https://www.borderlens.com/2025/10/03/american-hand-in-nepals-gen-z-revolt-following-the-money-and-reading-the-signs/
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an American foundation established by Congress in 1983 to provide funding to democracy-building efforts overseas, steps into the spotlight of this investigation. Its FY2024 Asia Grant Listings provide dazzling details. A $65,000 grant with the title Promoting Youth Civic Engagement and Movement Building was allotted to set up youth centers of civic education and outreach. Another, very much bigger, $135,000 entry funded Strengthening Youth Participation in Advocacy and Reform Campaigns, with specific allocations to training and coordination of young democracy movement activists. A $20,000 grant concentrated on Developing New Media Strategies in Support of Democracy and Human Rights, training young influencers on digital security and platform usage, while connecting global networks across boundaries.
In the meantime, $71,250 was spent on Strengthening Media Coverage of Democracy Issues to widen digital reporting and video coverage of governance and rights. Lastly, another round of $65,000 was aimed at Facilitating Access to Justice for Human Rights Defenders, establishing online legal support centers and documentation mechanisms. In addition to these, the Asia infographic within the FY24 pages of NED showed Nepal’s overall allotment to amount to $1,741,377, a substantial amount within the context of its limited civic space.
None of these entries say “regime change” outright. But when mapped against what unfolded in September, the overlap is striking. Discord-based organizing cells echo the movement building workshops. Viral protest videos mirror the new media strategies grants. Polished livestreams and citizen documentaries recall the strengthened media coverage line items. The digital safety trainings resonate with encrypted messaging groups that sustained protest communication. Taken together, these grants look less like unrelated workshops and more like scaffolding for a movement, quietly assembled and ready to be activated once a crisis broke.
