With a population of almost 30 million, Nepal is one of the world’s 50 least developed countries, ranked 145th out of 187 in the 2015 UN Human Development Index. An estimated 44% of the Nepalese population lives below the poverty line with 50% of children under the age of five suffering from malnutrition.
Oxfam has been supporting the people of Nepal for more than 30 years with the vision to create a just society without poverty; a society in which all women and men live a life of dignity, enjoy their rights and assume their responsibilities as active citizens of Nepal.
Through its Sustainable Development Program, Earthquake Response Program and Media, Advocacy and Campaign, Oxfam in Nepal aim to provide people with livelihood opportunities, ensuring that development-related activities are demand-driven and sustainable and that the most vulnerable are empowered to claim their rights.
Oxfam's work in Nepal
Oxfam in Nepal works primarily for two core areas:
Humanitarian Program: Earthquake response
On April 25, 2015, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. The quake and its aftershocks affected an estimated 8 million people—more than a quarter of Nepal’s population. Nearly 9,000 people lost their lives, more than 22,000 were injured, and about 750,000 houses were damaged or destroyed.
Oxfam and our partner organizations moved quickly into action after quakes, delivering aid to communities in seven of the 14 hardest-hit districts in the country: Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha, and Sindhupalchowk. To date, we have reached more than 600,000 people with vital support.
Nepal is a disaster-prone country with where many natural disasters occur every year. The earthquakes of 2015 not only wiped out valuable lives of the people but also damaged infrastructure in both the cities and rural areas. As a part of the Humanitarian Program, Oxfam works with local partners to prepare for disasters, with lawmakers to amend the Disaster Management bill and with communities to restore their livelihood and empower them to be resilient. In order to save lives now and in the future with enhanced resilience for vulnerable women and men at risk of, or coping with, disasters. Oxfam’s humanitarian program focusses on water, sanitation and hygiene, shelter, food security and livelihood with gender and protection and disaster risk reduction as mainstreaming elements.
Learn more about Oxfam's response to Nepal earthquakes of 2015
Sustainable Development Program
In order to alleviate poverty, provide rural communities with livelihood programs, mainstream gender, prepare for disasters and create awareness on hygiene and sanitation, Oxfam in Nepal works in 25 districts of Nepal. We promote an integrated approach with partners and strategic allies to pilot test sustainable practice and use this to influence policy and practices at the local, national, regional and global levels to create the systemic changes required to really benefit poor men and women in Nepal.
