About Us
Nepal is a landlocked country situated in the lap of the Himalayan range. Inheriting vast diversity in geography and ethnicity it is locked by China from the North and India from East, West and South. It is the poorest country in South Asia and ranks as the 12th poorest countries in the world. It is one of the least developed countries in the world and relies extensively on foreign aid. The main sector of the economy is agriculture, which employs over 70 percentage of the population and accounts for 33 percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). There is a woeful lack of social and economic infrastructure in the country as a whole, especially in rural areas, where income levels tend to be lower than the national average. It has also different religions present, most significantly Hinduism and Buddhism, but minorities of Muslims and Christians are present. People in lower castes and marginalized ethnic minority groups, in particular, suffer from poverty and exclusion, within these groups, women suffer the most. Although the Nepalese economy has been securely growing in recent years, lack of governmental institutions, growing population and remnants of social instability are sources of concern. However, over the last decade, the country has made considerable progress in reducing poverty but is still falling behind. According to analysis, the urban poverty declined from 22% to 10% and rural poverty declined from 43% to 35%.
In Nepal, it is already a proven fact that NGOs can be effective vehicles for social transformation, economic-advancement, socio-economic empowerment and democratic governance. During the decade-long conflict in Nepal and a massive earthquake, thousands of children lost their parents and adult civilians injured often lose their means and ability to make an income to sustain their families. More than 80% of the people live in the rural areas while more than 80% of the qualified doctors' work in the urban sectors. Until there is an improvement in the doctor-patient ratio in the rural area, primary medical care will largely depend upon the locally available, economically affordable and socially acceptable traditional healers and unqualified rural practitioners. A recent research on health care providers in Nepal reveals that 60 to 80 percentage of illness is treated by an ‘uncategorized’, ‘non-recognized’ and ‘outcasted’ lot of rural practitioners. Thus, it seems quite impossible, mainly due to the poor economy, to provide effective primary care to a large population in the absence of adequate trained manpower and supporting facilities.
Precisely, the people with disabilities are citizens with equal rights, who given the opportunities are able to contribute economically and socially to their households and communities. According to the survey of different international organizations, about 15% of the world’s population lives with some forms of disabilities in terms of physical capabilities. Though the rate of growth of disability in Nepal is not like that according the different census and recent country wise disability detect survey the rate is increasing in an alarming way. This significant numbers of people fall in unexpected helpless situation unwillingly and lead a measurable life. Most of their life is so difficult that not only their own lives but also to save their lives it is required to contribute others workforce. Self-income generation activities are essential towards economic self-reliance of people with disabilities. So NGOs responsibilities are augmented on activating and promotion of human rights, people' welfare and democracy in this transitional phase of political, economic and social transformation.
Same as, the education of girls, which already was receiving very less attention in Nepal, is now almost ignored in poor rural communities. In many societies, parents place importance on furthering boys’ education. Girls should prepare to be someone’s wife. They should worry about having children, especially having sons. They should focus on cooking and cleaning, not math and literature. Boys should focus on learning and building careers. This is an outdated mindset. So we should be given the first priority to girls` education as only girls are capable of leading for social changes. Educated women are more likely to encourage the education of their children. Educated people have the ability to make a change in not only their small communities but also their countries as a whole. Women’s literacy is necessary for the development of the nation along with it undeniably helps in breaking the cycle of poverty.
So far as we know that Nepal Matri Griha (NMG) is an autonomous and politically non-partisan organization that works to promote the rights, welfare and development of children living on the margins of society. It works directly with the children and their families, helping them to break away from the effects of discrimination based on caste, disability, gender and social status. NMG was established in 2000 registered in District Administration Office (DAO) under NGOs Act 1974 and also affiliated with Social Welfare Council (SWC) and Municipality Office. Its foremost aim at that point was to spread awareness on this issue, to children, to parents and as a society to everyone around. Knowledge is power, and with this knowledge, the younger generation will have the power and confidence to defend them from the outer world. Parents are more willing to hear things out. Survivors are more open to talking about their suffering and get help. One-to-one its mission is to protect and provide support and services to every poor, orphan, discarded and physically challenged children and contribute to their physical and mental development by preventing them from abuse and exploitation. Therefore it offers a prospect of promoting human rights and providing social justice and equal opportunities for women, youth and children in the vulnerable areas of Nepal. It always implements, coordinates and develops relationships with the government and development agencies at the local level. Instead of bringing new policies, there is the need to build a strong mechanism to monitor the implementation. Ever since its founded, with dedicated its team, NMG hopes to grow progressively touching and changing lives of thousands poor and needy people of Nepal throughout the NMG`s projects - Educational Scholarship Children Project (ESCP), Physiotherapy Children Project (PCP), Primary Health Care Project (PHCP), Medical Support Project (MSP) and Vocational Trainings (VTs) and many more others- are put into actions to exist a dignified life. Every year approximately 7000 children and adults had been given the amenities from the organization.
In the forthcoming days when NMG have become successful to be well-established then it extended the wide range of activities. At this time, NMG runs a scholarship program to the children who live in slums with extreme poverty, homeless and orphan children on top of that physically challenged children are also attaining an appropriate edification. Likewise, NMG`s physiotherapy centre has treated more than 100 patients a day. The patients who are not able to visit at the centre due to their chronic disorder, that moment of time the centre will offer her/him as of the door service.
Every year hundreds of children will receive books, school bags, grocery and other stationery items so that they will not be compelled to drop out of their schools. NMG`s primary clinic helps to heal the minor injuries to the underprivileged who are even not capable to buy a tablet for fever. The clinic has been also awaking people regarding family planning and other sensitive matters. Furthermore some additional events are like - street dramas to raise awareness, doctor support to patient, physiotherapy appliance support, picnic and excursion for children, conducting adult literacy classes, general physiotherapy training to parents of disabled children, teachers training and empowerment, empowerment of school structure, networking with line agency and crisis counseling, as well as it focuses on providing employment to disadvantageous group of the society. The organization timely offered vocational trainings such as beauticians, handcrafting, tailoring, computer hardware & software and mobile & electric items repairing and so on.
It is the child rights and an advocacy organization with a focus on child labour, street children, child abuse, trafficking in children and other related issues; it works directly with children and focusing its activities on the relief, socialization and social re-integration of children living. Ever since 2000, NMG has been working to reduce and prevent child labour by promoting education, health and awareness-raising locally-initiated projects. NMG has already outreached in 77 districts throughout the various projects. NMG actively participates in numerous national development issues and its various projects support to the underprivileged and neglected children who have either lost a parent due to the conflict, or have been physically impacted by a bomb explosion or congenital at the time of birth and /or cannot afford to pay school fees/medical expenses/ physiotherapy charges for cure of their disabilities. They are under the defined as organization target groups. Those targeting group is basically based on their scarceness. The selection criteria are based on organization guidelines.
There are overall 32 members in the NMG`s board, among them 7 are democratically elected members, including a chairperson, vice-chairperson, general secretary, secretary, treasurer and 2 general members. All the members of the central and provincial committees are experienced and established personalities in NGO management. The BOD (Board of Director) meets once a month. NMG follows a highly participatory approach in the delivery and implementation of its services. Its focus is on a qualitative capacity building of local member NGOs and, in particular, on improving their management, governance, skills and competencies.