The history of Sahakarmi Samaj is linked with the Community Education Programme implemented by United Mission to Nepal in Surkhet District more than two decades back. The programme was helping marginalised people to experience the possibility of having meaningful developmental change through mutual support and collective action.  As well as promoting the effective and sustainable use of local resources, the project served to enhance marginalised people’s capacity to advance just claims to external resources.  In order to minimise dependency and to guarantee the long-term sustainability of the changes brought about through its work, the project sought to build the institutional capacity development of community and government authorities, which was the guiding principal of the organisation.

By the time the project was wrapping up in Surkhet in 1996, a team of staff gained good experience and developed their capacity for independently running such projects and decided to dedicate their time for the social cause. They decided to form the NGO Sahakarmi Samaj to empower community for achieving the goal of social justice by empowering poor and marginalised communities. A management committee was established, which developed policies to give shape to the new organisation.  Proposals were then developed for a new work programme SAKTEE (Strengthening Awareness & Knowledge through Education for Empowerment) in Banke District, which was financially supported by some donors including Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and The United Protestant Churches in the Netherlands (UPCN).  The SAKTEE Programme was delivered in two phases and concluded in 2007. Over this period, Sahakarmi Samaj also delivered 6 other programmes based on FEST approach. FEST is a pioneering community empowerment initiative, which enables the community groups and institutions, as well as the local government, to work towards a more just and interdependent society through critically-informed collaborative action.

In 2006, Sahakarmi Samaj entered into a learning partnership with The Social and Health Education Project (SHEP); an Irish NGO. Through this partnership, in 2007, Sahakarmi Samaj was able to avail funding from the Irish Aid Civil Society Fund, which, in combination with funding from UPCN (by then operating as ICCO-Kerk in Actie), allowed it to establish a successor to the SAKTEE Programme: The South Western Nepal Community Governance Enhancement Programme (SWNCGEP). Between 2007 and 2016, this programme continued in three phases (two phases in Bardiya and Kanchanpur Districts and one phase in Kailali and Jajarkot Districts).  A parallel programme, the Community Governance Enhancement for Social Transformation Programme (CGEST), was also delivered in two phases in Dang District with funding support from ICCO-Kerk in Actie. In addition to this, six other similar programmesspecially related with organisational development, human rights, peace and reconciliation and community governancewere delivered alongside SWNCGEP and CGEST with funding support of ICCO-Kerk in Actie, Mercy Corps/USAID, the Practical Foundation and the Development Fund Norway.

Since 2017, SS has started ‘Community Organising for Sustainable and Empowerment based Livelihood Improvement (COSELI) Programme (2017-2020) funded by the Development Fund Norway (DFN) and entered into partnership with European Union(2019-2022) for implementing similar programmes on promoting and strengthening local governance, ESC Rights. Similarly, the next phase program with SHEP/IA has also started for strengthening the existing Community Based Network Organizations (CBNOs) and community development groups in Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur (2018-2021). Now SS is working in nine districts of three provinces (Province 5, Karnali Province and Far Western Province).

From the onset, Sahakarmi Samaj provides trainings for personnel of national and international NGOs and the organisation’s training work is continually becoming stronger to the present day. Similarly, the organisation has been part of different networks of national and international non-governmental and civil society organisations for raising the local issues at the local, provincial and federal level for creating just society. The organisation aims to create just society where all people especially poor and marginalised communities are enjoying their rights without any hindrance.