After introducing the CC Italy Chapter to you in July, the CC Netherlands Chapter in August, CC Bangladesh Chapter in September, CC Tanzania Chapter in October, and the CC India Chapter in November, the CC Mexico Chapter in December, and CC Argentina Chapter in January, and  CC South Africa Chapter in February, we are now back to Asia to introduce CC Nepal! 

The Creative Commons Global Network (CCGN) consists of 48 CC Country Chapters spread across the globe. They’re the home for a community of advocates, activists, educators, artists, lawyers, and users who share CC’s vision and values. They implement and strengthen open access policies, copyright reform, open education, and open culture in the communities in which they live.

To help showcase their work, we’re excited to continue our blog series and social media initiative: CC Network Fridays. At least one Friday a month, we’re traveling around the world through our blog and on Twitter (using #CCNetworkFridays) to a different CC Chapter, introducing their teams, discussing their work, and celebrating their commitment to open! 

Say hello to CC Nepal!

The CC Nepal Chapter was formed in 2018. Its Chapter Lead is Kshitiz Khanal and its representative to the CC Global Network Council is Roshan Kumar Karn. CC Nepal is involved in advocacy, open education and copyright reform. For this post, we spoke to Roshan who told us a bit more about the Chapter’s work. 

CC: What open movement work is your Chapter actively involved in? What would you like to achieve with your work? 

CC Nepal: CC Nepal is actively involved in the promotion and advocacy of CC licenses, open education and copyright reform. We’re involved in the creation, curation and digitization of textbooks under appropriate CC licenses. We organize workshops and seminars to advocate for CC licenses.

CC: What exciting project has your Chapter engaged in recently?

CC Nepal: We organized Open Access “Back to School” teachers’ training recently. With the emerging need for virtual education and content development, the proper use of content with appropriate licenses has become equally important. CC licenses are of great impact for low and middle-income countries like Nepal as they will reduce knowledge barriers.

CC: What do you find inspiring and rewarding about your work in the open movement?

CC Nepal: The open movement allows researchers, students, and professionals from all fields to access relevant and up-to-date information enabling them in their careers, assisting them in making better decisions, and producing better outcomes—this is what we find rewarding. The pleasure of imparting knowledge without any barriers is eternally satisfying.

CC: What are your plans for the future? 

CC Nepal: 

• Establishing an OER unit in the Ministry of Education to plan, implement and evaluate OER activities.
• Make a robust network to digitize educational resources/textbooks provided by the Nepal government and implement appropriate CC licenses in it.
• Organize workshops, webinars, boot camps, roadshows and other live engagements to raise awareness and facilitate communication.

CC: What projects in your country are using CC licenses that you’d like to highlight? 

CC Nepal: A few resources provided by the Ministry of Education use CC licenses: 

• https://moecdc.gov.np/
• https://moe.gov.np/
• Medical journals of Nepal (for instance): https://www.jnma.com.np/jnma/index.php/jnma
• http://www.olenepal.org/e-pustakalaya/

Thank you to the CC Nepal team, especially Roshan for contributing to the CC Network Fridays feature, and for all of their work in the open community! To see this conversation on Twitter, click here. To become a member of the CCGN, visit our website!

?: Featured image has icons by Guilherme Furtado and Vectors Point via Noun Project (CC BY 3.0).