Nepal: The Bridge Builders

Wanted – a round table for everyone

The Right to Food is an unstoppable idea: once conceived, it finds its way everywhere – even into the central and mid-west mountainous regions of Nepal. “The constitution guarantees us food sovereignty,” says Rita Gurung, “but the written words have to be put into practice”. The 37-year-old agricultural economist is team leader at “Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development” (LI-BIRD), an organization that promotes local initiatives for the sustainable management of renewable natural resources for food and nutrition security. Its goal is to sensitize and empower all stakeholders - citizens in their communities, local authorities and civil society groups - to advance Nepal’s food policy by leveraging the collective strengths of all these actors.