Committee for the Promotion of Public Awareness and Development Studies

COPPADES is a non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) involved in a number of social development activities in rural Nepal. In these over 20 years of operation since its establishment in 1991 COPPADES has played a significant role in the empowerment and self reliance of the people below poverty line in the rural and remote communities in Nepal.

The vision of COPPADES is to contribute positively to the creation of an equitable society in the grassroots as well as to the national level that helps to the realization of social justice.

The mission of COPPADES is to promote organizational activities among women, the poorest and the discriminated grous by building up awareness among them and empowering them through economic self dependence.

COPPADES has emphasized on its triangular approach of involving people in economic, educational and organizational development activities in its efforts towards the development and empowerment of the rural people, particularly the women, Dalits and otherwise marginalized people. These people are finding themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and backwardness because of the lack of alternative income opportunities worsened by a decade long violent conflict, chaos and disorder.

COPPADES started its activities, initially in 1988, with the financial support of the Student Alumni Association of the World College West, a liberal arts college operating with its home campus in Petaluma, California, USA and it had its regular study abroad program in Nepal with focus on international development through which students came to Nepal, stayed with Nepali host families and participated in community development activities as part of their study. The Alumni Association contributed in helping the Kumal with training in literacy and income generation skills. A small funding from Canadian Cooperation Office in 1993 made it possible for COPPADES to start its major activities. These activities, that were later supported by The Development Fund, Oslo, Norway and further later projects, were Rural Literacy and Self Reliance Program (RLSRP), strengthening of rural savings and credit cooperatives, Enterprise based income generation program (EBIGP), a research on Traditional Medicine in European and Asian Cultures –TMEA, Online Navigational Environmental City Information Project and Basic Computer and Information and Communications Project (BCICT). COPPADES also implemented projects towards mitigation of possible adverse impact of big development projects such as the Middle Marsyangdi Hydrelectric Project (MMHP) and Khudi Hydropower project on local environment through training to local people, acting as link between project developers, government agencies and local people and thereby contributing to the smooth progression of project activities in a socially responsible and environmentally sensitive manner. The end result of COPPADES' mitigation programs was a win-win situation for all - the project proponents and the local community people and local environment. Further programs of COPPADES have focused on the economic development of the poorest of the poor people through various innovative measures such as enterprise training and grant and goat exchange programs.

On its policy lobbying and rights advocacy measures, COPPADES has constantly engaged in advocating land rights for the landless, furthering issues on food security that is frequently connected with land ownership, advocating for gender issues - particularly the rights of single mothers and the education for children, girls and upholding the rights of the Dalits (those treated as slaves by so called higher caste people). COPPADES works closely with government agencies such as the Village Development Committees (VDCs) and District Development Committees (DDCs) in the area of poverty reduction and the conservtion of environment. Currently, COPPADES has started collaboration with Lutheran World Relief, USA in the implementation of "Community Led Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCA Project)" in 2010. The program intends to engage community people in livelihood and development practices that are environment friendly and that contribute to sustainable development of the communities under impact.