Lucky Karki Chhetri

Project Manager (Ganesha Project)

Lucky Karki Chhetri is Founder and Director of 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking and Founder/Executive Director of Empowering Women of Nepal (EWN).

For Project GANESHA she serves as Project Manager, bringing three decades of experience in tourism, women’s leadership and community development.

Founded in 1998 by sisters Lucky, Dicky and Nicky, 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking pioneered the use of trained female trekking guides in Nepal and has since become a recognised leader in responsible, women-led tourism.

Through its close partnership with EWN, the organisation provides free training and work opportunities for young women from rural areas, helping them build professional guiding careers and long-term independence.

Lucky and her organisations have received multiple national and international awards for responsible tourism and social entrepreneurship, including recognition from the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, National Geographic/Ashoka and Travel & Leisure’s Global Vision Awards.

In partnering with Global Solutions on Project GANESHA, Lucky is focused on combining this community-rooted model with new solar and technology-based solutions, by ensuring that clean mobility and energy systems create real, long-term benefits for local people, especially women, through skills, employment and sustained community impact.

Trekking, travelling and working in the tourism sector have been Lucky’s passion for more than three decades. She particularly enjoys exploring less developed countries and continuing to champion women’s empowerment within tourism development.

Visit the 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking website

Read our partner spotlight on 3 Sisters & EWN

Ashmita Baniya

GEDSI Field Officer, Project GANESHA

Ashmita Baniya is a GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion) Field Officer for Project GANESHA and a Programme Officer with Empowering Women of Nepal (EWN).

Her work focuses on making sure our mobility and energy projects are designed and delivered in ways that include women, marginalised groups and local communities.

She has a strong academic background in development, with a Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies and a Master’s in Population, Gender and Development.

Ashmita’s practical experience includes work on child labour elimination programmes with the Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, research roles at the Institute of Research and Development, and safeguarding work as a Safe Home Supervisor at KOPILA Nepal. She has also completed specialist training in event facilitation, interviewer techniques and life skills.

Within EWN, Ashmita leads and supports several key programmes, including serving as GEDSI Field Officer for GANESHA, main facilitator for GOAL (Girls Leadership Training), and GEDSI facilitator for basic female trekking guide training. Much of this work is based in Chepang and Tharu communities, where access to opportunity and services has historically been limited.

Ashmita is excited to partner with Global Solutions because the collaboration directly supports SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy).

She sees the project as a way to combine inclusive training with new clean-energy solutions so that the knowledge and opportunities offered to women and their families translate into long-term social and economic benefits.

In her personal time, Ashmita enjoys research work and travelling, bringing the same curiosity and commitment to learning into her role on Project GANESHA.

Samjhana Baral

GESI Project Assistant, Project GANESHA

Samjhana Baral is GESI (Gender Equality and Social Inclusion) Project Assistant for the Nepal component of Project GANESHA. Working through Empowering Women of Nepal (EWN), the sister organisation of 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking, she helps Global Solutions design and deliver the project in a way that is inclusive of women, marginalised groups and local communities.

Her background at EWN includes four years running office operations and project administration, from proposal and report writing to managing volunteers and maintaining relationships with donors and partners.

Samjhana has coordinated the NOREC Exchange Project and supported the USAID initiative “Women’s Initiative in Ecotourism: Enhancing Climate Change Awareness,” and holds an MBA, providing her with a strong foundation in both programme and financial management.

On Project GANESHA, Samjhana’s role is to translate GEDSI principles into day-to-day practice: supporting community engagement, feeding local insight into project decisions, and making sure new solar and technology solutions are planned with women and vulnerable groups in mind from the start.

She is particularly excited about this partnership because it allows her to move beyond an office-based role and work directly with communities as Global Solutions brings clean-technology platforms into the regions where EWN and 3 Sisters already have trust and reach.

Samjhana is looking forward to the collaboration delivering solutions that are not only technically successful but also genuinely useful and accessible for the people who use them. Practical, sustainable and transformative at community level.

As a working mother of a three-year-old, Samjhana is passionate about cooking, and is committed to being fully present both in her work and with her family, a balance that shapes how she approaches community-centred projects like GANESHA.