Studying at UEP I had great teachers and classmates from around the world who included their extensive experiences in the learning processes making it a palette of global context. I participated in fieldwork in India, enrolled in a summer school and internship in the US and did an exchange semester in Peru. Norway’s educational system provided me with these opportunities that would not have been possible back home.

Since 2020 I have worked both in the public and private sectors in Lithuania - at the Vilnius city municipality as an architect working on the city masterplan, developing street design guidelines that are actively used to make the city streets more inclusive and now as project manager at Create Lithuania. I am working together with a Ukrainian colleague and applying evidence-based decision making in developing Lithuania’s long-term plan for rebuilding Ukraine's infrastructure.  

The key issue at the time of my study was the refugee crisis and integration of refugees to the Norwegian society. I returned to Nepal to continue my effort to include people in the creation of places through community-based participatory techniques in my work at Habitat for Humanity Nepal. I strive through my work to promote gender equality by supporting access to joint land titles to both men and women and encouraging women participation and leadership in trainings and decision-making groups in construction.

I have had the pleasure to receive a letter of appreciation from the Prime Minister of Nepal as the lead of the environmentally friendly bamboo housing project in Eastern Nepal! I continue to advocate strongly for land and housing issues through coordination with line ministries, publications in national level newspapers and presentations at platforms such as the Asia Shelter Forum.

The UEP program has provided me with fundamental knowledge about the real urban challenges of both global North and South.The biggest lesson I learnt was to reach sustainable development, we planners need to realize the community’s needs and values. In addition, we need to see the great power and impact of self-discovery, self-awareness, self-expression, and self-reflection if we really want to change the lives of others. “If you want to change the world – Start with yourself.”

Since I graduated from UEP in 2013, I have been a part of the Department of Architecture and Design; first as a PhD candidate on “sustainable urban planning in a framework of network Governance” and today, as a researcher on “Smart Sustainable Cities”. Today, as an Associate Professor at NTNU, I am returning whatever I have learned and gained from this system back to Norwegian students and society.