Since my role is to integrate gender equality and social inclusion in ICIMOD’s programmes and initiatives, I help raise the voice of mountain women and marginalized groups through evidence-based knowledge generation for inclusive policy formulation and on-the-ground action.

I really enjoy working with colleagues and partners from diverse fields and partners – all towards the wellbeing of mountain people.

Apart from work, I’m quite passionate about gardening and spend much of my leisure time testing different kinds of flower plants in my garden.

I pursued my undergraduate degree in Natural Resource Management at the University of the Philippines Los Baños and started my career as a Natural Resource Management Officer in Makalu Barun National Park in Nepal. While working with grassroots communities, I slowly became very passionate about gender and social inclusion issues in the field of natural resource management. I then pursued my master’s degree in International Development and Social Change, majoring in gender and development focusing on livestock and natural resource management, at Clark University, USA. I pursued my PhD degree in the same field at James Cook University, Australia, during which time I studied social ecology and issues in livestock and pastureland management and agrarian livelihoods. I completed my postdoctoral fellow research from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) – CGIAR in the Philippines.

Before joining ICIMOD, I worked in various research and development organizations such as IRRI – CGIAR (Bangladesh), IUCN-Nepal, and The Mountain Institute (TMI)-Nepal. I have also worked with NR International and Imperial College London as a Team Leader for the gender component of a livestock project in Nepal funded by the DFID-Livestock Production Programme (UK) and UN FAO (Rome).