Niva Shrestha was born in 1971 and hence became one of the "young generation" Hoste Hainse board members when she

joined the board in 2015 as a member. Niva went to St. Mary's High School in Kathmandu, where she completed her A-levels

before she started to study Business Administration with a focus on Finance at the Eastern Kentucky University, in the United States. From there, she started an internship at Lexmark International Inc. in Lexington before she decided to return back to Nepal where she joined the Lincoln International School in Kathmandu as a Finance Officer.

 

Lincoln International Schools can be found all over the world, following the US education system in countries like Nepal,

exposing its students to diplomats as well as international companies which frequently visit the school to hold empowering speeches and talk programs. Niva describes Lincoln Schools as schools which advocate creativity, curiosity and critical thinking, encouraging its students to ask questions like "how?" and "why?" - qualities which many people have almost forgotten in Nepal. These qualities Niva also tries to make her two own daughters familiar with; she describes her approach of education as a combination of American schooling combined with Nepalese values and culture. She expects her daughters being independent, hard working but good-hearted and honest members of the Nepalese society - a vision which can be applied to Hoste Hainse's educational policies one-to-one.

 

Due to her position at Lincoln School, Niva's position in the Hoste Hainse board can be seen as a consultant with a

background of international education systems and values, who is able to enrich the Hoste Hainse board discussions with new impulses and ideas from a different perspective - as an "education ambassador", so to speak. So, even before she joined the Hoste Hainse board, Niva described the processes of running and helping schools to improve their performances as her sector of interest, and when she got to know about Hoste Hainse through Krishna Shah she joined the board with pleasure to share her expertise. But apart from her background in the education sector, her knowledge as a finance officer can help Hoste Hainse to make its programs more efficient, improve reports as well as databases.

 

Niva appreciates Hoste Hainse's age and its awareness of Nepalese traditions and cultural aspects as well as the fact that

Hoste Hainse is deeply rooted in the Nepalese NGO sector. Also, Hoste Hainse does an excellent job networking and binding doors and supporters sincerely to its programs, Niva believes.

 

There are fields in which Hoste Hainse could get better in as well; for example the way Hoste Hainse presents itself in

public because a lot of good things are done, but the world does not get to know about it. Moreover, Hoste Hainse could improve its relations with different organizations to tie stronger bonds and create a stronger network within Nepal itself. Same for its connection to different schools - here, a strong exchange of ideas and educational strategies could be created. And why do most of the Hoste Hainse volunteers come from abroad? Niva believes that if Hoste Hainse were able to spread its name and provide more information about its volunteer opportunities inside Nepal, there could be immense ways to involve Nepalese volunteers. For example, during universities' summer breaks in terms of writing and fundraising projects. Hoste Hainse could also approach the private sector more intensively to bring different training or workshop programs for students of the Hoste Hainse schools into being or develop any other cooperative programs. But from Niva's point of view it is not only about flapping its wings towards different sectors, but also to keep the Hoste Hainse team and board motivated and innovative through different "fun activities" which might help to make everybody work together more closely.

 

For the future, Niva dreams of an organization which has fresh mindsets and which is always progressive - whether it be

through cooperation with the private sector, other NGO's or (Nepalese) volunteers. For her, it is all about individual power, what means to educate one's own children in a way that makes them think further apart from the norms, makes them go new ways and move out of their comfort zones to gain exposure. Niva believes that even little changes can bring Nepal towards the right direction of a sustainable development.