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MP members meet in post-earthquake Kathmandu
18.06.2015
On 12 June 2015, Mountain Partnership Secretariat Coordinator Thomas Hofer met with Nepali members and members who have offices in Nepal to discuss a coordinated response to the devastating 25 April earthquake. Gathered at the Nepal Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the meeting was structured into two parts: 1) short presentations by all participants about their mountain-related and earthquake-relief activities; 2) brainstorm on possible initiatives the ‘Nepal Mountain Partnership Family’ could develop and launch together.
“The exchange was very rich as the Nepal-based MP members have a variety of specific expertise including information platforms, women’s involvement and support, promotion of local products, clean energy, capacity development and landslide treatment,” noted Hofer.
Ideas for collaboration proposed by the ‘Nepal Mountain Partnership Family’ were:
- regularly exchange experiences and ongoing activities;
- join hands to advocate for more policy attention for marginalized and isolated mountain communities; and
- identify one or two sites in which MP members could collaborate and bring together their diverse expertise and experience.
Participants agreed to meet regularly to continue the dialogue and develop a more concrete action plan. Meeta Pradhan of The Mountain Institute (TMI) was elected coordinator of the group. The FAO Nepal Office expressed its readiness to provide support.
All MP members with an office in Nepal were invited to the meeting. Present were:
Lucky Chhetri, Founder and Executive Director of 3 Sisters Adventure;
Binod Saha, Assistant FAO Representative (Programme) in Nepal;
Naina Shakya, Private Sector Partnership Specialist of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD);
Dineshwar Chaudhary, Founder/CEO of Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environment Nepal;
Gobinda Bahadur Shahi of Karnali Integrated Rurul Development and Research Centre (KIRDARC);
Geeta Pandey of Karnali Integrated Rurul Development and Research Centre (KIRDARC);
Pranay Shrestha, Chairperson of Pragya Seeds Nepal;
Dinanath Bhandari, Programme Coordinator of Practical Action;
Meeta Pradhan, Himalayan Program Director of TMI.
Purushottam Ghimire, National Planning Commission of Nepal, sent his regrets for his absence due to a high-level meeting in the government related to the Post Disaster Needs Assessment.
Hofer is also leading FAO’s work, in partnership with the Government of Nepal, to help stabilize and prevent landslides.