Since November 2014, NepalMonitor.org officially is a COCAP protection and conflict prevention initiative, supported by pbi. In this blog post we are introducing the team that brings you the latest updates on human rights and security in Nepal

Arpana Shrestha – Program Officer

arpana[at]cocap.org.np 

Arpana has completed her Bachelor’s of Arts in Social Work and English, from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. She worked as a Capacity Building Intern in the KURVE Wustrow project of COCAP. She joined the NepalMonitor.org team in August 2015 and has initially been working as a Program Assistant and is now Program Officer. She had previously done her internship in COCAP for partial fulfilment of her Bachelor’s degree in 2013 and has been involved in the organization ever since. Arpana previously worked as a Social Mobilizer in a Local Governance and Community Development Program, in the municipality of Kirtipur . She hopes to continue to work in the field of human rights, specifically on social protection and children’s issues. 

Bimal Poudel – Human Rights Mapping Assistant

Bimal is an undergraduate student of Mass Communication and Journalism as well as English literature in Madan Bhandari Memorial College, Kathmandu. He has previously worked as a reporter for Misson Today Daily of Kohalpur, Nepal and works on a number of social issues as a member of different organizations. Bimal joined Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) as a volunteer in February 2014 and currently holds the position of Human Rights Mapping Assistant in the NepalMonitor.org team.

Dr. Friso Hecker – Peace Advisor/CPS –NepalMonitor.org

coordinator[at]nepalmonitor.org

Friso is an anthropologist with long-standing experience in the field of humanitarian protection, human rights, and political analysis in Nepal where he previously conducted his PhD research. Friso holds an MA in Anthropology of Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Bielefeld, Germany. He previously worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Nepal, India and Bhutan and with The Carter Center in Nepal. Currently Friso holds the position of a peace advisor for the German Civil Peace Service working with COCAP on the NepalMonitor.org initiative. 

Rajkumar Buda – Human Rights Mapping Coordinator

mapping[at]nepalmonitor.org

Raj Kumar is an IT graduate from the district of Dolpa with years of experience in the field of information management, GIS, and other web technologies. Currently, he holds the position of Human Rights Mapping Coordinator at NepalMonitor.org. Prior to this Raj Kumar used to work in the Information Management Unit of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Kathmandu. 

Rajya Laxmi Gurung – Training and Outreach Coordinator

rajya.gurung[at]nepalmonitor.org

Rajya has a double Masters in Conflict Studies and Computer Science from Tribhuvan and Pokhara University respectively. She has ten years of experience in teaching and for the past five years she has been working as researcher focusing on conflict and peace studies. She has attended a number of national and international trainings and presented several papers pertaining to conflict and peace studies. She has visited a number of countries including Ghana, Ivory Coast, Switzerland, Holland, Slovenia, Hungary, India and Sri Lanka. She is a former Dayitwa Public fellow and former visiting fellow of University of Amsterdam with the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR). She previously worked in several colleges affiliated to Pokhara and Tribhuvan University and recently worked in the National Core Competency in Research (NCCR) South Asian regional coordination office as a researcher in the ‘Business and Peace’ project and People in Need-Nepal (Czech Republic) as a Field and Protection Officer for gender-based violence.

Rama Kumal – Program Officer

rama[at]nepalmonitor.org

Rama is completing her MA in Sociology from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. Previously, she completed her BA in Social Work from Purbanchal University, Nepal. Rama has volunteered with COCAP since December 2013 and joined the NepalMonitor.org team in July 2014 where she was initially working as a Human Rights Mapping Assistant. Rama is currently holding the post of Program Officer with NepalMonitor.org.