Nest Profile
Mr. Surya Bahadur Thapa is the Chairperson of Executive Committee (Board of Governors) of Nucleus for Empowerment through Skill Transfer (NEST). Mr Thapa has 30+ years of community development experience with specialized knowledge and skills in WASH–Water Sanitation and Hygiene sector. He has worked in difficult circumstances among communities suffering from extreme poverty and conflict-affected areas of Nepal.
He has a wide-range of experience working with different organizations in different capacities. For example, Deputy Team Leader in KIRDARC Nepal, Field Expert in CODEF (Community Development Forum), Project Coordinator in Sustainable WASH project, WASH Consultant in Center for Appropriate Technology, District WASH Advisor in Western Nepal Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, Unit Coordinator (WASH Unit) in Nucleus for Empowerment through Skill Transfer, Program Coordinator in UMN, and Technical in Charge in DCRDC. Similarly, he has worked with Udaya Consultancy, CARE Nepal, Lutheran World Service, and District Soil Conservation Office. In addition he was employed as WASH Consultant of UNICEF Nepal first in Bhaktapur Sindhupalchok then Gorkha and finally Rautahat based in Bharatpur.
He holds an Intermediate in Engineering form Pulchowk Engineering Campus and a Masters’ Degree in Sociology from Tribhuvan University Prithvi Narayan Campus Nepal. He possesses a multidisciplinary academic background. He has written and published a handbook: Social Inclusion for WASH for SNV, an international development agency working in Nepal, and Gramin Khanepani Yojana for Nucleus for Empowerment through Skill Transfer (NEST).
Mr Thapa acted as a focal person and has led Village Development Committee’s Out Defection Free (ODF) campaign in Kaski district and successfully completed. As a result, he has gained a specialized knowledge, skills, experience and expertise in WASH training facilitation, social mobilization, consensus building, resource mobilization, and local governance.
