Narayan Shrestha, the presenter of Nepal's popular TV and radio debate show Sajha Sawal, has won Today's Youth Asia Young Achievers' Award.
I'm really happy to get this Young Achievers Award. It shows to me that the efforts of the young generation of Nepalis who are working hard to improve civil society and media are finally being recognised.
I come from a small village called Ghyalchowk in a very remote part of central Nepal. From my home it is two hours walk to the main road and then three hours by bus to the capital, Kathmandu.
When I finished my education in the mid-1990s, the Maoist revolution was just beginning. After school, I moved to Kathmandu where the media was covering the Maoist struggle. At the time this was quite an unfamiliar political ideology and it sparked my interest in political and current affairs. I became interested in how information is disseminated to the public.
At the time, I was fresh out of school and trying to decide what I wanted to do in life. Working in the media appealed to me because it can help to inform and enable people to participate in society. Journalism at its best can be an important and worthwhile occupation, especially when it changes people's lives in a positive way.
I joined the World Service Trust when we first started the radio pilot of Sajha Sawal ('Our Questions'). The show was very successful and now also runs on television – recently we celebrated our 100th episode.
I'm a senior producer for the team and also the presenter of the show. This means that I have a lot of responsibility in organising the discussion topics, researching issues and picking the guests and panellists. Sometimes I’ll also make reports but not that often as I don’t have much time!
It's been very rewarding to see the impact the show continues to have. We are popular amongst ordinary Nepalis but even the politicians pay attention to us.
For instance a few weeks ago on the programme we had a debate about the future of Nepal’s federal structure. Then yesterday we recorded a programme with Giriraj Mani Pokharel, a senior Maoist politician, and he said that the debate on the federal structure was so useful that it was discussed and used as a reference point for the 'real' debate in the Constituent Assembly!
One of the best things about working on Sajha Sawal is the creativity of the team. We can explore lots of ideas and concepts. I have the opportunity and freedom to make my imagination real.
It makes me very proud that we travel around the country so much and that we go to places where Nepali media normally never go to. We did a programme six months ago in the far west of Nepal, near the border with India. At the time there was a lot of public consultation on the plans for the new constitution (which is due to be written in May 2010) and it was fascinating to be so close to India and see the differences – there was running water, no electricity shortages.
So in that area Nepalese people wanted prosperity and economic growth and we got some really interesting voices. That's what makes our programme so important – it's getting those voices that aren't heard very often.
For our next programmes we're trying hard to get the President, Ram Baran Yadav, and the former King on the programme. It's looking hopeful so fingers crossed.