Sustainability & Eco-Campus Program
Nurturing Changemakers, Healing Our Planet:
Learn, Act, and Lead for a Sustainable Tomorrow.
20+
PGS Farmers Supported
50+
Gardening & Nature Sessions
300+ kg
Mushroom & Organic Harvest
450+
Native Saplings Planted
What The Department Does
Core Operations
1. Regenerative Agriculture & PGS
Facilitating the Sana Kisan Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) farmer group through organic standards and technical support.
-
100% farmers' monthly diary maintenance and loss & damage fund management.
-
Soil health sample collection and testing with Karnali Provincial Lab.
-
Distribution of seasonal seeds and local biological pest management (Jholmol/IPM).
-
Plastic tunnel cover and bamboo structure subsidies for vegetable production.
2. Farm-to-Fork & Farmers Markets
Connecting smallholder organic producers with the campus community to build direct, fair-trade market links.
-
Regular campus Farmers Markets selling fresh vegetables, honey, and local pickles.
-
Direct seasonal food procurement for the school kitchen and cafeteria.
-
Promotion of Women’s Center and staff homemade sustainable products.
-
Participation in provincial agrobiodiversity and organic street food festivals.
3. Education for Sustainability (EfS)
Engaging children from early grades in climate awareness, agriculture, and practical conservation.
Hands-on practical gardening classes for Grades 1–7 covering planting, grafting, and mulching.
Experiential rice plantation sessions using System of Rice Intensification (SRI).
Active student clubs: Sustainability Ambassadors and Bird Watching Club.
Student air quality monitoring and rainfall gauge construction workshops.
4. Circular Waste & Renewable Energy
Managing campus organic waste into biological fertilizer and clean energy alternatives.
-
Multi-tier vermicomposting setups (Open, Grade A-C, and ecobrick beds).
-
35–40 m³ institutional biogas digester system maintenance and upgrades.
-
Distribution of starter manure and earthworms to encourage household composting.
-
Handover of waste segregation bins and educational hoarding boards in local toles.
5. Green Vocational Skills & Livelihoods
Building income-generating capacities for women, guardians, and youth through green technologies.
-
Practical 2-day rooftop farming training for urban household food security.
-
5-day beekeeping certification and modern beehive distribution on a cost-share basis.
-
Vocational mushroom tunnel cultivation generating yields of over 300 kg.
-
Livestock and commercial poultry management training with local veterinarians.
6. Biodiversity & Climate Advocacy
Safeguarding natural ecosystems and representing Karnali's green practices on provincial and national platforms.
-
Community afforestation drives with the Tripureshwor Community Forest User Group.
-
Regular bird-watching expeditions to Kakrebihar, Karekhola, and Barahataal.
-
Aquatic bio-indicator assessments tracking local river and stream health.
-
Establishing Pollinator Gene Bank spaces for honeybees and beneficial insects.
Key Department Accomplishments
Major Milestones
Institutional Partnerships
Signed MOU with Karnali Care Hospital and established operational Community Information Centers with Birendranagar Wards 1 and 2.
WWSF International Award
KVSS-supported bee farmer Jaysara Baral won the prestigious 2025 WWSF Prize for Women's Creativity in Rural Life in Geneva.
Institutional Partnerships
Signed MOU with Karnali Care Hospital and established operational Community Information Centers with Birendranagar Wards 1 and 2.
Institutional Partnerships
Signed MOU with Karnali Care Hospital and established operational Community Information Centers with Birendranagar Wards 1 and 2.
Pollinator Gene Bank
Successfully established 3 dedicated pollinator habitats at the vocational site, currently being registered with NARC Nepal.
Community Afforestation
Planted over 450 native saplings in partnership with the Tripureshwor Community Forest User Group and local authorities.
Mushroom Farming Yield
Harvested over 303.5 kg of fresh mushrooms from vocational tunnels while providing practical training to Grade 9 and 11 students.
Institutional Partnerships
Signed MOU with Karnali Care Hospital and established operational Community Information Centers with Birendranagar Wards 1 and 2.
Institutional Partnerships
Signed MOU with Karnali Care Hospital and established operational Community Information Centers with Birendranagar Wards 1 and 2.
Green School National Dialogue
Represented Kopila Valley’s green school practices as a key panel speaker at the national youth dialogue in Rupandehi.
Institutional Partnerships
Signed MOU with Karnali Care Hospital and established operational Community Information Centers with Birendranagar Wards 1 and 2.
Decentralized Circular Waste
Operationalized multi-structure vermicomposting and a 35–40 m³ biogas unit to convert kitchen scraps and cow dung into clean energy.
Sustainability Education
Education for Sustainability (EfS) means we prepare students to be sustainability leaders for years to come!
Caring for the environment is a part of every student’s curriculum. Teachers have professional
development opportunities so they can help guide our students’ growth, in hands-on placed based
learning, permaculture-based gardening, composting, animal husbandry, and recycling, while each class manages a garden plot.
Students share these skills with their families, spreading environmental awareness across
the community and preparing to lead new solutions as adults.
We are what we eat
One of the most dramatic ways people impact the environment is by what we eat! Students at Kopila
Valley get a hands-on education about where our food comes from —including the kind of impact our diet has on the environment and our health.
We maintain a large garden that supplies healthy, organic fruits and vegetables to our school lunch
program, which serves over 500 hot meals each day, and we compost what isn’t used. We partner with local organic farmers who have trained through the PGS as well as our school farm.
Our students even operate an aquaponics system to raise fish and plants together in a closed-
loop ecosystem!
The Greenest School in Nepal
We built a model school and teaching campus featuring:
-
96% powered by solar energy Solar power for cooking
-
Earthquake-safe & efficient rammed earth walls
-
Edible landscaping & native plants
-
300,000 liter rainwater storage systemWater filtration for drinking,cleaning, toilets, & gardening
-
More than 100 species of trees!
-
We host hundreds of visitors each year and mentor others who wish toimplement our practices.
Kopila Sustainability Program
Nurturing Changemakers, Healing Our Planet:
Learn, Act, and Lead for a Sustainable Tomorrow.
