Pragati Sharma holds a master’s degree in Mountain Forestry from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria. Sharma is affiliated with the South Asia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS) as a Research Fellow. She has over 12 years of experience working with various agencies, including international donors and development partners such as UN WFP, UNDP, OPM, LFP/DFID. She has a strong background and expertise in the interdisciplinary aspects of natural resource management, climate change adaptation, resilience, disaster risk reduction, agriculture, food security and geographic information systems. She has extensive experience in managing and coordinating programs, taking a key role in leading climate change and resilience initiatives in various organizations. Notably, she has been involved from the inception and design of Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPA) framework to their on the ground implementation, ensuring the translation of policies into impactful actions.
She has closely worked with high level government officials and acting as an interface between UN WFP and GoN especially with Ministry of Forests and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) and Ministry of Finance (MoF). Her contributions include coordinating with different stakeholders, facilitating effective government liaisons, and involved in the translation of policies into actions, contributing to government policy documents, such as the National Climate Change Policy 2019 and the LAPA Framework in 2019.
In the recent past, Pragati has served in several projects. They include:
- Climate Change Project Coordinator in United Nations World Food Program (UN WFP) and leading a project “Adapting to Climate Induced Threats to Food Production and Food Security in the Karnali region of Nepal”, implemented by UN WFP and jointly executed by UN WFP and the GoN/MoFE (March 2019- 3rd September 2023)
- Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Expert- Oxford Policy Management (OPM), Kathmandu, Nepal (Aug 2018- Feb 2019)
- Climate Change Officer- Nepal Climate Change Support Program, implemented by Government of Nepal, Ministry of Forests and Environment with the technical assistance of United Nations Development Program (June 2013- July 2018)
- District Program Officer- Livelihoods and Forestry Program (LFP), a bilateral aid program funded by DFID, (May 2010- Oct 2011)
- Research Assistant- Forest Action, (Nov 2006-Sep 2007)
