Himalayan Trust

Our relationship with the Himalayan Trust was forged by founding GCF Honorary Director, Sir Edmund Hillary in 1993, who with Tenzing Norgay were the first to summit Mount Everest.  The Trust is dedicated to long-term solutions to the problems that confront the Sherpa people. Our early support helped fund a novel teacher training program for primary school teachers, construction of a training center, curriculum design projects and teacher recruitment.  After the devastation of the 2015 earthquake, we provided funding to help rebuild schools, toilets and pipelines accessing clean water. It remains one of our earliest and most enduring partnerships is with the Himalayan Trust Nepal.

Mingma Norbu Sherpa, CEO

Mingma Norbu Sherpa has been Chief Executive Officer of the Himalayan Trust since 2018. He holds a doctorate in Political Ecology/Human Geography from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and has worked extensively in the areas of wildlife conservation, cultural heritage preservation, and climate change risk management in the Himalayas. After the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, Mingma coordinated project plans for the rebuilding of 15 schools.