IAESTE Nepal Project

IAESTE trainee, Marek Mičuda from Slovakia, took these wonderful photos whilst being a trainee in Nepal this summer. They are so good we just had to share them with you. Thank you to Marek for allowing us to do so!

You can read all about the Nepal Project below. It was a new initiative for IAESTE and was a great success.

2017 became a historic year for IAESTE Nepal. We were able to exchange 67 students. The placements of the incoming intern covered eastern, central and western parts of Nepal, and the outgoing students from Nepal were from all eastern, central and western regions of Nepal.  Both male and female students were represented in incoming and outgoing cohort of 2017.

The most interesting activity was IAESTE Nepal placed 39 incoming interns from 24 countries at Laprak Model Village Settlement project led by NRNA. Laprak was the epicenter of the deadly earthquake in 2015. The project site was roughly 3000 meter from sea level with no proper road connection and electricity. Because it is so difficult to reach, people in Laprak had no machinery and limited supplies to help rebuild their homes; all construction must be done by hand. The IAESTE Interns made a difference in Laprak. Due to the involvement of IAESTE interns in such a challenging national project of reconstruction, IAESTE Nepal got well recognized by government and public in Nepal. The IAESTE interns’ participation in reconstruction was widely applauded by the Honorable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education of Nepal on June 14 in Kathmandu when the Deputy Prime Minister welcomed the interns amidst a reception in Kathmandu.

All 39 interns got a real life opportunity to apply their knowledge in the field of civil engineering, architect and mechanical engineering to advance the project. The employer has expressed higher level of satisfaction of the interns. Though the nature of project was humanitarian, the interns were equally compensated as a regular intern for their work by providing Kathamdnu-Laprak Transportation, Food, and Accommodation during their entire internship.  Civil Initiative, NRNA and IAESTE Nepal jointly compensated for the same.

International interns have given very encouraging feedback terming it the life changing experience. This perhaps created a different value to IAESTE as an institution as well making the difference in the lives of people going beyond the traditional exchange system of IAESTE.  IAESTE Nepal is thankful to the IAESTE Board and those 19 IAESTE member countries who cooperated with this project.

Megha Chand

Program Manager

IAESTE NEPAL

Civil Initiative