Canopy Nepal

In Nepal, only 27% of students complete the upper secondary level (Nepal Education Fact Sheet, UNICEF, 2022). The students impacted are disproportionately low-income, perpetuating the cycle of poverty by hindering their opportunities to become financially and socially independent (Devkota & Bagale, 2015). Further, the Centre for Education and Human Resource Development’s report on the academic year of 2022/23 shows the low retention rate of students in secondary school. The retention rate reduced from 67.3 percent in grade 9 to 35.5 percent in grade 12, a drop of 31.8 percent in the three most crucial school years. Nepal has 36,032 schools, out of which only 422 are model schools, i.e., well-resourced and performing schools that provide technical support regarding professional development and administrative needs. Only 1.2% of schools are well-equipped model schools that focus on students’ development, teachers’ enhancement, modern teaching methods, and physical infrastructure.

Canopy Nepal works to solve the systematic education problem that persists in Nepal by enabling equitable access to quality education for all the learners we engage with.  We envision an education system where every child, regardless of their socio-economic, gender, and geographical background, has the knowledge, creativity, and critical thinking skills to live an independent, sustainable, and quality life. We focus on using inclusive and interactive teaching pedagogies to ensure equitable engagement of all students, especially those with learning challenges. 

Our program, Learners’ Hub,  emphasizes the implementation of interactive learning, aiming to mold public school students into independent learners by equipping them with soft skills that are essential to making self-sustaining informed decisions. The program creates a smooth learning environment for facilitators and learners where both can explore their creativity, and skills and grow past their potential. We have umbrella programs in Learners’ Hub to ensure that we achieve our objectives to produce expected outcomes.

1. Katha Bunaun - Weaving Stories is a program that aims to enhance multifarious skills, including story writing and storytelling, amongst young learning enthusiasts. Katha Bunaun focuses on the freedom of expression of young learners as a fundamental right and as an important aspect of the development of young minds. 

2. EIC is a month-long intensive program aimed at enhancing multifaceted skills such as reading, writing, listening, speaking, creative thinking, and critical thinking while strengthening their overall learning abilities so that they can transform everyday knowledge into lifelong learning. 

In both the umbrella programs, we use resources such as videos, tech-facilitated activities and assignments, and tech-based evaluation metrics to assess the effectiveness of our program. At the end of every year, we launch a magazine, Buneka Katha, which summarizes and highlights the work of our students. It consists of the stories they write, events they conduct, and interviews of partner schools. We’re linking the magazine herewith.

We currently implement Learners’ Hub (LH), our interactive learning program, with 2000 students in 20 schools. Among these, we have 14 public schools & 6 private schools where we target secondary-level students who are labeled academically weak by the teachers. On top of this, the majority of our students are from remote villages and ethnically minority groups who immigrate to the city and are having difficulty socially adjusting to the people around them. Their academic level is below par with that of the students in the city because the quality of the schools, teachers, and curriculum content vary in different parts of the country.

With our EIC program, we enhance students’ foundational skills and enhance their passion for learning with interactive and fun-based activities. With this, students gain confidence in their capabilities and improve their performance in school. 

With our Katha Bunaun program, students write original stories and share them with their classmates. These stories are based on themes like inclusion, gender, imagination, dreams, or village life, or they can be whatever the students wish. Storytelling allows students to understand their friends better, enhance empathy, increase their bond, and create a closeness that allows students to be welcomed in class. 

The team has decade-long experience in the education field. Further, the team actively engages in the community through Global Shapers, UN Women, Rotary International, and World Literacy. This demonstrates the team's skills and commitment to positively impacting society. 

The Team Lead, also the co-founder, started the organization when he faced challenges in the classroom because the learning material and pedagogy were designed for already-intelligent students. Our team members also come from different parts of Nepal to understand the challenges that students face. We are also a young team with an average age of 24, and this allows us to rapport with the students better. Additionally, every year, we hire at least two students we teach to join the team as the program’s facilitators. With them in the team, we get first-hand information on the effectiveness of our solution. 

Till date, Canopy Nepal has provided scholarships to 197 students. As a part of our scholarship program, we have provided 78,000+ meals, 1400 uniforms, 19000+ school supplies, $110,000 worth of materials, 240 training sessions, and 350+ counseling sessions in 40 school partnerships. Similarly, as a part of LH (the program we’re pitching), we have delivered 2,109 sessions, worked with 13,000+ students, trained 270 facilitators, and worked in 215 schools. 

For M&E, we collect observation-based data and qualitative feedback. We conduct evaluations before and after every session and academic year to understand our students’ level of understanding, track their growth, and assess our work in relation to the data collected. For instance, as per our Annual Report 2023 (available on the website), 804 students we worked with showed an average improvement of 46.9% in their ability to express themselves verbally and a 56.2% improvement in their written vocabulary, grammar, and content, reflecting the effectiveness of the programs.

Next, we are at the phase of replication and sustained service of the organization. For replication, we plan to adopt Canopy’s curriculums in schools in Nepal through organizations that work in different cities in the country. For sustained service, we plan on building Canopy Nepal Schools, where education is free of cost along with psycho-social well-being, parent counseling, vocational training, career counseling, and, eventually, job placement support for students who come from underprivileged communities. 

1. Exploration in Technical Aspect: In Canopy, we have a set curriculum and system in place. For the same, we have a rigorous evaluation system that the team fills manually. But, we have identified that to strengthen our monitoring and evaluation of work, we need a more systemic approach. For the same, we would like to be provided with guidance on the development, implementation, and assessment of the new system.

2. Visibility and Validation: Through this support from MIT Solve, Canopy’s brand and our work will receive more validation. This will allow us to reach out to potential donors, funders, collaborators, and volunteers interested in supporting efforts to improve education in Nepal.

3. Guidance and Support: We believe Canopy is ready to scale the work we’re doing. Being selected for MIT Solve will allow us to scale the work to reach more students in Nepal. The mentorship, guidance, and the network we would form can contribute to the growth. 

7 Advisory Board Members

5 Board Members

23 Full-time Staff

2 Part-time Staff

The organization was registered in 2016, so it's eight years of operation. 

The founder has been working in this field for 14 years, and other team members for an average of 3 years. 

Canopy Nepal primarily relies on donations and partnerships for funding. Revenue is generated through student-centric workshops, and collaborations with educational institutions. We have also established a sustainable practice—conducting paid sessions at private schools. The funds generated from these sessions are used in financing two sessions in public schools, aligning with Canopy Nepal's commitment to equitable access. This innovative and balanced model positions Canopy Nepal for scalable impact and financial sustainability.

We have external funding from three major sources- donor organizations, individual donors, and private schools. The funding mentioned in this answer is from Feb 2023 to March 2024. 

1. Donor Organizations

   1. NCEP Canada (Supporting since 2016): $31,000

   2. FONAI, Australia  (Supporting since 2018): $20,000

   3. ISLearning, USA  (Supporting since 2018): $20,000

   4. Alaya, Nepal (Supporting since 2020): $3,800

2. Private Donations (Most have been with us since 2016, some are volunteers turned donors): $15,700

3. Private Schools

   1. School A: $5,900

   2. School B: $1,800

   3. School C: $700