Ashish Bajracharya
B.A., Economics, Ohio Wesleyan University
- Award:Nepal Vidhya Bhushan Gold Medal Class AAwarding Organization:Awarded by the President of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav.Date Awarded:September 8, 2013
- Award:Fred H. Bixby Postdoctoral FellowshipAwarding Organization:Population CouncilDate Awarded:October 15, 2008

Over the last 8 years, my work has focused on research on how to improve access to family planning for the most vulnerable groups in South and Southeast Asia. I have led quasi-experimental evaluations of reproductive health and family planning interventions in Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh, which have informed the scale up of programs. In Nepal and Bangladesh, I have led research on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and demographic transitions, enabling innovative policy and program design and implementation. Currently, I co-lead an initiative to improve access to family planning services to over 50,000 female garment workers in Cambodia, through implementation science research, improved service delivery, policy advocacy, and the engagement of public and private stakeholders.
I became keenly aware of the multiplicative effects of family planning as I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on how women's labor force participation in the developing world was changing their roles as parents and the wellbeing of their families. With the focus of my work on women's empowerment in countries like Cambodia, Nepal, and Bangladesh, I have seen first hand the transformative effect of family planning in promoting healthier families, gender equity and the prosperity of entire nations.
As I grow as a leader in family planning, I am increasingly cognizant of the importance of combining cutting edge research with its effective translation into strategic messages for non-researcher and policymaker audiences. Thus, I actively embrace new technologies and utilize non-traditional means of advocacy including documentary photography and social media to tell stories from the research findings to advocate for family planning investments to a broad range of stakeholders.
As an avid photographer, I would utilize the $1000 grant to produce a documentary photography feature on the challenges faced by women working in the garment sector in Cambodia. It would feature a day in the life of a garment factory worker highlighting the challenges she faces in her household, with child care, work-family balance, her access to critical RH and FP services, and to potentially to tell a story of the power of FP in the lives of these women, providing a visual nuance to my work.
- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sifp.12006/abstract
- http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/4/Supplement_2/S109.abstract?sid=38cefb55-e09...
- http://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(16)30350-0/fulltext
- http://www.npc.gov.np/images/category/Demographic_Dividend_Report_May_2017_final...
- http://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2016RH_AdolescentsBangladesh_SAbrief.pdf