BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Nirmal B.K., Chair of COLARP and former Ambassador of Nepal to South Africa.
Dr. Bishworkarma has over 20 years of expertise in livelihoods, food security, climate change, DRR, GESI, and peacebuilding. With a PhD in livelihood security (2016), he has led over 24 evaluations for major organizations, including UNDP and DFID, earning the 2020 UNDP Evaluation Excellence Award. He is well-versed in Nepal’s policies on agriculture, food security, and natural resource management, contributing to key frameworks like the Agriculture Development Strategy and National Adaptation Plan.
Prof. Sagar Raj Sharma, Ph.D (Development Economics), Dean, Kathmandu University, School of Arts
Prof. Sharma, Chair of COLARP has extensively worked in the field related to Foreign Aid, Development, Private Sector and Land Reform in Nepal. He has the experience of working in the development sector both as an academician and a practitioner. He has experience of teaching at Fukuoka University, Japan. Nepal. In addition, he has worked as an Economic Advisor at the Nepalese Consulate Office in Japan
Prof. Kailash N. Pyakuryal, Ph.D. (Sociology), Vice Chancellor, University of Agriculture and Forest Science (2011-2015)
Prof. Pyakuryal is a founder Chair of COLARP and a rural sociologist with 45 years of work experience: 11 Years with the government in the Ministry of Agriculture (1965-1976) and 30 years with Tribhuvan University (1976-2006), and from 2006- 2010 with Kathmandu University. He has offered his consultancy services to various organizations such as the USAID, FAO, ILO, SDC, UNCDF, FINNIDA, GTZ, JICA, Action Aid, ANSAB, ICIMOD and OXFAM. His consultancy service abroad was in Lebanon.
Ganesh Gurung, Ph.D. (Sociology), Chairperson
Dr. Gurung is a Sociologist by training and founder of NIDS with above 22 years of work experience. He was also a former member of National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal. He has been involved in migration issues since 1990 and has the credit of being author to a number of books and researches on varied issues related to migration.
Dr. Purna Bahadur Nepali
Dr. Purna Bhadur Nepali is Associate Professor, Master of Public Policy and Management (MPPM), Kathmandu University School of Management (KU SOM), Balkumari, Lalitpur. Dr. Nepali is Research Fellow (non-resident), Harvard Kennedy School and Hutchins Center, Harvard University, US where he is undertaking his research on Political Economy of Inclusive Agrarian Transformation: Comparative Analysis of Race-Caste of US and Nepal/South-Asia. Previously he was the Regional Project Coordinator, Regional Food Security Governance Project in South Asia and East Asia (Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar) at DanChurchAid (DCA), funded by the European Union. For the past decade he has researched land rights and food rights, and advocates for evidence-based policy and reform in South Asia from a civil society perspective. In addition, he teaches graduate courses for masters and PhD students as an adjunct professor at the Kathmandu University and the Agriculture and Forestry University in Nepal.
SECRETARIAT
Dr. Nirmal B.K., Chair of COLARP and former Ambassador of Nepal to South Africa.
Dr. Bishworkarma has over 20 years of expertise in livelihoods, food security, climate change, DRR, GESI, and peacebuilding. With a PhD in livelihood security (2016), he has led over 24 evaluations for major organizations, including UNDP and DFID, earning the 2020 UNDP Evaluation Excellence Award. He is well-versed in Nepal’s policies on agriculture, food security, and natural resource management, contributing to key frameworks like the Agriculture Development Strategy and National Adaptation Plan.
Mr. Dhanej Thapa, Executive Director, COLARP
Mr. Dhanej Thapa is a land, agriculture and CCA/DRR expert, who has more than 13 years of research and development experience in Nepal and South Asia. Prior to joining COLARP, he provided consulting services to DFID, Mott-Mcdonald, UNDP, UNRCO, CORDAID, UN-Women and other international organizations. Similarly, he was engaged in various climate change, livelihood and food security-related research tasks at Forest Action Nepal, Nepal Development Research Institute (NDRI), and Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS). He worked as a focal person managing most of their research project activities, some of which were multi-country projects.He has been continuously working with senior scholars in various academic and applied research works, including publishing articles in international, national journals and other publications.
Hem Raj Upreti, Admin and Program Coordinator
is a former president of Nepal Red Cross Society, Dadeldhura/Nabdurga Sub chapter and development worker with more than 13 years of work experience in community development, disaster risk reduction (DRR), policy advocacy, social mobilization, capacity building, public auditing & other development activities both in rural and urban settings in different districts of Nepal with numerous intergovernmental organizations, UN agencies, INGOs and NGOs. He holds Masters in Health Education; and Masters in Rural Development from T.U.
Mr. Santosh Pandey (Program Director)
Mr. Pandey is Agriculture, Livelihood, Market Development and Value Chain Expert. His journey in the development sector spans more than a decade, marked by significant roles in project formulation and management, agricultural economics, and business management, alongside extensive experience in monitoring and evaluation, humanitarian assistance, cash transfer programming, capacity building, and value chain development. His expertise extends to institutional and organizational strengthening, enterprise development, cooperative development, and the promotion of agriculture technology. He has got long experience in working organizations ranging from USAID, CECI, FAO, Peace Corps, OXFAM and HEIFER in course of managing diverse projects on livelihood and market development. He carried out different consultancies on FAO, World Bank, Nepal Trust. Mr. Pandey is also responsible for the overall coordination of grant funding and use of funds and working closely with the grantees to ensure successful and effective design and implementation of funded activities to achieve planned objectives and outcomes, along with accountability of program resources.
Ms. Sambigya Khadka (Program Coordinator)
Ms. Khadka is a well-qualified and technically proficient researcher with more than 3 years of experience in the development field especially related to climate change, DRRM/DRRF, and land & livelihood related projects. She was engaged in numerous projects in collaboration with WHH, DCA International, Tayar Nepal/USAID, and other organizations. Mostly, she has worked as a GESI focal person and managing the technical aspects of the projects under the lens of gender. She has worked to create a GESI Plan for an innovative project funded by USAID/DAI/Tayar Nepal for a Disaster Risk Transfer project. She has also worked as a facilitator on training of trainers (MHM and SHRH), and is actively engaged in conducting training, workshops, and policy dialogue. As a volunteer she has helped organize Vagina Monologues 2019 in Kathmandu, where she actively worked with youths. She has also worked in facilitating events to train municipal leaders and bureaucrats with the aim of increasing youth employment.
Ms Samikshya Adhikari (Program Officer)
Ms. Adhikari, currently a Research Officer, leverages her extensive experience in program and finance management, having worked with prominent organizations like the Nepal Development Research Institute (NDRI) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). In her present role, she plays a key role in data collection, report writing, and documentation. Her responsibilities also include coordinating research activities, assisting in proposal development, and conducting literature reviews, ensuring comprehensive support across various research and project management functions.
Kabin Maharjan (Research Fellow)
Mr. Maharjan, Australian Award Scholar, is pursuing a climate change degree at Crawford School of Public Policy and is a visiting faculty member at the School of Arts, Kathmandu University. With a master’s degree in ‘Human and Natural Resources Studies’ from Kathmandu University, he has completed specialized courses in ‘Energy, Environment, and Sustainable Development’ from Oslo University, Norway, and ‘Water Economics’ from IHE Delft Institute, The Netherlands. With over a decade of research experience in development and policy spaces, Kabin brings an interdisciplinary background and expertise to address pressing global environmental challenges. He has collaborated with policy think tanks, advocacy groups, development practitioners, and academic institutions throughout his career, navigating complex research landscapes to deliver meaningful evidence. His interests span climate mitigation and adaptation, climate loss and damage, energy transition, disaster management, water management, migration, and environmental policy. Currently, he is exploring the Development-Disaster interface, examining how development initiatives inadvertently exacerbate disasters. Additionally, he is actively involved in projects aimed at revitalising community ponds and promoting springwater conservation to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Soniya Khatiwoda (Research Assistant)
Soniya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Science from HICAST College. As a Research Assistant at COLARP, she contributes to field research, data analysis, and policy review focused on land and natural resource management. She is passionate about sustainable agriculture and rural development.