Skip to main content

About Back to Life e.V.

Back to Life e.V. is a non-profit association that is active in development and disaster relief. The association has been promoting the improvement of the living conditions of poor, needy and severely disadvantaged people for 25 years. From 1996 to 2017, a wide variety of projects were supported in India, and since 2009, Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, has been the focus of the aid measures. Over 65,000 people are now reached through Back to Life’s interventions, including approximately 8700 students who benefit from our school-based support. Under the guiding principle of “helping people to help themselves”, the projects are conceived and implemented by our founder Stella Deetjen and her team in Nepal and Germany. The content of our work in Nepal is based on the concrete needs of the population, the cultural and socio-economic context as well as the statutes of our association, the national development goals and last but not least the international goals for sustainable development, also known as Agenda 2030.

Our goals in Nepal:

Goal 1

Improved quality of school education and Educational support for disadvantaged children from poor families

Goal 2

Better access to professional obstetric care and health services in particularly remote areas

Goal 3

Establish drinking water and sanitation in remote villages



Goal 4

Improved access to clean energy in particularly remote areas and protection of natural resources

Goal 5

Promoting sustainable economic development and local income initiatives


Our team on site

You are the backbone of our work, our heart and hands on the ground. In Nepal, only local people are responsible for our help towards self-sufficiency. Our team in Kathmandu consists of 107 employees. Additionally, we work with local partners in our project areas. They know the country and its people like the back of their hand, and as locals, they don’t have to overcome language and cultural barriers. It would be difficult for Europeans to build trust so quickly in the remote regions of Nepal. Moreover, the motivation is high: Nepalis helping Nepalis, wanting to pave the way to a better future for their fellow countrymen.

Prof. Dr. Madhav P. Bhatta
Prof. Dr. Madhav P. Bhatta, a renowned Nepalese epidemiologist, taught at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and led the UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health there. He volunteers his expertise to support Back to Life as a health expert.