Shyam Babu Harizan, aged 25, belongs to Dalit community, resides in Kapilvastu Municipality, ward no. 12, Akbarpur with his family members, his father, mother, brother, brother-in-law and himself. His father is at Malaysia for foreign employment for last four years whereas his mother is a health volunteer and works in community. His brother-in-law is involved in farming.

Harizan is pursuing his studies in BSc. in Agriculture from Gujrat, India. He is actively engaged in several projects. He is the secretary of local Buddha Yuba Club. He has conducted awareness program raising street drama on child marriage, dowry system, quiz contest and running championship from the youth club.  He has worked as field research associate for household survey program. In addition to the list, he has also a teaching experience at private school.

During the course of his social work, he got connected with CLEAN UP NEPAL through district partner Dalit Social Development Centre (DSDC). He got an opportunity to take part in ZWAS training at Ghorahi, Dang in 21- 22 August 2024 organized by CLEAN UP NEPAL. He learned on 7 modules; waste and waste practices, waste segregation, reduce, reuse and recycle, composting and gardening, impact of waste burning, climate change at the ZWAS training. With the profound knowledge he received from various trainings, he applied them in the community. He trained students of grade 5 and 6 at Kalika Jana Madhyamic School Kapilvastu and Shree Rastriye Madhyemic Bidhyalaya of Maharajgunj municipality, Kapilvastu district from May- July 2024. His community work did not limit him; however, he supported in plantation program organized by CLEAN UP Nepal at Kapilvastu.

He participated in community clean-up campaign in Kapilvastu that broadened his horizon on the understanding of current environmental issues. These programs incorporated much of what he already knew about waste management and environmental issues. His active engagement made him involved in Safa Nepal mobile application as a volunteer in Kapilvastu in 1-4 December 2024 at Kapilvastu municipality organized by CLEAN UP NEPAL. He applied his new learnings through the awareness on application and importance of waste management around locality. Beyond experimental activism, he expanded his efforts to address insights with the community people.

I’m eager to be involved in social work, and I’m so thankful to CLEAN UP NEPAL and IM Swedish Development Partner for giving me this opportunity. It has really boosted my confidence, and I’m excited to take part in similar work in the future.

• Shyam Babu Harizan