Serrv partner since 1991

Kumbeshwar Technical School offers free vocational training and jobs in spinning, knitting, weaving, and carpentry to low-caste and disabled residents of Katmandu Valley. Your purchase ensures a better life for hundreds that are denied it. Profits are reinvested in training courses, sustainable social programs, and homeless children.

Concerned about the poverty and class discrimination he saw in his neighborhood in the Kathmandu Valley, Mr. Siddhi Bahadur Khadgi made a commitment to share what he had with his neighbors, many of whom were society's untouchables: low-income street sweepers, rickshaw drivers, and butchers denied education and opportunity. In 1983 he built a childcare program for street cleaning workers, followed by adult literacy classes and a health clinic. A primary school came next, and then a carpet-weaving training program for adults—and the Kumbeshwar Technical School was born. The program has resulted in hundreds of graduates earning a livelihood with KTS or establishing their own workshops, and today more than 2,100 producers belong to this fair trade organization. Combining education and training for underprivileged youth, women, and people with disabilities with care for homeless children, KTS continues to empower its community.