There are no fund raising drives, no NGO-wallahs zooming in and out of the "project area" in Pajeros, and no action plans. Still Annantalingeswor Primary School in Dadhikot, near Kathmandu, has managed to raise funds to provide students with uniforms and also for a small school construction kitty that grows
every year.

It all began in 1995 when a teacher told Bhairav Risal, a senior journalist originally from Dadhikot, that the school was losing students because their parents couldn't afford to pay for uniforms. Risal learnt that it would cost Rs 200 to buy an outfit, complete with slippers, for one student. He went home and asked six family members to make contributions. That money was used to pay for uniforms for six of the poorest students. That's how the "One-to-One" drive began.

Risal has since gone around asking his acquaintances to contribute money to clothe one child every year. This year he raised Rs 20,000 from 100 benefactors, which was more than enough for uniforms-the rest was added to a school construction fund. "We needed to buy uniforms for 80 students, so we had Rs 4000 extra," says Risal.

The seed money for the construction fund came from an Austrian tourist who wrote a check for Rs 74,600, after seeing where the classes were held. The school has raised Rs 100,000 so far, but could still use some donations.