KATHMANDU: The family members, friends and well-wishers established Ujwal Thapa Foundation (UTF) in the memory of late leader Thapa.

The foundation was launched in Kathmandu on Friday. The Foundation has been established by his family members, friends and well-wishers as a non-partisan, non-profit initiative to keep Ujwal’s legacy alive.

Leader Thapa was a Nepali youth leader and activist, entrepreneur, and social worker. He was the president of the Bibeksheel Nepali party.

Born on January 7, 1977 in Syangja district, Ujwal died on June 1, 2021 due to post-COVID complications. It is a platform to give continuity to his efforts in various sectors in an effort to build empowered, empathetic, and entrepreneurial societies.

The UTF strives to practice the values that Ujwal embodied and share his contributions in the society, the Foundation said in a press release. The vision for UTF is to create empowered, empathetic and entrepreneurial societies.

Its mission is to motivate and enhance human capacity for policy making, leadership development, and movement strengthening to attain collaborative, sustainable, and rapid social transformation in Nepal. The goals of the foundation are to facilitate leadership development; contribute to local, national, and international policy making; engage in social campaigns; build a just and “Guru Nation”; promote entrepreneurship; work in areas of environmental concerns; and support initiatives in education, health, agriculture, information technology and other sectors. More details about its proposed programs, leadership and advisory teams can be found on its website, www.ujwalthapafoundation.org.

The website was launched by Uday Bahadur Thapa and Shanta Thapa, Ujwal’s parents, at the programme. The executive committee, formed under the leadership of Erica Adhikary, Ujwal’s wife, invites input and suggestions to make this endeavor more meaningful and productive for all segments of the society.

Prior to setting up the foundation, Ujwal’s family, friends and well-wishers distributed over NRs. 4.2 million, which was the surplus fund after covering his medical expenses from the funds collected from over 2,800 well-wishers from around the world, to seven different Non-Profit/ Non-Governmental organizations.

In July 2021, the following organizations were handed the money amidst a program organized at Ujwal’s home in Kathmandu: Bhore Nepal from Sarlahi, Heartbeat from Lalitpur, Madhesh Human Rights Home from Kapilvastu, Nepal Critical Care Development Foundation from Kathmandu, National Innovation Center from Kathmandu, Oda Foundation from Kalikot, Sano Paila from Birgunj which had projects implemented all across the country. Most of the organizations have completed their project as planned and the remaining organizations are expected to complete the projects by March 2022, it is said. (RSS)