The Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) continued its three-day Strategic Capacity Building Workshop in Godawari on Thursday, moving into the second day of a training programme designed to strengthen the leadership, strategic planning and institutional management skills of officials from the association's National Coordination Councils (NCCs). The workshop opened on October 28 and is scheduled to conclude on October 30, 2026. It is being organized under the second phase of the Migrants Rights and Decent Work (MiRiDeW) project, an initiative that places the development of diaspora institutions at the centre of its migrant rights agenda. The venue, Godawari, sits on the southern rim of the Kathmandu Valley and is a setting often used for workshops and retreats away from the bustle of the capital.

Sharpening Skills Across the Global Network

At the heart of the Godawari gathering is a straightforward but consequential objective: ensuring that the people who lead NRNA's country-level structures are equipped to run them well. The NCCs form the backbone of the association's international presence, representing it in the countries where Nepali communities have settled, and the effectiveness of the wider organization depends heavily on how capable these local chapters are. By bringing NCC officials together in one place, the workshop is intended to build a shared base of skills and approaches that each council can carry back to its own country.

Three Pillars of the Programme

According to details available about the workshop, the training concentrates on three interconnected areas of organizational capability:

  • Leadership: developing the personal and collective leadership qualities that NCC officials need in order to guide their councils, mobilize members and represent Nepali communities abroad with confidence.
  • Strategic planning: strengthening the ability of councils to set priorities, design programmes and plan ahead rather than simply reacting to events as they arise.
  • Institutional management: improving the day-to-day running of council structures, from governance and coordination to the systems that keep an organization functioning over the long term.

Together, these three pillars address a challenge familiar to volunteer-run organizations scattered across the world: commitment and enthusiasm are rarely in short supply, but structured capacity often is. A council with strong strategic planning can use its resources more deliberately, and one with sound institutional management is better placed to serve its members consistently over time. The NRNA's decision to devote three days to these skills reflects the weight the association places on the professionalism of its national-level structures.

The MiRiDeW Connection

The workshop is not a standalone exercise. It forms part of the second phase of the Migrants Rights and Decent Work (MiRiDeW) project, an initiative whose name signals its twin preoccupations: safeguarding the rights of Nepali migrants and advancing decent work for them. That the project has progressed to a second phase points to a continuation of earlier activities, with the current round deepening the groundwork already laid. Embedding a capacity-building workshop within this framework indicates that the association regards well-run institutions as a practical foundation for its advocacy on behalf of migrants.

The emphasis on decent work echoes language used widely in international labour rights discussions, where the term encompasses fair income, workplace safety, social protection and the ability of workers to be heard. For an association whose constituency consists largely of Nepalis living and working outside the country, the capacity of its councils to plan strategically and manage themselves professionally has a direct bearing on how effectively they can engage with such issues. Stronger councils, in principle, mean stronger representation for the very people the MiRiDeW project is designed to serve.

Day Two Under Way, Wrap-Up on Friday

Thursday's sessions marked the midpoint of the programme, with participants now past the opening day and heading into the final stretch. The workshop is set to conclude on Friday, October 30, wrapping up three days of concentrated engagement in Godawari. The premise underpinning the training is that officials will return to their respective councils carrying not only sharper skills in leadership, planning and management, but also the benefit of having worked through the material alongside counterparts from other countries.

Details of the individual sessions, resource persons and participant numbers were not immediately available in initial reports. The workshop was reported by RatoPati, which noted that the programme entered its second day on Thursday as scheduled.

For the NRNA, the Godawari workshop underlines a straightforward message: the strength of the global Nepali diaspora's organizational voice rests on the competence of its national councils. As the second phase of the MiRiDeW project moves forward, the outcomes of this week's training will offer an early indication of how that investment in people translates into stronger institutions and more effective representation on the ground.