CFFN Updates

Update 3: Monday, October 20, 2008

Please accept our sincere greetings from Canada Forum for Nepal (CFFN) to you. Today, we are bringing the following updates to you about the last six months of activities of CFFN.

1. Conferences
   1. Unfolding Futures CFFN successfully organized an academic conference on Nepal from July 10 to 12, 2008 att Otawa, Canada. This year's conference was titled, "Unfolding Futures: Building Nepal Grounds Up". This conference attracted papers in three themes: "Political Restructuring: From the land of promises to promised land", "Economic Paradigm I: Natural Resources", and "Economic Paradigm II: Budgetary Priority, Innovation, and Social Issues". Like last year the program remained a great success. A spectacular Nepali cultural show was presented at the venue in the evening of the second day of the program.
   2. International Efforts for Dalit Rights CFFN scholars presented papers and were panelists in this academic conference on Dalit issues and rights in Nepal. This conference was organized by NASO Community of USA.
   3. Aug 23-24: NRN-Canada Convention Canada Forum for Nepal sent representatives and participated in NRN-Canada convention, and also presented thematic paper "Nepalese Diaspora in Canada: Possibilities and Opportunities" and also other articles pertaining to Nepal and NRN issues.
2. Interction Programs
   1. Sept 27: Diasporas and Nepalese Government This was an interaction program organized to take input from invited Nepalese Diasporas to the Prime Minister of Nepal. The interactions from this and the previous day interactions were prominently covered by media. Executive Director of CFFN was interviewed by dcnepal.com during an earlier program on the same day.
   2. Sept 26: New Nepal: Justice, Equality and Prosperity Organized by New School University of New York, ten Nepal related organizations from Canada and USA were invited to speak with the Prime Minister of Nepal on the stated topic. Canada Forum for Nepal was one of those. CFFN also submitted in writing a set of suggestions for the advancement of Nepalese democracy and economy.
   3. Aug 29: CFFN, SAP and CCIC Talk Program This interaction program between Nepal's then Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure and Canadian NGOs and public was organized in Ottawa. This interaction program focused on policies and programs of the government that was going to emerge.
   4. Aug 25-28: Various Interaction Programs Six interaction programs were organized in Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston and University of Toronto with Minister Hisila Yami on various areas of interest related to Nepal. Each program was geared to specific issues and tailored accordingly to public, academics, international development workers, development experts, and scholars of federalism.
   5. Aug 27: Federalism: Dreams and Realities of Inclusive Nepal This interaction program concentrated on federalism and associated issues of national integrity and people participation in governance and more. This program was arranged for the members of the Nepalese community to interact with Minister Hisila Yami.
   6. Aug 25: La transfomation démocratique de Népal post conflit This interaction program on issues related to transformation of Nepal from a state of conflict to the state of democracy was organized in Quebec City. President of Nepal Bar Association Mr. Bishwa Kanta Mainali was the guest speaker.
   7. June 11: Media in Post-Conflict States CFFN presented a paper on Media on Post Conflict States in a program organized at National Press Club of Canada.
3. Projects on Nepal and Other Contributions
   1. Sept 28: Flood Relief: When Koshi Flood ravaged Eastern Tarai, CFFN contributed $1001 towards flood relief. This fund was provided through NRN-Canada and then NRNA to the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund.
   2. Aug 24-29: Teacher Training: CFFN in conjunction with District Education Office Baglung organized a week long computer training program for local teachers in target regions of Nepal. Volunteer educator from University of Saskatchewan Canada, Sumeet Paudyal, provided the training.

We invite you to be part of these great endeavors.

Sincerely,
Pramod Dhakal
Executive Director
Canada Forum for Nepal