Surkhet, Nepal, Nov. 25, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The BlinkNow Foundation is marking a milestone year in community-driven transformation in Surkhet, Nepal, and gaining international recognition for sharing its proven development model with peer organizations across the region.
For nearly two decades, Maggie Doyne and Tope Bahadur Malla have co-led BlinkNow’s Kopila Valley programs, working together with families, local leaders, and educators. Over the years, they have seen that—with opportunity and steady support—determined students are breaking cycles of poverty in a single generation. Their vision has always extended beyond their own campus: rather than expanding the size of their programs, BlinkNow focuses on mentoring and equipping other organizations to adapt its community-designed model in their own contexts.
Designing programs with the community and investing deeply in listening to understand local needs, Doyne and Malla have built a model for a full-service community school, anchored by outreach programs that support the whole child, and allow families and the community to thrive.
That approach was reflected last week when participants in BlinkNow’s Leadership Development Program gathered in Kathmandu on Monday, November 17, marking the conclusion of a year-long journey of shared learning, mentorship, and capacity building. Designed for mid-level and senior professionals in schools and nonprofits – who request mentoring and learning based on their specific needs – the program strengthens organizational leadership, improves strategic direction and resource use, and creates collaborative learning spaces rooted in the principles of localization. The cohort includes both remote and in-person participation from practitioners serving vulnerable communities across Nepal, who are strengthening their work using insights from Kopila Valley’s holistic, locally-grounded model.
BlinkNow’s Kopila Valley initiatives include a home for children without parental care, a free nonprofit school for more than 400 at-risk students, environmental education and sustainability programs, a health and wellness clinic, career counseling and job readiness support, and a Women’s Center providing job-skills training and entrepreneurship programs.
“It’s an approach rooted in empathy but executed with precision,” says the Business Intelligence Group, which recently honored the organization and Doyne. “Maggie Doyne’s BlinkNow Model is redefining what sustainable compassion looks like.”
BlinkNow’s next Leadership Summit and cohort of Leadership Development Program members begins in December, with applicants from both national and international organizations.
With growing interest from partners across Nepal and beyond, BlinkNow continues to champion an important principle: lasting change begins by listening and offering opportunity to those closest to the challenge.
The BlinkNow Foundation provides an education and a loving, caring home for at-risk children. The foundation also provides community outreach to reduce poverty, empower women, improve health, and encourage sustainability and social justice – it fulfills its mission by providing financial support and management oversight to the Kopila Valley Children’s Home and Kopila Valley School in Surkhet, Nepal. In addition to the home and school, Kopila Valley runs a Health & Wellness program, Women’s Center, Home for At-Risk Students, Futures Career Readiness Program, and integrated Sustainability Program across all initiatives.
- Sharing Community Development Practices