LI-BIRD organized its 24th Annual General Meeting and Social Audit in Pokhara, Kaski on 22 September 2018 with participation of representatives of government agencies, donors, partner organizations, private sectors, impact groups (farmers), media, founder members, executive board members, general members and staff. The Chief Guest of the event, Bimal Thapa, Director of Agriculture Directorate, Gandaki Province inaugurated the event by signing the programme’s banner.
LI-BIRD has been conducting social audit in its programmes and projects on regular basis for the last five years. Mr. Rammani Adhikari from Pokhara and Mr. Namaskar Shah from Nepalgunj conducted the social audit. As an integral part of the social audit process, they visited project sites in Bardiya and Kailali districts, conducted interaction with beneficiaries, observed activities and prepared a social audit report, which was shared in LI-BIRD’s annual general meeting.
Mr. Ram Mani Adhikari facilitating Social Audit.
Dr. Balaram Thapa, Executive Director of LI-BIRD, shared on LI-BIRD’s overall portfolio, organizational governance and internal control system. Mr. Bharat Bhandari, Programme Operations Director, highlighted LI-BIRD’s key achievements of the fiscal year 2017-18. He also briefed about ‘Ramechhap Hariyo Latte’, the first registered variety of Amaranth, an outcome of our collaborative effort with Nepal Agriculture Research council and Bioversity International. It has been observed as a milestone in research and development of Neglected and Underutilized (NUS) crop in Nepal.
Various stakeholders and representatives provided feedback and suggestions during the interaction session as part of social audit. Mr. Namaskar Shah, Social Audit Facilitator appreciated the effectiveness of the programme and acknowledged the organization’s contribution for the empowerment of marginal communities on social, economic and human capital development aspects for sustainable livelihoods.
LI-BIRD awarded two staffs based on the annual performance evaluation, in different categories: Mr. Saroj Panta, Project Officer, as ‘Achiever Officer of the year, 2018’; Mr Uddhav Karki, Senior Technical Assistant, as ‘Achiever Support Staff of the year, 2018’. Similarly, Mr. Birendra Chaudhary, Senior Technical Assistant, Mr. Kartik Lal Chaudhary, Technical Assistant and Ms. Priyanjali Joshi, Compliance Officer were awarded with Appreciation Letter for excellent performance in Fiscal year 2017/2018.
From left to right: Mr. Uddhav Karki, Senior Technical Assistant, Mr. Birendra Chaudhary, Senior Technical Assistant, Mr. Saroj Panta, Project Officer, Ms. Priyanjali Joshi, Compliance Officer, Mr. Kartik Lal Chaudhary, Technical Assistant
In his closing remarks, Mr. Bimal Thapa appreciated LI-BIRD for playing supportive role to Government of Nepal and contributing for the development of agriculture sector in Nepal. He also acknowledged LI-BIRD for providing the expert’s input on the formulation and review of Nepal’s various policies and guidelines on agriculture, biodiversity and seeds. He also appreciated for LI-BIRD’s role in drafting a Karyabidhi for implementing “Chief Minister’s Environmental Friendly Model Agricultural Village” programme in Gandaki Province and provided assurance that Agricultural Directorate of the Gandaki Province is happy to collaborate with LI-BIRD for the development of agricultural sector.
Annual General Meeting of LI-BIRD
The second session was ‘Annual General Meeting (AGM)’, a closed meeting conducted among the General Members and Executive Board Members of LI-BIRD. Dr. Deepak Kumar Rijal Vice-Chairperson of LI-BIRD, reviewed on last year’s AGM and shared the agendas of this year. The programme was concluded with a vote of thanks remarks by the Board Chair Mr. Krishna Prasad Baral.
