Photo courtesy of Tsechu Dolma
Tsechu Dolma, MPA ’15, has received a Brower Youth Award in recognition of her efforts to create a model for sustainable food security in Nepal.
Six such awards are given each year, honoring young leaders of North America who pursue projects to benefit the environment.
Dolma’s project, a community greenhouse built with locally sourced material, aims to help residents of Geling, a village in Nepal’s Upper Mustang region, become more resilient to climate change.
Dolma was raised in Nepal and came to the United States at age 10 when her family sought political asylum as Tibetan refugees. She conceived the project after traveling as a college student to Nepal, where she worked as a research assistant on an ethnography project.
Upon returning to the United States, Dolma consulted with Nepalese expatriates and academics. With support from the Rubin foundation and Columbia University, she again traveled to Nepal to study previous development projects.
Her research led to the development of the idea for the community greenhouse. Villagers responded favorably to the idea, and construction concluded this fall.
Dolma and her work in Nepal have also been featured on NBC News.
Congratulations, Tsechu!
