Mr. Dhirendra Lamsal

Mr. Dhirendra Lamsal, National Director and Founding Member of ICRI-Nepal passed away January 4, 2022. Mr. Lamsal, was quite a familiar figure in the domain of children’s sector. He was born on October 21, 1972 in Dharan, Eastern part of Nepal and spent most of his childhood there. He graduated with bachelor’s degree in English and History from JM College and also had degree in English Language and Literature from Tribhuvan University. He worked in several schools as an English teacher. He then started his work in the non-governmental sector from Women’s Inspiration Community (WICOM). In this organization, he provided training on prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) for 7 years. Later, he worked at Lifesaving and Life-giving Society (LALS) from 1999 to 2004 as a training officer and later led the organization.”

He also became a consulting coordinator of Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB) for a brief period of 3 months from January to March, 2003. He became Program coordinator of Network for Children Prisoners and Dependents (NCPD), a network of organizations working to address the problems faced by the prisoners, their dependent children and families. While working as the Program coordinator for the Secretariat of the organization, Mr. Lamsal founded International Child Resource Institute in Nepal (ICRI-Nepal) in the year 2004.

Mr. Lamsal was one of the prominent NGO management experts with multifaceted knowledge of early childhood care and development. He provided leadership to several programs which aim at serving children at risk and their families in Nepal. In the capacity of Country Director of ICRI Nepal, he oversaw ICRI’s work on numerous programs to support children and families in Nepal such as National Center for Learning Resources (NCLR); Network for Children, Prisoners and Dependants (NCPD); Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility (ACSR); School Girls Education (SGE); and Infants Care Facility Improvement Project (ICFIP) to name the major ones. Through these multifaceted programs, ICRI Nepal has benefitted more than ten thousand children in Nepal. In addition, he used to be involved in writing proposals and carrying out some research in the collaboration of likeminded organizations. He was also a member of Global Fund for Children, Nepal and National Child NGO Federation.

Mr. Lamsal possessed a broad knowledge and understanding of the conditions of orphaned, displaced and vulnerable children including the national child and family serving policies and systems of Nepal. He was involved in the formulation process of National Plan of Action for Children (2004/05–2014/15) in Nepal. He had also been involved in several projects for HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Treatment Programs targeted to IDUs, FSWs and their children. He had presented numerous working papers and delivered seminars on Early Childhood Education and Care, and HIV/AIDS in many countries around the world. He has also featured in several occasions by the Nepal’s social media as an advocate for child rights and issues.

Furthermore, he had been an Advocate of ECD program around the world with the award of “Global Leader for Young Children-2007” by World Forum Foundation (WFF), USA. He was a regular attendee of the conferences organized by WFF since and then 2007. He had got a good exposure and working experiences from the team of WFF. He had a hat of National Representative of Nepal for WFF with great roles and responsibilities which he had been carrying forward successfully.

So, in order to honour the immeasurable, numerous and valuable contribution he provided for the vulnerable children and their families of ICRI-Nepal has established Dhirendra Lamsal’s Memorial fund. The fund will be utilized in various welfare activities for the vulnerable children and their families of Nepal.