Institutional Profile

Institutional Profile of Three S Foundation

Introduction

Three S Foundation is one of the leading organizations working for community development, rural development and poverty alleviation in Nepal. It has introduced an innovative and unique approach particularly appropriate for the rural areas. It launches programs of community development as per the Concept of three S (samuha = group/organization, seep = skills and sano punji = micro-finance). These three aspects – are practical, useful and essential for the developing countries.

The Foundation is focused especially on agricultural development, entrepreneurship, poverty alleviation,  institutional development, community health awareness programmes in Nepal. It helps the farmers, groups and cooperatives members in forming the groups for institutional development, enhancing skills, assisting to the marketing linkages for their products. It provides technical, financial and policy level expertise to the needy community. Simultaneously, it has given focus on health awareness, hand washing, toilet utility while conducting the development programs and training activities.

The Foundation has an Executive committee comprising 11 members headed by President Mr. Krishna Bahadur Kunwar. He was associated with the Central Department of Rural Development in Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur Kathmandu as Visiting Faculty Member (2001-2014). He has authored books on poverty alleviation, rural development, community development and rural marketing. It is interesting to note that Mr. Kunwar has given emphasized to establish a separate Ministry for Poverty Alleviation in 2002 (page 339, The Himalayan Poverty, Meena Prakashan, Kathmandu), in few years later, Government of Nepal has formed a separate Ministry for Poverty Alleviation too.

In fact, the Foundation had formulated a project on Sustainable Integrated Commercial Agricultural and Entrepreneurship Development through Cooperative Lease Farming in Nepal based on the inspiring concept of Raan Weitz’s Rehovot Approach to integrated rural development (IRD). The Foundation took initiation to implement this Project collaborating with Dhunibesi Agricultural Multi-purpose Cooperative, Naubise – 3, Dhading registered with the Department of Cooperative, Government of Nepal in 2008.

Considering the gravity of the project, National Agricultural Research Development Fund, an undertaking of Government of Nepal had approved partial grant for the project (Management of Degraded Land through Cooperative Lease Farming) in August, 2010 for two years. It covered the soil management, irrigation, agriculture production with high value crop and marketing linkage, skill development and institutional development of the local organizations and farmer groups.

As the founder members of the Foundation have years of experience in the Agricultural Development Bank and other leading organizations with having training opportunities in Germany, Israel, Thailand, Philippines; Three S Foundation has formulated numbers of studies and conducted skill development training programs on rural development and poverty alleviation.

As a result, in 2010, Mr. Krishna Bahadur Kunwar, President had participated in the Raanan Weitz Project World Competition 2010, Israel jointly organized by Weitz Center for Development Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Israel, UN HABITAT, and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was honored as Third Winner for the Project (Integrated Rural Development through Cooperative Lease Farming in Nepal).

In 2016-2018, the Foundation with its joint venture partner NGO (CIS, Kanchanpur) has implemented a Microirrigation Piloting Program in the Far Western Region under the Irrigation and Water Management Project of Department of Irrigation, Government of Nepal assisted by the World Bank. Before that in 2011-2013, the Foundation has worked in the same project in the in the Western, Mid-Western and Far Western Region with other partner NGOs ((Bee Group, Nepalganj and Nawa Prabhat Yuwa Sangh, Gulmi). The Foundation has more than a decade long experience of working in several projects.

Press-release for Mr.Krishna Bahadur Kunwar