Received his PhD in Development Sociology from the University of Washington and his Masters from Reading University in 1989, and has since worked on numerous projects in a variety of different fields. Dr. Thapa has implemented and planned numerous development projects based on decentralized and bottom-up concepts through his NGO, the Mountain Resource Management Group. Duman Thapa has also served as the national advisor to the Carter Center and was the Nepali point of contact for Former President Jimmy Carter. Duman Thapa played an instrumental role in bringing the Carter Center to Nepal. In 2005, Duman gathered members from different political parties to attend an advanced course on “negotiation and coalition building” at the Harvard Law University. During the training, Duman and Nepali stakeholders also participated in roundtable discussions on the resolution of Jana Andolan II, one of the first of its kind to be held in the peace process.
Contact: duman@aspect.org.np
Ujjwal Pradhan, Ph.D.
Regional Coordinator at World Agroforestry Centre based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Padam B. Shah
Padam B. Shah, Development Professional, basically for rural society development. Having a medical education background entered into the rural community services and served for about 20 years and more as a development professional in cultural, social and geopolitical features of Nepal. Padam B Shah, born in Arghakhanchi district, having with the development instinct, an expert earned a Masters Degree in Sociology from Tribhuwan University in 2001 and have specialization in Rural Society Development. Padam Shah, as a professional served various national and international institutions; Plan Center Ltd (HMG/FINNIDA), Carter Center Nepal Project, Mountain Resources Management Group (MRMG) and as a Chairperson of the Rural Society Development Center (RUSDEC) Nepal. His field of interest consists of community development, human rights, security, intra and inter cultural exchanges, and basically the contemporary issues of Nepal.
Contact: shah@aspect.org.np
R.P. Khanal
Mr. R.P. Khanal has been working as a corporate lawyer and development consultant in a number of organizations over the last fifteen years. His role has been instrumental in the establishment and smooth functioning of several national and international organizations including the Carter Center, Save the Children, INPIM International, National Federation of Irrigation Water Users’ Association, and CCS Italy as well as various public and private institutions in Nepal. Mr. Khanal has played a pivotal role in organizational strengthening and institutional development of these organizations through capacity development of human resources, the departments/sections and entire organization. Mr. Khanal completed his Masters in Management and Sociology, complemented by a legal degree and has sharpened his knowledge and skills by participating in several national and international trainings, workshops and seminars. He approaches his work through a holistic approach with his sheer knowledge and experiences of legal, audit and organization development. Mr. Khanal has drafted and amended the constitution, laws, bylaws, regulations, Article of Association as well as other operating documents such as financial, operations, human resources manual for organizations working in different sectors.
Manish Thapa
Manish Thapa is currently a Doctoral Research Candidate in International Studies at the University of Tokyo working on his research project titled: From Bullet to Ballot: The Politics of Peacemaking in Nepal. He is recipient of prestigious Robert McNamara Fellowship (2009-2010) from the World Bank & prestigious RONPAKU Fellowship (2008-2011) from Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences (JSPS). He is also associated as Visiting Research Fellow at Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at University of Notre Dame, USA. He was Sauvé Research Fellow at McGill University in Canada (2006-2007). He received his Bachelors degree in Development Studies from Kathmandu University, and Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies from Austria’s European University – Centre for Peace Studies. He was Founding Executive Director (2006-2008) of the Asian Study Centre for Peace & Conflict Transformation (ASPECT). In 2005, Manish founded the Nepal Peace Initiative Alliance, which was instrumental in the establishment of the Ministry of Peace & Reconstruction in Nepal. He also played a key role in establishing the Department Conflict, Peace & Development Studies Program at Tribhuvan University, where he is now associated as a core faculty member. He is also Visiting Faculty at Nepal Army Command and Staff College where he teaches courses on Peace & Security. He is co-chair of the Internal Conflicts Commission at the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) and Council Member of the Asia-Pacific Peace Research Association (APPRA). He is on the Research Committee on Centre for Global Non-killing (CGNK). Currently he is leading a team of international peace builders in institutionalizing South Asian Peace Academy (SAPA) which will be state-of-art Peace Academy in South Asia.
Govind Nepal
Govind Nepal, Professor of Economics, Tribhuvan University (TU), Nepal, started his currier as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Economics as early as 1979 and received Ph. D. in Economics in 1989. He is taking post graduate classes for last two decades and supervising currently about half a dozen Ph. D. theses on diverse areas such as Economics of Fuel Adulteration, Regional Planning, Municipality Finance and Monetary Policy.
In the areas of research and consultancy, Dr. Nepal worked as a Senior Adviser to National Planning Commission during the course of formulation of Three Year Interim Plan and contributed particularly in Macro Economic Modeling. He worked as a Senior Expert for the High Level Public Expenditure Commission; contributed to bring out First Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), Sixth MTEF and prepared District Level MTEF (DMTEF) for Bhaktapur and Dolakha Districts. The DMTEF is a World Bank funded project to National Planning Commission Nepal. Dr. Nepal, as apart of the study team, recently completed an Asia Foundation funded "Fiscal Federalism and Revenue sharing" research project. The outcome of the research has been published as a monograph in Nepali language with a view to provide input to the Constituent Assembly Members.
Renewable energy is the other area of expertise of Dr. Nepal. Current Renewable Energy Subsidy Policy is based on his research report. UNDP Bangkok has recently published an abridged version of his country report on energy and poverty. As a consultant he worked for many organisations including The World Bank, UNDP, USAID, ICIMOD, Helvetas, UNFPA and Intermediate Technology Development Group (now Practical Action). To this date, he has authored/coauthored five books on development planning, fiscal federalism, renewable energy and theory of surplus value.
Board of Directors
