Borderlands Nepal participated in the inaugural of the annual Bagmati River Festival held at holy site of Pashupatinath temple. This annual festival organized by NRCT, Nepal River Conservation Trust is the festival of the 21st century aimed at the preservation, increasing awareness and support for the Bagmati River.

Bagmati River is sacred river to all religions and has acted as a cohesive force for the community of Kathmandu valley helping to sustain and support its inhabitants. The influx of the increased population coupled with drastic changes in climate has turned this sacred river into nothing more than a drain. It is time for all of us to come forward to save this river, it’s our responsibility to make sure that this river does not become a part of history lesson taught to our future generation.

As an effort to contribute back to our communities, Borderlands has been actively involved in support and organizing of this annual festival since its inception in 2001. We realize the importance of the role that the rivers play in our society and its cultural value. We like to appeal to all concerned to join hands for this noble cause in order to prevent further environmental damage and loss of natural habitat along the Bagmati River.

Borderlands PDP conducted an indoor team building program for World Bank IFC on 30th May 2013 at Hotel Hyatt Regency. The main purpose of the program was to test the planning and communication skills, develop trust and cooperative learning.
The program began with the introduction and objective of the program. There were many activities such as blindfold, walk in peer group to influence group positively on trust and effective communication. After short debriefing on the trust activity, participants were assigned to sketch their own picture and list few of their strength and secrets that has never been shared with the group. This was important in order to enhance open and positive communication among the group. The highlight of the program was that the participants presented their partner’s strengths in a very creative way which they found during the program. The participants also took part in creative team activities like chain gang and magic stick to develop support, trust, communication, cooperation, coordination among the team.
Overall, the participants actively participated in the proceedings of the entire sessions. The enthusiasm of the participants sustained during the program. There was free and frank exchange of views with increased team motivation.

Borderlands organized a retreat program for ICIMOD, KMC team at Hattiban Resort. There were a total of 20 participants. After gathering all the participants at the Resort, the program began with an introduction to the theme of ‘experiential learning’ followed by the program schedule and aims and outcome of the agenda.

Many team activities reflecting the need to build trust, facing challenges, communication, team work, effective coordination were interspersed through physical activities. This enabled the participants to relax, have fun while at the same time have some important insights into comfort zone, individual values and developing the required skills and abilities focused on the needs of the surrounding system.

The first day was about the team trust, building expectations, breaking communication barriers and so forth, highly instrumental in addressing individual potential and collective growth. Trust activities beginning with one-to-one, group willow lean and blind folded walk allowed the participants to gain self awareness and understanding each other, ultimately making way for mutual trust and respect.

Day two included more physical activities that helped team role play and take leadership in given situation. This was important in producing positive emotional effects, notable confidence and self esteem. The team abided by five fingers contract, a ground rule set in the beginning for care, commitment, respect, positive feedback and having fun.

Low course rope, Leaky pipe, Spiders web and the Giant ski, a few activities, manifested impressive team work, communication style, strategy and overall departmental vision.

At the end of the program, the participants prepared their collective group mascot followed by a debriefing session. Borderlands had an amazing time with the ICIMOD-KMC team and were highly obliged to have them be part of outdoor Retreat Program.

Happy Children Trust programme of 1night and 2 days was done with the objective to pull the team together and to give them insight on the learning by doing approach.  The enthusiasm and involvement showed by Happy Children Trust team of 53 children were immense and worth praising. It was 1 night/2 day programme with the Sunkoshi Beach Camp a main Venue. It started with introduction on the programme, ice briefing and safety demo followed by lunch.  The program was mainly focused on building leadership, trust, communication and team bonding through outdoor activities.

First day went with rafting from Balefi back to Sunkoshi Beach Camp. The main purpose of choosing rafting as a learning experience was to focus themselves on communicating, team building and also getting to know each other which they had not been able to do in the school environment. For the second half day, all the activities were followed by debriefing session and team highlighted their outcomes from the programme. Borderlands were grateful to have the whole session wraped up on the positive note. At the end of the programme the participants were open enough to share their inner thoughts and also speak about their experiences out among the team which was rewarding for Borderlands to conduct the programme.

The Borderlands PDP organized a Leadership Development Program for the year 9 students of The British School from May 14-17, 2013 at the Borderlands Eco Adventure Resort. Trek to the Hidden Fortress; Dugnagadi, abseiling, low rope course, team building initiatives and river crossing were used during the course of the program. In addition, talent show, BBQ and entertainment night were also included with an emphasis on fun and successful celebration of the program.
First day began with trek at Dugunagadi Fortress, a grueling 3 hours uphill trek to the campsite. The camp was already set up by Borderlands Staffs by the time the students arrived, a much welcome sight. There was camp fire in the evening and some rain later in the night made for a perfect camping event. The next day following some warm up activities and hearty breakfast, we commenced the trek back to Borderlands. After a long downhill descent and aching legs arriving to the creature comfort of the resort was a comforting experience.
On the third day there was a wide variety of mental and physical tasks encouraging team work and self determination. The low rope course, Team building activities and Canyon abseil were the major highlights of the day. The groups rotated between these activities in a way that all members of the team wholeheartedly participated and explored their inner potential and styles.

Before the Program came to an end, the participants experienced the fun of river crossing ‘Tyrolean traverse’. With some collective debriefing and the participants talking about the learning from the program the event concluded on a positive high.

The Borderlands PDP organized a Team Building Program for the participants of the Fhi360/GGMS a Phase IV Leadership Management Workshop running from April 6 to 9, 2013 at Borderlands Eco Adventure Resort, Sindhupalchwok. The program was based on learning by doing approach also known as ‘Experiential Learning’.

The entire team building program was designed to be fun-filled and enjoyable interspersed with learning opportunities and growth oriented activities which the participants availed to the fullest extent.

All the team activities and initiatives were followed by a debriefing session where the participants highlighted their learnings and gave feedback as to what could be improved. The program was a very rewarding experience for the FHI360/GGMS team and it certainly was a very rewarding programme for the Borderlands team to facilitate too.

On April 4^th and 5^th the Borderlands Professional Development Team ran a one and a half day experiential learning team building programme for a group of 27 ICIMOD employees at the beautiful Haatiban Resort in Dhumbarahi.

The programme began with icebreaking activities, encouraging the group to feel comfortable by getting to know each other better. Some fun teambuilding activities followed, testing the group’s ability to communicate effectively.

The main activity of the day was a trust building programme, where Borderlands staff helped the participants to develop trust in each other through a series of increasingly challenging activities. Trust activities are both challenging and hugely rewarding and the Borderlands Team were very pleased to see every single participant complete all three of the trust challenges, creating a visible change in bonding and camaraderie between the group.

On Day Two, after warm up and further ice breaking challenges,  the Borderlands Team split the ICIMOD group into three, and each group was required to complete one of three challenges that had been created in the pine forest adjacent to the resort. These activities were both physically and mentally challenging requiring team work and communication. Through facilitation by the Borderlands team all three groups learned a lot about effective tea work and the activities were enjoyed by all.

To wrap up the programme the three ICIMOD groups were asked to create a team mascot, to represent their time on the course. Each group produced completely different and very creative mascots with much fun and hilarity involved.

Feedback from the participants was extremely positive, with all participants having learned a great amount about effective team work and communication. Overall the programme was deemed a great success by all, and both the ICIMOD and Borderlands Teams thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Borderlands PDP organized a successful two day Team Building Program for Shivam Cements Pvt. Ltd. from 9th March to 10th March 2013 at the Borderlands Eco Adventure Resort, Sindhupalchock. The main aim of the program was to improve skills that can be used in the workplace to better carry out their day-to-day activities while at the same time have fun and bond with co-workers. Other areas of focus were building trust, true group cohesion, creating a safe learning environment, communication, creating a sense of ownership, responsibility and adding value.

Various icebreakers, team building activities, a low rope course, indoor sessions and initiatives were used during the course of the program. During team building activities team members were accompanied by facilitators to bring out the learning points and their relevance in the workplace.

At the end of the program there was a final debriefing followed by certificate and award distribution.   It was a highly successful and exciting program with positive feedback from the participants. The entire program was designed to be fun-filled and enjoyable interspersed with learning opportunities and growth oriented activities which the participants availed to the fullest extent.

Borderlands PDP organized a 2 days long Leadership Development Program for students and teachers of Mid Valley International College on 1-2 March 2013 at Borderlands Eco Adventure Resort. The program was based on the theme of ‘experiential learning’ and was highly successful in achieving some of the objectives set by the college and the students themselves. The sense of building capacity outside the classroom environment, learning leadership traits, building teams for better results and having fun were some of the learning drawn from the program. The participants experienced with an opportunity to identify skills, strengths and solutions for success as an individual, as well as realizing their importance as a team member.  The process consisted of interactive challenges and problem solving activities. The wholehearted students were involved with their full enthusiasm and interest though all the activities were challenging, adventurous and thrilling. The overall program was highly successful.

Borderlands PDP organized a half day Leadership Team Building program for contestants of the “Fanta Hidden Treasure Miss Nepal 2013 Competition” on 21^st February 2013 at International Club, Sanepa. The program was mainly focused on building leadership, trust, communication and team bonding.  The participants assembled at the premises and a Borderlands facilitator introduced the course and highlighted its objectives. After having some ice breaker activities the group was divided into two, to start trust building activities and team building activities in two stations.  Before the Leadership Team Building Program came to an end, there was a collective debriefing during which the participants talked about what they had learnt from the program and how it would be applicable in the work place. The participants shared their experiences and lessons openly and frankly. After the outdoor programs there was also a presentation on the Bagmati River Festival. Participants showed interest to join the Bagmati Cleaning Campaign.