Hi!

As you may know, I'm Steven Maguire and thank you for visiting my fundraising page.

In November I will be going to Nepal as part of a Community and Youth Empowerment Programme (CYEP) with Students Partnerships Worldwide. SPW is a youth focused charity (registration number 292492) that sends young people aged 18 - 28 to work on international development, raising awareness on health education, HIV/AIDS, and life skills education. Volunteers work on these programmes as peer educators alongside national counterparts in African and Asian rural communities for a period of between 5 - 11 months. I will be based in Terai, working in rural communities and living with local families or hostels. Placements are in areas with very basic facilities such as electricity, communication and transportation. I am committed to raising £3600 to enable me to be a part of this hugely beneficial programme.

You may be asking "why does he needs to raise £3600 to simply volunteer?" but part of this total enables SPW to train a local national to work alongside myself and also enables the local community to host myself. Nepal is facing a concentrated HIV/AIDS epidemic within groups that practice high-risk behaviors. Nepal's poverty and gender inequality, combined with low levels of education and literacy present challenges in tackling this epidemic. However, SPW is mobilising young volunteers to encourage rural young people to take action to safeguard their own and their community’s health and environmental resources.

The Community and Youth Empowerment Programme (CYEP) is an integrated development intervention that encourages sustainable rural livelihoods by improving awareness and skills regarding sexual reproductive health, livelihood, good governance, capacity building and education. SPW Volunteers on the CYEP work directly with both school going and out-of-school youths and marginalized sections of the society especially women and socially excluded groups, to improve their health understanding, their health practice, and to help them gain access to the resources and services available to them to enhance their livelihoods and life skills in the long term. 

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Students Partnership Worldwide will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So if you fancy making a donation that would be brilliant and if need be I can give you more information. Nepal is an amazing yet extremely poor country – SPW’s work is making a huge difference.

Many thanks for your support,

Steven Maguire