Founder of NFGRC Nepal: R S Pande

Rameshwar Singh Pande
(Founder of NFGRC. Nepal)


I. CONTACT ADDRESS/ PERSONAL DATA• Address: Chabahil, Adarsh Basti Marga 162/55, G.P.O. Box- 10245, Kathmandu. NEPAL. Tel.: (00977 1) 4460861 (R.), 9841345082 (M).Email: rameshwarpande@yaho.com
• Nationality/Date of Birth/Gender: Nepali/ 26th November, 1952/Male.
• Marital Status: Married
• Languages: English (fluent), Nepali (Mother tongue),Hindi (good), Urdu (basic) and local dialects

II. EDUCATION:• Master of Agricultural Science (M Agr Sc) (Honours) Massey University, New Zealand. 1988- 1990
• Diploma of Agriculture (B Sc Ag), Merit, Tribhuban University, IAAS, Nepal, 1979-1980.

III. TRAININGS:
• Trainings: i) On-line training on “Basic Security in the Field-Staff Safety, Health, and Welfare” April, 2007; and also participated “UN Security Orientation for Nepal” April, 2007, UN, Nepal. ii)Training/workshop on “Security, Safety and Risk Management” and “Social Inclusion/Gender” December, 2005, organized by Canadian Cooperation Office and CCO/SNV, Nepal. iii) “Results-based Management”; “Do No Harm” Project management strategies in context of conflict situation” and “Log-frame Analysis” from May, 2005, organised by Nepal Australia Community Resource Management and Livelihoods Project, Kathmandu, Nepal. iv) “Application of Geo Information Systems to Infrastructure and Resources Planning, Development and Management (GIS)", South Asian Institute of Technology (SAIT) from December, 2002 to January, 2003, Lalitpur, Nepal. v)"Project Appraisal Training Program", Nepal Administrative Staff Collage (NASC) Lalitpur, Nepal. March- April 1998. vi) "Integrated Rural Development", Institiut Penbangunan Tanah FELDA, Malaysia, July – September, 1984. vii) And, others.
• Computer skills: MS word, Excel, PowerPoint, SPSS, Internet and others

IV. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCESA) Director, National forage and Grassland Research Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Overall planning, proposal writing and fund raising, liaison, implementation and documentation and reporting of the programme.
B) Freelance Consultant
• Consultant (Livestock Development Specialist), International Fund for Agriculture Development, Review and Implementation Support Mission, Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Development Project (IFAD Loan No. 646-NP and Grant No. 727-Np); 15 April- 05 May 2007, IFAD, Via del Serafico, 107, 00142 Rome Italy. Tel + 39 06 5459 2790. email: ifad@ifad.org
C) Other involvement:
• Rural Income Generation and Livelihoods Improvement Project, Sunsari, Nepal- a local NGO working for the livelihoods of rural communities.
• Also, working as a self employed freelance writer- working on various books related to forage, pasture and livestock development in Nepal.

B) Period: April, 2003 to May, 2005/Consultant (Livestock Specialist)
URS International, Australia Pty Ltd, for AusAID funded "Nepal Australia Community Resource Management & Livelihoods Project" (NACRMLP), Nepal. Duties: i) Management and Administration: Served as a District Manager for the Field Office, Sindhupalchok. Played key role in “District Coordination Committee” comprising all stakeholders/Project team contributed in establishing - Field Office, coordinated and managed day to day activities, supervised about 20 staff, liaison & coordination with line agencies and community level organisations and others. ii) Project Planning, Community Development/Livelihoods Improvement: Provided support to develop and disseminate policies and technical findings to support the economic and social development of the community people. Supported in preparation of annual plan/annual/six monthly report and other progress reports based. Supported to other programmes like a)Livelihoods Improvement Plan (LIP), b)Women Empowerment Programme (WEP) and other. iii)Sustainable Natural Resource Management: Conceptualised the implemented approaches and modalities to facilitate the easy access and income generation opportunities for the landless poor and disadvantage group (DAG) for enhanced equity and diversifications of the productivity of the community resources. Initiated various approaches on forage, livestock and agricultural production programmes for sustainable natural resource management and improved livelihoods. Coordinated/organised capacity building training, study tours and workshops. iv)Action Research and Demonstration: Initiated and carried out field based research on community natural resources, socio-economic studies and impact evaluation of the initiated programmes. v)Training, workshop and reports: Identified training needs, developed programmes to organise/facilitated training, study tours to the community members, stakeholders and staff. Supported/facilitated to organise workshops, meetings and discussions related with project activities/programmes. Prepared reports of the all completed activities/programmes, documented lessons learned. The experiences are documented and published in: a) “Pro-poor Community Forage Production Programme in the Nepal Australia Community Resource Management and Livelihoods Project, Nepal” Proceedings of the Workshop on Fodder Oats TCP/NEP/2901- FAO, 8-11 March 2005. b) “Ensuring forage supply from Nepal’s community forests”. APANEWS, Asia-Pacific Agroforestry Newsletter No. 25. December 2004. c) “Chauri Production systems in Upper Slopes Areas”, Sindhupalchok, Nepal. Fourth International Congress on Yak, Sep. 20-26, 2004, China.

C) May, 1998 to March, 2003 /Livestock & Agricultural SpecialistTYPSA International for European Community funded "Gulmi-Arghakhanchi Rural Development Project (GARDP II)", Nepal. Duties: i) Head of the Livestock Sector Contributed to achieve the improved socio-economic conditions of the rural farmers through developing/initiating modalities and approaches on small-scale agro/livestock-based income generating activities. ii)Project Planning & Management: Developed sub-project documents (SPD: a complete set of project protocol) for overall programme planning, budgeting, implementing, monitoring and reporting. Facilitated to prepare Village Annual Work Plan and Village Master Plan. Prepared strategies paper for the agro/livestock based economic development in the project districts; identified farmer’s needs for the improvements of the rural economy by enhancing the production and productivity of the agricultural/livestock commodities. Developed monitoring and evaluation packages for staff, programmes and User's Group. iii) Technical/agricultural/livestock and small-scale rural enterprises: Developed various sub-project documents (SPD) such as food security, improved nutrition and income generation activities focusing on poor, DAG and women members. Coordinated and organised training to the farmers & technical staff. Facilitated in market and marketing development for agricultural/livestock products; and promoted small-scale rural enterprises for the income generation and economic development. iv)Community Development/mobilisation: Conceptualised and practiced the saving and credit programmes in most of the livestock/agricultural related Users Groups by establishing Revolving Fund and operating saving programmes by the respective User Groups (UGs) and others comprising mainly disadvantage groups, women and poorest of the poor households. v)Emergency relieve and social disaster management: Developed and implemented emergency relieve programme of income generation and skill improvements to the households affected from natural disaster (flooding, landslide) and the households affected from socially conflict. vi)Training, co-ordination, liaison and reporting: Identified needs for training, facilitated/organised meeting, workshop, observation tours, training and others. Coordinated/ liaison with GOs/INGOs relating to community based activities. Prepared extension materials, training manual for farmers and technical staff. Prepared progress reports (monthly, six monthly and annual) preparation, preparation of extension/training manual and others and submitted to European co-director/Team Leader.

D) May 1981 to May, 1998: Livestock Development Officer, Department of Livestock Services (DLS) and its district level offices/farms/projects. The DLS is a sole government organisation for the overall livestock development in the country- Nepal. Responsibilities-
i) July, 1997 to May, 1998, Livestock Development Officer (Class II) at District Livestock Services Office, Bhojpur, Responsibilities: served as an office in-charge and contributed to overall programme planning, implementation, budget operation and supervision of livestock development activities.
ii) May, 1992 to July, 1997. Chief of the Pasture and Nutrition Section- contributed to execute planning, implementation of fodder, pasture and rangeland development activities by developing guidelines, directives to execute feed, forage and rangeland improvement activities in the country. Supervised and monitored forage and rangeland development programmes carried out by district level offices and farms.
iii) January, 1991 to April, 1992, Programme Planner (on deputation); Himalayan Pasture and Fodder Research Network- Nepal, India, Bhutan and Pakistan, Major duties: supported in organisation and oversee the overall research and development activities in the network countries (Nepal, India, Bhutan and Pakistan), carried out trails/experiments related to pasture and fodder research and development; conducted/organised workshop/in-service training and technical meetings between networking countries.
iv) June 1990 to December, 1990, Assistant Livestock Development Officer (Planning and Monitoring), Department of Livestock. Supervised and monitored 'Northern Belt Pasture and Fodder Development Programme' implemented in ten districts of Himalayan region.
v) September, 1986 to June, 1990, Farm Manager, Rasuwa Pasture Development Farm, Nepal. During this period awarded scholarship and completed degree.
vi) May 1981 to September, 1986, Assistant Livestock Development Officer, Livestock Development Project Janakpur/Baitadi, Nepal.
The experiences are published in: a) Pande, R.S. and D. R. Pradhan, 1997: Nepal's Experience with Forage and Pasture Development and Forage Seed Production. Proceedings of the Regional Expert Meeting on ‘Rangelands and Pastoral Development in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region”, ICIMOD, Kathmandu, 1997. b) Pande, R. S. 1992: Need for Agro-silviculture to meet the demand of livestock feed in Nepal? Proceedings of the Regional Expert Consultation on Agro-silviculture to support Animal Production in Asia and the Pacific. RAPA Publication - 1992/12, Bangkok.1992. c) Pande, R. S. 1994: Promising Species for Fodder and Pasture Development in Nepal. Proceeding of the IInd National Conference on Science and Technology, June 8-11, 1994, Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (RONAST), 1994; and other.

V. MAJOR PUBLICATION:• Pande, RS 2006. Potential of Canadian Forage Sorghum in improving fodder supply for small dairy farmers in Nepal” APANEWS, Asia-Pacific Agroforestry Newsletter, Philippines, No. 28, July 2006.
• Pande, RS 2005 “Pro-poor Community Forage Production Programme in the Nepal Australia Community Resource Management and Livelihoods Project, Nepal” Proceedings of the Workshop on Fodder Oats, Fodder Technology Packages and Small Farm Income Generation. FAO 8-11 March 2005.
• Pande, R S 2004. Ensuring forage supply from Nepal’s community forests. APANEWS, Asia-Pacific Agroforestry Newsletter No. 25. December 2004.
• Pande, R.S. 2004. Chauri Production systems in Upper Slopes Areas, Sindhupalchok, Nepal. Fourth International Congress on Yak, September 20-26, 2004 Chngdu, China.
• Pande, R.S; P. D. Kemp; J Hodgson, 2002: Preference of goats and sheep for browse species under field conditions. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2002, Vol. 45:97-102.
• Pande, R.S. and D. R. Pradhan, 1997: Nepal's Experience with Forage and Pasture Development and Forage Seed Production. Proceedings ‘Rangelands and Pastoral Development in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region”, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, 1997.
• Book: Pande, R. S. 1997: Fodder and Pasture Development in Nepal. Udaya Research and Development Services Pvt. Ltd, Sanepa, Lalitpur/Kathmandu, Nepal.1997.
• Pande, R. S. 1996: Livestock, Farmers and Environment. Environment (A Journal of Environment) HMG/N, Ministry of Population and Environment. Vol. 1, Number - 1, Special issue on the Occasion of the World Environment Day, 1996.
• And other over 70 research and extension articles.