Kathmandu, August 11, 2018: Deepa Adhikari, a hard working resident in the Pokhara valley, is currently pursuing her B.A.L.L.B at Tribhuvan University; Prithvi Narayan Campus. The 19 years old, is the Co- founder of Nepal Innovations Forum that has initiated Project EYES representing different plans and programs about environment, youth, inclusion, entrepreneurship and social transformation.
She is an active member of different social and youth organizations in Pokhara (such as Youth Thinker Society Pokhara, Aarambha Foundation- Kaski; Amnesty International Pokhara Chapter; Leo club of Pokhara- Central valley, Nepal Innovators Forum and so on. Very fond of public speaking, Miss Adhikari along with her team have also initiated a social discussion group named ‘The Friday Club’ where people actually meet outside the virtual world of internet to hone their public speaking, communication and leadership skills. Every week the discussions are made in a particular theme related to peace and prosperity where participants practice impromptu speech, exchange feedback and deliver the prepared speech.
Starting of her journey
It was really tough for Miss Adhikari to come this far as she mentions to how her stiff advocacy used to clash with the ideology of older generation establishing her as a ‘Birodhi’ (rebel) of the society. She believes that teamwork is the focal point of any success story. Therefore, she is really grateful to all the associated clubs that helped her to enhance her personality and shape her vision in reality despite of all the hurdles. Being the member of various clubs was the starting point to raise her voice as a social activist.
Making the difference
As a rebellious person since early childhood, Deepa mentions about how the conventional norms and beliefs inhabiting as the actual ‘taboo’ provoked her to revolutionize the social mentality. Topics like sex, condoms, LGBT and menstruation were seldom unspoken that definitely needed to be discussed openly. So in order to break the glass, she along with her team of Aarambha Foundation Kaski started presenting a project named ‘Katha Arambha Ka’ to normalize talks on these sensible issues.Though the project covers a small size of population, Deepa is really happy that people are gradually feeling free to talk about such issues.
Similarly, as the coordinator of report writing in Pokhara Bolacha (a monthly event series done by Youth Thinker Society ), she is uniting number of young people to address the current local and national affairs, providing them the platform to discuss and share their perceptions which is a great way to tackle with the problems and promote the leadership skills.
A step towards teen hero
Deepa knew about the Glocal Teen Hero from her brother Anoj who had sent her the announcement link. Since she met the criteria, she decided to give it a shot. The young lady shares her overwhelming experience after receiving the confirmation call,” I got a sudden call saying ‘Congratulations! You are one of the Glocal’s 20 under 20 and for a second what? I was totally shocked!” Now since she accepts the win along with the responsibility, Deepa wants to change the education system of Nepal. She is really disappointed with the conceptual education binding many young minds within their comfort zone. She is looking forward to upgrade it.
Unsurprisingly, Deepa is an aspiring youth to many youngsters. Her countless efforts to widen up the mentality of as many people as possible is really appreciable. Her strong feeling about how the society is responsible for the overall development of every aspects of mankind is really rational.
‘Social Reformation – Perception Reformation- Economic Reformation’ – Deepa Adhikari
Deepa Adhikari was selected among the 20 brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers below the age of 20 in Nepal, for the year 2018. This annual list is the ultimate honor roll of young game changers reshaping Nepal for the better. The platform seeks to encourage the youths to share their initiation, creativity, and enthusiasm which will then motivate them and more of the other youths in the nation to develop an entrepreneurial thinking.
