Friday (26-11-2079) MAN talk program: Promoting Good Governance: Challenges and Way Forward. The resource person for the program is Dr. Hira Mani Ghimire, Governance Expert. He highlighted on need of advocacy for legal reform, public awareness-raising on the national and international legal framework, and capacity-building or reform of institutions.
Dr. Ghimire is a governance specialist and holds a PhD in Public Administration from the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer.
My commects to Dr. Ghimire:
The rural people of Nepal should know that in today's age digital technologies are instrumental to access information, express and explore oneself and create communities with like minded people for moving ahead with providing solutions. Telecom technologies are today an integral sector of the world, touching all sectors of the economy and every aspect of human life. However this sector is not regulated and poor people who are most vulnerable cannot access it at affordable rate in Nepal. Investment in education system of rural Nepal is not adequate to cope with the tapping the new opportunities in the world.
Young people of Nepal use internet primarily for communicating with friends and family, and then for entertainment purposes. internet has become an integral part of people's lives across different castes, classes, ages, ethnicity, gender identity, education, profession, age, marital status, geographical locations, and so on. the role of digital technologies have been found to be essential in women's empowerment and it's importance was highlighted during covid - 19. Women suffered the most during this pandemic period and during 2015 earthquake.
The UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development has placed technology as one of the key action areas for achieving Sustainable Development goal. Digital technologies play an important role in accelerating the attainment of SDG and contributing to empowerment (HDR 2022: measures a nation’s health, education, and standard of living ). Nepal government still has not engaged sufficient experts in this area. Without empowerment of rural women and engaging them in decision making places in all government and private sector governing structures SDG programme in Nepal will perform at slow pace. Government of Nepal has not invested sufficiently on empowering women and girls of rural Nepal.
The Digital Nepal Framework (DNF) was initiated in 2019 to includes 80 activities divided into eight categories – digital foundation, agriculture, health, education, energy, tourism, finance and urban infrastructure. It seeks to find new solutions to address important societal concerns efficiently and identify challenges for Nepal to engage in the global economy. Government had yet to make a significant and concrete contribution. Nonetheless, three years after Nepal adopted the Digital Nepal Framework, the project seems to be finally getting some attention from the government as the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT) recently announced an investment of NPR 22 billion in the project. The World Bank is set to invest NPR 17 billion and provide NPR 5 billion as business loans for the project. The ministry has so far prepared a draft of the scope for investment in the Digital Nepal Framework and is currently seeking suggestions from all stakeholders. As per MoCIT, a portion of the amount would be used for funding internet expansion in rural areas, and provide Internet Service Providers (ISPs) financial incentives to develop weather-resistant high-speed broadband connectivity. Similarly, the government plans to invest in e-governance, which would comprise of digital signatures, a cybersecurity regulatory framework, and an increased capacity of current data centers. However, Nepal government still has not started dialogue on the the challenging issues faced, valuable lessons and experience needed to complete the total initiatives declared in the document within prescribed time by engaging sufficient experts in this area including all concernd stakeholders.
Author: Prof. Timila Yami Thapa
Experience: Combination of policy makers , innovator, entrepreneur, and social activist
More than 40 years in ICT
Professor Timila Yami Thapa was educated in Indian Institute of Technology ( B. Tech. Electronic Engineering( 1975 batch), Kanpur, India and M.Sc. from De Montfort University, Leicestershire, UK 1995 in Information Technology with specialization in Systems Engineering. She also underwent one year of training on Systems and Communication Infrastructure at Philips, Holland sponsored by UNDP. Her service to Nepal is a unique combination of a national-level policy planner, a pioneering educator in Information Technology and Computer Engineering, an industrial administrator, an entrepreneur and a social reformer working for upliftment of women, child-education and youth employment. She pioneered and initiated new educational programs in Nepal. Her efforts to improve technological infrastructure culminated in the first ever Computer Engineering program in the history of Nepal at Institute of Engineering under Tribhuvan University, which became the foundation of current growth in engineering and technology in Nepal.
Pioneering Contribution in ICT sector
Story
Considering the political situation and the state of education in 1979, it required significant effort and persuasion of higher administration and ministers to invest in the technological future of Nepal. As a national-level policy planner, I worked for one year as a Member of the ICT Advisory Board under the Prime-minister's office. As an educational policy planner, I served as a member of the Academic council and the Research Council under University Grant Commission, Nepal. I also worked as a governing member of the Nepal Engineering Council for three years. I also served for three years as a member of the advisory board member of Rural Telecommunication Fund Board, Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA). From 1996-08, I was also in charge of looking after promoting the software industry in the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) where I worked as an executive board member (1996- 1998 ). I am currently also serving as an Immediate Past President, IETE ( Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, India), Nepal chapter.
As an educator, I served in the Engineering faculty, Institute of Engineering (IOE) of Tribhuvan University, Nepal, since 1979 until my retirement (2015) first as a professor in the Electronics and Computer Engineering Department; and later as the Assistant Dean when I managed four state-owned and ten affiliated Engineering colleges. I taught Electronic Engineering courses from 1979 till 1997 and Computer Engineering courses in that department from 1998 till 2015 at Institute of Engineering IOE, under Tribhuvan University. I also worked in Pokhara university for four years designing course-curriculum of BE Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, BCA, BE in Information Technology. I also served as a senate member at Pokhara University. I also worked as a Senate member for two years at Pokhara University.
I am the owner of a Software company Designco Nepal founded in 1991. That time, well-qualified human resources in the IT area were not available and opening a software company was very difficult due to the lack of resources and the domestic market.
I handled complex software projects of Himal Cement, Nepal Electricity Authority, Nepal Telecom, Nepal Water Sewerage Corporations(NWSC) and KUKL, Jyoti Group, etc.
I also initiated the creation of the first IT Park in the history of Nepal organizing a series of interactions with prominent leaders and business people including president of FNCCI. I was a CAN executive committee member then. CAN Infotech exhibition was also organized that also provided more exposure along with the further exposure in the International Software Industry exhibition at Hanover Germany 1996, 1997 and 1999 and I contributed in formulating IT policy and initiating IT park. I also convinced the Education ministry and concerned stakeholders to invest in opening Computer Engineering at IOE.
As a social reformer, I have been actively involved in the social work in child education and women’s empowerment by organizing many activities and participating in many organizations. I founded DHMA in 2011 and currently work as Chairperson to promote ICT, child education, empowerment programs for minority groups, especially women, skill development of youth and services for and child education. in Nepal. I am also engaged in other organizations with the major motto of promoting ICTs extensively for empowerment. I worked as Chairperson of Women Agency Research Nepal (2019- 2022), Life member of Women In IT(WIIT), Executive member of senior Professor’s Association, Executive Member of Senior Citizens Samaj, Nepal. Member of Senior Professional Engineer, CIDC, India. Life member of Management Association Nepal (MAN), Nepal Engineer Association (NEA) and HEADS Nepal, Member of Women in Science and Technology (WIST), Member of Women chapter of Chamber of Commerce, Member of AOTs Japan, Member of Mount Everest Rotary club, Member of Lalitpur Cultural Centre.