Shobha Pradham Shrestha travels Canada to share peacebuilding lessons

Shobha Pradhan Shrestha from Nepal shares nearly 20 years of lessons she has learned about resolving conflicts and building peace through grassroots and national networks on her Canadian tour.

Shobha Shrestha is the founder and executive chair of Women for Peace and Democracy (WPD) Nepal since 2010. This organization facilitates the role of marginalized women in the process of socioeconomic change through capacity building, economic empowerment and education/awareness.

With the financial and technical support of World Accord, WPD is currently working with 387 marginalized women in rural Nepal and is focusing on building their capacity and facilitating their roles in the process of socioeconomic and political change.

On April 26, 2014, Shrestha was honored with the Author E. Hughes Career Achievement Award by the University of San Diego’s School of Peace Studies. She has been assisting the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at University of San Diego with women, politics, and peace programs since 2004. (Watch the video used to share why she was honoured.)

Shrestha is an active member of the Control Arms Coalition, International Action Network on Small Arms and Working Group on Small Arms and Other Portable Lethal Weapons. Her efforts have been focused on small arms control since 2003. Shrestha represented Nepal in control arms strategy meetings and participated in the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) signing ceremony at the United Nations in 2013.

Canadian international development charity World Accord,based in Waterloo, Ontario has actively supported development activities with communities living in poverty in Latin America and Asia since 1981. Its philosophy of long-term partnership and empowerment provides local organizations and communities with resources and expertise they can use to create a better life. Learn more at: worldaccord.org