The newly formed International Visitors Program Alumni Association (IVAAN) organized an interaction early this week to debate on the role of IV alumni in their community and the country.

The IV alumni consists of hundreds of professionals including government officials, planners, policy-makers, journalists, scholars and teachers who have visited the United States under the International Visitors Leadership Program, formerly known as IVP. The US State Department invites four to five thousand of selected people from across the world on a three-week tour of the US cities in order to acquaint them with American policy-making process, society and perspective.

There are 700 IV alumni members in Nepal alone. “At a time when the whole country is engaged in debating the social and political transformation process, we believe the IV alumni members, too, should discuss about their possible role for the country,” said Lok Deep Thapa, chairman of the ad hoc committee, IVAAN.

Addressing the interaction program, Dr. Shankar Sharma, former vice chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC) and an IVP fellow, said the nation was demanding not only peace but also development. “If existing inequalities and non-development are the root causes of the conflict, time is now ripe for addressing these problems,” he said.

Dr. Sharma stressed on three major areas in which the country needs to focus – generating resources, absorbing resources and formulating strategy/priority. “At least for the next 8 to 10 years, the country will have no option other than to rely on foreign assistance. And in order to get the assistance, we will need to formulate specific strategies and priorities,” he said.

Speaking on political situation, Tara Nath Dahal, former president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists and an IVP fellow, said that the country was passing through ‘broad civilizational transition.’ Chief guest at the program, Minister for Local Development, Rajendra Pandey, who is also an IVP fellow, spoke at length about managing the country’s transition towards a peaceful, prosperous and democratic entity.