As the responsible tour operator, we realize our responsibilities towards our community. We know the small effort we put for the betterment of the community and the environment on the destinations where we operate our tours and treks can bring the significant changes in the lives of the people living there.
The prioritized areas under our CSR Policy include health, education, awareness campaigns, and environment. At the meantime, while the devastating quake that has resulted panicking situation in the rural villages of Central Nepal, our priority has shifted a bit. We have goals to support the rebuilding process in the villages badly hit by the quake 2015. We promote village tourism, which is the part of our CSR Policy and to support the rural communities we prefer to use local goods and resources.
Contributing logistic supports for the schools and health posts in the far flung villages has been our habit and to design the eco friendly products across Himalayan nations is the most important factor we consider while catering vacations.
Supporting abandoned or the orphaned kids in their education have been the tradition here at Advanced Adventures. After the quake 2015, we were at ground zero in collaboration with Pioneer Foundation to support the quake victims providing them temporary relief. Truly speaking we do not look for the areas where we can help instead we find such places and just go for it.
All of our social project are carried together with locally based non profitable organization - Pioneer Foundation Nepal (http://www.pfnepal.org)
Health
Extremely tough geographical conditions and the lack of education everywhere makes far-flung remote corners of Nepal deprive of health services. There are many places in Nepal that has no facilities of basic health services and hence people in these places suffer several health related disorders and sometimes even death because of minor health problem or epidemic that could have been treated easily. In the present context, the health posts of the villages in Central Nepal had been grounded and the reach of health services for the people of remote Nepal has dramatically gone down.
As the responsible organization, Advanced Adventures has prioritized public health under our CSR policy. Collaborating with Pioneer Foundation Nepal, we have already done some health related activities in remote village of Gorkha. During the free health camp in Gorkha, Bungkot more than 1000 villagers took the benefits of treating freely. Proper Sanitation also comes under public health and hence the construction of toilet in Chundevi Primary School, Lalitpur was the priority under our CSR policy in 2012.
For the future, we have plans to conduct free health camps in the quake-affected villages of Central Nepal. We are planning to conduct free health orientations in these remote villages and most importantly, we are planning to raise the fund and skills to rebuild the grounded health posts of Nepal.
Education
Education in the modern world has proven to be the most important tool to shape prosperous life. Nepal however, fails to provide the opportunity and the rights of being educated to every child. The victims that are deprived from the opportunity of education are those kids who have experienced the biggest nightmares. Be it the war victim children, or the kids abandoned after family disputes or orphans resulted by natural calamities; kids in Nepal are plenty in number who have no privilege of going to schools. This vulnerable demography of the country is forced for child labor and in case of girls, they are provoked and compelled to be sex workers.
Advanced Adventures in collaboration with Pioneer Foundation Nepal has actively contributed in the education sector of the country. We have renovated the school in Lalitpur and we have sponsored the school fees for five children of Tharu community. The logistic and stationeries support for the orphanage homes have been our yearly activity.
In the present context, the country has suffered even more after the devastating quake 2015. Many kids have been orphaned and many schools have collapsed. Our CSR Policy after the quake is quite clear. We will soon start the campaign to raise the funds to rebuild destroyed schools of the Central Nepal and we shall come up with the brighter idea that provides equal opportunities for underprivileged kids to get educated.
Social Awareness
More than the urban educated communities, Nepal has remote ignorant societies, where the darkness still prevails just because of minor awareness to various aspects people of these remote communities lack. The lack of education and effective awareness campaigns in Nepal has resulted many social issues and hence many innocents have suffered to extreme degrees. The conservative communities need proper awareness campaigns so that every member of these communities can live the peaceful life.
The physical illness in these communities are still treated in conventional ways, which are the worst cultural taboos taking lives of many citizens in Nepal. The rural communities where the government of the country has been unable to introduce the services of proper education and health services are the prime destinations suffering the conservative beliefs that have been rooted in the brains of many Nepalese for ages. For example the AIDS patient in the communities dominated by conservative thoughts of Nepal still has to suffer extreme discrimination, which obvious doesn't promote humanity.
As a responsible tour operator, we have conducted several awareness campaigns in the remote communities of Nepal so that no one suffers just because of ignorance and lack of education on various aspects.
Post-quake relief
Advanced Adventures is responsible travel operator in Nepal. We are supporting our Himalayan communities for their betterment since its establishment. We contribute our support to the remote village of Bungkot VDC, Gorkha, Nepal through donation, sponsorship and partnership in various projects.
After earthquake at 25 April 2015 (7.9 Magnitude), we focused our support to earthquake victims in collaboration with non-profitable local organizations, Pioneer Foundation Nepal - http://www.pfnepal.org
For the first two months, our support was focused for buying foods and tents for the earthquake victims who had no houses as it was fully destroyed and had no foods to eat. After 2 months, we started supporting victims with Zinc Plate for their shelter houses for safe staying in monsoon. After 6 months, as earthquake victims were somehow settled, we then focus our support to community schools in rural villages, which were fully collapsed from the earthquake. Since then and till now, we are supporting rural community schools with donating computers and printers for their computer classrooms, helping making libraries, supporting books, copies for their students, sports and educations materials, and have also created support program for volunteering teaching from westerners in these school.
Note: Earthquake hit at Central Nepal (Including North and mid west region- 11 District including, Gorkha (Was the epic center of this earthquake just below Manaslu Mountain), Dhading district, Nuwakot District, Rashuwa District, Kathmandu, Patan & Bhaktapur, Kavre, Sindhupalanchok, Dolakha etc. so most of our support after earthquake went to these district, mainly to Gorkha where was the epic center of this earthquake and most of the devastation was at this region.
For more details of our social programs, please visit our sister concern non political/ non profitable organizations - Pioneer Foundation Nepal - http://www.pfnepal.org
Environment
Environment has always been our prime concern, while designing the tour or trek products across any regions of Nepal. The increasing population and the resource demand have surely made huge adverse impact in the fragile environment. While operating tours and treks we make sure no part of the nature is hindered. Our guides are well educated on the importance of preserving the environment and they very well know the ways to do it.
We do not encourage our travelers to use and throw objects that could make negative impact on the environment. We make sure not a bit in the nature gets disturbed by our operational activities. Since all our holiday products in Nepal and other destinations are environment friendly, our priority is also to aware the locals f our operational areas about the importance of conserving environment. Our tour or trek begins with the briefing session, on which we clearly inform travelers about the strict local rules on hindering the Himalayan Environment. We are focused on the fact that travelers shall not leave anything than the footprints and take nothing than the photographs at the end of the tour or trek across Himalayan nations.