Exchange to Change January 2018 E2C January 2018 web | Page 14

14
a l umni
alumni panel
Dilip Raj Bhatta
DEM 2015-16 | Nepal
Patricia Velarde
GOV 2014-15 | Peru
Where do you work? I work as a
specialist at the Ministry of Education
working on child protection and wellbeing
in rural schools. I’m also teaching the course
“communication for development” at PUCP
University (http://www.pucp.edu.pe/).
How did IOB experience affect your life/
career? It gave me a better understanding and
analytical tools regarding development issues
and public policies. Thanks to the Master I
published my first international paper with IOB
professors (Prof. Bastiaensen and Van Hecken),
I can teach and share with
students the subjects I learnt,
and I made meaningful
friendships around the
world. My IOB experience
expanded my mind and
heart.
If you were the director
of a research fund, what
is a research question
that you would agree to finance? Action
research about how to prevent and address
sexual violence in rural schools though public
policies, with intercultural and gender-power
approaches.
E xchange to change J anuary 2018
Where do you work? I have recently started
working as a Research and Development
Coordinator at Management Association
of Nepal. My job is to prepare proposals,
apply for funds, organize and execute
programs, and give strategic inputs for
organizational development. I am also
working as a visiting scholar at National
College, Kathmandu, teaching development
related courses for undergraduate students.
How did IOB experience affect your life/ career? The
multi-disciplinary curriculum, experienced faculty and
diversified students at IOB broadened my development
perspectives to a great extent. Particularly, the research
skills and in-depth knowledge on development theories and
applications has helped me to assess development problems
critically and make informed decisions at my work. Not to
forget, meeting people from different cultures and countries
across the world gave me some wonderful friends to be
treasured for a lifetime.
If you were the director of a research fund, what is a
research question that you would agreed to finance?
The recovery of livelihoods after a natural disaster is
an important topic which needs to be addressed in any
country. The 2015 earthquake of Nepal mostly affected
the livelihoods of the poor and marginalized population in
rural hilly and mountain regions. Microenterprise is one of
the livelihood options adopted by the rural population of the
earthquake-affected districts. Despite its significant role in
improving the livelihoods of disaster-affected community,
very little attention is given to the recovery of disaster-
affected microenterprises. In Nepal as well, most of the
efforts are focused on reconstruction of infrastructure,
ignoring the livelihood recovery aspects of the earthquake-
affected communities, let alone microenterprises. Against
this background, I would prefer to study and understand the
recovery of earthquake-affected microenterprises, taking a
case study of rural Nepal.