Dr. Nirmal Rijal possesses extensive experience in international development, having either led or supported projects across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa as Country Director, Regional Representative for Asia, and Governance Practice Area Lead. He has contributed, through his work, to information integrity, digital literacy and media development; governance and civic engagement; and positive youth development and leadership; primarily in the health, education, agriculture, and disaster risk reduction sectors. As an independent consultant, he has explored the status of women entrepreneurs in South Asia’s digital ecosystem and facilitated the co-creation of regional projects to support the same; studied stakeholders in Nepal’s digital ecosystem; and designed multi-year projects to strengthen civil society role in promoting democratic governance. He designs and implements needs-driven projects with Rotary in Nepal, serves as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee chair for Rotary in Nepal and Bhutan, and teaches at Nepali universities as visiting faculty. As a recipient of the prestigious Australian Leadership Award, he holds a doctoral degree in communication studies from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University in Melbourne Australia.