Among many of the most at-risk nations due to coronavirus are "developing countries," with limited economic and medical capacity Nepal seems to exemplify that trend. However, in our recent Digitomics Podcast, Dipak Gyawali is confident that there is light at the end of the tunnel, mainly because of Nepal's robust civil society, which gives them a fighting chance. In this episode of Digitomics, we spoke to Gyawali about Nepal's COVID-19 experience, international development, and the opportunities presented from Nepal's digitization. 

Dipak Gyawali is currently Pragya (Academician) of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). He is initiating the Colloquium on the Philosophy of Science and the Sociology of Technology. Currently, he is on the technical advisory committee of UNESCO's World Water Assessment Program, the advisory board of IDS Sussex STEPs Center, the scientific program committee of Stockholm International Water Institute for its World Water Week, and a guest senior research scholar with the Risk and Resilience Program (RISK) at The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He has written extensively on sustainability and international development. 

From 2002 to 2003, Gyawali was Nepal's Minister of Water Resources, where he chaired ex-officio, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) governing board, and the Water and Energy Commission. As minister, he completed the privatization of Butwal Power Company, introduced community electricity in Nepal, giving control over local power distribution to the rural consumers.