About the director
Raju Bhitrakoti, founder and executive director of Hope Himalaya.
Raju Bhitrakoti
Founder and Executive Director
Organisation
Hope Himalaya (formerly HTCD Nepal)
Education
Master of Healthcare, Pokhara University (2012)
In development since
2003
Founded HTCD Nepal
22 October 2019
Raju Bhitrakoti is a humanitarian and community leader whose career in grassroots development began in 2003, during the peak of the Maoist insurgency.
Carrying seeds into remote villages
Recognising a critical need in isolated communities, he regularly trekked into rural Nepal to distribute hybrid fruit and vegetable seeds to combat severe family malnutrition.
Healthcare research and study
Mr. Bhitrakoti graduated on the Dean’s List from Pokhara University in 2012 with a Master of Healthcare degree. He then joined the Nick Simons Institute in Kathmandu as a Research Assistant, contributing to a comprehensive hospital management needs assessment and conducting healthcare research across more than 15 hospitals in Nepal’s five development regions.
Later in 2012 he moved to the United States to pursue theological studies at the Immanuel Lutheran Seminary in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Returning after the 2015 earthquake
When the catastrophic earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, the seminary granted him an accelerated graduation on May 4, 2015, three weeks ahead of schedule. Backed by emergency assistance from the CLC Kinship program, he returned to Nepal to coordinate urgent crisis relief, distribute supplies, and rebuild homes and churches destroyed by the disaster.
Founding HTCD Nepal
In 2016, Mr. Bhitrakoti married his wife, Sanju, and together they established a Bible training center in Kathmandu. Travelling across rural communities, he saw a profound, unmet need for comprehensive human development among the country’s most disadvantaged populations.
To expand his humanitarian work, he assembled a dedicated team and founded HTCD Nepal as a secular organisation on October 22, 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation delivered hygiene awareness, food supplies, masks and sanitizers to schools and vulnerable families. Its scope grew to include family nutrition, educational resources, women’s tailoring training, teacher development, goat farming workshops, school staffing support, and school and community buildings. The team also stayed at the forefront of disaster response, giving flood victims emergency rations, sanitary kits and cooking gas.
A new name and a wider vision
In October 2026, reflecting an expanded scope and long-term vision, HTCD Nepal became Hope Himalaya. Under Mr. Bhitrakoti’s leadership, the organisation aims to scale its foundational community programmes. The broader vision includes modern community hubs, schools, technical institutes, a fully equipped hospital, a medical college and essential regional infrastructure.
Mr. Bhitrakoti invites individual donors, global partners and international organisations to collaborate with Hope Himalaya in bringing lasting transformation, development and hope to the people of the Himalaya.
Work with Hope Himalaya.
Individual donors, global partners and international organisations are welcome.