Prem Sapkota
Deputy Executive Director
Prem Sapkota is the Deputy Executive Director of Purak Asia with more than fifteen years of expertise managing grantmaking initiatives in Nepal while working for a global philanthropic organization. In the aftermath of the peace process in 2007, he pioneered the use of social dialogue to bring together divergent ideas and thoughts across the country through initiatives like Lokmatko Khoji. He has also contributed to innovative youth initiatives including Youth Action Fund, New Media and Debate, which were crucial in fostering a culture of debate and motivating young people towards critical thinking. He led the Policy Fellowship Program and developed the idea for consortium grants on elections, which brought together a number of groups to work on free and fair elections. Prem has always played a pivotal role in the organizational strategic writing, budgeting and leading the team. Prem holds a graduate degree in anthropology and has attended several non-degree programs, including the Social Data School at Cambridge Digital Humanities, University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, the Leadership for Results program at INSEAD in Singapore, Public Policy and Debate at the Central European University in Budapest and the Public Policy Evaluation program at the University of Maryland in the United States. Also, he sat on the International Debate Education Association’s Asia Advisory Board (IDEA) from 2010-2013.
