Looking Back | Looking Forward
LSF in Review
Little Sisters who were once at risk of the perils of sex trafficking, child marriage and child labor, now have the chance to become educated and empowered young women. The impact of your support makes a lasting and meaningful difference by creating safety, opportunity, empowerment and leadership. We are extremely grateful.
Little Sisters Fund believes girls everywhere deserve the right to a quality education, freedom from trafficking, violence and child labor, and the ability to stand up for themselves against discrimination and gender-based inequalities. At LSF we provide long-term scholarships to financially disadvantaged and at-risk girls in Nepal and partner with the girls and their families to help them become empowered leaders through education, mentoring and community support. Through our educational scholarships and support programs, we aim to contribute to the development of a more equitable, just and prosperous world where all children can claim their right to education and marginalization does not occur on the basis of gender.
LSF takes a holistic approach anchored in child protection and education. Our long-term scholarship programs increase access to education while our twelve supporting programs address additional barriers to girls’ achievement and female empowerment in Nepal. LSF’s complementary support programs include mentoring, counseling and awareness raising, preventative and emergency healthcare, girl-led community projects, menstrual health management, mobile libraries, alumni development programs, technical trade school, merit-based scholarships, higher education opportunity funds and educator training. Since 1998, Little Sisters Fund has supported the education of over 3,900 Little Sisters and has over 1,800 graduates who are now enrolling in higher education at more than 3x the national average for females in Nepal.
Looking Back
Over the past five years, leadership support, like yours, has been instrumental in many of LSF’s programs. From providing long-term scholarships in our School Scholarship program to supporting our Coordinating Mentors to helping Little Sisters attend technical trade school to making preventive and emergency healthcare as well as COVID emergency funding possible, these donations have helped us offer life-altering assistance to thousands of Little Sisters.
Little Sisters continue to excel in high school and beyond.
98% of Little Sisters graduate from high school, compared to 25% of their peers nationally.
Over the past 5 years, more than 95% of LSF graduates have gone on to seek higher education. In fact, two of our graduates have received PhDs and four more are enrolled in PhD programs.
Over the past two years, 12 Little Sisters have received scholarships for engineering school, traditionally a very male dominated career path in Nepal.
Over 99% of Little Sisters pass the 10th grade School Education Exam (SEE) with 3x the national average of top performers (A+, A, and B+).
Over 99.5% of Little Sisters who decide to get married do so after they turn 25. In contrast, in rural Nepal approximately 40% of girls are married by age 14.
Little Sisters earn on average 2 to 10x more in their careers than their peers... some 100x+ what would otherwise have been possible without LSF support.
In 2023, 213 Little Sisters graduated from high school. An additional 28 Little Sisters graduated with technical trade degrees in areas like nursing, dental hygiene, laboratory technology, computer science and engineering.
Currently 64 Little Sisters are pursing technical training trade degrees.
4 LSF graduates from 2022 received full scholarships to attend universities in Nepal to pursue degrees in medicine/surgery, nursing, agriculture and medical lab technology.
8 Little Sisters were selected to participate in a year-long leadership training course offered by WomenLEAD Nepal.
31 Little Sisters are enrolled in master's degree programs in areas such as engineering, computer science, business, social work, psychology, English and more.
None of this would be possible without your generosity and compassion. Thank you!
Looking Forward
Little Sisters Fund is looking to build upon these past accomplishments to create even more safety and social justice for at-risk girls in Nepal in the future. In honor of our 25th anniversary, LSF grew from 2,100 active Little Sisters to over 2,300. This is over 10% growth in program participants and amounts to a very substantial financial commitment that will play out over the next 8-10 years.
In 2017, LSF began offering assistance for 1 or 2 of the top Little Sisters to attend colleges and universities in the United States. The intention behind this program was for Little Sisters to receive a bachelor’s degree in the United States and then return to Nepal equipped with the education and resources they would need to be catalysts in bringing forth significant change to gender inequalities in the Nepali economy and society. Sadly, of the 14 Little Sisters brought to the US under this program, none have returned to Nepal, despite all expressing their intentions to return. It became clear this program was contributing to brain drain, which is certainly not LSF’s intention. We discontinued the program in 2023. As a way to combat brain drain, rather than contribute to it, LSF developed a new merit-based scholarship program in 2021. The purpose of this program is to keep the best and brightest Little Sisters in Nepal by offering merit-based scholarships to Little Sisters pursuing bachelor’s degrees from universities in Nepal. Over the past two years, LSF has extended merit scholarships to 51 Little Sisters studying pharmacy, medicine, business, social work, computer engineering, law, environmental science and more.
As we look toward the future, LSF is committed to becoming an organization that is run by Little Sisters for Little Sisters. To this end, two LSF graduates were added to the Nepal Team staff in 2023. Sukin, a 2018 LSF graduate, was hired as a Finance Assistant after completing her Bachelor of Business Administration in 2023. Prativa, a 2016 LSF graduate, was hired as a Finance and Alumni Assistant. Prativa earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2021. In addition to Little Sisters becoming staff members, six graduated Little Sisters currently sit on a committee that advises LSF’s Nepal Board of Directors. LSF will increase this number and invite Little Sister alumni to become official board members in the coming years. No one is better equipped to lead LSF than those who have directly experienced the transformative power of safety through education and mentoring. Ultimately, LSF will be an organization lead by and run by LSF graduates. Finally, 26 of our Coordinating Mentors, the girls who mentor groups of 25-50 younger girls, are LSF Graduates.
Speaking of contributing, we are so very proud to say that 32 Little Sister alums are contributing financially to support the education of current Little Sisters. In fact, 9 Little Sister alumni are sponsoring the full education of current Little Sisters and 4 alums have sponsored the full education of multiple Little Sisters. Between the engagement of our alumni in becoming Coordinating Mentors and role models for current Little Sisters and the financial support mentioned above, it is obvious our graduates have a proven desire to make a positive difference and are committed to helping future generations of Little Sisters. This is one of our proudest accomplishments!
Success Stories
Sapana lost both of her parents when she was young and spent much of her childhood working in a wool factory. LSF started sponsoring her education in 9th grade. Today, she is hugely successful and has become a role model for younger Little Sisters. She is committed to paying it forward and has already sponsored the full education of 4 Little Sisters. Her ultimate goal is to support a minimum of 10 Little Sisters.
Nargish, a Little Sister and 2022 Women LEAD Nepalparticipant, recently led a week-long menstruation advocacy project to empower young girls and women and to promote menstrual hygiene. During the project, Nargish's team taught 6 boys, 14 girls and 3 female teachers how to make reusable, eco-friendly, and affordable cotton pads.
2017 LSF Alum Savyata and her friend provided a free dental checkup camp for almost 100 Little Sisters. Savyata is in her final year of a bachelor’s degree program in Dental Surgery. Savyata checked the Little Sisters' teeth and made recommendations for seeking further treatment based on individual needs. She also counseled all Little Sisters on ways to maintain good oral hygiene for healthy teeth and a beautiful smile.