Kathmandu, December 16

A training session was recently conducted in Pokhara targeting illiterate rural women of Kaski district. Around 900 rural women from the district participated in the programme.

The training was supported by the BP Koirala Nepal-India Foundation to uplift the condition of rural women and help them express their concerns about pressing socio-economic issues.

Ruby Jaspreet Sharma, head of the Kathmandu Secretariat of BPKF, said, “Given the opportunity, women can gain confidence to discuss social issues they face through media and other public platforms.”

The BPKF has been encouraging and fostering engagement at multiple levels with extensive cooperation in the fields of academics, literature, art, music, theatre, environment, and social development for last two-and-a-half decades.

Recently, the BPKF supported a project to preserve and promote bamboo weaving among Tharu women. Likewise, it has also successfully run ‘Cultural Nagari’ in Jomsom, Pokhara, and Biratnagar, where local performers showcased their varied forms of music, dance and poetry of local communities.

The BPKF was set up on December 17, 1991 during a visit of late Girija Prasad Koirala, then prime minister of Nepal, to India. The foundation is celebrating its silver jubilee amid a special ceremony being held at Rastriya Shabha Griha in Kathmandu tomorrow.

Its Kathmandu Secretariat is located at the Indian Embassy in Nepal, while the India Secretariat is based at the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi. The India Secretariat of BPKF has also been conducting programmes such as brainstorming sessions on different aspects of Nepal-India relations in different parts of India over the years.

“The foundation is a driver of strong cultural ties that exist between the people of India and Nepal,” Indian Ambassador Ranjit Rae said in his message on its 25th anniversary. “The foundation today has emerged as an important pillar of India-Nepal cooperation.”

Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar will address the function as chief guest, and artists from both Nepal and India are set to organise cultural shows and theatrical performances.

The foundation has interests in the field of academia, research, culture, and tourism.

Based on the vision late BP Koirala, the foundation aims to promote cultural linkages between Nepal and India by fostering art, literature, and intellectual discourse.

The foundation has also undertaken a host of activities in the fields of poetry, cinema, music, research projects, seminars, and academic exchanges.

The BPKF recently started two new programmes under the banner of “Kidmandu’ and “Heritage Walks”, an attempt to reach out to children and young people.