Pratiman-Neema Memorial Foundation was established in 2003, in the memory of Late Pratiman Chand Bohara and Neema Bohara. PNMF is a non- profit organization located in Western Nepal, Siddharthanagar of Rupandehi district. It focuses on three main platforms- academics, research and community engagements to bring together people and institution to work on creative and sustainable ideas.

PNMF is building of multi-service academic institution, Pratiman-Neema College (PNC) with a mission to provide holistic platform for engagements that gives students, researchers, policy makers and community leaders a competitive edge in their deliberation, analysis and understanding of the complex, interdependent knowledge-based society. It is also important to understand that as we involve our students for the community engagement work and they get broader perspective on identifying problems and finding ways to come up with solutions.

To that end, in 2014, a group of national and international scholars came together to establish the Lumbini Center for Sustainability (LCS) as knowledge platform to promote informed policy debate and provide pragmatic policy advice for enhancing human well-being of the central Himalayan community. Keeping sustainable development and human welfare at its core, LCS proposes to combine the methods of natural science, social science, humanities disciplines as integrative threads to propose solutions that are effective, sustainable and transferable.

Our holistic approach explores various key elements of sustainable development as the food-energy-water, nexus, natural disaster, response, environmental rehabilitation, bio-diversity, conservation, ecosystem services, community health, resiliency and adaptation, capacity building, indigenous knowledge, culture, and values. For example, the remarkable variability in connected human-ecological systems (CHES) along the river corridors of Nepal’s Himalayan range, which links the Tibetan plateau in the north and the Indian plain in the south, provides ideal conditions to investigate causes and consequences of climatic and social changes in one of most vulnerable regions of the world.

The basic theme of LCS came from a National Science Foundation research planning trip undertaken in Dec 2014 by an interdisciplinary team of UNM faculty –Dr Alok K. Bohara, Dr. Mark Stone, Dr Joe Galesky-economist, engineer and climate scientist from University of New Mexico and three graduate students. In addition, UNM team joined forces with the collaborators from Nepal, India and China including Dr. Madhav Karki (formally with ICIMOD), Dr. Siddhartha Bajracharya (NTNC), Dr. Rijan Kayastha (KU), Dr. Jonathan Wright (Tsinghau University, China), Dr. Yub Raj Bhusal ( Former National Planning Commision, Finance, Environment Secretary) and others. The team engaged in a wide range of discussions with various stakeholders in Kathmandu and across the Gandaki river corridor.

Vision

The PNMF’s vision is to be a center of excellence engaged in producing manpower and ideas that are impactful in reshaping the public policy debates and deliberations.

Mission

The PNMF’s mission is to provide a holistic platform for engagements that give students, researchers, policy makers, and community leaders a competitive edge in their deliberation, analysis, and understanding of the complex, interdependent and knowledge-based society. With a focus on poverty, health, education, and the environment, the evidence-based solutions and policies are directed to enhance the well-being of those who are underserved, underprivileged, and underrepresented.

Goal

As an umbrella organization, the PNMF’s goal is to develop three cutting edge platforms – academic college, research centers, and community outreach programs. Using the interdisciplinary approach that combines natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, PNMF aims to use these platforms to produce skilled manpower, conduct problem-driven research, and perform important community projects.