Poorna Kanta Adhikary was born and brought up in Lamjung, Nepal. He has an interdisciplinary academic background with Mathematics, Natural and Social Sciences, and Education. He had his formal studies in Nepal, India and USA and post-doctoral informal studies and work (internship) on ‘Third World Education and Development’ with Prof. Paulo Freire in Switzerland with field study in Latin America, especially Chile.
He has taught in the universities in Nepal, Chile and Iran and gave a series of lectures on Nepal’s development, and conflict transformation and peacebuilding in Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, USA (including at Harvard) and Canada. He has provided post-graduate level courses in education, human and natural resource studies, strategic planning and conflict transformation. He also took the leading role in preparing an integrated natural science course bringing all disciplines in five themes, while working at Bu Ali Sina University, Iran. He also supported in national educational reform in Chile and Peru including writing science texts for children.
He was a member of Nepal National Education Commission (1990-92) and National TVET Policy Development (2002-4) and taking a lead role in strategic planning of the use of National Water Resource Strategy of Nepal in 2001-2 and engaged in conceptualizing National Skill Testing Board (NSTB). He was a member of the task force in conceptualization of Gandaki University, Pokhara, Nepal and briefly served as a member of its Board of Trustees in 2020, and currently he is Advisor to University of Nepal, which is being established.
Dr. Adhikary has trained UN, governmental and non-governmental as well as academic personnel, and political, civil society and trade union leaders in/from several countries of Asia, Oceania, Africa, Europe, Middle East, North and South Americas. He has worked on short term/long term assignments with several governments, bi-lateral and multi-lateral agencies and NGOs and academic institutions in several countries in the above regions. He is nationally and internationally known as an independent professional for his work as educationist, development thinker and peace builder as well as a process manager and contributed in a number of international forums around the world. For over a decade he was the Vice-President and President of Society for International Development (SID) Nepal Chapter and has led Nepali delegations in the international conferences. He was also a member of the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) training team on Early Warning (of Conflicts) and Preventive Measures (EWPM). He has provided technical support to a number of UN agencies operating in Nepal and elsewhere. In 2012, he has been accredited as ‘Peace Professional’ by Civilian Peace Service Canada.
Since 2002 Dr. Adhikary has been the Founding President of Institute for Conflict Management Peace and Development (ICPD), Kathmandu, which has worked locally at the community level, and nationally and internationally in conflict transformation and peacebuilding. Under his leadership ICPD in collaboration with Karuna Center for Peacebuilding (KCP) USA, US Department of State and faculties of Harvard and Tufts Universities, had jointly provided training during 2010-2011 in Nepal and USA to Nepal’s senior political leaders of major parties, their factions and regional movements on Political Negotiation and State Building. A Backchannel Group made up from them continued working with ICPD in contentious issues of peacebuilding, and constitution writing and its implementation. Dr. Adhikary has also been the Chairman of Lamjung Skill Development Foundation (LSDF), which was established to provide economic peacebuilding programs to contribute to attain sustainable peace in Nepal.
As a facilitator/trainer using a system approach to strategic planning with more than 1500 events around the world adopting participatory technology, he has worked in consensus building among various groups of diverse background and ideologies. He has produced hundreds of trainers and facilitators around the world to work in this area. He feels at ease working with people right from the grass roots to national and international level.
He has worked in Spanish, French, Hindi and Farsi (Persian) besides Nepali and English.