IMPACT REPORT FY2023

2023 at NIVAS was not only a year of building, but of working to expand access to resilient housing solutions for deserving families.

Read on to find out what we achieved with the backing of our tenacious supporters.

We collaborated with local government to develop financial resources for women-led families.

Through our advocacy efforts and partnerships with local authorities, we’ve increased both awareness of housing equity issues and the resources allotted for women-led families. Often local municipalities have a positive mindset toward bettering their community but need both an advocate and technical partner to implement their resources effectively. After extensive groundwork, next year all of our partner communities are slated to mobilize substantial support and funding dedicated to housing single mothers and their children. This is an exciting moment as we seek to expand our reach and the efficacy of our donor dollars.

“To build a better world, we need to be supportive, empathetic, inventive, passionate, and above all, cooperative”. - UN Global Goals

NIVAS built 12 homes for 53 people, including 41 kids.

Our mission is to help people living in extreme poverty find dignity, strength, and security through the process of becoming homeowners. In 2023, we worked side-by-side with 12 women-led families to achieve that very goal. These moms and grandmas have experienced discrimination throughout their lives, pushing them into illiteracy, child marriage, limited education, and a lack of access to their legal rights. Now they have found themselves going-it alone as parents too. Combined with insecure shelter, these issues put their children at severe risk of poor health, low educational attainment, increased violence and vulnerability to child trafficking.

Today these families own beautiful earthquake-resilient masonry homes where they live comfortably. The immediate security this asset provides their families is paramount, yet they have made it clear to us that this asset will serve them far into the future.

234 community members attended our construction trainings and 12 more developed advanced skills on our job sites.

We had another record-breaking year with our training courses and on-site workforce development programs! Hundreds of local folks showed up to learn about resilient construction and hone their skills to the national building code. We’re already seeing the effects of this knowledge spreading throughout the communities we work in. With so many people versed in construction best practices, local projects are held to a higher standard. One of our on-the-job trainees took his new skillset and built a lovely home for his wife and young baby.

133 Women attended our income-generation trainings and our new homeowners launched their businesses with seed capital.

Once again, goat farming has continued to be the income-generating activity of choice for our homeowners both in the hill regions and the lowland Terai. Single mothers who have little land to work with and limited time are easily able to cultivate goats to sell ghee, meat, or live goats to other farmers. After learning everything from feed selection to immunizations in our training course, our main program participants received 2-3 goats each (depending on the age/gender of the goat) and supporting materials to begin their goat farming operation. Our partner families are quickly earning up to 40,000 NRs ($300 +/-) in their first year of operation, while still growing their future proceeds. As we continue to learn and develop our programs, the emphasis on income generation becomes more and more apparent. On average, the women we work with are earning 8,000 to 10,000 NRs ($60-75) per month when we begin working together. This is less than half the international poverty line for a family of 2, and even less for our families with more kids. Supporting our partner families to continue growing their income year over year is crucial to their long-term success.

Our programming created 25 jobs, including engineering, social work, research, teaching, masonry, woodworking, and videography.

So many motivated people have joined with NIVAS from all over the world. The collaborative process of first finding vulnerable families, then utilizing every available resource to help them move out of insecure shelter and extreme poverty into stable living conditions requires experts and energy at all levels. We are very proud to work with amazing minds and hearts to achieve this mission and enjoy creating good jobs along the way.

84% of homeowners demonstrate agency, self-determination, and improved mobility for a better life.

A study was conducted by Kadambari Memorial College - Kathmandu of our first cohort of women-led families located in Nuwakot, Nepal. The study found that of all the women who had joined the NIVAS program (2019-2021), today 84% of them show significant agency, self-determination, and improved mobility. As single mothers raising children on their own, this is both critical to providing a healthy life, and to modeling independent and strong behavior. While a small percentage may be heavily influenced by relatives, the majority are actively participating in parent-teacher associations, have official bank accounts, and report an improved sense of self-worth, dignity and courage. These intangible outcomes are what lead to long-term sustainability: Mothers with strength and conviction providing a better life for their children.

We completed Phase 1 of our pilot program for disaster-affected communities along the India border.

Two years ago we set out to bring our services to the highly marginalized Musahar community living between the Sapta Koshi and Balan rivers in Saptari, Nepal. This area experiences severe flooding annually, causing families to abandon their homes temporarily, flee to higher ground, then return to ruined crop stores, property, and structures. We joined with Nepal and US-based engineers and architects to develop a prototype home that would adapt to both the local climate and local ways of living. We completed our Phase 1 two-story raised-plinth homes during the first half of 2023, while joining with the National Housing and Settlements Resilience Platform to adopt various flood-resilient home designs into the national offering.

We welcomed our new Director of Impact and Innovation.

Sushma Shrestha has used her deep well of knowledge in the NGO sector to support such organizations as Habitat for Humanity International, Asia Women Bridge Nepal, and The Blind Youth Association of Nepal. Today she is leading NIVAS’s program innovation, with a vision to expand our impact exponentially to more deserving families across Nepal. We are thrilled to have such an inspiring and dynamic new member of the team. Going forward, Sushma will be working to support our teams and to advance our mission at the highest levels.

Big Big THANKS to everyone who made this work possible in 2023!

In FY2023, 170 generous individuals and businesses invested in our work. Without these critical partnerships, we absolutely could not do what we do. Our donors see the value in supporting deserving families and for that we have the utmost appreciation and gratitude every single day. You are our foundation, our champions, and our family.

Here’s to doing BIG THINGS together in 2024!