Karuna Foundation Nepal

Karuna Foundation Nepal is a non-governmental organization based in Nepal, established in 2015. It aims to prevent avoidable disabilities in children, improve the quality of life for disabled children and adults, and bring about progressive changes in the lives of at-risk families by developing evidence-based, scalable community models. Karuna Foundation was started in the Netherlands by a Dutch entrepreneur, Rene aan de Stegge, in 2007 with the aim of preventing disabilities among children and improving the quality of life of children with disabilities. Karuna Foundation, as an international non-governmental organization, has been working for more than 15 years. Karuna Nepal INGO's Senior Management approached friends and well-wishers who had been instrumental in shaping Karuna's mission up to this point to learn more about the transformation of an international NGO into a Nepali NGO. There was overwhelming support for the idea, and thus in July 2015, a new NGO-Karuna Foundation Nepal was registered and started to function. As a mother organization, Karuna Foundation Netherlands stays close and involved and continues to invest in quality, innovation, capacity building and research in order to further roll out Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Program throughout the nation. Karuna Foundation strives to decrease the number of birth defects and disabilities among children by improving existing health systems and empowering poor communities and vulnerable groups within these communities, such as children with disabilities, mothers, and newborns, to develop their capacity to claim their right to healthcare.