blog #Nepal
