Our Approach
Place-Based
We work community by community, focusing on the full ecosystem around a child: teaching, school facilities, health, livelihoods and family stability.
Cradle to Career
We support children from early childhood through to young adulthood, helping them move confidently through school and into real opportunities.
Locally Led
Parents, teachers, school committees, youth and municipal leaders guide every decision. Communities guide the work. We provide the support.
Hardest-to-Reach Only
We focus on remote Himalayan villages where distance, weather and terrain make access to education difficult and where large NGOs rarely work.
Partnership-Driven
We work with trusted Nepali partners who live in and understand the communities: PHASE Nepal, Kanchenjunga Buddhist Social Service (KBSS) and Almost Heaven Farms.
Build Local Capacity
We strengthen governance so schools and communities can eventually run everything themselves.
Our approach is simple: support people to lead their own future — and leave each community stronger than when we arrived.
How We Work
HDFA works differently from large NGOs. We stay small, stay close to the ground and stay long enough for local leadership to take over.
We start small
Every project begins with listening in order to understand what families, teachers and local leaders say they need.
We co-design
Solutions are shaped locally, not imported. Community voice guides every step.
We strengthen governance
We build the capacity of School Management Committees, parent groups and local government to lead in the long term.
We stay long enough
Most communities need 6–10 years of support before they can sustainably run their own schools, health services and livelihoods.
We measure what works
Every project is built on practical monitoring: literacy and numeracy baselines, attendance trends, teacher improvements and family wellbeing.
We focus on the whole child
Education only works when families are stable, healthy and supported — so we work across education, health and livelihoods together.
We plan to leave
Our goal is simple: help each community reach a point where they no longer need us.
Treks & Immersive Journeys
HDFA offers a rare way to engage with development work: you can actually go there.
Our treks take supporters deep into the Kanchenjunga region past villages, through forests, across rivers and into the homes and schools we support.
These journeys reconnect people with what matters: community, purpose, simplicity, and the joy of walking through some of the world’s most extraordinary landscapes.
Reach Higher Trek
See the projects. Visit families. Walk the same trails our founders walked.
Changemakers Journey
A deep journey for high net worth supporters who want to understand the work and contribute substantially and long-term.
Why it Matters
You don’t just fund the work — you feel it.
Meet the students. Sit in the classrooms. Share tea with families.
It’s development you can see with your own eyes.
Every trek funds HDFA’s education, health and livelihood work, creating a direct link between your adventure and a child’s future.
Register your interest and we’ll let you know about upcoming treks and experiences.
