Martin Chautari

Martin Chautari (henceforth Chautari or MC) began as an informal discussion group in Kathmandu in 1991, allowing development professionals, social activists and academics to meet every two weeks to share insights and experiences related to Nepali development and society. The founders of this discussion group included the Nepali power engineer Bikas Pandey, the Norwegian engineer Odd Hoftun and the Norwegian academic Martin Hoftun. In 1995, the name Martin Chautari was adopted in memory of Martin Hoftun, who was tragically killed in an airplane accident in 1992. After being managed by the Centre for Social Research and Development for six years, in 2002 Chautari became registered as a separate non-government organization (NGO) in Kathmandu, Nepal. Its offices are currently located in Thapathali, Kathmandu. Since its inception, Chautaris core objective has been to enhance the quality of public dialogue in Nepal, particularly in matters pertaining to development, democracy, civil libe...