Kripa is a National Project Coordinator for a UN Women-ILO Joint Programme in Nepal, where she looks at promoting women’s decent employment and public investments in the care economy. She is also currently a researcher in the ‘Demanding a ‘Just Recovery’ from Below: The Role of Grassroots Accountability Activism in Safeguarding Labour Migrants’ Rights in the Pandemic Era’ - project, which has been funded by AFSEE’s Atlantic Equity Challenge.
Having worked with national and international organisations in Nepal and India, Kripa has gained extensive experience in the areas of women’s economic, social and cultural rights, peacebuilding and reconciliation, gender equality and social inclusion through collective movement building, leadership development and capacity strengthening in the Global South.
Previously, Kripa worked as a Programme Manager at The Asia Foundation in mitigating conflict through effective implementation of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion policies and programmes in Nepal. The programme tried to reduce conflicts between different identities mainly focusing on women and Dalits through ‘People-to-People’ approach, a peace-building intervention to build trust and strengthen social ties for establishing equality and justice. Kripa has served as an Executive Director of Hamro Chahana Nepal (HCN), a women-led feminist human rights organisation, which works holistically on women’s learning and knowledge production, bodily integrity, access to economic justice, rapid response system, and collective movement building. She has also been a Programme Manager and Programme Officer with the Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR), where she managed the Leadership Development Programmes and built the capacities of leaders from the Global South.
Whilst working as the Programme Officer in Himalayan Human Rights Monitors (HimRights), Kripa worked with conflict affected children, youth and women in peacebuilding and reconciliation process through trauma healing, awareness on government provisions, building capacities on the affected communities to advocate for right to access to justice. She is a founding member of South Asian Feminist Alliance for ESCR (SAFA for ESCR) and the Young Feminist Circle (YFC).
She graduated with an MA in Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) along with a B.Com (Hons) from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. She also holds an MSc in Inequalities and Social Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
The discrimination that my mother faced after becoming a widow during my childhood is still fresh in my mind. This triggered me to become an advocate of gender equality and social justice through voicing my opinions fiercely. Similarly, my work on substantive equality led me to realise the importance to uphold the dignity of the Dalit community. It is difficult to challenge the historically set gender and caste values and norms. For the same reason, I chose to continue fighting against these injustices, by uprooting the causes of gender and caste-based discrimination.Kripa Basnyat