United for Nepal is a project by a group of students from the Master in Human Rights and Multi-level Governance (University of Padova) .
After receiving the shocking news of the earthquake that in April 2015 affected Nepal, the students decided to promote a local fund-raising campaign in order to collect funds in support of the victims of the natural disaster.
With the purpose of creating a project that could favor a bottom-up approach to development and international cooperation, the students organized in June 2015 the first edition of United for Nepal. The event included a series of lectures, a concert, a reception and a second-hand market.
Their aim: engaging students, citizens, associations and civil society alike in the building up of a culturally aware, locally active movement of citizens, fostering valuable small-scale endeavors.
United for Nepal 2015 let them raise 1339.37 €. The funds collected were given to Sagarmatha International Foundation, an Italian-Nepalese non-profit foundation which since 2011 has been active in the Sindhupalchok region of Nepal in the fields of educational, sanitary and agricultural support.
The bond and collaboration between the students and Nepal could then further be deepened in surprising and unexpected ways.
In October 2015 some of the members of United for Nepal had the possibility to visit Meshipa, the village where Sagarmatha International Foundation implements its project, during the Summer School Microfinance in Action. During this exchange program, jointly carried out by the University of Padova and the Apex College of Kathmandu, the students could visit some projects of microcredit and local development. In Meshipa they could meet the students of the Shree Koldaung Devi Secundary School. The school was damaged by the earthquake and would be rebuilt thanks also to the funds collected during the campaign United for Nepal.
In June 2016 a new edition of United for Nepal was launched in Padova, this time with a enriched program including more guests, music groups and a photo exhibition, that let them collect 910 €. In October 2016 a new group of students taking part in Microfinance in Action could visit again the school in Meshipa and further strenghten the relation between the students of Padova and the Nepalese children, women and men.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOUT THE SUMMER SCHOOL “MICROFINANCE IN ACTION”
BY THE HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PADOVA
WATCH THE INTERVIEW WITH TV7