Project background
The Australian Himalayan Foundation works in partnership with the people of the Himalaya to help the most disadvantaged meet their priority needs through integrated improvements in education, health and the environment.
At the heart of AHF’s efforts is always the aim to provide better opportunities in life for people in the remote Himalayan mountains. As such, our flagship Teacher Training Quality Education (TTQE) program, which commenced in 2005, continues its long running efforts in Nepal to deliver quality, inclusive education.
This is achieved through up-skilling teachers, strengthening school governance, providing educational resources and empowering children, parents, and school committees. In 2018, the project piloted the development of a new “Namuna” or model school and early grades literacy improvement project.
This approach has already seen positive results with a dramatic increase in learning achievement in Nepali in the pilot schools whereby students have demonstrated results of up to 12% above the average in the school districts.

Project overview
Since 2005, the AHF’s TTQE program has been delivered in the remote Solukhumbu region of Nepal. The program strives to provide quality, inclusive education to the children in this region. AHF works with its partner REED Nepal to continuously improve opportunities through education.
Based on recent reviews, the focus of the program has shifted to focus on “Namuna” or model schools and early grade literacy. A new three-year TTQE program aims to deliver on four key objectives:
- To develop and strengthen targeted schools to become centres of excellence.
- To introduce and develop a Children’s Literacy Improvement Program.
- To strengthen skills to teach and develop core competencies in English, Maths and Science.
- To support very disadvantaged children to access and complete schooling.
The TTQE Program continues to be delivered in close collaboration with the Nepalese Government’s National Centre for Educational Development (NCED), with the teacher training program being the only NGO-run training courses that are government accredited in the country. Through this collaboration, the project embeds quality education approaches beyond the scope of the program alone. There are increased sustainable impacts of the program as TTQE training modules are taken to teachers from other districts in the country by REED and NCED.

What's covered in project cost
The funding through The Footprints Network will cover:
- Supporting AHF community partner REED to travel to the Everest region for training and in-school support
- Teaching resources and aids
- Training workshops
- Provision of training materials
- Travel costs and other fees for trainers and volunteer teachers
- Funding related to program monitoring and evaluation

Partners and community involvement
Accredited by the Nepalese Government’s National Centre for Education Development and implemented in coordination with the Ministry of Education, AHF’s Teacher Training and Quality Education program is recognised as one of the most comprehensive education programs in Nepal.
TTQE is implemented by the AHF’s Nepalese NGO partner REED Nepal with technical support from the AHF in areas such as program design, management, monitoring and evaluation. Monitoring and evaluating underperforming schools and teachers encourages better outcomes through in-school support, which continues to be an effective means to support the implementation of teacher training. Trainers from REED visit the schools in remote communities to observe the training in-school and provide valuable feedback and ongoing support.
The Australian Himalayan Foundation is a registered charitable organisation, a member of the Australian Council for International Development and accredited by the official Australian Aid program (DFAT).

Part of a larger strategy
The Teacher Training Quality Education program continues to deliver on its long term goal of providing better opportunities in life for children in the remote Solukhumbu region of Nepal through improving the quality of education.
This continues to be achieved through the up-skilling of teachers, strengthening and school governance, providing educational resources, and empowering children, women, parents and community members.
We are continuing to work with REED to identify and address the key barriers to children attending school. A specific example of this is a recent pilot project of providing school lunches to young children. Early results positively indicate this has addressed school hunger and keeps children in school for the whole day. REED will look to replicate this model and other strategies across the schools in the Solukhumbu.
This project continues the work of a previously funded Footprints project.
How was this funded?
Thanks to hundreds of tiny donations from these online businesses and their customers.
- World Nomads USA
- World Nomads Canada
- www.WorldNomads.com
- World Nomads Australia
- World Nomads NZ
- World Nomads UK
- World Nomads Global
- World Nomads Europe
- World Nomads Ireland
Over the years, thousands of travellers have visited the Himalaya. For many it is an opportunity to trek beneath the world's highest peaks and to appreciate some of the world's most hospitable cultures. Yet the Himalaya is not just a vast adventure playground. For the local communities it is anything but easy – with access to basic health and education services often out of reach.
Following in the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary who was devoted to bringing education to the Sherpa people, the AHF is working in partnership with local communities to help the people of the Himalaya through improvements in health, education and conservation.
Giving to the AHF is an opportunity to give something back.