Sophia L Pandé has worked with the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) for a decade now, but she says she grew up with the Trust. It was founded in 1991 and her mother (Pratima Rana Pandé) became a board member shortly after.

"It had already restored over scores of monuments and temples in Patan and Kathmandu before 2015, but after the 2015 earthquake our work took on a new meaning," shares Pandé, who is now KVPT's Director of Development.

After working through the rubble with the help of the Patan community and the police, Pandé and her team catalogued and archived everything so that after restoration, the pieces that had been salvaged could be replaced, and in some cases, reconsecrated back into the edifices in which they belong.

"This is a remarkable achievement, within eight years after the earthquake, almost all the monuments and temples that had collapsed or had been damaged and destabilised had all been restored by the KVPT. Patan would not be what it is today without our work and the careful documentation we do for posterity with every project we execute," she shares of the works of KVPT.

Recently, she was honoured at the New York for Nepal Benefit in New York for her work in conservation, preservation and education outreach, contributing to the protection and promotion of the Kathmandu Valley's UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"This honour is really about recognising KVPT's work, not mine. I am delighted to bring more attention to what we do. It is such important work and deserves the attention," she expresses after being honoured, while adding, "I share this honour with my parents who've worked so hard for the Trust. My father (Prithvi Bahadur Pandé) has fundraised crores for restoration and it's thanks to his commitment and that of the Programme Director, Dr Rohit Ranjitkar that the Bhai Degah temple (a Shiva temple) has been raised like a phoenix out of the ashes, after its collapse in the 1934 earthquake. Today, it is the largest temple in the Patan Durbar Square."

Her parents also say, "We are both so proud that she is continuing in our footsteps, but also forging a new path of her own with the educational outreach programme which is really ground-breaking. This field is very important to us and we encourage all young Nepalis to move towards learning more about our heritage and contributing towards conserving it."

They also described her as "very detail oriented and someone who follows through on what she says she will do".

In an interview with Sharada Adhikari, Pandé talks about her journey, the Trust's work, the importance of heritage education and the need for greater local support for conservation.

The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity:

WHAT WAS THE NEW YORK FOR NEPAL BENEFIT SET UP TO ACHIEVE, AND HOW DID KVPT'S WORK FEATURE IN IT?

KVPT is a registered 501(c)(3) entity in the United States, which means donors who give in the US can get tax breaks on their donations. We have many private and institutional donors from all over the world who have been giving to the Trust over the past three decades. The work is executed by the Kathmandu Valley Heritage Trust (KVHT), a registered non-profit in Nepal.

We have often done New York for Nepal benefits in the past, honouring those who have contributed to the Trust in various ways, this has included my mother, Pratima Rana Pandé, who is a Board Member, she is, in fact, now the longest serving board member for the KVPT.

We alternate between doing fundraisers in Nepal and New York, though we are constantly fundraising all the time as the Trust is always in need of funds as the work is endless. There are an infinite number of monuments and temples in the Kathmandu Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site that are in need of restoration and conservation.

Robert Polidori was part of the Benefit and the aim is always to raise funds and bring international attention to the work of the KVPT.

WHAT EXPERIENCES OR INTERESTS HAVE SHAPED YOUR ENGAGEMENT WITH CULTURAL HERITAGE?

Shortly after finishing my SLC and my O Levels at Budhanilkantha School, I went to Italy to the United World College of the Adriatic to do my International Baccalaureate (IB). In Nepal, we didn't have field trips that took us to our very own cultural sites. In school in Italy, we were taken everywhere: to see the 5th Century mosaic work in Ravenna, the famous Giotto frescoes in Padua. I began to realise that Nepal had so much heritage, utterly neglected.

I went to college thinking I'd become a biologist, thanks to our STEM heavy education in Nepal and ended up getting wrapped up in the beauty of language and art history at college, going on to train as a filmmaker at NYU's graduate film programme.

I have an MFA in film and that makes me extremely tuned in to the visual. So for me, when I came back to Nepal, it became very important to be involved in our own arts and heritage.

HOW HAS YOUR WORK WITH THE KVPT DEVELOPED OVER THE YEARS? COULD YOU SHARE A PROJECT OR EXPERIENCE THAT HAS BEEN PARTICULARLY MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND EXPLAIN WHY?

When I started at KVPT we were doing so much conservation work but people still knew little about how much we were doing. Around that time, the Kathmandu Triennale had been developing an educational tool that is the brainchild of Rishi Amatya, writer, researcher and historian. That ended up being our first interactive worksheet that we finished developing with Amatya. I ended up funding the map out of pocket as at that time the Triennale didn't have the extra funds, knowing it would be an invaluable tool for our education outreach programme which I founded in 2017.

We have developed four interactive maps that cover the Patan Durbar and Palace. They are both worksheets and keepsakes, beautifully illustrated by Suman Maharjan and with educational tools developed by Sharareh Bajracharya, they have critical thinking games and history as well as seismic safety and urban planning elements.

The maps are in English and Nepali, for all ages. And while they were developed for school children, adults and tourists just love them. We have been supported in this outreach programme by the New Zealand High Commission, The American Embassy in Nepal and Ncell. Our programme runs all year round, we give free guided tours to school children, with particular attention to government schools. Our team reaches out to government schools actively to make them aware of our programmes.

The Patan Museum has been a partner from the very start and they ensure the Museum is free for all students and accompanying teachers. We have reached over 9,000 students to date teaching them about history, heritage, architecture, art, seismic safety and tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

This for me has been incredible as a labour of love: to de-mystify our intricate culture for the young, and for myself and our entire KVPT team to see people of all ages delight in this kind of innovative education.

In terms of the impact we have made on teaching youth about their own heritage in a way that is memorable, with a cutting-edge educational tool that is constantly evolving year after year, I think this stands as a best practice example that can be followed by both the government and private schools.

CANADIAN-AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER ROBERT POLIDORI CONTRIBUTED HIGH-RESOLUTION PHOTOGRAPHS OF HERITAGE SITES FOR THE BENEFIT. WHAT DO YOU HOPE THESE PHOTOGRAPHS WILL COMMUNICATE TO AUDIENCES BEYOND NEPAL?

Robert Polidori is a renowned photographer whose images have been published in the New Yorker magazine. To have him photograph the Valley's architecture is a major step towards bringing Valley's unique, exceptional architecture to the world. Robert has helped us in the past with his photography that we have auctioned to raise funds. He visited us again last year to take these images and we have created a collectors' limited-edition folio to auction to raise funds for KVPT as well as a travelling exhibition to bring attention to this unparalleled World Heritage Site. As always, documentation and art like this brings much needed attention to Nepal's exceptional culture and architecture.

KVPT MARKS 35 YEARS OF RESTORING MONUMENTS AND TEMPLES ACROSS THE KATHMANDU VALLEY AND DOCUMENTING THEM FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. HOW HAS HERITAGE CONSERVATION IN THE VALLEY EVOLVED OVER THIS PERIOD, AND WHAT CHALLENGES REMAIN?

When KVPT started off, there was very little awareness even within local communities. The government did not contribute towards restoration and conservation, though we always work with the Department of Archaeology for our work. Today, though the bulk of giving comes from embassies and institutional donors, we now have more private donors from within Nepal. Nepal Investment Mega Bank and Himalayan Bank have been major donors, as well as the Patan municipality under Mayor Chiri Babu Maharjan. We hope to expand awareness and local giving in the years to come. Our heritage must be supported by our own people. We cannot continue to depend on external donors.

EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OUTREACH ARE IMPORTANT TO SUSTAINING HERITAGE. HOW DOES KVPT ENGAGE WITH LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND YOUNGER GENERATIONS? WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK PUBLIC AWARENESS PLAYS IN PROTECTING HERITAGE?

Public awareness is crucial, and lacking. People take for granted what they see around them. Ours is a living heritage that is linked with our culture. Without the architecture, the rituals are hard to maintain. Now, youth in particular have started to recognise the importance of heritage but it takes more than just recognition for things to change. There has to be meaningful action, not just words and pride. With our education outreach programme we are actively educating future generations to contribute towards what the KVPT has done for the past 35 years.

WHAT HAS KEPT YOU COMMITTED TO THIS WORK OVER THE YEARS? WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE ACHIEVED IN THE FUTURE, BOTH FOR KVPT AND FOR HERITAGE CONSERVATION IN NEPAL?

For someone who grew up with parents constantly engaged in heritage conservation, this work is vital for me. I grew up around it, and feel an immense sense of responsibility regarding continuing the work of my parents, for them, for the country and for myself. Also I feel it is crucial to help future generations recognise the importance of this cause for their own development, identities as well as the sustainable development of the country. My hope is our youth will actively engage in this thoughtfully, not just with a false sense of national pride, but genuinely for the human value as well as for the sake of internal and external tourism and grassroots development, helping to make deep changes from the ground up and not top down. I would also like to see the Nepal government set aside a chunk of the annual budget for the restoration and conservation of Nepal's tangible and intangible cultural heritage. With this new government, I think it is possible. I have so much hope.