- शुक्रबार, १४ वैशाख, २०८१
Virginia, America, 19 January : United States has always been and will continue to be a strong supporter of Nepal’s democratic process and her development endeavors, co-chair of Nepal Caucus in the US Capitol Congressman Jared Polis said Friday while addressing Vision for Nepal Foundation’s fundraising banquet organized in support of its project on “Public Poll on Federalism in Nepal”.
Polis also highlighted the importance of non-profits helping Nepal even being away from home. He said, “The efforts of Vision for Nepal Foundation in launching Public poll project have far sighted impact.” Vision for Nepal Foundation is a Washington DC based think tank on Nepal and the diaspora established in 2011. It also produces a Fortnightly TV talk show “American Conversations.” He said it’s only through education and skill transfer, Nepalese can be empowered and Nepal’s standing can be taken to next level.
Talking about the Nepal caucus of which he is the co-chair, Congressman Polis said it was a bipartisan effort despite the partisan politics in Washington DC, to connect the two frontiers and help Nepal in many issues. He also expressed his continued support through Nepal caucus and other institutional exchanges and links.
Congressman Gerald Connolly, another Nepal Caucus member who is also the member of the US House Foreign Relations sub-Committee for Asia, said that he strongly supported the Vision for Nepal Foundation’s mission of “helping people hear themselves”.
Talking about the importance of the VIFON’s project, Congressman Connolly in his letter read by his Director of the Outreach Mike Collins said, “The timing of this year’s event is particularly appropriate, coming just a few weeks after the historic elections for the new Constituent Assembly and just a few days before the Assembly’s first meeting.”
“The ambitious international survey being launched by VIFON is integral to the process of allowing the people of Nepal to realize true self-determination. Nepal is a very diverse country and the voices of all stakeholders must be heard in order to achieve the political stability that we hope a new constitution will bring,” the letter read.
Chief Guest of the program, outgoing Nepali ambassador to the United States Dr. Shankar Sharma said while the project is timely and also very important in terms of Nepal’s current state of affairs it needs to follow scientific methodology in order to represent authentic voice of Nepal and be acceptable to all.
Chairman of the function and VIFON President Krishna Sharma said VIFON felt pressed to launch the ‘Public Poll on Federalism in Nepal’ realizing the reason behind the failure of the first Constituent Assembly and the just concluded Second Constituent Assembly Election that also missed the task of seeking public opinion regarding federalism.
The poll will be technically supported by a Gallop poll expert in terms of poll design and data analysis while Media Foundation Nepal will also provide functional support in questionnaire preparation. He also said, “VIFON’s country office in Kathmandu will coordinate field activities within Nepal and Asian nations where significant Nepali population resides.
“The public poll is going to be unique in that we are reaching out to Nepali workers and students and professionals who are residing across the globe and were never given a chance to have their say. We have already formulated the methodologies and identified the tools to be applied to complete the public survey.” This fundraising event itself is an opportunity for us to listen to you as we go forward with our project so that we could amend as needed, he added.
VIFON vice-president Arun Bhattarai while delivering the welcome speech said that the nation can’t afford six more years to just complete the constitution by keeping all the development activities at bay. The program also included the six-minute video presentation that detailed the prospects, methodologies and time line of the project.
The program was attended by DC based public policy experts, public policy and international relations students from American University, Georgetown University and George Mason University, American friends of Nepal, former Peace Corps volunteers and community members from Nepali diaspora.
