Suman Kharel

Curriculum relevance for well-being and resilience is an emerging focus. This review has examined how curriculum design relates to social, emotional, cultural, ecological and community resilience. Following a systematic review, studies were included and synthesized thematically. Relevance was achieved relationally through interdisciplinary designs spanning cognitive, emotional, social, spiritual, aesthetic and ecological dimensions. Findings show a focus on place-based learning, reflective practice and systematic thinking. Curriculum infusion strengthens mental resilience, social-emotional integration reduces stress, and community-engaged designs increase civic engagement. Global South representation, longitudinal evidence and practitioner and student voice remain limited. Relevance advances through cross-subject embedding, aligned assessment, teacher development and participatory governance.

Sustainable energy consumption, economic growth and carbon emission (CO ₂ ) is an ongoing global agenda for optimizing energy use including Nepal. This paper examines the effect of renewable energy consumption, economic growth, urban population growth, and trade openness on CO ₂ in Nepal, revisiting environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The time series analysis was done using ARDL framework to examine whether Nepal follows the EKC pattern, which indicates that environmental degradation first increases with economic growth and later declines after reaching a certain level. The estimated long-run coefficients show that a percent increase in GDP growth rate is associated with 0.012 percent fall in CO2 emission. However, a 1 percent increase in squared GDP growth is associated with 0.001 unit rise in CO2 emission in Nepal. Moreover, a 1 percent rise in renewable energy use and urban population growth is associated with 0.21 percent and 0.043 percent fall in CO2 emission respectively. Finally, the result shows that a 1 percent raise in trade openness is associated with 0.12 percent raise in CO2 emission. Moreover, the error correction term (ECT) is negative and statistically significant at the 1 percent level, with a coefficient of -0.5612, which confirms the existence of a stable long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. Therefore, the coefficient indicates that approximately 56.1 percent of the previous period’s deviation from the long-run equilibrium is corrected in the current period. Hence, the significance and appropriate sign of the ECT validate the long-run causality included in the model as dependent and explanatory variables, supporting co-integration among them. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate regarding optimization energy consumption by providing Nepal-specific evidence on the complex interplay between energy consumption, economic growth and carbon emission. JEL Classification: Q56, Q43, C32

This study synthesizes international research from 2015 to 2025 to evaluate how effective vocational education and training (VET) programs help students achieve sustainable employment. It combines a systematic review of 55 sources with a bibliometric analysis of 7,469 publications using VOSviewer and Dimensions.ai. Employment outcomes ranged widely, from 93% placement rates in Saudi Arabian healthcare VET to 43% competency-matched employment in Indonesia. No pooled effect size was estimable due to heterogeneity in outcome measurement; however, six randomized controlled trials from Sub-Saharan Africa reported positive employment odds among youth, with effects strongest within 12 months of program completion. Fundamental employability skills, including creativity, adaptability, and problem-solving, consistently emerge as key drivers of successful school-to-work transitions. However, post-program support and the alignment between the curriculum and the industry remain major obstacles that need to be addressed. VET programs succeed when they collaborate with local industries.

Digital Transformation (DT) is common to facilitate overall efficiency to make optimization of scarce resources and ensure overall efficiency gain business performance. This paper aims to assess the perceived impact of DT on operational efficiency gain of SMEs in Nepal. The study population comprised SMEs that had been operating for at least the past 12 months in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts of Nepal from which samples were selected during first quarter of 2025 through purposive sampling within predefined strata as the cross-sectional survey of 384 SMEs to assess SMEs’ operational efficiency. The findings indicate that digitization level (β = 0.706, p < 0.001), digital payment density (β = 0.287, p < 0.001), efficiency in cost reduction ((β = 0.065, p < 0.001), and size of firm (β = 0.169, p < 0.001) indicating significant contribution on increase in operational efficiency. The estimated model explains 53 percent of the variance in operational efficiency, suggesting a good fit acceptable to the domain of behavioral economics. The findings suggest that digitization is inevitable for enhancing resource optimization and gaining competitive advantage. Based on the findings, policy implication may be suggested as digital capacity building of small enterprises by means of training, affordable digital infrastructure, and technology adoption incentives that can ensure efficiency in operations.

This paper addresses the central research question: to what extent do local government theories contemplate the fundamental essence of local governance and its accountability? Drawing on an extensive review of secondary literature, including books, academic journals, and policy documents, the study explores key theories, including governance theory, deliberative democracy, public choice theory, and accountability approaches. The analysis is thematically structured, beginning with conceptual clarifications and progressing toward theoretical and policy-oriented insights. The findings reveal that the philosophical foundation of local government is rooted in liberal democratic values, public choice theory, and the principles of decentralization. The paper highlights that decentralized governance systems require proximity-based engagement between service providers and citizens, with social accountability serving as a key mechanism. In Nepal, the trajectory of local governance reflects a gradual shift from centralized control toward a more participatory and decentralized model, marked by legislative and constitutional milestones, including the Local Government Operational Act 2017 and the 2015 Constitution. Overall, the study offers a comprehensive synthesis of the theoretical underpinnings and conceptual frameworks surrounding local government and its accountability. It emphasizes the evolving ideology of local governance, emphasizing responsiveness, ethics, effectiveness, and citizen-centric service delivery.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role that remittances play in enhancing the economic and social resilience of Nepal’s tourism industry in the face of socioeconomic challenges. This research highlights how remittance inflows are a financial mechanism that sustains and stabilizes the tourism industry. Rather than viewing remittances and tourism income as complementary sources of revenue, this research focuses on how remittances serve as a source of revenue. The study investigates the short-term and long-term relationships between remittances and tourism income by employing time-series data from 1975 to 2023, applying the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, and conducting Granger causality tests. According to the findings, remittances significantly contribute to the tourism industry by increasing households’ disposable income, boosting the demand for domestic tourism, and opening up opportunities for infrastructure development. Furthermore, the Granger Causality test results indicate that remittances serve as a financial buffer, thereby mitigating the adverse effects of economic downturns and external shocks on the tourism industry. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating remittance flows into tourism development strategies to guarantee the sector’s capacity for adaptation and sustainability during economic uncertainty.

Agriculture sector is primary source of national economy and family livelihoods in Nepal. This study thus aims to appraise existing agricultural delivery functions of local governments that have affected livelihoods of the Nepalese farmers. In doing so, we purposively selected Faktalnglung rural municipality (Mountain), Maijogmai rural municipality (Hill) and Kamal rural municipality (Tarai) of Mechi Zone as a field of the study. The required information were generated through in-depth interview (n=15) and focus group discussion (n=6) which were then interpreted from the theoretical perspectives of multi-level governance and agriculture modernization. The study found that local governments are functioning agriculture service delivery through devolved power/jurisdictions. The farming activities are becoming commercialized and modernized that helped to improve livelihoods of the farmers residing in Mountain, Hill and Tarai regions. Some skilled and energetic farmers are willing to involve in agro-tourism entrepreneurship development. That is possible due to the financial subsidy support system, vocational skill development training programs and access to local markets. However, an integrated approach that links agriculture with tourism activities including cooperation among the government, community people and private enterprises is essential. Therefore, local governments need to develop and implement bylaws to functionalize agricultural service delivery functions efficiently and effectively. The federation also need to implement land use plan, supportive policies for commercial farming and youth entrepreneurship for promoting agro-tourism activities.

Background: Even though poverty has decreased in recent years, it is still challenging in Nepal, the rate of decrease is slower. Informal labor accounts for the bulk of urban livelihoods in the research area, and little is known about their susceptibility to poverty and related risk factors. To fill this gap this study examined the prevalence and major determinants of poverty in urban families at different household income quantiles levels in six metropolises of Nepal. Methods: The determinants of poverty in the informal economy have been measured using the FGT poverty index. Similarly, the stabilized indicator (obtained by dividing per-capita income by the poverty line) has been used to examine the determinants of poverty. The inflation-adjusted poverty line income based on NLSS (2010/11) has been used as a reference. Results: The determinants of urban informal household poverty were total family size, education, and working experience of the respondents. The study found that poverty incidence, gap, and severity were significantly higher in Lalitpur Metropolitan City compared to other five metropolitan cities during the study period. This study identified age, education, household size and experience as essential variables. Among them, the age of the respondents and household size are potential measures to reduce poverty in the urban informal sector. This empirical enquiry has revealed that household size is negatively related to poverty incidence. In contrast, the age of respondents is found to be positively related to poverty incidence. Conclusion: The study provides policy suggestions for supporting informal economic activities and employment in Nepal, beneficial to local, provincial, and federal governments, and applicable to other contexts with similar informal economy and poverty. Novelty: This study investigates at the factors that contribute to poverty in urban informal families. It reveals how substantial an impact poverty levels have on variables like family size, education, and employment experience. Household size and respondents age are important factors that impact the incidence of poverty.

In order to understand demographic-urbanization interrelationship in the Nepalese context based on three sources of data (e.g., World Bank, UN and 2021 National Population and Housing Census), the article presented some demographic variables (e.g., crude birth rate, fertility rate, life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, and migration) and percentage of urban population residing in Nepal during 1960-2022. These demographics played vital role in the level of urbanization. The plausible reason is that crude birth rates, fertility rates, and infant mortality rate have been declining gradually whereas life expectancy at birth and migration rates have been rising since 1960-2022. The paper also reviewed definition of urbanization in Nepal, indicating there is problems of definition of urbanization in Nepal. The sister organization of Government of Nepal (GoN), e.g., National Statistics Office (NSO) has introduced 3-categrory of new classification (e.g. urban, per-urban and rural) based on wards of municipals. The paper suggests that such classifications are significant to carry out research in the future in addition to restructuring the existing urban-rural definitions.