World Vision International Nepal, a global development and relief international non-governmental organization working for the well-being of children in Nepal for more than 15 years, organized a national-level symposium in Kathmandu today to showcase best practices and achievements in the areas of strengthening systems, service delivery, innovation and solutions to improve the lives of the most vulnerable children and families in rural and semi-urban communities of Nepal.

The event saw the participation of children, community representatives, government, donors, civil society, media and partner organizations.

A marketplace set up to demonstrate effectiveness of WVIN’s programs highlighted the organization’s work in the areas of health, education, protection, agriculture and economic development, youth development and disaster management. The event also show-cased the best practices of the organization’s five-year campaign to reduce child marriage in Nepal, launched by President Bidya Devi Bhandari in August 2017.

This campaign supports the Nepal Government initiatives to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially targeting SDG 5.3 and has helped prevent 44 child marriages in communities to date since it was first launched.

Speaking at the event, National Director of World Vision in Nepal, Janes Ginting said, “This event, a first of its kind for World Vision in Nepal, is being organized not just to showcase our achievements but also to be accountable to the stakeholders in the country who have been partnering with us to help achieve the results we have shared today.

In 2018, in partnership with partner NGOs; federal, provincial and local governments; civil society; the private sector; donors; academia; and inter-faith networks, WVIN reached out to more than 494,000 women, men, girls and boys with long term development programs across 12 districts in seven provinces across Nepal. Besides, our work has also been contributing to Government of Nepal’s social and economic development priorities and SDGs, as outlined in our annual report.”