Academic Qualification:

Level	Year	Institute
PhD in Food Security Governance and Right to Food: Understanding State-People relationship in Nepal	2021	Agriculture and Forestry University, Chitwan, Nepal
M. Sc. in Ecological Agriculture (Distinction)	1996-1998	Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands
B. Sc. In Agriculture (First div.)	1986-1990	Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Chitwan, Nepal

Current honorary positions

• Expert Member, National Food and Nutrition Security Coordination Committee, National Planning Commission (NPC)
• Expert Member, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development
• Expert Member, Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen
• Council Member, Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Government of Nepal (Former

Competencies

Management competence

• Leadership in management (leading large-scale programmes and projects including policy analysis & strategic planning, budget, evaluation and management of human resources)
• Collaboration and negotiation with State and Government agencies, INGOs, NGOs, private sector, farmer’s organisations and civil society
• Coordination with bilateral and multi-lateral donors, and UN agencies
• Engagement with parliamentary committees in relation to gender and thematic issues
• Ensuring workforce diversity and gender responsive provisions in organisational policies and programmes
• Engagement with different ministries and development agencies in preparing policies and programmes on different thematic issues such as Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Climate Change and Environment, Food security
• Communication and networking
• Decision making and visioning  
  

Thematic competence

• Natural resource management with specific emphasis in Land, Resource Rights, Agriculture, Environment, Food and Nutrition Security including the context of climate change, migration and urbanisation
• Implementation of Constitution in Federal context of Nepal specially of natural resources, agriculture and environment sector
• Contribution to Gender Equality and Social Inclusion responsive sectoral policies, processes and operational plans
• Globalisation, trade and market system development for local economic growth   
• Climate change adaptation and mitigation measures
• Technical innovations in response to socio-political changes
• Farmers rights, biological diversity and indigenous knowledge and skills related to natural resources management, food and nutrition security and right to food
• Policy analysis and contribution on natural resources, environment, food security and gender equality

Methodological competence

• Policy review, analysis and contribution: land policy (MoLMCPA), gender equality and social inclusion policy (MoWCSV), Gender in Agriculture, The Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act (MoALD), Agriculture Development Strategy (MoALD), Forest sector strategy, bio-diversity policy, climate change policy (MoFE)
• Support to federal, provincial and local governments to develop sectoral policies with GESI indicators
• Rights based approach to development with specific focus on women, food security, land management and natural resources, people with disabilities, minorities & marginalized communities, and backward areas an classes
• Right based programme design, implementation and monitoring at different levels
• Local state building through sectoral coordination and synergy
• Designing tools and methods for research and studies; and monitoring and evaluations
• Project designs and evaluations
• Facilitation skills such as strategy development, policy dialogues
• Writing, reviewing and publishing journal articles, reports, chapters and books and newspaper articles

Contributions to the Legislative Parliament/Constituent Assembly Committees

Consultation and expert inputs to the Legislative Parliament and Constituent Assembly (CA) thematic committees on:

• Fundamental Right and Directive Principles
• Natural Resource, Economic Rights and Revenue Allocation
• Agriculture and Water Resources

Experiential competence

• Networking and collaboration: Food Security Alliance; Culture and Nutrition alliance, Peasant Coalition (coalition of farmers organisations of different political parties); people’s organisations (community forestry, land rights, women and natural resources, national cooperatives federation, indigenous nationalities on ILO 169, Dalit and minorities, rights to food network, Nepal Federation of Environment Journalists)
• Engage and coordination with donor partners, government policy makers, line agencies, INGOs, NGOs, academic institutions and private sectors (FNCCI, CNI)
• Affiliation with different social and thematic groups, networks, social movements at alliances at national, regional and global levels

Participation and contribution in global forums such WTO Ministerial Conferences (Mexico), LDC meeting (Brussels), FAO meetings on food and agriculture (Rome, South Korea), CEDAW session (New York), Social Forum (Brazil), etc.

National Planning Commission (NPC)

• National Planning Commission (NPC)
• Embassy of Switzerland in Nepal
• USAID, Nepal
• United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• World Food Organization (WFP)
• UN Women
• World Bank
• University of Florida, USA
• Care Nepal
• Welt Hunger Hilfe (WHH) and Concern Worldwide
• International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
• LiBIRD
• Equal Access International
• Economic Policy Incubator (EPI)
• CRS Nepal
• NGO Federation
• MinErgy Nepal

Honorary Positions

• Expert Member, National Land Use Council, Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Government of Nepal (completed)
• Expert Member, National Nutrition and Food Security Committee, National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal
• Expert Member, Food Security Technical Committee, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Government of Nepal
• Expert Member, Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen (completed)
• Council Member, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) (completed)

Engagement with academic institutions

• Board of Trustee (BoT) for Gandaki University, Pokhara
• University of Florida, USA (ToT to make veterinary vaccine chain gender responsive)
• Michigan State University, USA (Research on lentil sector study for Nepal)
• Purdue University, USA (Research on lentil sector study for Nepal)

Other current engagements

S.N.	Organization	Position	Field of expertise
1	Indigenous Women Lawyers Group (INOLAG)	Advisor	Indigenous people, Biodiversity, Livelihoods
2	Federation of Women Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal (FWEAN)	Advisor	Women, Enterprising, Business, Leadership
3	South Asia Women Development Forum (SAWDF)	Advisor	Women, Enterprising, Business, Leadership
4	Nepal Environment Journalists Forum (NEFEJ)	Expert Member	Environment
5	National Farmers Group Federation (Nfgf)	Advisor	Farmer’s rights and welfare
6	Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS)	Senior Research Fellow, Policy Lead for Food and Nutrition Security	Development, Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security, Gender and Inclusion Policies
7	Tamu Educational Career Advancement Network (TECANET)	Vice-Chair	Tamu Youth Career
8	Sath Sathai Foundation	Expert Advisor	Women for Climate Justice
9	Nepal Agricultural Machinery Enterpreneurs Association (NAMEA)	Advisor	Agri. Mechanization

Employment

S.N.	Employer	Position	Duration	Major responsibilities
1	SDC/Embassy of Switzerland, Kathmandu	Position: Portfolio Manager: (a) Agriculture and Natural Resources, (b) Gender Focal Person	Dec 2005 to Sept 2019	This is a senior management position to lead the NRM portfolio and Gender Focal Person with special focus on a) overall management of programmes under natural resources and agriculture portfolio; b) engaging with three tiers of government in federalisation of sectoral initiatives through policy contributions, institutional arrangements and programme design and implementation; c) Networking and collaboration with development partners in harmonisation of sectoral federalisation including in the context of migration and climate change; d) inputs to the legislatures in preparing natural resource and agriculture related bills, e) engage with legislators, development partners and civil society networks to contribute in Gender mainstreaming (targeting, Gender responsive budgeting, workforce diversity, geographical inclusion..), f) inputs on psycho-social approach of empowerment of women and disadvantaged groups.
2	ActionAid International Nepal, Kathmandu	Position:  Team Leader: Livelihoods and Economic Rights/Right to food campaign Coordinator	1999 to 2005	This is a senior management position to head the Livelihood and Economic Rights Division, which was responsible for working on rights to an adequate standard of living, including health, housing and food, right to employment. This position has to supervise Theme Leaders of a) Food Security and Natural resources, b) Globalisation and Corporate Sector, c) Disaster Management, d) right to food campaign at global and national levels. The major tasks were around organising and mobilising interest group beneficiaries, facilitate evidence-based policy dialogue among multi-stakeholders, link community issues with the meso and macro policies related to natural resources and trade, advocacy for ensuring people’s access to means of production, employment, income and social justice.
3	International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Kathmandu, Nepal	Manager/Agronomist/Gender Specialist	1998 to 1999	This is a management position responsible for watershed programmes management with specific responsibility of i) coordinating research on hydrology, farm management, commercialisation of agriculture, and gender integration, ii) networking and coordination with government agencies, INGOS/NGOS, peoples organisations, local researchers and other programmes of ICIMOD, iii) Gender mainstreaming in watershed programmes, iv) Action research and investigation on gender, women, watershed management etc.
4	Netherlands Development Organisations (SNV)-Nepal	Natural Resource Management Officer	1992 to 1996	This is a senior officer position with i) overall management of natural resources and promote sustainable agriculture, ii) Gender sensitive NRM/agriculture intervention engaging mainly engaging with local governments, iii) Participatory appraisal of development effectiveness Socio-economic and technical review and evaluation, and iv) Liaison, relation and co-ordination with the government, NGOs, District Development Committee, Village Development Committees and Private Sectors related to NRM and gender issues.

Research experiences

Engaged in policy and development-oriented research and assessments related to agriculture & natural resources, food and nutrition security, trade, climate change and renewable energy, women, gender, social inclusion.

Trainings and conferences

Participated in numerous training and conferences at national and international levels on the thematic areas of work since 1992 and presented papers in different forums.

Selected contributions to national policies

• Technical Assistance in drafting Research and Extension chapter in Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) prepared by then Ministry of Agricultural Development, Government of Nepal,

• Inputs on National Land Policy prepared by then Ministry of Land Reform and Management, Government of Nepal,

• Inputs on Agro-biodiversity prepared by then Ministry of Agricultural Development,

• Inputs on Plant Variety Protection and Farmer’s Rights Bill, prepared by then Ministry of Agricultural Development,

• Input on agriculture sector monograph prepared by World Bank and DFID.

Media and others

• Moderator/chair/commentator/discussant in many different events for legislators, (I)NGOs, civil society organizations,
• Scoping Study on Women’s Leadership in the Agriculture Sector in Nepal for WOCAN,
• Periodically writing in Newspapers such as: a) nayapatrika, b) Kantipur Daily, c) Himal magazine, d) NARI, i) online news and other newspapers and magazines,
• Expert opinion on “Annual Budget” presented by the Government in national papers,
• Expert opinion on natural resources, agriculture sector development, gender and inclusion issues, right to natural resources and trade issues in various FM Radio and Television Programs such as BBC program

Awards and Scholarships

• Netherlands Fellowship to study M.Sc. Programme in Ecological Agriculture in Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands.
• Women Support Scholarship Award from Women Development Project/IAAS to study B.Sc. Agriculture in IAAS Rampur.
• Free Competition Scholarship from Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science for I. Sc.
• Intelligent Student Award in the High School from District Education Office.
• Various grants to attend and present papers and expert opinion in international conferences, workshops, seminars and consultation meetings.

Countries visited

Associate	Women for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources (WOCAN), Global network registered in USA
Founder member and Advisor	Food First Information Network, FIAN
Founder Member	Women Leading for Change in Natural resources (W-LCN)
Life member	Nepal Participatory Action Network (NEPAN)
Life member	Agriculture Association of Nepal (AAN)
Member	Netherlands Students Alumni
Member	Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS) Alumni
Team member	Food Policy coordinated by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
Board member	Centre for Policy Research and Development (CPAD)-National NGO
Advisor	FECOFUN, Nepal
Advisor	Eco-Nepal (NGO working in Environment and disaster response sector)
Advisor	Indigenous Women Lawyers Network-INOLAC
Advisor	“Our Heritage” Magazine
Gender advisor	Agriculture Extension in South Asia (AESA)
Member	Chandra Gurung Conservation Foundation (CGCF)
Advisor	Nepal Permaculture Group (NPG).