One of the biggest challenges our organization faces is the challenge of figuring out how to make the most impact with our limited funds. Nepal has many socioeconomic issues, and a small organization has to try to make the biggest impact with what little we have. In order to give scholarships to the most deserving candidates, Rukmini Foundation has put in place an independent Selection Committee. We have expanded on this idea this year to make the selection process even more fair and more transparent by forming a Sub Selection Committee. The Sub Committee consists of seven (out of which four are women) influential local community members of the underprivileged communities of the Pharping region (Please see the table below for their brief profiles). These groups/communities were selected on the basis of lack of educational opportunities, lack of awareness among parents about education, landlessness, and a lack of other employment opportunities.
Local community leaders along with foundation leadership in Nepal met with members of underrepresented communities to discuss student selection.
On December 15, the first joint core and sub selection committee meeting was held at A School for Community (ASC). Rukmini Foundation’s Regional Director (Shashi Sharma), Principal of Shikharapur School (Shyam Shreshta), Rukmini Foundation Honorary Chairperson, (Laxmi Aryal), Rukmini Foundation Program Manager (Nabin Aryal), and two of our mentors (Rashmita and Pramila) also took part in the meeting. The key agenda for this meeting was to understand what communities were being underrepresented in terms of access to education and economic opportunities, and to select students from those communities.
In order to make a significant impact with our limited budget, Rukmini Foundation believes in a thorough selection process
After the meeting, it was decided that each members of the Sub Committee will nominate three deserving candidates from their respective regions. After conducting interviews and home visits, the core Selection Committee will then decide the ten scholars to award scholarships to for the coming year.
Rukmini Foundation Honorary Chairperson Laxmi listened to the requests from the disadvantaged communities and pledged the foundation’s support to students from these areas.
In order to make a significant impact with our limited budget, Rukmini Foundation believes in a thorough selection process, and we also want to make this process transparent . We also believe that there is room for improvement in the current process, thus, we constantly seek advice from community leaders in Nepal as well as our well- wishers in order to improve our selection mechanism.
The Selection Sub Committee for 2013 is made up of:
| Name | Locality | Profession |
| Mr. Mukunda Prasad Upadhyaya | Shesh Naryan- Ward No 9 | Social Worker |
| Ms. Parbati Silwal | Dakshinkali –Ward No 6 | Cooperative Manager |
| Ms. Lalilta Tamang | Setidevi- Ward No 9 | Teacher – Junkiri School |
| Mr. Sriram K.C. | Talku- Ward No 8 | Board Member – Shikharapur School |
| Ms. Nirkumar Lama | Chimale- Ward No 1 | Teacher – Dhyampa Devi School |
| Ms. Sabita Ramtel | Shesh Naryan- Ward No 3 | Member of women’s cooperative |
| Ms. Nirmala Magrati | Shesh Naryan- Ward No 3 | Member of women’s farmer group |
Once the selection process is completed, we will hold a scholarship ceremony for the new students and publish an update on this class along with a profile of the students. We are very excited about this as we approach the new year.
Thank you,
Nabin Aryal
Program Manager – Rukmini Foundation
- Aftermath of 2023 Earthquake and Lending a Helping Hand - November 23, 2023
- Sowing the Seeds of Empowerment through Sewing - July 30, 2023
- Vaccinating students from COVID is the boost we need in Nepal - January 30, 2022
- Re-opening Act: To be or not to be in school in person - September 29, 2021
- A Gasp of Hope in the Fight Against COVID-19 - August 31, 2021
