Beyond Victims #2026 - Nepal Edition
Updated: 3 days ago
Our second edition of Beyond Victims 2026 Series brings you stories of inspiring women political leaders from Nepal.
Dive in to read stories of Toshima Karki, Mina Kumari Lama, Sumana Shrestha, Pabitra Devi Mahatara Prasain & Nanda Gurung
Toshima Karki
(Member of Parliament)
A surgeon turned lawmaker, focusing her legislative power to advocate for accessible adequate local health care, fight against systemic medical corruption, and championing structural healthcare financing. Now a second term MP, she plays an influential voice in Nepal's health system; member of Education, Health, and Information Technology Committee where she launched aggressive healthcare audits uncovering inadequate health care and essential municipal infrastructure, driving localised legislative initiatives targeting drinking water access, urban cleanliness, and road development within her constituency. She has been a fierce voice against political influence in appointment of leadership roles in health institutions.
- Multiple Sources
Mina Kumari Lama
(Mayor, Hetauda Sub-Metropolitian City)
As a teenager, she mobilised women in her village against local gambling circles draining household resources and earned the title ‘card crusader’ in her electoral success as the first ever woman to win the seat. She created medical outreach for disabled and elderly, allocated municipal funds to systematically upgrade the infrastructure and staffing of the city hospital, and eliminated utility deficits by building health facilities across all 19 wards, introducing birthing centers, funding free kidney dialysis, and providing 10,000 liters of free water. She also fast-tracked domestic violence resolutions and consolidated community schools into unified, transit-backed "mega schools.
- Multiple Sources
Sumana Shrestha
(Former Minister of Education, Science and Technology)
A technocratic lawmaker,, she presented and proposed the implementation of a mandatory, predictive parliamentary calendar to eliminate ad-hoc disruptions, a move that challenged decades of erratic legislative scheduling and got the parliament to adopt it. As Education Minister, forced over 800 public school teachers to renounce political affiliations to depoliticize classrooms, streamlined tedious university degree equivalence procedures for international graduates, and pioneered the "Bill Hackathon" to crowdsource the nation's IT laws from tech experts and the public. .
- Multiple Sources
Pabitra Devi Mahatara Prasain
(Mayor, Birtamod Municipality Jhapa District)
Mayor Pabitra broke traditional political barriers to become the first-ever woman mayor in the Jhapa District. Leading a major commercial hub, she proved that women can handle heavy executive roles. She initiated formal municipal action against regional medical infrastructure deficits by steering the Rs 150 million upgrade of the Birtamod Municipal Hospital, expanding its capacity from 15 to 25 beds while rolling out door-to-door clinical visits for elderly residents and specialist-led mobile ambulance services. To support farmers, she executed a five-year municipal periodic plan that integrated 50% subsidized fodder-shredding machinery and irrigation networks with decentralized ward-level planning, establishing gender-inclusive governance models across Jhapa District.
- Multiple Sources
Nanda Gurung
(Speaker, Karnali Province Assembly)
As Nepal's first elected woman provincial assembly speaker, Gurung leads institutional assembly management and structural bill endorsement in Karnali Province. During the Assembly's second session, she presided over 39 assembly meetings totaling 54 sitting hours to pass key legislation, including the Karnali Province Academy Bill for cultural preservation and the Province Civil Service Employees Bill to structure the provincial bureaucracy. To broaden public access and legislative transparency, she leads public hearings on provincial employment programs, directs technical committee reviews of civil service and infrastructure bills, and runs open-door outreach programs like "Meet the Speaker" for youth and senior citizens.
- Multiple Sources
Project Manager: Riya Hira
Contributors: Riya Hira & Sanskruti Raghav
Edited by: Akhil Neelam & Sugandha Parmar
Design: Riya Hira
Template: Vida Seraphina (https://vidaseraphina.dk/)
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