#ToxinFreeKhaja

2023Climate Change & Environment

Apr 25

Nepal | Rotaract Club of Kathmandu | 2023

Namaste!

We are Rotaract Club of Kathmandu, a passionate group of students and activists based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Our campaigns are focused on raising awareness on climate change and food security so we can have a sustainable future.

15 - 25 years old
Kathmandu

The Right-Sized Problem

Despite being the largest city in Nepal, Kathmandu faces a variety of food-related issues: There’s a lack of nutritious food available for children, leading to various health issues. Junk food is available without any regulation and these aren’t tested by the government. We’re not even sure if they’re edible in the first place!

What did we do?

Tackling this problem and getting our message across required a fresh, creative approach. So we came up with the #ToxinFreeKhaja campaign, which kicked off with “Hunger Walk”, an awareness walkathon to advocate for climate justice and food security. This fun event was attended by at least 500 students, youth, parents and influencers and aimed to show how urgent these issues are. The atmosphere was filled with colorful banners, beautiful music, singing and dancing.

Central to our campaign was introducing sustainable agriculture and showing students that it’s possible to grow organic food at home. We did this by installing aquaponics, a modern farming system, in Durbar High School and Vishwa Niketan School. Through hands-on technical workshops, students and teachers were equipped with the knowledge and skills to nurture organic produce within their schools. These schools are even taking it a step further and planning to organize fairs where students from other schools can visit and experience aquaponics.

We also organized a “Healthy Meal Campaign” in 16 schools and social clubs around Kathmandu, where students learned about climate change and food security through entertaining activities. These included teaching students how to make midday meals healthier and more nutritious and making pledges to commit to a sustainable and healthy lifestyle.

Taking our advocacy to a wider audience, we held an open panel discussion on toxin-free food that was attended by different community stakeholders. Representatives from UNESCO, the World Food Forum and Nepal Food Quality Control and Management Department joined to talk about solutions to food insecurity. Youth also raised their concerns around food security and learned from the expert panel. This space allowed for generation of ideas to contribute to a more sustainable future in Kathmandu.

Campaign Impact

In just three months, we raised the awareness and interest levels among the locals on climate change and food security. Some have even approached us, asking for ways to tackle these serious issues on a personal level.

Through our efforts, we secured 42 partnerships and collaborations, including Rotaract Clubs in Kathmandu. Rotary International even featured our Hunger Walk on its official blog, boosting our advocacy to a wider audience. We were given the spotlight by Galaxy 4K TV, one of Nepal’s leading national television channels. A Shifter was featured on “On Air with Sanjay”, a podcast series with over 500,000 subscribers.

The success of our activities are pushing us to go beyond our hometown. We are planning to hold the Hunger Walk in different cities in Nepal and driving efforts to integrate Healthy Meal Campaigns into the schools’ curriculum.

Impact in Numbers