Nepal Leadership Trek

Immerse, Reflect, Envision

Nepal Leadership Trek (NLT), organized by Nepal Leadership Academy (NLA), is designed for students and young professionals seeking to sharpen their leadership skills while also experiencing the panoramic sensations of the high Himalayas. The Trek introduces participants to NLA’s flagship graduate-level equivalent course, Leading From Within, designed at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership through an 18 month research with distinguished professors Ronal Heifetz and Marshall Gantz. Building on globally renowned leadership practices, the course enables participants to explore the fundamentals of adaptive leadership so that they can reflect on and critically analyze both themselves and their surroundings.

The trek is coordinated by a travel agency in Nepal, covering a tour of historic Kathmandu Valley, picturesque Pokhara, and trekking along a newly developed, unspoiled route of the Mardi Himal region. The Annapurna range in central Nepal is home to some of the world’s most iconic mountain landscapes and crisscrossed by some of the country’s most popular trekking routes. Slightly more rigorous than your average mountain ramble, the trek consists of walking up and then along a ridge that juts into the Annapurnas, to a viewpoint perched at the end of it. Stunning views of the lesser-known side of one of the range’s most famous peaks – the 6993 metre-high Machhapuchhre (Fishtail) – alone make the trek worth doing. Participants will enjoy the region’s landscape and culture, get a unique glimpse into the rural Himalayan lifestyle, spend quality time with local communities, and interact with sustainable methods of living through the homestay experience. Accommodation in cozy community-run eco-lodges each night after hiking adds to the richness of the experience. 

Why Nepal Leadership Trek?

Around the world, people are experiencing both the subtle and stark effects of climate change, and this is perhaps felt most explicitly in Nepal, a country that the UN cites as being the fourth most vulnerable in the world to the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change. Gradually shifting weather patterns, rising sea levels and more extreme weather events are all clear and devastating evidence of a rapidly changing climate.These changes affect every country on every continent but we in Nepal with fragile mountain ecosystems are prominently at risk.The reliance upon agriculture and the large swathes of the Nepalese population living in rural areas means that even the most minute changes in the climate can have wide-ranging and disastrous effects on our community. In addition to the obvious changes to the climate, these effects increase the risk of conflict, hunger and poverty as areas become inhabitable and resources become more scarce. Visible evidence and startling statistics, which only seem to be getting worse,  demonstrate that climate change is not a distant or imaginary threat, but rather a growing and undeniable reality. We can no longer rely on the potential generations and technology of the future to face this crisis. Simply put, we are the last generation that can take effective action in favour of the climate. The situation is dire.

The impacts of climate change continue to exceed previous scientific forecasts, worsening and multiplying at dramatic rates that will only be amplified in the years to come. Therefore what better cause can we support than that which aims to save not only our locality but the planet as a whole? This is why we at NLA believe that by aligning our leadership trek with the cause of climate change, we are not only doing our part to save the planet but are informing the leaders of today and tomorrow about the urgency with which we must act to combat climate change. Proceeds from the Nepal Leadership Trek will support the environmental campaign against the impending climate change, by accelerating social innovations that promote environmentally friendly approaches in Nepal. The leadership program is a milestone effort of this campaign towards environmental sustainability and social impact.

Stay tuned for information on future treks!