The devastating effects of the 2010 Yushu earthquake are a testament to the need for such a program. While immediate solutions were needed in order to keep people alive, restore, and rebuild communities; powerful leadership is also needed to envision and implement long term systemic changes that will ensure that such destruction cannot be repeated. In many ways, Yushu’s low quality infrastructure is the result of immense social inequity and years of disinvestment in the rural Tibetan community.  Finding solutions to these root problems is challenging, and the complex, difficult, and long term work of realizing social equity often becomes a lifetime commitment for those involved.

Understanding this, ShemUSA has designed the Visionary Leadership Program to support young Tibetan women who have demonstrated longstanding commitment to generating social equity in their communities.  The Visionary Leadership Program provides support for outstanding Tibetan women to pursue higher education in the field of their choice: giving them the flexibility and institutional support necessary to develop sustainable long-term approaches to the challenges of inequity.

The Visionary Leadership program complements and expands upon the small-scale project work that ShemUSA has supported thus far, making our work all the more effective in the long-term!

Thanks to the hard work of Shem USA volunteers Maggie Norby-Adams and Danielle Freiberg, we were able to raise enough money through Dining For Women to fund three urgently needed projects in Tibet.  These include a Solar electricity generating Panel project for Cuozhou, Jiajia and Duijia Township, a solar water heater project in Yulin Area, and a Harvest Machine Project for Rixiuma Village.

These innovative projects, all designed and managed by young Tibetan women, will have a significant impact on Tibetan women’s  and overall well-being.  The environmentally sustainable solar projects will bring light into nomadic homes, increase health by reducing smoke, increase income, improve education, and lighten women’s workloads.

to see the full proposals, please click below:
Solar water heater project in Yulin Area
Harvest Machine Project for Rixiuma Village

The overall goal of this project is to preserve the cultural traditions of Fudi Village.
The immediate goal of this project is to buy 32 prayer wheels, repair the leaking roof of the village temple and widen the path around the prayer hall in Fudi Village.

Although the destruction of a sacred cultural space in a village has devastating effects on a community, these effects are often difficult to measure quantitatively. Because cultural preservation projects often do not fit into the established development schemes of many donor organizations, these crucial projects are often in desperate need of funding. Shem USA is in a unique position to provide support for this critical cultural project in Fudi village of eastern Tibet, which improves spiritual well being through cultural preservation.

to see the full proposal please click here

The women of Namtsoma village will receive solar cookers thanks to Shem USA donors!

Thanks to generous Shem USA donors, 230 Namtsoma villagers will begin using their 45 new solar electricity generating panels this fall, considerably reducing women’s workload and increasing family income.

to see the full project proposal, click here