Walking the path of peace: reflections on 25 years of International Alert Nepal
As International Alert concludes its presence in Nepal after 25 years, former Asia Director Rabina Shrestha reflects on a journey towards compassion, fairness and peace.
I grew up in a traditional Newar family in a small village northeast of Kathmandu. Girls were not always encouraged to pursue higher education and the dream of continuing my studies and coming to Kathmandu was not easy. It required courage, persistence and many conversations with my father to convince him. That personal struggle helped me understand the barriers that many women and girls face in Nepal. Long before I had the language of peacebuilding, I carried within me a belief that society could be fairer, more compassionate and more inclusive.
In 2001, as a graduate student, I participated in a Women, Peace and Security workshop organised by International Alert and the Institute of Human Rights Communication Nepal. It was my first workshop, and one of Alert’s first on the topic in Nepal. At that time, Nepal was halfway through a decade-long armed conflict, with a Maoist insurgency seeking to overthrow the government and monarchy. I remember listening to women from Udayapur as they shared how the armed conflict affected their everyday lives. Their experiences were the lived realities of fear, loss, resilience, care and courage. I was moved by the strength with which they spoke, and by the quiet determination they carried, despite everything they had endured.
In that moment, I began to understand that women are not only victims of conflict. They are also protectors of families, holders of memory, community leaders and powerful agents of peace. I began to see peacebuilding as something rooted in women’s everyday efforts to preserve dignity, safety, justice and hope. I learned that peace is not only negotiated in formal spaces. It is also carried by women, families and communities, who continue to hold society together even in moments of deep fracture. That workshop became a turning point in my life. It connected my personal belief in justice with Nepal’s wider struggle for peace and inclusion.
Nepal’s peace process has shown us that sustaining peace goes far beyond ending violence. It demands structural inclusion, strong rule of law, renewed trust between citizens and the state, and spaces where every voice is heard with dignity.
Alert in Nepal
Building on its earlier engagement during the armed conflict, International Alert officially registered in Nepal in 2004. From its early engagement, Alert’s role was not to lead from the front, but to accompany local civil society organisations, women’s networks, conflict victims, youth, media, justice and security institutions, and local governments to build dialogue, trust and accountability. When I joined in 2011, it was the fulfilment of a long-held aspiration to work in peacebuilding.
Alert’s early programmes took place during the height of the armed conflict, but in 2006 the Comprehensive Peace Agreement initiated a peace process and political transition, eventually leading to a new federal constitution being adopted in 2015. The new constitution sought to address concerns over exclusion, inequality and centralized governance, opening the door for Alert’s work on victim-centred transitional justice advocacy and constitutional reform. Between 2018 and 2024 Alert led transitional justice dialogue sessions at federal, provincial and local levels. We supported conflict victims’ networks with research, consultations and psychosocial support, and contributed to the amendment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act to include recognition of conflict-related sexual violence as a serious human rights violation.
Alert looked in detail at the progress of the federalisation process in a landmark research project published earlier this year. Despite some progress, ultimately these government reforms failed to meet public expectations for peace, justice and good governance. In 2026, a new government was elected following a wave of youth-led protests has led to a renewed sense of hope for a peaceful and inclusive future.
Legacy
Alert has worked side by side with communities at a time of great change, and there is much to celebrate.
We have advanced women’s participation in peacebuilding, including contributing to advocacy around the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and calling for specific protections for women and girls during and after conflict. We have supported and promoted women’s networks such as Shanti Malika, helping advance women’s participation in the peace process and contributing to Nepal’s first WPS National Action Plan. We are proud to have helped broaden peacebuilding work to include sexual and gender minorities, with LGBTQI+ issues recognised in Nepal’s second National Action Plan.
Our work on community security has promoted dialogue between communities, young people, women, marginalised groups and the police. We developed tools such as the Community Score Card to improve accountability and local law enforcement and governance, including training hundreds of officers, officials and community members.
Through research, outcome harvesting, and practical tools, Alert has translated local experiences into evidence to inform policy advocacy, influence reforms, and strengthen peacebuilding programmes. Our work on the 2021 Household and Population Census, for example, contributed to census design, implementation, and dissemination.
We have worked closely with the Federation of Nepali Journalists to strengthen journalist safety, media independence, accountability and gender equality. The Free Media Network has been established across all seven provinces and the GESI Award for inclusive media practice celebrates the progress of underrepresented groups. A free, independent and inclusive media is essential for public accountability and trust, and these efforts have gone a long way to strengthening this area of Nepali civil society.
Progress can be slow, contested and fragile. Yet, when local voices are heard, when women and marginalised communities are included, and when institutions are encouraged to become more accountable and responsive, meaningful change becomes possible.
Lessons learned
Many of these highlights and milestones are laid out in more detail in a new learning paper that captures key reflections and lessons from Alert’s 25 years of peacebuilding work in Nepal. The paper highlights the importance of understanding local context, sustaining trust-based relationships, investing in conflict sensitivity, linking local realities with national policy processes, and ensuring that peacebuilding work remains flexible enough to respond to changing political and social dynamics. It also identifies continuing challenges such as restricted funding, donor dependency, shrinking civic space, political instability, and funding gaps.
For me, this paper is more than a record of programmes and achievements. It is a reflection of relationships built over time, of lessons learned through humility, and of the importance of staying present in difficult and changing contexts. It reminds us that peacebuilding is rarely linear. Progress can be slow, contested and fragile. Yet, when local voices are heard, when women and marginalised communities are included, and when institutions are encouraged to become more accountable and responsive, meaningful change becomes possible.
Nepal’s peace process has shown us that sustaining peace goes far beyond ending violence. It demands structural inclusion, strong rule of law, renewed trust between citizens and the state, and spaces where every voice is heard with dignity. These lessons have deeply shaped Alert’s work across Nepal and Asia, and they continue to shape me as a peace practitioner.
As I reflect on my journey from a young girl advocating for her right to education, to that first Women, Peace and Security workshop in 2001, and now contributing to this shared legacy, I am filled with deep gratitude and a profound sense of purpose. I carry with me the faith of my family, especially my father, and the courage and stories of the women who first taught me the true meaning of peace. I am equally grateful to the colleagues and partners who have walked this path with Alert in Nepal. It is my hope that the lessons from Nepal continue to inspire inclusive, locally grounded, and lasting peace in the years ahead.
