Team Type: Professional Staff

Ms. Pranita Thapa serves as an Executive Director of New ERA. She holds Master’s degree in Social Science from North Bengal University, India. Ms. Thapa has lead a number of studies conducted by New ERA in the capacity of Team Leader. She has carried out various evaluation studies in different fields like reproductive health, media and communication, trafficking of children and women, migration, HIV/AIDS, displaced children, community development, human rights,  gender issues and so on. Ms. Thapa is with New ERA since 2005.

Mr. Kiran Acharya is a Deputy Director in New ERA. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) from Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. He is an experienced researcher expertise both quantitative and qualitative research methods including the use of SPSS and STATA for data analysis. He was involved in various research project conducted by New ERA such as midline and endline survey of Kawach- chlorhexidine, 2015 Nepal Health Facility Survey, 2016 NDHS, Futher Analysis of NHFS and NDHS and so on. Mr. Acharya is with New ERA since 2013.

Ms. Nira Joshi is Senior Research Director in New ERA. She holds Master degree in public health from the International Institute of Health Studies, University of  Toronto, Canada in 2008, and Masters degree in sociology from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu Nepal in 2003. She has lead a number of national-level survey research on nutrition. Her expertise is health and nutrition, M&E, and so on. She is with New ERA since 2008.

Dr. Udbodh Rijal holds a PhD degree in Economics from Wayne State University, USA. He is health and labor economist by training and he has contributed in several studies conducted by New ERA in the capacity of Team Leader, Research Associate, Statistician and Sampling Expert in diverse areas including food security and nutrition, maternal and child health, school meal program, agriculture, water supply and sanitation and others. Besides, he has many years of teaching experience both in Nepal and USA, where he taught several economics courses including micro and macro economics, business economics, natural resource economics, quantitative techniques, statistics and econometrics. He is a regular staff of New ERA since 2017.

Mr. Nirakar Kumar Acharya holds a Master degree in Human Ecology from Vrije University of Brussels, Belgium and Master Degree in Science from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He has received a number of international trainings and actively participated in several international seminars and workshops.  Mr. Acharya has led a number of large scale National Survey covering more than 5000 samples and participatory research projects in various sectors in socioeconomic fields.  He has also carried out a number of researches and evaluation studies in different field as such health, nutrition, socioeconomic, gender and Dalit issues, agriculture, Environmental Impact Assessment, rural poverty, natural resources, and other Community Development Projects. Mr. Acharya has been with New ERA since 1996.

Ms. Sajani Manandhar holds a Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) from Mahidol University, Bangkok, 2013. Also, she has her bachelor’s degree in Nursing (B.Sc. Nursing) from BPKIHS, Dharan. Some of the key research projects to her credits are i) Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2022, ii) Food and Nutrition Security Enhancement Project (FANSEP) (including follow-up phone survey), iii) Further analysis of DHS data regarding trends and factors affecting zero-vaccination status of children for measles containing vaccine in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor-Leste and South East Asian Region, iv) Baseline Palika Survey of UNICEF-2018-19, v) SHOPS PLUS Nepal Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) Survey-2017, vi) Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016, and vii) Nepal Health Facility Survey 2015. She has been working in the capacity of team lead for different surveys. Ms. Manandhar has been working in New ERA since 2015.

Ms. Jyoti Manandhar is working as Research Officer in New ERA. She holds Masters degree in Sociology from Punjab University, Chandigarh, India. She has developed her expertise in gender issues, program sustainability, Conflict Management and Peace Building, Monitoring and Evaluation of the program, and so on. Ms. Manandhar is with New ERA since 2005.

Ms. Sharmila Prasai holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science. She has been working as a Data Processor/Analyst with New ERA since 1982. She has participated in various national and international training programs. Ms. Prasai’s major responsibilities are to develop a data entry/editing program and analyze data.

Dr. Prearna Khadka is a medical doctor and completed her MBBS from Kathmandu University with Master of Public Health (MPH) from Mahidol University, Bangkok. She has holds about eight years of working experience in various areas of public health and prior working as a medical officer in Tribhuwan University teaching Hospital. She has been involved with New ERA since 2015 and has been working in the capacity of Research Officer/Team Leader for several projects. She contributed as technical coordinator/Health Expert for Nepal Health Facility survey 2015 and 2020. She has sound understanding of tools and instrument design, facilitating training to enumerators and master trainers, managing and monitoring field team during data collection, assisting data collection team in editing and checking data inconsistency. She has both quantitative and qualitative research skills and analysis. Dr Khadka recently led the Post campaign coverage survey of Measles Rubella Supplementary Immunization Activity (MR SIA 2020) in Nepal conducted by New ERA for WHO.