Aishworya Shrestha (born 26 November 1997) is a Nepalese pageant titleholder as Miss Grand Nepal 2022.[1][2][3][4] She represented Nepal in Miss Grand International 2022. She is a Nepali social worker and activist known for her work in establishing impactful grassroots programs related to mental health, education, women's empowerment, and civic engagement.[5][6][7][8][9][10]
Early life and Education
Shrestha was born in Kathmandu, Nepal around 1997. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Social Work and English from St. Xavier's College, Nepal in 2017, and a Master's degree in Social Work from Tribhuvan University in 2020, with a thesis focused on gender-based violence. As a student, Shrestha engaged in research on issues like child exploitation in brick kilns and gender-based violence. Her paper is published in multiple journals,[11][8] including a publication on gbv and climate education using technology.[12]
Career
Shrestha has over eight years of experience working in the social impact sector in Nepal. She began her career in 2015 volunteering as a wheelchair basketball coach for disabled youth.[13] From 2017 to 2022, she worked with various grassroots organizations and nonprofits in Nepal focused on literacy training, youth empowerment, disability rights, mental health, domestic violence support, and community mapping.[5][6][7][8][9][10][14]
In September 2021, Shrestha founded Antardhoni Nepal, a nonprofit providing mental health awareness, workshops and support access to marginalized communities across Nepal. Through Antardhoni Nepal she has organized over 85 mental health events reaching 10,000 Nepalis.
In March 2020, she founded Heart of Nepal, a nonprofit focused on education and empowerment initiatives for Dalit children and mothers in Nepal. The organization has eliminated school dropouts and increased household income within these communities.
Shrestha has served as a project manager at Kathmandu Living Labs, a civic tech nonprofit, from 2021-2023. She has led research projects on topics like tourism, open mapping, youth empowerment, and climate change.[15] She has also authored publications and presented her work at prominent conferences like the State of the Map and The Impacts of Civic Technology Conference.[16][17]
Work in Civic Tech
She has contributed to a number of civic tech projects including She Leads and She Inspires, starting local OSM communities, Visible Women.[18][14]
Leading CAP 2030
She led the CAP 2030 Project in Nepal under the directive of WHO/Lancent Commission. Her team developed and tested 6 citizen science based mobile application for children in rural Jumla and Kavre imparting climate education to children in these 2 inaccessible regions. The project was successful in testing the use of mobile phones and technology in internet limited areas.[12]
Pageantry
Miss Grand Nepal 2022
Aishworya won Miss Grand Nepal succeeding Ronali Amatya and received Rs 700,000 cash.[1][2][3][4]
Accomplishments and Recognition
Shrestha was awarded multiple grants and prizes for her work, including a US Embassy youth leadership award in 2021. She was selected as the winner of Miss Grand International Nepal in 2022.[1][2][3][4]
References
- ^ a b c "Aishworya Shrestha announced Miss Grand Nepal 2022". kathmandupost.com.
- ^ a b c "Aishworya Shrestha became Miss Grand Nepal 2022". September 14, 2022. Archived from the original on 2024-02-06. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b c "Aishworya Shrestha announced Miss Grand Nepal 2022".
- ^ a b c "Aishwarya Shrestha won Miss Grand Nepal 2022 title".
- ^ a b Journey To The Crown | My Experience | Aishworya Shrestha Contestant | Miss Nepal 2023 Clip, retrieved 2024-02-06
- ^ a b "About Open Space Gardeners™ - Agriculture company in Nepal". F6S. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ a b Solís, Patricia; Zeballos, Marcela (2022-11-28). Open Mapping towards Sustainable Development Goals: Voices of YouthMappers on Community Engaged Scholarship. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-031-05182-1.
- ^ a b c Shrestha, Aishworya (2022-08-17). "OpenStreetMap as a tool for skill building". Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research).
- ^ a b "C2M2 Kathmandu Portal". tourismincovid.klldev.org. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ a b Laituri, Melinda; Richardson, Robert B.; Kim, Junghwan (2022-10-31). The Geographies of COVID-19: Geospatial Stories of a Global Pandemic. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-031-11775-6.
- ^ "Aishworya Shrestha | Tribhuwan University, Nepal - Academia.edu". cpds-tu.academia.edu. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ a b "Children in All Policies (CAP) 2030 Citizen Science for Climate Change Resilience: a cross-sectional pilot study engaging adolescents to study climate hazards, biodiversity and nutrition in rural Nepal". wellcomeopenresearch.org. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ "Miss Nepal - The Hidden Treasure". missnepal.com.np. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ a b "Glorification of rape-accused: How fair?". Khabarhub. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ "One year into the pandemic, tourism workers worried for their survival". c2m2-asia.github.io. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ Shrestha, Aishworya; Ghimire, Sushma (2022-09-24), Integrating OpenStreetMap in the local governance of Nepal, retrieved 2024-02-06
- ^ "What are the effects of OpenStreetMapping on the mappers themselves? - Aishworya Shrestha (Kathmandu Living Labs)". SlideShare. 2021-05-28. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ "Why and How: Challenging Sexism and Misogyny in the Open Mapping Ecosystem". Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. 2021-04-27. Retrieved 2024-02-06.