Youth Media Education (2014 - ongoing)

About Youth Media Education in Cooperation with the Institute for Collaborative Education

PSD Nepal’s Youth Media Education Program is a dynamic, cross-cultural initiative empowering young people through arts, creative writing, and photography. Developed in partnership with the Institute for Collaborative Education (ICE) in New York, the program brings together Nepali students and teachers with groups from New York City schools, fostering an inspiring environment for creative skill-building, intercultural learning, and personal expression.

About Institute for Collaborative Education

ICE is a progressive public school in Manhattan, New York, renowned for its emphasis on project-based learning, arts, and global citizenship. ICE teachers and students collaborate with PSD Nepal and local schools to design workshops and learning experiences in creative writing, visual storytelling, school beautification, and community engagement. ICE partners commit to building meaningful international relationships, ensuring that global exchange leads to real progress for youth and schools in Nepal.

Program Activities and Success

Collaborative Workshops: ICE and PSD Nepal facilitate annual workshops at Luniva Secondary School in Bungmati, Lalitpur. These events engage dozens of Nepali and NYC students in arts, creative writing, photography, school painting, and gardening
Teacher Training: The program provides hands-on teacher development for local educators. ICE teachers deliver media skills workshops, helping Nepali teachers sustain arts education year-round
Exhibitions and Community Celebrations: The creative process culminates in public exhibitions where hundreds of student photos and artwork are showcased, celebrating local talent and bridging cultures
School Beautification Projects: ICE-Nepal teams work together on painting, whitewashing, and gardening initiatives, transforming school spaces, fostering collective pride, and strengthening student engagement
Skill Exchange: Each program not only develops technical art and media skills, but also deepens mutual understanding and empathy between Nepali and international participants

Notable Achievements

Since 2016, hundreds of students have gained practical photography and writing experience through ICE-PSD media workshops
Multiple cohorts of Nepali teachers have received training in creative teaching methods, leading to ongoing innovation in classrooms
Over 400 photographs by Nepali youth have been exhibited in Kathmandu and New York, sharing village and city life from a youth perspective
Following the 2015 earthquake, ICE contributed to school reconstruction and resource support, ensuring continuity and growth for local education

Report from ICE Student Leila Riker

Below is a request made by ICE student Leila Riker who is representing the entire group of ICE students who went to Nepal:

This past February, myself and 13 other ICE students spent almost 17 days working with the Youth, Arts, Writing, and Photography Program in Nepal where we did a variety of community service projects. Our work included teaching photography to 12-14 year-old Nepali students in Bungamati, helping them find artistic ways to voice the way they see their lives, their community, and the world around them. We also helped refurbish and build parts of their school.

During our visit at the school, we met a handful of orphans who lived in the school. These children are also students at the school. In order to attend the school, they work there as well. Tuition for children to attend the school, receive school supplies, room and board, clothing, and medical coverage is $1,000 dollars a year. In order for these orphaned students to attend school, they wake up early before school starts to work in the kitchen, they do laundry, run errands, clean the facilities, etc. In return they attend classes, are given school supplies, room and board at the school. These are amazing young people.

While there, we learned that, with the help of a local non profit organization, others can help these kids by sponsoring their time at the school. We would like to find sponsors for these children so they could receive all the afore mentioned support without having to spend all their time just working to go to school.

Thanks so much for listening,
Leila Riker
11G student at I.C.E.