The dehat is not a place. It is a condition of being.
The word dehat means the countryside, the village, the rural, in Nepali, Hindi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi and the related languages of the Himalayan-Gangetic belt. For this institution, it carries a larger meaning.
A source that does not dry up when people leave it.
We believe the dehat is not only a geography. It travels with people. It lives in them. It is in the cities that are filling up with people who still dream in their mother tongue, and in the villages that are emptying as they leave.
The Dehat begins in Nepal: in its hills and mountains and plains, in its many communities and dozens of languages. From Nepal it reaches into India and Bhutan, where the same rural cultures and the same patterns of migration play out, and everywhere the people of this region have carried their dehat with them.
The Dehat is here to find it, record it and give it a voice that reaches everywhere.
Not an institution about the village, run by people who left it long ago.
The Dehat is established as an independent, not-for-profit institution in Nepal. Its governance insists on rural representation, linguistic diversity and genuine diaspora inclusion.
Board of Trustees
Nine to thirteen members, including rural community representatives from several provinces, speakers of minority languages, diaspora members, journalists, researchers and cultural practitioners.
Village Advisory Council
Twenty people from rural communities across Nepal's seven provinces, meeting twice a year, including at least one minority language speaker from each province.
Language Advisory Panel
Specialists and community representatives for each major language we cover, advising on editorial quality, cultural accuracy and programme priorities.
Student and Diaspora Panel
Ten rotating members from student and diaspora communities around the world, so the bridge is built in both directions.
Designed to answer only to its communities.
No single funder will exceed twenty percent of our income. We do not accept funding from sources with active political interests in Nepal's governance. We are building toward an endowment that makes our core work sustainable without grant dependency.
Our income will come from philanthropic and foundation grants, cultural and heritage partnerships, a diaspora membership programme, training and fellowships, publications and recordings, commissioned research and cultural events.
From foundation to anchor.
Foundation
Legal registration in Nepal. Headquarters in Kathmandu with first field bases in Karnali and Madhesh. A digital platform publishing in Nepali, Maithili and Bhojpuri. First oral history fieldwork, first Dehat Sessions recordings, the Student Network and the first Rural Journalism Fellowship cohort.
Voice
A newsroom publishing in five languages. Bhojpuri and Maithili music archives. The 'Last Keepers' series, the first Dehat Music Festival, the sports programme and the first State of Rural Nepal Report. Kusunda and Dura documentation begins.
Scale
A music archive across ten or more traditions. School programme in four provinces. A Rural Policy Forum in Kathmandu. Dehat Press publications in Bhojpuri and Maithili. University partnerships. Seke and Raute documentation begins.
Anchor
Nepal's reference institution for rural life. The world's most comprehensive open record of Himalayan-Gangetic rural life. Fifteen or more languages documented. An endowment campaign under way.