PHASE Worldwide Director’s reflections on a recent visit to Far West Nepal

My career in the Development/Charity sector started 25 years ago, at the time deciding to do a degree in Development at UEA in Norwich, at the time one of the few Development courses in the country. It was a big decision, for an 18-year-old with no real international connection. The daughter of a maths teacher and a scientist in the Cotswolds.

Having spent much of my career working in food and health, in the UK and overseas, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa, starting to work with an organisation in Nepal was a new adventure.

My visit to Nepal in November 2024 was a first. I’ve spent time in India, China, South-East Asia but never quite made it to Nepal, although it was always on my list (but with two small children this seemed a long way off!).

What I learnt while I was there:

Firstly, and I think most importantly, what a great organisation PHASE Nepal are. They are forward thinking, considered, efficient, a delight to work with, I really valued my time with them in person.

Secondly, how consistent support for health posts is so important. Health posts really are the core, the backbone of our work in Nepal. They are a base in the village for many reasons. The community get to know the organisation, what we do, the trust they have in PHASE staff develops over time. It’s also helpful logistically, it gives us a base, a place for staff to live, a wealth of social capital with community members and leaders that we can build on from health.

We also need to provide consistent support, because our aim is to move out, to move on, leaving a community empowered to ask for more and a government system that is aiming higher, achieving more. But for the PHASE Nepal team to inspire, persuade and negotiate it’s easier if the team have stability, a guarantee of funding for at least 3 years into the future for each health post. If a plan can be devised over a series of years a staggered, realistic handover can be planned, managed and achieved.

In order to do this, our funding at PWW needs to be consistent and stable too. Project funding and grants do not generally give us this stability, especially in the current climate with little money from the UK government in the Development system (another decrease very recently!), the recent withdrawal of USAID by Donald Trump and larger charities scrambling for the money small organisations have counted on.

Our aim in the UK team is to provide this stability, and for this we need your support. We can’t do this without you. Every regular donor we have is security, stability, consistency and a reliable donation to keep health posts running providing nurses, additional medicines, outreach services, saving lives every day and importantly giving the PHASE Nepal team the ability to negotiate, plan and move on.

If you feel able to set up a regular donation (or increase your donation) I and the team would be over the moon, as we know more lives will be changed and saved in remote locations in Nepal and the need is more than ever given the recent international policy changes.

You can set up a regular donation via our webpage here

Thank you,

Lyndsey