Arya Manandhar – Women Deliver
2020

Arya Manandhar

  • Age: 27
  •    |   She/her/hers

Region:

Country of Origin:

Country of Residence:

Expertise Areas:

Let us make our fight for feminism intersectional, irrespective of our unique branches of feminism, our privileges or prejudices, our diverse backgrounds, and multiculturalism. By understanding, interacting and exchanging ideas, perspectives and narratives from other feminists, we shall create solidarity in various areas such as eco-feminism, humanitarian response, education, advocacy, and political representation.

- Arya Manandhar

Bio

Arya Manandhar was born and raised in Nepal. Arya received a Master’s Degree in International Relations at The University of Warwick- UK and Bachelor’s Degree from Mount Carmel College, India. At present, Arya is the founder of her initiative Greentech for Women, a World Literacy Foundation Ambassador (Melbourne, Australia) and a UNESCO Youth Researcher. She has also joined the Advisory Group (AG) for the Women Deliver Conference (WD2023). She has conducted workshops and talk sessions on platforms provided by the European Women’s Lobby, IFM.SEI and the Council of Europe, Woodcraft Folks Charity Foundation, Asian Development Bank’s COP26 and The College of New Jersey. She has appeared as a judge in the finale round of Global Peace Women’s “Building Back Better – COVID-19” competition. As a former consultant in the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), Geneva Headquarters, she played a crucial role in the Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) Assessment Mission of the Indian National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) – 8th Battalion as the Team Secretary along with Emergency experts from 8 countries.

0

What ignited your pursuit for gender equality?

Growing up in Nepal, I have observed favoritism, discrimination, corruption, and rule of the government by powerful neighboring nations. The patriarchal system extends its impact through elected leaders with lack in focus on gender mainstreaming, gender policies, and strict action against religious and cultural practices that are severely detrimental to women.

Please share your biggest wins as an advocate for gender equality.

My interest, capability, and experience in the field of gender equality stems from my voluntary, political and social activities in Nepal and India that lead me to conduct the workshop for "Women Rights, Eco-feminism and Gender Equality in Modern era" in Brussels for EU Women leaders and “feminists of the World Unite” in Budapest, Hungary. In every activism initiative, I consider introducing, advocating new concepts as “double-labor,” "gender identity,” and “breaking the shackles of unconscious and conscious gender stereotypes” as my meaningful contribution.

Outside of your gender equality advocacy work, what do you enjoy doing?

I usually find myself indulged in search for theories, historical explanations, ancient technologies, modern science, and international relations between nations that can provide global solutions in today's globalized world order that are again challenged by yet other theories and explanation. I can also be found reading, watching movies, documentaries, and news that challenges and stimulates my brain or makes me want to step up and take action, and penning down my ideas emerging from my research work.

Languages Spoken:

  • English (Advanced/Native)
  • Hindi (Advanced/Native)
  • Nepali (Advanced/Native)
  • Newari (Advanced/Native)
  • Urdu (Intermediate)

Speaks On:

  • feminism, religion, and cultural practices
  • eco-feminism in the modern world
  • intersectional feminist futures
  • gender-centric disaster response

Past Awards, Certifications, or Fellowships:

  • Feminism And Religion Workshop in European Youth Centre for the Council of Europe and IFM.SEI participants (2020)
  • The Urban Search and Rescue Assessment Mission of the Indian National Disaster Response Force 8th Bn NDRF India as Team Secretary (2019)
  • Panelist at the Global Inclusive Disaster Management Conference (2019)
  • BSAFE Training by the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (2018)
  • Preparing and Responding to Active Shooter Incidents by the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (2018)
  • Eco-feminism: Feminism and Sustainability Workshop for the European Women’s Lobby AGORA Program (2018)
  • Diploma in Human Rights by the CEE Department (2016)
  • Best Youth Model Award by Asia Pacific Peace and Development Service Alliance (2016)
  • Basics in Journalism, Advanced Political Journalism, and Basics in Media Production by the Centre for Extended Education Department of Political Science (2015)
  • Guest Lecturer for the volunteers of the Global Peace Foundation on Communication, Peace building, and Youth Empowerment (2015)
  • Special Prize by Minister of Cultural Affairs Mr. Mrigendra Rizal (2013)
  • Second Runner-up in the Right to Information Essay Writing Competition (2013)
  • Featured as Top Ten Essay in Citizens Campaign for Right to Information National Level Diplomatic Relations Special Prize for Essay Writing by Embassy of Pakistan (2010)
  • Speaker at the Asian Development Bank’s COP26 Resilience Hub (2021)
  • Speaker at The Department of Sociology and Anthropology & The School of Social Sciences (2021)
  • Main Judge for the Capacity Building of Peace-builders Competition, organized by Global Peace Women (GPW) – Nepal (2020)
  • Harvard EdX Certificate of Achievement - U.S. Public Policy: Social, Economic, and Foreign Policies
Request to book as Speaker
View all the Young Leaders

Join the Community