Connect. Communicate. Collaborate.

Nepal Communitere is a not-for-profit organization providing an open and inclusive community-led innovation hub for bold innovators and creative change-makers. We are the Nepali branch of Communitere International, an innovative non-profit, pioneering an effective international model for sustainable disaster recovery. Our approach involves an active, experienced, on-the-ground presence with a focus on providing the resources, processes, and tools required to empower local communities to take an active role in building their own community. We are committed to bridging the gap between individuals who are willing to help and organizations that can effect change.

Nepal Communitere offers business incubation, co-working space, a Makerspace, cafe, training lab and consulting services to help people turn ideas into reality. Our dynamic space, made from 16 donated shipping containers, is a place that values growth, creativity, sustainability, collaboration, human-centered design, iteration and safe failure. We believe the process is as important, if not more so, than the product. Nepal Communitere brings together Nepali and international groups to operate as one community. To date we have supported over 50 diverse community projects, initiatives and startups over the past 3 years.

We are at the forefront of quality business incubation and innovation in Nepal in an inclusive community-based hub. Core programs emphasize transfer of knowledge and a co-creation process through design-thinking approaches, rapid prototyping, testing, iterating and market penetration.

A History of Success

A disaster, by definition, destroys communities by severely affecting not only life and normalcy but infrastructure, leadership and hope. But disasters also motivate those who have a heartfelt desire to help. In the aftermath of the 2004 earthquake in the Indian Ocean that caused the most deadly tsunami in history, an astonishing array of organizations and people responded, mobilized and arrived in record time. They brought energy, technology, skills, food and comfort… and they brought it all at once. Unfortunately, the heartbreaking result of this instantaneous outpouring was that it exposed fatal logistical gaps; rice rotted before it could fill empty stomachs, medicine expired before it could help the sick and dying, and water languished in warehouses while thirsty people drank fetid water contaminated by disaster.

Communitere grew out of this failure. In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami – and in Peru following the 2007 earthquake, in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, in the Philippines just after the 2013 typhoon, and here in Nepal after the Great Earthquake of 2015 – Communitere provided the ability to connect the dots at the final mile and created a foundation that provided a path to repair and to ensuring that everyone affected sees hope for the future. Nepal Communitere emerged from the idea that a disaster can become a catalyst for innovation. Brilliant new ideas of how to rebuild lives are being applied in communities throughout Nepal as innovative solutions are supported into becoming successful projects through our dynamic Makerspace, Resource Center and Business Incubation program. Our aim is to transform grassroots innovators into successful social entrepreneurs who are working towards building a more resilient Nepal.

The vision of Nepal Communitere is to provide a vibrant, inclusive community and model Makerspace to enable successful innovation projects through the support of collaborative and effective partnerships, while being financially and organizationally self-sustainable.

Nepal Communitere Team