KOICA Nepal Office, with its alumni association KOICA Alumni Association of Nepal (KAAN), organized the KAAN General Meeting on November 27, 2022. The meeting was organized to reflect on the 5 year-long activities of the Alumni Association. There was an active participation of 130 KAAN members from different sectors.
Rajeshwor Gyawali, Former President of KAAN appreciated Korean government for continually supporting Nepal especially for providing capacity development program to improve Human Resources Development of Nepal government officials. He mentioned that Nepal government is grateful to Korean government for its generous support for socio economic development of Nepal. As many government employees have got training in Korea, he urged each one of them to implement the learning in every possible ways.
Addressing “KOICA –KAAN General Meeting 2022”, Jeong Eun Song, Country Director a.i of KOICA Nepal Office thanked KAAN for the impressive progress it has made despite the challenge of COVID 19. Especially, she appreciated the initiation towards the hospital support program which is very commendable. She hoped KAAN will apply every possible innovative ideas to make its activities meaningful in upcoming days. She also congratulated the team of KAAN Executive Committee for successful tenure.
KAAN activities from 2018 to 2022 were presented by Nabaraj Gautam General Secretary of KAAN in detail during the program. The major activities were blood donation program, knowledge sharing programs, KAAN Night, school support programs, KOICA-KAAN networking meetings, action plan sharing workshops, fair trade day celebration etc. Since the outbreak of COVID 19, KAAN has focused its activities towards COVID response programs. KAAN has supported different types of medical equipment with regards to COVID 19 to Methinkot hospital, Kavre and Raksirang Basic Hospital, Makwanpur.
From the year 2022 KAAN has also focused its activities towards environment related activities. Under this program KAAN has supported 3 schools of Kathmandu, Kavre and Lalitpur via supporting Sanitary Pad Vending Machines and Sanitary Pad Disposal Machines. KAAN has planned to incorporate environment sector as a priority sector in coming years too.
Traditional Nepalese dance and K-POP dance were performed for cultural exchange. To improvise the KAAN activities for future suggestions and feedbacks were collected from all the presented KAAN members. The KAAN General Meeting was successfully concluded with a pleasant atmosphere.
Closing the KAAN General Meeting KAAN President Mr. Binod Bidari highlighted the role played by KAAN members in various government offices. He thanked a lot to KOICA for offering opportunities to implement various innovative activities through KAAN during the COVID 19. He thanked all his team members in the executive committee.
Established in 2001 KAAN is an association established by fellows of KOICA Fellowship Program to maintain a relation between KOICA and the Nepalese who have participated in KOICA Fellowship Programs. Currently, it has 460 members. Its main purpose is to share knowledge and experiences learned in Korea and contribute to the development of Nepal. Fellowship program is one of the effective modalities of KOICA’s capacity building programs. Since 1991, more than 2000 Nepalese officials have participated in KOICA’s short and long term fellowship programs.