Description
2007 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Community Leadership from Nepal. After studying abroad, Mahabir Pun established a high school, teaching computer classes and paving the way for the donation of computers in his birthplace of Nangi Village in the Himalayan foothills of western Nepal. It was a near-impossible task to connect the remote village to the Internet. Mr. Pun partnered with the British Broadcasting Corporation, which published his concerns. Within a year, volunteers from Europe and United States helped him rig a wireless connection between Nangi and the neighboring village of Ramche, using TV dish antennas mounted on trees. Mr. Pun’s wireless network eventually extended to twelve villages, with the technology now being used for education, livelihood, and healthcare services to these villages. Through Pun’s efforts, wireless technology in Nepal today has been legitimized and democratized.
Some of the specific objectives of the Nepal Wireless Networking Project of Mahabir Pun, is to create a live tele-teaching program and provide e-learning materials to students and teachers through the Intranet in order to meet the shortage of…
Another specific objective of the Nepal Wireless Networking Project of Mahabir Pun is the establishment of tele-hospital in urban areas and link it to the district level hospitals and rural health centers in order to increase the quality and…
In 1997, Pun began teaching computer classes at the Himanchal Higher Secondary School of Myagda District, Nangi Village in Nepal with a donation of four (4) used computers from Australia. (Magsaysay Citation) Succeedingly, a $20,000 grant from World…
By the end of 2003, Nangi village in Nepal was online already through the initiatives of Mahabir Pun with his Nepal Wireless Networking Project. Nangi Villagers have started making papers (as shown in second and third photos), jams, and juices which…
In Nangi, Mahabir Pun volunteered in setting up the first ever secondary school in the village. The Himanchal Higher Secondary was established as a village high school supported by the Himanchal Educational Foundation, an American non-profit group.…
Pun envisions to bring communication tools for the villagers of Nangi. His Nepal Wireless Networking Project transformed this vision into reality. One of the objectives of the project is to provide Internet phone system through VOIP or Voice Over…
Nepal Wireless Networking Project main objective, according to Mahabir Pun in his lecture for the Magsaysay Awards entitled "Connecting Rural Nepal to the Global Village: Strategies and Lessons Learned," is to maximize the benefits of wireless…
E-Network Research and Development (ENRD) is a non-profit and non-government organization founded in 2003 for the creation and transfer of economic self-sufficiency (e-governance) through the growing global concept of e-village. The main strength of…
The National Education and Research Network (NREN) is the only consortium in Nepal that has been established as a facilitator to support for advanced research and education network through the means of Information and Communication Technology and as…
Commencement speech of Mahabir Pun upon receiving his honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, from University of Nebraska at Kearney in December 21, 2007. It gives an update on the ongoing initiatives of Mahabir Pun's Nepal Wireless Networking…