Founder of Maiti Nepal, (www.maitinepal.org) a social organisation dedicated to the rights and welfare of children and women who are abused, exploited, infected with   HIV/AIDS or abandoned. It operates prevention   homes in areas where girls are at serious risk of being trafficked; operates transit homes and rehabilitation homes for survivors of trafficking —  provides counselling, vocational training, health care education and non-formal education. Implementing the principle of participation, Maiti Nepal engages            survivors as peer counselors and border surveillance monitors in its trafficking prevention activities.

Maiti Nepal's special focus is on prevention of trafficking for forced prostitution, rescuing flesh trade victims and rehabilitating them. It also works to seek justice for the victimised girls and women by engaging in criminal investigation and waging legal cases against the criminals. Maiti Nepal endeavours to highlight trafficking issue with its strong advocacy from the local to national and international levels.

* Honourable Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, Government of Nepal 

* Worked as a teacher for two years 

 12. Present affiliation                             :           Governor of Province 3, Nepal

 13. Awards/ Achievements                     :  

 Year Awarded

Award

2017

Padma Shri

Awarded by the Government of India

It is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India.

2016

Child 10 Award

A Swedish honor rewarded for bold and innovative work with families and communities to prevent acts of violence against children.

2014

Awarded "Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice-2014" by Harmony Foundation, India

2011

Award from Ministry of children women and social welfare, Nepal Government.

To honour her activism in creating awareness against human trafficking and to her dedicated efforts in the work of rescuing and repatriating trafficked victims. 

2011

Manhae Award

A prestigious award bestowed by "The Society for the Promotion and Practice of Manhae's Thoughts" for her selfless dedication, sacrifices and ceaseless fight for the liberty and peace of Nepali women. 

2010

CNN Hero of the year 2010

A prestigious award presented by CNN under "protecting the powerless" category for her relentless contribution in the campaign against human trafficking.

2010

Global Peace Governor

Awarded by The Global peace festival foundation for exemplifying the principle of living for others, for working selflessly for the noble cause of building World Peace through personal sacrifice, and outstanding leadership toward realising the vision of one family under God.   

 2010

Shinning World Compassion Award

Awarded by Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association in recognition of protecting women in need and extending motherly strength in providing a safe home

2010

 Virag Social Service Award

Awarded by Virag Foundation, Kathmandu for her groundbreaking work in fighting human trafficking. 

 2010

“National Ideal Mother Award 2066” by Shishu Sewa Samittee for dedicating entire life in  services of orphans and unprivileged children and being a true mother of neglected children.

 2009

Outstanding Management Award 2008

Awarded by Management Association of Nepal.

 2008

The United Nations Women’s Organisation Nepal certificate of appreciation

2007

German UNIFEM Prize 2007

Germany

2007

Queen Sofia Silver Medal

Spain

 2006

The Peace Abbey, Courage of Conscience

Sherborne, MA, USA

 2006

Best Social Entrepreneur

  Awarded by BOSS for the year 2004-05

 2005

Eurasia Reiyukai Award

Awarded by Reiyukai for outstanding contribution in the field of social welfare.

 2005

Ambassador for Peace

Awarded by Inter religious and International Federation for World Peace and Inter religious International Peace Council

2005

Sangeet Sadhana Samaan

Awarded by Sangeet Sadhana for continuous struggle towards empowerment of children and women.   

 2005

Voted for the second time as one of the Most Influential Women of Nepal by Boss Reader's choice.

 2005

Rastriya Nari Samaan

Imparted by Shanti Bikash Abhiyan, Nepal for outstanding work for nation building process.

 2004

Voted as one of the Most Influential Women of Nepal by Boss Reader's choice.

2004

Honoured by Vaidya's Organisation of Industries in recognition of contribution in the social development field

 2003

Green Honour Award

Conferred by Save the environment for exemplary work done in field of social work

 2003

Only women member of first Government team to hold talks with CPN(Maoists)

2002

Birendra Aiswarya Padak awarded by His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev. This award is created in the memory of Late King Birendra and Late Queen Aishwarya.

 2002

Trishaktipatta to Ms. Anuradha Koirala

Awarded by His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev

 2001

Felicitation 2001

Bestowed by Vision Nepal

 2000

Best Social Worker – Nepal

Awarded by Women's Association

2000

Felicitation 2000

Awarded by Everest Foundation Nepal

 1999-2000

(2056 BE)

Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu Medal, Nepal

Awarded by His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev for distinguished service

1999

Distinguished Social Worker  - Nepal

Awarded by Mahila Pratibha Sangha, Nepal

 1999

Distinguished Social Worker – Nepal

Awarded by Film Actors Association, Kathmandu

 1998-99

(2055 BE)

Best Social Worker Of The Year Award – Nepal

Awarded by the Social Welfare Council, His Majesty’s Government of Nepal.

 1998

100 Heroines Award – USA

"In recognition of her courageous acts and lifetime achievement furthering the cause of women's rights, freedom, health and equal opportunity, and for serving as a role model for women and girls around the world."

 1997-98

(2054 B.E)

Noted Social Worker Award – Nepal

Awarded by Prime Minister of Nepal

 1997-98

(2054 B.E)

Distinguished Social Worker Award – Nepal

Awarded by Rastriya Bikas Tatha Samman Kendra, Kathmandu.

14.   Some of the major Conferences Ms. Anuradha Koirala participated in:

Year

Conference

2011

Asia Pacific Rule of Law Conference

January  2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 2008

The Global Initiative to fight Human Trafficking; Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking, Vienna, Austria

 2006

16 International AIDS Conference, Toronto, Canada

 2005

7th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (7th ICAAP) Kobe, Japan July 2005.

 2003

Path breaking strategies in Global Fight against Sex Trafficking  Washington D.C, USA, Feb 2003

 2002

XIV International AIDS conference 2002 in Barcelona Spain

 2001

6th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and Pacific, Melbourne, Australia

 2001

2nd World Congress of against Commercial sexual Exploitation of Children, Yokohama, Japan

 2001

Panellist in Oprah Winfrey show, United States

 2000

Women's World Forum Against Violence, Valencia, Spain

 2000

World Women's Conference Beijing + 5 - New York, USA

2000

South Asia Regional Consultation on Prevention of Trafficking in Women and Children –New Delhi, India

2000

Regional Co-operation Meeting, Action against Trafficking & Sexual Exploitation of Children (ATSEC) – Dhaka, Bangladesh

2000

Rights of the Girl-Child: Review of the Decade of Programming – Kathmandu, Nepal

1999

Fifth International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

1999

South-Asia Dialogue on Trafficking in Women & Children Towards the Adoption of the SAARC Convention – Colombo, Sri Lanka

1999

First Meeting of the NGO Planning Committee for the UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance – Geneva, Switzerland

1998

Participated in the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the invitation of the French Government – Paris, France

1997

Girl's Rights: Society's Responsibility – Taking Action against Sexual Exploitation & Trafficking - Mumbai India

1996

World Women Conference - Beijing, PRC

1996

World Congress on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children - Stockholm, Sweden.

Choying Drolma was born in Kathmandu, Nepal to Tibetan refugee parents in 1971. From the age of 5, she did not have a day went by without beating to her mother and herself by her father. Seeing lots of suffering and pain in life, in order to get rid of the tragic destiny of women in male dominated society which she saw vividly in her own family and the community, the 13 years old Choying Drolma decided to leave home to join a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery named Nagi Gompa on Shivapuri Mountain in the northern slope of the Kathmandu Valley. The fate of her life, since then, was rewritten. Her education and spiritual training were supervised by the renowned meditation master, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. She was well-trained in Buddhist meditation, chants, rituals and ceremonies performance, and was quickly advanced to the position of chanting master in the nunnery. Overwhelmed by the guidance, caring and love from her teacher Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Ani Choying Drolma was not only able to change the perspective of life by seeing the suffering of her own father and many others, she also transformed anger and frustrations in life to compassion. Ani Choying Drolma served Tulku Urgen Rinpoche until his parinirvana (passing away) in 1996. From the experience of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s altruistic life-style, his willingness to always giving to others without considering his own welfare, and his respect to nuns in the same regard as monks, she has developed a sincere desire to contribute whatever capacities she has to benefit sentient beings as much as possible and to promote the advancement of nuns. Ani Choying Drolma believes that creating more opportunities for nuns to study and to develop their own capacities of skills and compassionate actions are the best ways she can dedicate herself to her teacher’s vision throughout her life. Her singing talent was first discovered by the famous American guitarist Steve Tibbetts, during his visit to Nagi Gompa. Even though she has never received any formal musical or vocal training, she AniChoyingDrolmaBio loves to sing since childhood. When she sings, her voice sounds like an echo from the deepest part of a soul. Thanks to Steve Tibbett’s effort, Ani Choying Drolma’s first ever album “Cho” was launched in 1997. Since then, she has become a well-known name in the world international music scene. She toured in America and Europe and successfully presented Buddhist mantra and ritual chanting music to the world. Till to date, she has launched 16 albums, and performed for hundreds of events around the world. It is said that Ani Choying Drolma’s music is like a beam of light that cut through the darkness and is filled with compassion and purity. Her voice is also named as “the heavenly voice” with healing power. Ani Choying Drolma is more than a world renowned singing nun. She is also an awarded humanitarian. Since 2014, she is appointed as the first UNICEF National Goodwill Ambassador for Nepal. She described the singing ability is as her magic wand that manifests numerous successful projects to promote education, health, children’s right and women empowerment. She founded Arya Tara School in 2000 to provide education opportunities for young girls in Nepal. Now, more than 150 children have been benefited. In 2010, she started Aarogya Foundation & Kidney Hospital to provide high-quality yet low-cost dialysis services, and has established the first HLA lab in Nepal which allows patients waiting for kidney transplant to get accurate test results for organ matching in the very next day. Aarogya Foundation has achieved the goal in improving medical facilities in Nepal and has successfully persuaded the legalization of 3rd party organ donation by government through lobbying. In 2013, in order to provide assistance to single mothers who have difficulties in manage family and working at the same time, she started Arya Tara Preschool (ATPS) to take care children of single mothers during day time. ATPS is now operated by NWF nuns and well-trained Montessori teachers. After the devastating earthquake that hit Nepal badly in 2015, Ani Choying Drolma has rebuilt schools and facilities in remote villages. Also, she has started the Stars of Hope Schooling Program (SOH) to reach out to earthquake orphans or children who are in extreme poverty, for providing them full boarding education sponsorship. 125 kids are being sponsored by this program so far. All the projects initiated by Ani Choying Drolma are financially supported by the proceeds from her concerts, CD sales and donation from supporters. Her autobiography “Singing for Freedom” is first published in French, and later on has been translated into 14 different languages. Copyright earnings from her book is also contributed to all on-going projects. HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS Year Projects & Details 1999 Founded Nuns' Welfare Foundation (NWF) of Nepal to promote education and welfare of Buddhist nuns and raise awareness of gender inequality in society. 2000 Founded Arya Tara School (ATS) to provide quality education including academic curriculum, practical skills, Buddhist philosophy, music, thangka painting, computer and languages for over 80 nuns from Nepal, India and Tibet who are aged 7-22. 2006 Completed building of water reservoir to provide clean water to villagers living in the Seti Devi Village, Kathmandu. 2007 Established the first thangka painting school (in attachment with ATS) for nuns in Nepal to promote equal opportunity of learning for both gender in the monastic tradition. 2010 Founded Aarogya Foundation and established a Kidney Hospital (Aarogya Foundation Kidney Hospital) together with Dr. Pukar Shrestha, an organ transplant surgeon who returned from the UK, aiming at improving the medical facilities for kidney patients in Nepal. 2010 Founded Red Tara Travels & Tours as a subsidiary of NWF. It is independently operated by nuns graduated from Arya Tara School, aiming at providing sustainable income for ongoing NWF projects and infusing a genuine spiritual touch for travellers. 2012 Founded Arya Taya Pre-school (ATPS) with Ms. Astrid Beseler. This school is dedicated to help single mothers in Nepal who need care-taking service for their children while working for bread and butter. Over 25 kids are educated and nourished by NWF nuns who are certified as professional Montessori teachers. NWF also provide financial assistance to single mothers for improving their livelihood. 2014 Aarogya Foundation purchased the first HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) organ matching equipment in Nepal. It brought a big step forward for the country’s provision of proper kidney and organ transplant services. 2015 Started the Star of Hope Schooling Program to provide education opportunity for children who are orphans or living in extreme poverty, with initial funding from Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple. The main objective of this program is to help kids to develop their potential in fullest, so that they will learn to pay it forward to the community in future. The program sponsored full-boarding school expenses which covers basic living, tuition, stationary, uniform and transportation fee for 125 kids so far. 2015 Initiated the 1st Women Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development Seminar in Nepal and financed start-up of organic business running by women. AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS Year Awards & Recognitions 2003 Certificate of Acknowledgement given to Ani Choying Dolma for the participation and valuable contribution to the Bridge-Builder Conference at Harvard University 2004 United Nations Women’s Organization of Nepal present certificate for recognition as Honourable Member of UNWO 2005 Token of appreciation on National Citizen Peace Recognition 2062 presented by Buddha Jayanti Celebration Community and Peace Development Campaign Nepal, Putalisadak, Kathmandu 2005 Awarded the Image Channel Award for the Best Female Vocal performance for her song “Phoolko Aankhama” from her album, “Moments of Bliss”. The song was also awarded the best song of the year 2005 Honorary guest in the Abraham Conservation Awards organized by WWF, Nepal 2005 Awarded the “Chinnalata Githi Puruskar” in Kathmandu for best female vocal performance 2005 Awarded Best Devotional Album by the Tibetan Music Awards held in Mcleod Ganj(Delhi) 2006 Ani Choying was declared as the Ambassador of World Kidney Day in the first ever launched “World Kidney Day” celebrated in Nepal 2007 Nepal Appreciative Inquiry National Network (NAINN) presented Peace Award 2007-9 Executive Board Members for Lumbini Development Trust 2010 Acknowledged on Peace for Development by Krishna Mohan- Nyudub Peace Prize 2010-11 Organizing and Selection Committee Member for “Gautam Buddha Intern.

www.choying.com

Pushpa Basnet found her inspiration early in life. While participating in an internship program in a prison as an undergraduate student at St. Xavier College in Kathmandu, a 9-month old child reached up from behind her mother's skirt and held onto the hem of Pushpa's dress. Shocked to see a child in the prison, Pushpa learned that incarcerated women in Nepal are often faced with the unthinkable choice of sending their children to live on the streets or raising them in prison, without access to education, medical care, proper nutrition or warm clothing. At that moment, Pushpa began her courageous journey as an activist for the rights of innocent children living behind bars in Nepal. In 2005 Pushpa opened the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) and in 2005 Pushpa and her team built the Butterfly Home and created a warm, loving family environment for the children in their care. Although badly damaged by the massive earthquake of 2015, ECDC supporters rallied, found strength and funding, and reopened the Butterfly Home in 2016. Relentlessly investigating the challenges faced by pregnant women, mothers, and children in jails throughout Nepal, ECDC distributes nutritional supplements to pregnant and lactating women, nursing tops, newborn essentials, and toys, and implements a health insurance program for the children who continue to live in the prisons. ECDC is in process of building a Youth Hostel next to the Butterfly Home for their young charges to move into as they move on to college and jobs. Affectionately called Mamu by the 40+ children living at the Butterfly Home, Pushpa is determined to give these children a chance at a normal life and the opportunity to reach their potential. "These children have done nothing wrong. They are simply caught in something they do not understand... they deserve a better future." Among other honors, Pushpa was recognized as a CNN Hero in 2012 and as a CNN Super Hero in 2016. Pushpa's unconditional love of the children in her care has achieved the extraordinary: Knowing they are safe and cared for, these children are growing, learning, and thriving. And while they are learning to believe in themselves and to reach for the stars, in Pushpa's words, "I am the luckiest person in the world; I have gained so much more from these children than I could ever give them." Throughout history, extraordinary women with uncompromising courage and boundless energy have pushed us to open our eyes and inspired us to demand change: Pushpa Basnet, one of Nepal's most inspiring voices.

http://www.butterflyhomenepal.org