Nepal is the third poorest country in South Asia, with nearly one-fourth of people living below poverty line. About one quarter people are food insecure. The 2015 April earthquake further pushed about 2 million additional people to below poverty line. The hardship is pronounced more in the mid and high hill districts and mid and far western development regions, mainly among marginalized and disadvantaged people with poor access to land, financial resources, information and government support and services. Mukta Kamaiya (Freed bonded labor) living in Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur are among the most deprived and marginalized communities in the region.

The overall goal of the project is to improve food and nutrition security, income  and resilience of small and marginal farm families in western terai and hills of Nepal, which will be achieved by improving production and choice of food leading to food and nutrition security, enhancing income and capacity of families to invest in profitable business and buying foods, increasing community capacity to adapt to climate change, and reducing risks of disaster by improving safety and security of the served families and communities. 

The impact groups (target groups) of the project are resource poor, marginalized, landless and smallholder farming households primarily living in below poverty line. In the western Terai districts, our primary impact group will be Mukta Kamaiya, landless, dalits and resource poor households. In Sindhupalchok district, Nepal Earthquake 2015 affected households will be in top priority of this project for implementing food production and income generation activities. Similarly, in Humla, where still 56% people are poor, our priority will be to work with the severely food insecure households. More than 60% beneficiaries will be women among individual beneficiaries. The project will put extra efforts to identify and support resource poor families with physically disabled members across the identified sites.