In Pokhara, last year’s Pride did not fail because of police repression, religious backlash, or social fear. It failed because there was no budget for lunch and envelopes.<\/p>\n
A young ally \u2014 not even from the GSM(gender and sexual minority)\/LGBTI community \u2014 raised funds for water, rainbow flags, and banners and helped the pride parade for previous two years, supporting the community. When he approached pokhara based GSM\/LGBTI organization, he was told: \u201cWe don\u2019t have funds for ” khaaja and khaam (lunch and allounces)”. USAID funding has been cut.\u201d He said he could raise money for everything except allowances. The answer was final: without funding, there would be no Pride.<\/p>\n
So Pride did not happen.<\/p>\n
That is not a logistical problem. That is a political collapse.<\/p>\n
1. Activism Has Become Catering<\/strong><\/p>\n In Nepal, movements no longer grow from courage \u2014 they grow from catering. Participation is not based on belief, but on benefits. The first questions are no longer \u201cWhat is the issue?\u201d but \u201cWhich hotel?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s for lunch?\u201d \u201cHow much is the envelope?\u201d<\/p>\n NGOs did not inherit this culture \u2014 they engineered it.<\/p>\n They trained communities to expect money instead of meaning. They trained officials to expect hospitality instead of accountability. They trained the media to expect perks instead of truth.<\/p>\n Now, activism without allowances is unthinkable. That is not empowerment. That is dependency.<\/p>\n 2. NGOs Are Not Solving Problems \u2014 They Are Maintaining Them<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s be honest: NGOs survive by keeping problems alive. If problems are solved, funding disappears. If funding disappears, organizations collapse. So problems must be carefully preserved \u2014 rebranded, repackaged, and resubmitted to donors every few years.<\/p>\n Any NGO that has worked on the same issue for over a decade without structural change is not \u201cpersistent.\u201d It is part of the problem.<\/p>\n This is not social work. This is problem maintenance.<\/p>\n 3. Compliance Through Hospitality, Not Accountability<\/strong><\/p>\n NGOs must register with ward offices, municipalities, CDOs, and the Social Welfare Council. On paper, this ensures transparency. In reality, it ensures transactions.<\/p>\n Officials don\u2019t visit. They don\u2019t monitor. They don\u2019t evaluate. They receive lunch and envelopes \u2014 often delivered directly to their offices \u2014 and stamp approval.<\/p>\n Senior officials receive VIP treatment: luxury hotels, out-of-valley workshops, per diems, travel expenses. Ministries become subcontractors of NGOs. Ministries \u2014 especially women, health, and education \u2014 are now more occupied with NGO\/INGO projects than with their own public mandates.<\/p>\n The media becomes their publicity arm.<\/p>\n This is not civil society. This is a service economy built on convenience and compliance.<\/p>\n 4. Where Did the Community Go?<\/strong><\/p>\n A real community does not live in hotels.<\/p>\n A real movement does not depend on lunch.<\/p>\n Real solidarity is not measured in envelopes.<\/p>\n Yet today, even the community asks:<\/p>\n \u201cWhich hotel?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow much envelope?\u201d<\/p>\n That is the death of consciousness.<\/p>\n That is why I told the young man from Pokhara: Don\u2019t waste your time with such NGOs. Work with grassroots, loose networks, small and new organizations \u2014 those that are not yet captured by this culture. Work with people who come for the cause, not for the compensation.<\/p>\n 5. Poverty Support Is Not the Problem \u2014 Professional Activism Without Conviction Is<\/strong> But when someone calls themselves an activist, draws a salary from an NGO, holds positions, writes reports, attends conferences \u2014 and yet their \u201cactivism\u201d stops the moment lunch and allowances stop \u2014 that is not poverty. That is professional dependence. That is not solidarity. That is a career model. 6. NGOs and Politicians Are the Same Class<\/strong><\/p>\n We pretend NGOs are different from politicians. They are not. Both operate through money, access, influence, and survival. Both use \u201cthe people\u201d as justification while prioritizing their own institutional existence. Both fear real change \u2014 because real change makes them unnecessary.<\/p>\n Nepal does not have only a democracy problem. It has a civil society crisis.<\/p>\n 7. Finally, <\/strong><\/p>\n If Pride cannot happen without lunch,<\/p>\n If justice cannot happen without envelopes,<\/p>\n If solidarity cannot happen without allowances \u2014<\/p>\n Then it is not a movement.<\/p>\n It is a marketplace.<\/p>\n It is not resistance.<\/p>\n It is a transaction.<\/p>\n It is not liberation.<\/p>\n It is livelihood.<\/p>\n And liberation will not come from NGOs.<\/p>\n It will come from people who rebuild movements grounded in risk, sacrifice, and conviction.<\/p>\n Until then, we are not organizing communities. We are managing beneficiaries.<\/p>\n Sunil Babu Pant, In Pokhara, last year’s Pride did not fail because of police repression, religious backlash, or social fear. It failed because there was no budget for lunch and envelopes.
\nLet us be clear: when NGOs invite poor, marginalized, or struggling community members as beneficiaries, it is absolutely right \u2014 even necessary \u2014 to cover their travel, food, and basic costs. No one should be excluded from participation because they cannot afford a bus fare or a meal.<\/p>\n
\nThat is the real crisis.<\/p>\n
\nCultural Emissary for Inclusive (Pink\/Rainbow\/LGBT+) Tourism in Nepal;
\nExecutive Director, Mayako Pahichan Nepal, Mayakopahichan.com
\nFilm Maker, Meditation Guide, First openly gay member of Parliament in Asia from Nepal. Founder of Blue Diamond society, first lgbitq rights organisation in Nepal.
\nFormer Buddhist Monk
\n(Spiritual name: Anaagarik Kashyap)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nA young ally \u2014 not even from the GSM(gender and sexual minority)\/LGBTI community \u2014 raised funds for water, rainbow flags, and banners and helped the pride parade for previous two years, supporting the community. When he approached pokhara based GSM\/LGBTI organization, he was told: \u201cWe don\u2019t have funds for ” khaaja and khaam (lunch and allounces)”. USAID funding has been cut.\u201d He said …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":14288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1081,8,621,492,490,3,2065],"tags":[502],"class_list":["post-14287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-issue","category-explanationawareness","category-human-rights","category-news","category-opinion","category-slider","category-society","category-top-stories","tag-lgbti"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14287"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14290,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14287\/revisions\/14290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}