Upasana Sharma is pursuing her master's degree in Sustainable Development from the Kathmandu University School of Education. Her research interests areas are agriculture, climate change, gender and social inclusion. Currently, she works for a local NGO as a Program officer.
As a student of Sustainable Development, what is the importance of data in your study?
As a student of sustainable development, it is necessary for me to stay up to date on the data related to the Sustainable Development Goals. Data are useful for a student like me as a reference for carrying out analysis. Using authentic data is important for my study, because it is the basis for strengthening my reasoning and verifying my purpose of writing or saying anything in regards to sustainable development. In this way, collection of data, knowing how to use the available data, analyzing data and dissemination of information is an important part of my study.
In which area are you doing your master’s dissertation and how you are searching for the data needed for your dissertation?
My master's dissertation is about the challenges women face due to the ongoing feminization of agriculture. In additon, I am trying to look into relevant policy/strategies to analyze how they are able to address the challenges posed by the feminization of agriculture. In doing so, for the data, I rely on scientific journals, articles and other literature found through search engines. Except for that, I use online portals such as the websites of various ministries, organizations, which have relevant data for my research.
What are the biggest challenges you faced while searching for data as a student?
One of the biggest challenges while searching for data is not knowing the availability of authentic and up to date data. In other words, searching for data is quite a hectic task when you don’t know where to look for it. I faced many challenges at the beginning, but slowly I was able to learn ways of getting access to data available online.
As a student of Sustainable Development, what is your opinion regarding the Sustainable Development Goals and how data can help to achieve these goals in the context of Nepal?
The Sustainable Development Goals are not just merely a set of interlinked Goals, they are also the plan of action that is necessary to transform our world.Sustainable development uses data as evidence in the forms of indicators, and these indicators show the progress happening on various goals. I personally think that Nepal needs to work more on making data open as a part of the data revolution as it is linked with the right to information. In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals in Nepal, data can play a very important role as it helps to plan, monitor and intervene in reaching the desired impact of the Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, data for the Sustainable Development Goals is helpful in understanding the problems ,which need to be tackled in order to achieve the goals. Side by side, it helps in informing decision makers regarding what the trends are and what should be done for sustainable development.
As a student, what's your view regarding the usefulness of data available through the Nepal in Data Portal?
As a student, I feel that the Nepal in Data portal is really useful to students like us, who are looking for authentic data free of cost. Not only is there no other online data portal like the Nepal in Data portal, is also time-saving and easily accessible.
As a student, what message would you like to give to your friends or other students regarding the importance of data and the use of the Nepal in Data portal?
To my friends and other students, I want to say that, data speaks more than words, so make sure to backup your information through various data available. Nepal in Data has a lot to provide. It is informative with up-to-date infographs on various topics, and the best part of it is that it is free of cost.