Hamro Prayas (“Our Effort”) is an organization established in 2016 to work for blind and partially sighted (BPS) people across Nepal. It is a non-profitable, non-political and non-religious organization. Our society still nurtures the dogmas related with blindness. People take blindness as a burden or consider it as the result of past life’s sin. Our organization aims at creating a favorable and just environment for blind people by eradicating all those dogmas uprooted in the mindset of the people.
On one hand, blind people are facing discrimination based on disability and hence they are excluded from the mainstream development process. On the other hand, they face difficulty accessing the opportunities. The job market seems narrow for the blind people as there are very few job types for the BPS people. Very few BPS are employed in government and private sectors.
Music is one of the best options for creating employment opportunity for the BPS people. Since long, BPS people have proved their competency in music: both instrumental and vocal. Besides earning their living, music can help the BPS enjoy their rights to respectable living. Music goes beyond the boundaries of geography, language, religion and culture. It touches the heart of every people regardless of race, ethnicity, caste, age and gender. Therefore, we aim at exploring the inherent capacities of BPS people and exposing them to the broad world. We will support for their successful musical carrier through:
- Advocacy and lobbying for creating job opportunities for skilled BPS musicians.
- Advocacy and lobbying for the music education for BPS students at school level
- Providing music training for BPS people free of cost at our music center
- Publications and publicity programs
- Support in publishing music albums and recordings
Besides music, there are many other arenas where BPS could march and win. We will explore every potential arena and advocate for making it inclusive for BPS people. Our main objective is the inclusion of BPS people in mainstream development process. All our activities are guided with this aim. To out root the social dogmas, stigmas and ignorance related with disability is not an easy task. A lot of awareness campaigns and sensitization activities are needed for changing the mindset of the general people.
To change the negative attitude of the people towards BPS, our organization will cooperate and coordinate with government and non-government agencies. Media campaigning, publications and other activities will be carried out for creating awareness and eradicating ignorance. We will also carry out various activities to boost up the morale of the BPS people providing them favorable environment and opportunities to expose their inherent capabilities. Our final goal is to uplift the economic and social status of BPS people through their access to the opportunities.