The first 60 years of UMN’s work – until 2014 – are recorded in this interactive timeline with photos and maps.
Or read on for a short summary…

Nepal was a closed country until the early 1950s. Following the revolution that opened the country, a group of expatriate missionaries in India were granted permission from the Nepali government to open a hospital in Tansen and to start women’s and children’s welfare clinics in the Kathmandu Valley. Subsequently, UMN was founded in 1954 as an international interdenominational Christian organisation.

At that time, Nepal suffered from lack of institutions, infrastructure, and trained personnel. UMN’s earliest staff worked in difficult environments, usually without the benefit of roads, electricity, and skilled workers, yet with few resources they built institutions and projects that have had lasting impact throughout Nepal.

During the 1970s and 1980s, UMN’s work became more focused on development projects which directly impacted on communities. Outreach clinics from hospitals became community health projects; instead of working solely in schools, UMN began Non-formal Education projects and supported teacher training and resourcing in local schools. Engineering work gave birth to community projects to support people whose lives or land was affected, and rural development work addressed livelihoods issues at the grassroots. UMN also pioneered work in bio-gas, mental and dental health, micro-hydro and partnerships with government schools.

From 2002, UMN moved away from directly implementing projects to building partnerships that support local organisations. Now, UMN has 12 local partners: local and national non-governmental organisations. In 2020 the UMN Medical and Development Trust (MDT) was formed as a Nepali public trust to own, manage and run our two hospitals and facilitate additional community development work. See here for MDT Annual Reports.