Child Bright Future Programm (CBFP)

Children Bright Future Programme

The Children Bright Future Programme was initiated in a remote mountainous district, Solukhumbu, back in 1996, with the support of sponsors mainly from the UK. Since then, GAN has served as many as 500 marginalised children, the majority of them being girls; helping them attain school level education. At present there are 160 children enrolled in the programme.

For Nepal to progress and develop it needs to harness the skills of its best and brightest – but poor students are often simply not able to continue to as high a standard of education as they would like.

In line with the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, GAN recognises the importance of a child as an individual and as a member of a family and community. In order to provide a sustainable context within which a child can achieve their potential, the Children Bright Future Programme delivers positive changes not only to an individual child but also to the entire family and community. GAN identifies the poorest communities in the project area and supports each individual family to raise their living standard and to support their children's education.

Your contribution can help the lives of marginalised people in rural Nepalese communities.

Where Your Money Goes

The main percentage of your contribution goes to the child chosen by you for her/his education. Some of the money is used to buy books, pens, pencils, paper, and school uniforms. The money you give also goes towards paying for the direct costs of education such as tuition and examination fees. A small portion of the contribution goes to form child clubs, a platform where children can practice life skills.

In order to allow progress to continue in the community, a percentage of your contribution also goes to the children’s family and community. Each family/community has a different set of needs/wants but your money could be directed towards: Income Generating Activities; sanitation projects; awareness raising; empowerment projects and so on.

Last but not the least, a very small percentage goes towards running this programme (e.g. postage, photos, staff costs).

What You Will Receive

• The child you sponsor will keep in contact with you and share his/her progress in school
• Initially, you will receive a photograph of the child you sponsor with his/her family
• Annually, you will receive one set of school reports with an updated photograph of the whole family
• A locally made greeting card at Christmas
• A brief report of activities carried out in the community, including photographs
• The opportunity to visit his/her family and community if/when you come to Nepal

Donate and Help Change Lives

In order to be a part of the Children Bright Future Programme, GAN is asking for donations that will directly support a child and their family/community for five years. The reason for such a long commitment is that the sponsored child needs regular, uninterrupted financial support to ensure a positive outcome. It would be unkind and unfair to a potential child if they thought that things were going to change only to discover in a year or so that, due to sporadic funding, their programme would have to be cut short. It would also be an inefficient use of donations already received.

The reason why the commitment is for five years is that in GAN’s experience this is the amount of time it takes to ensure sustainability. After five years it is envisaged that the child’s contextual environment will be such that he/she will be able to continue with schooling. This may be due to successful income generating activities within the family, or a heightened awareness of the importance of education within the community.

It will cost £620 ($1010 or €721 exchange rate, March 2011) to sponsor a child for five years and change the lives of the child, family and community for ever.

Different ways to pay

• £620 (or equivalent in US$ or €) in one lump sum, or
• £120 (or equivalent in US$ or €) a year for five years, or
• £10 (or equivalent in US$ or €) per month for five years.

If you would like to help but do not feel you can commit, why not consider donating to our Basket Fund.

Uma Sunar is a girl from the Dalit caste in Makwanpur. She had this to say about the Child Sponsorship Programme:
My name is Uma and I just passed class 4. Due to poverty I quit my studies three years back. When Global Action Nepal sponsored all the children of my village I got interested in studying again. I requested GAN to help me and they supported me. I joined school again. If I get this help regularly I can certainly pass the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam and help my parents by getting good job. I am very much grateful to GAN for supporting me.

Helping Families and Communities – A Success Story

"I attribute these positive changes to GAN" says one of the sponsored child parents Mrs. Shanti Tamang. She went on to say, “I still remember the miserable situation we were in before we came across GAN’s staff. Now, we are less shy, more confident and able to face any situation; we can comfortably interact with outsiders." “GAN offered sponsorship for our children in order to encourage us to send our children to school regularly. They even placed a female volunteer in our community who conducted empowerment sessions to the mothers and sisters every evening. The volunteer helped our children to do their school work every morning", she added. "GAN also provided us with a small grant to start a small income generating venture. With the grant some of us initiated animal husbandry; some started a poultry business and so on. I bought about 100 chicks with the grant, but now I have more than 2000 chickens. The others in the community and I have profited from the enterprise. With the income generated, some of the families have been able to send their children to private boarding school. The health and hygienic condition of our children as well as our community has also improved a great deal. GAN has played a vital role in helping us get to where we are today. Therefore I/we heartily admire GAN."