The Story Kitchen (TSK)

What The Story Kitchen (TSK) does

The Story Kitchen (TSK) is a Nepal-based nonprofit organization founded in September 2012 by Jaya Luintel, Rajan Parajuli, Charimaya Tamang, Pushpa Basnet, and an anonymous ally to amplify women's voices through storytelling for social change. Operating from Sanepa Heights in Lalitpur (Patan), the organization delivers four core programs — HerStory, Feminist Leadership, Research and Innovation, and Advocacy for Justice — together with targeted projects such as SAHAS for Justice and Voices for Justice, which focus on transitional justice for women survivors of Nepal's 1996–2006 armed conflict. Its underlying methodology is a feminist and participatory mass storytelling approach that documents the experiences of women and girls across all seven provinces of Nepal and trains community members as justice reporters to produce survivor-led truth documentation.

TSK's product surface includes a portfolio of Nepali- and English-language publications (Karnali Narratives / कर्णाली गाथा, साहसका गाथाहरु, कथा कोरोना, Measuring Social Norm Change Through StoryTelling, and महिला आन्दोलनको सहखोजी), a recurring Sandhaann Fellowship research program now in its third cohort, and a Training of Trainers (TOT) storytelling workshop capability delivered alongside partners. Distribution is non-commercial: books and reports are issued free of charge or via a request system, and reach is built through direct community engagement, academic collaborations (notably with Tribhuvan University's Department of Gender Studies), and public events such as the Karnali Festival.

The organization's revenue model is grant-based. TSK is funded by a roster of bilateral and multilateral institutional donors — currently GIZ, Equality Fund, EU, UN Women, ZFD, FJS, and the Government of Finland (often routed through Gender at Work) — with past support from Coady International Institute, CRT, the Governance Facility, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Amnesty Nepal. Staffing is lean at nine named personnel spanning program coordination, monitoring/evaluation, finance, district coordination, IT, and story curation, and the organization is led by a board that includes internationally recognized figures (e.g., Jaya Luintel, BBC 100 Influential Women 2014; Tomorrow's Peacebuilders Award 2016 laureate).

Name

The Story Kitchen (TSK)

Legal name

The Story Kitchen

Website

https://thestorykitchen.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Story Kitchen (TSK) is a Nepal-based nonprofit founded in 2012 that amplifies women's voices through feminist and participatory mass storytelling. It serves marginalized women, conflict survivors, Dalit leaders, and gender-focused journalists across all seven provinces of Nepal via publications, fellowships, and workshops.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Gender Equality and Women's Rights Nonprofit Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Transitional Justice, Accountability & Reparations (BPADAGAL)

Keywords

• Feminist storytelling research
• Gender equality programs
• Women empowerment services
• Transitional justice advocacy
• Nonprofit research publications

Headquarters

HQ city

Lalitpur

HQ country

Nepal

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Institutional Funding and Grants: TSK receives funding from bilateral agencies, multilateral organizations, foundations, and government entities to implement programs. Current funders include GIZ, Equality Fund, EU, FJS, UN Women, ZFD, and Gender at Work. Past funders include Coady International Institute, CRT, Governance Facility, Ministry for Foreign Affairs Finland, and Amnesty Nepal.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Story Kitchen (TSK) is a Nepal-based nonprofit that uses feminist and participatory mass storytelling methodologies to amplify marginalized women's voices, document gendered social norms, and support transitional justice for conflict survivors. It delivers this through four core programmatic areas (HerStory, Feminist Leadership, Research and Innovation, and Advocacy for Justice), the Sandhaann Fellowship for journalists and researchers, named projects such as SAHAS for Justice and Voices for Justice, Justice Reporter training, and a portfolio of published books and research reports.

Product overview

The Story Kitchen (TSK) is a nonprofit organization offering a portfolio of programs, publications, and training services focused on amplifying women's voices through storytelling for social change. Its core programs include HerStory (documenting women's narratives), Feminist Leadership (leadership development), Research and Innovation (feminist research methodologies), and Advocacy for Justice (community-centered justice approaches). The organization produces publications including books, reports, and fellowship outputs through its Sandhaann Fellowship program. TSK also implements specific projects such as SAHAS for Justice and Voices for Justice focused on transitional justice for conflict survivors, and offers storytelling workshops and Justice Reporter training programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• HerStory Core programmatic initiative that uncovers and amplifies stories of women marginalized by history, culture, politics, and societal structures, working to challenge erasure and ensure marginalized voices are documented and celebrated.
• Feminist Leadership Initiative that reimagines how power is understood, shared, and practiced through feminist leadership principles, engaging community collaboration, amplifying marginalized voices, and fostering accountability, equity, and transformative change.
• Research and Innovation Research program using feminist methodologies to explore root causes and driving factors of inequality, measuring social norms change through mass storytelling and informing policies for inclusion and equity.
• Advocacy for Justice Initiative redefining justice as holistic, meaningful, and centered on lived experiences, creating safe spaces for healing through storytelling, co-developing alternative truth-seeking approaches with survivors, and advocating for community-centered justice.
• SAHAS for Justice (Sharing and Amplifying Her Allegorical Stories) Project that uses storytelling to encourage survivors of gender-based violence during Nepal's armed conflict (1996-2006) to break their silence, heal, and seek transitional justice. Implemented in partnership with the National Alliance of Women Human Rights Defenders in Nepal.
• Voices for Justice (VfJ) Project that uses storytelling to help survivors of gender-based violence during Nepal's armed conflict break their silence, heal collectively, and seek transitional justice, funded by the Governance Facility.
• Sandhaann Fellowship Program Mentorship-based research fellowship launched in 2021/22 that supports journalists, academics, and researchers focused on gender issues to co-explore and co-write Nepal's social, political, economic, and cultural movements through a feminist perspective.
• Measuring Social Norm Change Through StoryTelling Research report presenting findings on social values, norms, and harmful practices hindering gender equality in Nepal, drawing on experiences of over 1,000 women and girls from five districts and produced in partnership with UN Women Nepal and the Government of Finland.
• महिला आन्दोलनको सहखोजी (Co-exploration of Women's Movement: Sandhaan Series Collection 1) Book published in collaboration with Tribhuvan University's Department of Gender Studies documenting the history of diverse women's movements in Nepal, featuring 22 essays written from feminist theoretical perspectives and using feminist research methodologies.
• Karnali Narratives English translation book providing glimpses into the suffering, violence, and human rights abuses experienced by girls, adolescents, and women in Karnali Province during armed conflict, recording experiences of 22 conflict-affected women written by survivors trained as justice reporters.
• कर्णाली गाथा (Karnali Stories) Nepali language publication documenting experiences of conflict-affected women in Karnali Province following victim- and survivor-led truth documentation principles, with narratives written by conflict survivors trained as justice reporters.
• साहसका गाथाहरु (Stories of Courage) Collection documenting experiences of Nepali women during Nepal's ten-year armed conflict (1996-2006), capturing violence, pain, and struggles women endured including rape, sexual violence, and torture, aimed at empowering survivors to participate in transitional justice processes.
• कथा कोरोना (COVID Story) Book documenting experiences of Nepali women during the global COVID-19 pandemic, featuring narratives from 77 individuals across all seven provinces including marginalized groups, people with disabilities, and gender and sexual minorities, written by journalists and justice reporters trained by TSK.
• Storytelling Workshop Workshop program using feminist and participatory mass storytelling methodology to facilitate safe spaces for women to share experiences, heal, and build solidarity, including Training of Trainers (TOT) components for capacity building.
• Justice Reporter Program Program that trains conflict survivors as justice reporters to document and share their experiences, with stories written by trained justice reporters following victim- and survivor-led truth documentation principles.

Quantifiable outcome

• 107 Dalit women representatives strengthened through Self-Reflection and Leadership Workshops across all seven provinces of Nepal
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• UN Women NepalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCurrent partner for longitudinal research measuring shifts in gendered social norms through storytelling. Co-leading 'Hamro Sahakarya': Our Collective Action initiative with Gender at Work and The Story Kitchen.
• Gender at WorkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCurrent co-leading partner in UN Women Nepal led initiative 'Hamro Sahakarya': Our Collective Action, exploring change in gendered social norms in Nepali society.
• National Alliance of Women Human Rights Defenders in NepalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerImplementing partner for SAHAS for Justice project, supporting women survivors of gender-based violence during Nepal's armed conflict.
• Tribhuvan University's Department of Gender StudiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic collaboration for publication 'महिला आन्दोलनको सहखोजी' documenting diverse women's movements in Nepal. Jointly published book featuring 22 research-based articles.
• Anti-Slavery International (ASI)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with TSK to produce personal narratives of Migrant Domestic Workers returning to Nepal from Lebanon.
• HRITI FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating partner for Karnali Festival 2025, where TSK organized a panel discussion on Women's Movement in Karnali.
• FEDO, Samata Foundation, Body & Data, NIDWANmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organizations with representatives participating in Sandhaann Fellowship III Research Writing Workshop.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Saathi: Nepal-based organization working on gender equality and women's empowerment; comparable in its women-led, Nepal-focused, donor-supported model and similar beneficiary segments including survivors of gender-based violence.
• National Alliance of Women Human Rights Defenders in Nepal: Nepal-based alliance of women human rights defenders; TSK is already a partner under the SAHAS for Justice project. Directly comparable in protecting women defenders, transitional justice work, and Nepal-focused feminist mission.
• Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD): Nepal-based feminist legal and development organization advocating for women's rights through litigation, policy, and research; comparable in its women-centered advocacy mission, beneficiary base, and donor-funded model, but focused on legal-rights mechanisms rather than narrative storytelling.
• Women's Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC) Nepal: Nepal-based NGO working on women's rights, gender-based violence, and conflict-affected communities; directly comparable to TSK in mission and beneficiary focus, though with a broader service-delivery approach rather than storytelling-led methodology.

Broad incumbents

• International Alert: International peacebuilding organization with gender and security programming; comparable in working at the intersection of peacebuilding and gender justice in conflict-affected settings, but with global scope and policy focus rather than grassroots storytelling methodology.
• Search for Common Ground: International conflict-transformation organization with programming in Nepal; comparable in peacebuilding and gender-justice work, but operates globally and uses broader mediation and dialogue methodologies rather than survivor-led storytelling.
• International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ): Global organization working on transitional justice, accountability, and human rights; comparable in its transitional-justice focus on conflict-affected populations, but operates at a global scale with broader thematic scope than TSK's Nepal-focused, storytelling-led approach.

Emerging players

• WITNESS: Global organization that uses video and storytelling to document human rights abuses; comparable to TSK in using participatory storytelling to amplify marginalized voices, but operates globally with a technology-and-media focus rather than a feminist-research-led model.
• CREA: South Asia-headquartered feminist organization producing research and advocacy on gender, sexuality, and rights; comparable in feminist research methodologies and women-led knowledge production, but with broader South Asian scope and policy-advocacy emphasis.

Regional players

• Equal Access International: International development organization using media and communication for social change; comparable in storytelling-for-social-change methodology and in Nepal presence (TSK co-founder Jaya Luintel previously led programming there), but operates globally and across multiple development themes.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-story-kitchen-tsk-

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Story Kitchen (TSK)