Computer Association of Nepal - USA

Watch Rajan Pant’s (controller of the digital certificates, ministry of science and technology) interview with USNepalOnline on Nepal ICT prospects: http://www.usnepalonline.com/technology/interview-with-rajanraj-pant-in-new-york.html

Thank you all of our dedicated networking event patrons!  Please read the note below and click on the links to learn a lot more about the topics.

July 8^th, 2010 meeting was very lively and engaging.  We had an insider view of Nepal Research and Education Network (NREN) from our guests Kishor Panth and Prashant  Manandhar who are active volunteers for Nepal Wireless Project and work very closely with Mahabir dai.  Together with other volunteers like Gaurab Upadhyay, they help out technically to bring the internet to villages.  They explained that the wireless projects in the villages are successful because the projects are requested by the villagers themselves and partly maintained by villagers as well.  This is perfect example of how organically grown projects can be sustained instead of projects brought over by foreign donation without paying attention on how to empower locals with ownership of the projects.

It was also eye opening for us that the project processes of Nepal Wireless project are now streamlined, equipments are standardized, towers used are permanent and the network is maintained in a consistent manner since last year.  So, today if a village is determined to bring internet in their village (Library, VDC, School, Office, and Banks etc.) a blueprint of the project is available to get it done quickly.

Highlight of the discussion concentrated on how the NREN (45MBPS connectivity) can be used by the projects dearest to CAN-USA and other professional organizations:

·         Disaster Preparedness

·         Tele-Medicine

·         Open University for Nepal (OUN)

Kishor ji emphasized that the CAN-USA should continue the Networking events and also have frequent brainstorming sessions with Nepal counterpart in a regular basis which will have a high impact.

The Networking event concluded with the following remarks:

1.        Next Bay Area networking event will continue on 3^rd Thursday of the month (August 19^th) but in a lunch setup at Ming’s restaurant with a guest speaker.

2.        Networking and brainstorming session with Nepal counterpart should continue in at least once in two months basis.

3.        CAN-USA should work with professional organizations to support NREN

Attendees:

Bhushan Mudbhary

Bineet Sharma

Kishor Panth

Pradeep Khanal

Prashant Manandhar

Samana Ghimire

Computer Association of Nepal-USA (CAN-USA) is an American organization dedicated to the professional development of its members and technological progress of Nepal.  It is a tax exempt 501 (3) © non-profit organization with members throughout the United States.  The organization continues to utilize the creativity and talent of its members and the broader American community to develop technology-rich solutions that address some of Nepal’s challenges. Please visit http://www.can-usa.org/ for more information.

A Report from Nepal by Nisha Thapa

About one month ago, I was invited by the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) USA to  a conference as the keynote speaker and representative of the US-Nepali disaster relief community in Kathmandu. The conference was a part of a joint initiative between CAN USA, the American Nepali Medical Foundation (ANMF), and the American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr). Though honored by the invitation and excited about the experience, I was overwhelmed by such an important role.

I have been heavily involved here in the U.S in organizing community health screenings, and running a free clinic for uninsured people from Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet as a part of the Himalayan Health Care Project.  My only experience in disaster relief was fundraising for the post-earthquake relief effort in Haiti with student volunteers from Harvard’s Operational Medicine Institute (OMI).

With this limited experience, I reached out to the best resource for disaster relief I could think of: The executive director of OMI, David Callaway. I found his insights invaluable, particularly his perspective on alliances, or as he called it, Disaster Diplomacy. This meant that the need to identify and reach out to Nepal’s allies is imperative. These allies are the Nepali army and police (the first responders), the Indian Embassy, Indian NGO’s, and other disaster relief entities such as the International Red Cross and the United States Agency of International of Development (USAID).

Bringing together some of the best minds and organizations of Nepal in this historic precedent for establishing a functional disaster relief infrastructure has already made strides in the effort. For the agencies such as the Nepal Society of Earthquake Technology (NSET) who have been doing this work for years, a new platform has been established to prop up the importance of their work.  Joint initiatives between organizations such as the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) - USA, the American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr) and the American Nepal Medical Foundation (ANMF) have been forged to develop disaster response plans. Various organizations that attended the meeting were hopeful that this joint initiative led by U.S Diaspora would bolster their ongoing efforts by integrating technology with disaster preparedness.

Our U.S based organization, Sahayeta.org, is piloting medical software called the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) at Model Hospital in Kathmandu, and in our Himalayan Health Care Project here in Bay Area. Electronic health records allow easy access and storage of medical records and billing information while facilitating better communication between health professionals, management and patients. EMR also allows for better preparedness in disaster recovery since the records can be easily duplicated and stored at multiple locations. Our hope is that the software will eventually be used to serve other disaster relief communities such as in places like Haiti, where the lack of technology made record keeping of patients and procedures challenging. This brings us to the central problem of disaster management: you cannot manage a disaster after it has happened. You must be prepared before it occurs. While an earthquake might be inevitable for Nepal, we must take the initiative to ensure that disaster impacts are mitigated. Disaster response plans are currently being drafted, but setting short term goals are equally as urgent.  Between preventative health care and Disaster Diplomacy, we have got a lot of work to do, and no time to spare.

Nisha Thapa is the founder and the president of Sahayeta.org.  She can be reached at nishathapa82@gmail.com.

Houston, TX, USA. May 28-29, 2010

Prabuddha Dahal

A joint panel discussion on earthquake disaster preparedness in Nepal was organized by ANMF/ASNEngr/CAN-USA in Houston, TX during the 4^th regional conference of NRN. The panel was chaired by Dr. Prahlad Pant and moderated by Dr. Bishnu Phuyal.

The chair, Dr. Pant, opened the discussion by emphasizing the need for urgent attention to disaster preparedness in Nepal. The moderator, Dr. Phuyal, highlighted how the cooperation of the three agencies has already made a positive impact, leading into a conference with wide participation. He then invited the panelists to share their perspective on disaster preparedness.

The first panelist, Dr. Gaury Adhikary (E.C, ANMF), showcased how ANMF had participated in numerous healthcare services in Nepal and has had a strong footing in the field. He expressed his organization’s interest and ability to quickly mobilize medical personnel and medical assistance shortly after disaster has occurred.

The second panelist, Dr. Rajendra Shrestha(V.P, ASNEngr),  agreed that an effort to make better use of resources and a higher level of cooperation between the three organizations was necessary. Dr. Shrestha graphically explained to the audience how geological formation of the Indian sub-continent and the Himalayas has put Nepal at a high risk of major earthquake activity.

Prabudhda Dahal (V.P, CAN-USA) explained the possibility of complete failure of communication and transportation infrastructure during an earthquake and stressed the need for alternate communication mediums, such as walkie-talkies or satellite phones, to build a back-up communication system. He also underscored the need for effective use of technologies, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), before, during, and after a major disaster. For such a massive task, he stressed the need for cooperation between the three agencies and urged the audience to get involved through membership or by volunteering time.

(Click here to view complete presentation)

Suman R. Timsina of NRN emphasized the need for cooperation between all fellow Nepalese living around the globe and assured, as an NRN executive, to work towards achieving such cooperation through NRN’s programs and networks.

The session was highly interactive, with curious and active participants, who not only listened and questioned the panelist, but also provided suggestions. Below is a list of suggestions/questions that came from the participants:

1.      Participants suggested that the joint effort be expanded to

a.       Organize similar presentation on the status and path forward for disaster preparedness in Nepal

b.      Prepare projects and participate in disaster awareness in Nepal especially in public places and institutions such as Schools and Hospitals with large number of people.

2.      Participants suggested that the three organizations should build a coalition and partner with other agencies for Building code enforcement in Nepal

a.       Majority of the attendees seemed unsure on how to take this issue in a manner that will generate results

3.      Another suggestion worth noting is a potential for cultural barriers

a.       What is the preparation to address cultural ethnocentrism following a disaster, thereby, limiting flow of essential goods and/or services from or via one community to another

b.      Efforts should be focused on  bringing politicians and social scientists together to discuss this issue

c.       Learn from other areas that have seen such conflicts during disaster (Haiti?)

4.      Mr. Sharda J. Thapa suggested that satellite phone companies could be willing to provide sets so we need to approach them with this request. He graciously agreed to help connect to these providers.

5.      Participants raised questions on the availability or establishment of a contingency fund. If there is none in place, it is something that needs immediate attention.

6.      The need to develop a comprehensive plan to bring government and local agencies, such as Mahanagarpalika, together with the Aid and Non-Profit organizations.

Prabuddha Dahal is Vice President of CAN-USA and is an expert in GIS.  He can be reached at prabdahal@gmail.com

American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr) and Computer Association of Nepal-USA (CAN-USA) invite you to participate in the Joint ASNEngr/CAN-USA Conference 2010. For detail Click here.

Dear CAN-USA members and friends:

As you know the event unfolding in Haiti after the major earthquake in January 2010 rallied Nepali community in US to raise funds for the victims in Haiti as a community to community help.   That noble action also ensued the desire among all of us concerned to join force to attempt to come up with a broad Nepal earthquake disaster relief and preparedness recommendations that could be an exemplary initiative Nepali diaspora have ever taken in line with CAN-USA’s past actions to take up this issue.

This document is the proposed ANMF/ASNEngr/CAN-USA Joint  initiative on Earthquake Disaster Relief and Preparedness in Nepal sponsored by the America Nepal Medical Foundation (ANMF), American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr), and Computer Association of Nepal USA (CAN-USA).   This document has been drafted with constant deliberation during past more than 4 weeks by these three organizations.

The proposed joint initiative by these three technical/professional organizations (ANMF, ANSEngr, and CAN-USA) to research and provide a set of recommendations which can be taken as a blueprint for actions in the ground for pre and post earthquake event in Nepal.

The actual action items resulting from the recommendations  of this joint study are likely going to be far reaching and broad in nature and no single organization will likely be able to complete them by itself along.   It will require a sustained and deliberate effort by all major non-resident Nepali organizations and national and international government and non-government organizations.

For this reason we are also seeking early support from major social organizations like NRN-NCC of USA and ANA to give us a moral support by signing this document.  During early stage we would like to assemble a team of approximately 12 professionals representing these five organizations and other concerned organizations, including some in Nepal. 

Sincere thanks to Suresh bhai for first draft of this document, and SumanJyu, AmbikaJyu and RogerJyu of NRN-NCC for providing early support.

Please use this thread to provide your valuable comments on the topic, your ideas and anything else which you think is vital for this study and would help this committee to do their work.

-Bineet

1. Call to order

Bineet Sharma called to order the ad hoc teleconference meeting of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area Nepali Community at 7:00 PM PST on 1/14/2010.

2. Roll call

A roll call was called by the facilitator. The following persons were present:

Amod Pokhrel                 CAN-USA

Anil Pandey                     Motherland Nepal

Ashish Hada                    Sahayata (Attended from East Coast)

Bineet Sharma                 CAN-USA

Bishnu Thapa                   NRN/NAC GS (Attended from East Coast)

Govind Sahi                     Community at large

Harihar Dahal                   Sunny Sagarmatha Society

Ishwor Sapakota               Sunny Sagarmatha Society

Jain Thapa                         BACC

Nisha Thapa                      Sahayata

Pratik Pandey                    Community at large

Roger Adhikari                 Community at large

Suresh Ojha                      CAN-USA

3. Purpose of the meeting and discussion

Bineet stated the purpose of the meeting was to establish a coordination committee to methodically and deliberately approach the issue of bringing together growing Nepali community for this devastation suffered by Haiti.  CAN-USA general secretary stated that this would be a good exercise for the Nepali community as KTM could be facing similar fate as the 8.0 magnitude earthquake is long overdue.

It was agreed after passionate discussion that earthquake preparation for Nepal is critical but there should be a follow-up meeting to discuss this issue specifically.

Anil Pandey cited an Emergency Fund ($4,500) which has been in the works for such calamity in Nepal.  Roger Adhikari, Govind Sahi concurred that a bylaws are being written for proper disbursement of such fund.  There was a concession that such hard earned fund may not be needed to be tapped for Haiti’s purposes.

Suresh Ojha asked for a research committee to investigate and analyze what could be needed in a similar situation in Kathmandu which shares a lot of similarities with Haiti.  He also requested a quarterly meeting of all of the Bay Area organizations to share the information.

Roger Adhikari cited that there has already been couple of such meetings in the past.  It was agreed that information on all future meetings should be widely disseminated to all interested parties.

At the end of the meeting a general concession was agreed upon to establish an ad hoc co ordination committee which will be comprised by representatives from Bay Area Organizations and volunteers from the community at large.  The fund will be raised and coordinated through NAC/NRN organization which is a 501 (3) © tax exempt organization and disbursed through US Red Cross.  All the organizations and well wishers will help in sending emails and rally around for the fund raising.

4. New business

a)   Haiti Fund Raising Coordination Committee:  An ad hoc co-ordination committee was established with Bineet Sharma leading the effort.  Other members include Harihar Dahal, Govind Sahi, Roger Adhikari, Nisha Thapa, Bishnu Thapa, Ashish Hada, Ishwor Sapkota, Anil Pandey, and Jain Thapa representing their respective organizations.  Other organizations are encouraged to nominate their members as soon as possible.

Action Items for the coordination committee:

1.      Brochure: Bineet Sharma will work together with Bishnu Thapa and other members to draft a brochure.  After approval by the full committee members the brochure will be used to solicit the donation from the community members.

2.      DJ Night: Nisha Thapa is organizing a DJ night specifically to raise funds for the Haiti victims. She is contemplating travelling to Haiti later to provide her medical service as well.  Coordination committee will work together with her to advertise her event and help in fund raising.

3.      Donation Solicitations with community members:  Coordination committee will work together with local community organizations to spread the call for donation through emails, meetings and other means.

4.      Next meeting: Coordination committee will meet in a regular and ad hoc basis until this fund event is closed.

b)   Nepal Disaster Research Committee:  Suresh Ojha will head a research committee to investigate specific actions that the members of the Nepali Diaspora can take to prepare for the expected 8.0 earthquake in Kathmandu and make recommendations for an efficient and coordinated response once the quake hits.  The goal is to present the recommendations by the ANA conference in July.  The members of the committee include Amod Pokhrel, Nisha Thapa, Ashish Hada.  The committee is expected to grow to include members from all facets of the community and multiple different disciplines.

c)   Quarterly Meeting of Bay Area Organizations: The meeting already in progress organized by Roger Adhikari will suffice this purpose.  The meeting notification will be circulated to include all interested organizations.

5. Adjournment

Bineet Sharma adjourned the meeting at around 8:45 PM PST.

Minutes submitted by:  Bineet Sharma

Minutes approved by: Roger Adhikari, Gobind Sahi, Harihar Dahal, Iswor Sapkota, Amod Pokhrel, Suresh Ojha, Bishnu Thapa, Anil Pandey

Realizing the importance of Career Management (CM) among the students and the professionals alike, we have thought of giving continuity to the first workshop (CM 1.0) held during ANA 2009 in Oakland, CA. This time around, we plan to go virtual - expert presentations and interaction live on the web and recorded for future reference. CM 1.0 focused mainly on 3 areas - Graduate School Planning (Application, Standarized Tests etc), Job Search (Resume writing, Interview Prep etc) and Career Advancement (Planning for Career Growth etc). For CM 2.0, we would like to hear your opinion/ideas on focus areas and format of the workshop. Please give us your preference on the following options.

1. 3 separate workshops (each for 3 areas)
2. 1 single workshop (Integrating all 3 areas)
3. Job Search and Career Advancement sessions bundled into one workshop, Graduate School Planning being the other
4. 2 separate workshops for Job Search and Career Advancement only (No need of Graduate School Planning)

Also, please provide us with any other suggestion/ideas you might have. We want CM 2.0 to be successful but more importantly impactful.

Thank you for your input.

Regards,

CM 2.0 Planning Team

Dear CAN-USA Members.

I wanted to share with you my experience with CAN in Nepal and few people in the IS&T industry and some beauraucrats that I met during my visit to Nepal last month. Few days after my arrival in Kathmandu, I was invited to program organized by CAN on the occasion of Dashain and Tihar. Contrary to my experience from years ago when CAN organized grand parties around Dashain, this program had paper presentations and discussions in a number of different IST related topics. Two separate Papers were presented on “IT Policy and Programs of Government of Nepal” and “Opportunities and Challenges of ICT in Nepal” in moderated sessions. The environment was very professional with the participation of representatives from Ministry of Industry and Commerce, HLCIT, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, Ministry of Information and Communication, NTC, Office of the Controller of Certification, and individuals from different background. I was invited as one of the speakers, and was impressed by the interest of the attendees for CAN-USA. In approximately 15 minutes of my talk time, I presented CAN-USA and our vision moving forward. My request to the attendees to help us in developing programs to best serve Nepal was very well received and I fielded a lot of questions on what we have done so far, what we plan to do etc. To my surprise, a lot of attendees had heard about CAN-USA although did not know in detail what we really do. People familiar with CAN-USA such as Sanjiv Rajbhandari and Ganesh Shah had good things to say about what we have done so far, and were hopeful we would have some more projects similar to the one we had under Transfer of Knowledge.

I could not attend the NRN pre-conference program organized at IOE pulchowk becuse I did not get the exact details of the nature and timing of the program in advanced and I was out of valley on the day the event was scheduled. But Binod Dhakal, CAN exec represented us and highlighted the joint efforts of CAN and CAN-USA.

In a different event, I had an opportunity to personally visit with most of the CAN execs for a discussion that lasted over an hour. The program was centered around greater collaboration between CAN and CAN-USA. Although we discussed along a lot of different things, here are the major points the discussions circled around:
1. The current optical fibre network is not sufficient to meet the upsurging demand for the information infrastructure. The CAN representatives wanted us to voice the need in order to bring the attention of investors from within the country or aboard.
2. The IT Policy has been drafted but the implementation has been slow and ineffective. The attendees of the meeting wanted us (CAN-USA) to participate in an effort to push the implementation and also in counselling/ suggestion to responsible govt agencies in Nepal or its representatives who visit the US.
3. CAN in Nepal has been expanding in terms of membership at a regional level but the benefits realized by its members have been limited. CAN wants to initiate a drive to request various government, non-government, and multinational agencies to involve local talents and talents of Nepali origin in multinational/international funded IST projects. Not a quota but promoting local entreprenueurs. Their question was how can CAN-USA help.

To summarize, people in the IST arena in Nepal are starting to know about CAN-USA and our programs. The broader IST community in Nepal has started to build expectations from IST professionals around the world and the best organization they know as of now is CAN-USA. CAN in Nepal is looking for more programs/projects/initiatives that will help their members and the IST professionals in Nepal. I think they are looking for some help to design approaches that would be beneficial to the members. They also expect us to highlight some issues such as IT Policy implementation.

Venue: Taste Of Himalaya, Berkeley

Members Present: Gaurab R Upadhaya, Amod Pokharel, Prajesh Shsrestha, and Bineet Sharma

We had a very fruitful exchange of ideas with CAN executive member Mr. Gaurab Raj Upadhaya who works for Packet Clearing House of Berkeley as a Internet Economic Analyst.

Discussion topic covered were:

a) Ways to energize the base and stay in the radar of everyone:

- Automatic calendar update so that members know what is going on.  Schedule can be sent using ICS format so that members can merge the schedule with their calendar (outlook, google calendar or etc.)   (action item for Gaurab ji to demo)

- Providing food during meeting is a crowd puller idea

b) Create Facebook page (action item Prajesh Shrestha)

c) Monthly electronic bulletins which will provide current events/news to members in a regular basis (Bineet to initiate conversation with CAN Nepal to provide a resource, Gaurab ji to follow up)

d) TOK to be pushed.  Banking industry could be next as one off TOK program to keep ball rolling while CAN scrambles with office space in Nepal for regular TOK programs

e) More ways to network - Gaurab ji to provide connection with Bikesh Sharma (Stanford Professor) and Om Prakash Gyawwali, a research scholar of Stanford