WISE Nepal Executive Members
MS. JUN HADA: CHAIR PERSON
‘Jun Dongol Hada’ is an architect and an urban planner by academic background. She is a Development professional, working for almost 20 years in rural and urban development and planning in Nepal. She is currently involved in the transport sector development, particularly focusing in rural road and bridges in Nepal. Prior to this, she worked in rural and urban development in Nepal, mainly in participatory planning and development, focusing on the sectors of transport (alternative and non-motorized transports), renewable and clean energy and urban environmental services. She has worked with national and international development organizations including United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Practical Action Nepal (UK based non-governmental organization) in the capacities of programme specialist and programme team leader respectively. She had provided consulting services to multilateral and bilateral development organizations, such as World Bank (WB), World Health Organization (WHO), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Department for International Development (DFID) in various capacities. She has been active members of different networks (International Forum for Rural Transport and Development, Nepal Forum for Rural Transport and Development, Clean Air Asia Network, Indoor Air Pollution and Health Forum Nepal) for policy advocacy and knowledge sharing on issues related to these areas. She is a founding member of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Nepal. She has been passionate about narrowing gender gap in STEM education and career in Nepal.
MS. BINA KHANAL: VICE CHAIR PERSON
‘Bina Khanal’ is a civil engineer by profession and holds a Master’s degree of science in Interdisciplinary Water Resources Management. She has been working in the development sector for more than twelve years. She is associated with Trail Bridge Support Unit of HELVETAS Swiss InterCooperation Nepal as a Trail Bridge Engineer. Prior to this, she was engaged in Water supply sanitation and hygiene promotion sector in different parts of the country in different organizations including NEWAH and DelPhe. She is also a founder member of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE Nepal) advocating STEM education and career for girls and women in Nepal.
MS. MAUSAM MAINALI: TREASURER
Mausam Mainali’ works as a Safeguard Officer (Environment) at the Trail Bridge Support Unit (TBSU) for HELVETAS Swiss InterCooperation Nepal (HSI). After finishing her Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, she pursued Master of Science in Engineering Management. Finishing her Master’s degree, she worked as a District Irrigation Engineer at Livelihood Improvement at Local Level (LILI) Project for HIS Nepal, and briefly as a District Road Maintenance Engineer at Strengthening the National Rural Transport Program (SNRT-P) – International Labour Organization (ILO) in different rural areas of Nepal. She spent about seven years of her career in rural development sectors of Nepal. For her contribution on promotion of small irrigation schemes managed by the community themselves in the LILI project, she received the ‘Letter of Honour’ on behalf of LILI/HELVETAS. She is also engaged in Women in science and Engineering (WISE) Nepal as a Treasurer and has been advocating for the importance of STEM education for women in Nepal.
MS. JENI RAJBAMSHI: MEMBER
‘Jeni Rajbamshi’ is a Computer Engineer and holds a Master’s degree in Rural Development. She has more than fifteen years of work experience in Software Development, Database Management, Management Information System (MIS), Geographical Information System (GIS) and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) with different organizations including World Distribution Nepal, Nepal Water for Health(NEWAH), FHI 360 Nepal (US-based Non Governmental Organization), UNDP and Save the Children Intenational. She is currently with AF Consult, a SWEDISH multi-national consulting firm, based in Switzerland for a project funded by Swiss Government and Asian Development Bank, to provide technical assistance to Earthquake Emergency Assistance Project (EEAP) in the capacity of Assistant Team Leader/MIS Specialist. She is one of the executive members of WISE Nepal and is passionately contributing to meet its objectives.
MS. DIKSHYA MAHARJAN: MEMBER
‘Dikshya Maharjan’ is a civil engineer by profession and has worked as a bridge engineer for the last 5 and a half year. She started her career as a site engineer (civil) in construction related projects in Kathmandu. She joined Local Roads Bridge Programme (LRBP), a programme of Nepal Government, technically assisted by Swiss Government, initially, as an intern engineer and later as a support engineer. She was involved in the designing of roads bridges in Nepal for the projects. She also worked as a research assistant for Research for Community Access Partnership (ReCAP) project on “Gender mainstreaming in rural road and bridge construction in Nepal”, funded by the Depart for International Development of the government of United Kingdom (UK). She is also an active member in WISE Nepal who has been helping to give orientation on STEM for High School students (especially to girl students). She has represented WISE Nepal in ICWES 17, India and Young woman scientist camp (2014), South Korea.
MS. PRATI GIRI: MEMBER
‘Prati Giri’ is a Civil Engineer by profession and is associated with Local Roads Bridge Project (LRBP), a Government of Nepal Project on rural roads bridges, technically supported by Swiss Government. She has also worked with an engineering consultancy and assisted in designing hilly and urban roads. She has also actively volunteered during Nepal Earthquake 2015 in rehabilitation work organized by Nepal Engineers’ Association (NEA). She has worked as a Research Assistant in a Research for Community Access Partnership (ReCAP) project highlighting transformative changes in household and community levels as an outcome of gender mainstreaming in Transport projects in Nepal. She has also practiced immersions and qualitative surveys based on Reality Check Approach (RCA). She is a member of WISE Nepal promoting women in STEM faculties and working to eliminate gender differences in Nepal. She has represented Nepal in YWS (Young Women Scientists) Camp 2015 in South Korea. She is an admirer of Nepal’s diverse ethnicity and thus can be found exploring rural parts of Nepal during her pastime which also fuels her passion for works on gender and social inclusion.
MR. DEKESH MAHARJAN: MEMBER
A Master’s Degree holder in Business Studies, Mr Dekesh Maharjan is a financial professional and has experience in strengthening and implementing administrative, logistic and financial functions of development projects for International Non-Government Organizations. He has over 6 years of experience in financial and administrative management in Population Services International (PSI), a US-based non-governmental organisation, working in different parts of Nepal. Besides, he has expertise in monitoring and supervising national level community based and non-governmental organizations. In addition, he has been involved in finding and executing financial solutions for his own organization and partner organizations. He worked as a financial and logistics management assistant for WISE Nepal from September 2016 to July 2017. He is currently a member of WISE Nepal team, and is helping WISE Nepal to establish and execute a sound financial and administrative procedure including an internal controlling system.