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ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025

United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.

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UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT RHIJUTA POKHAREL, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.

Kathmandu University | Dhulikhel, Nepal | Advancing SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 10 & UNAI 3

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" I have always believed that teamwork and networking can lead any great project to completion. From MCN, I aim to connect with like minded people and do the unthinkable. And I believe, coming together as a group from the campus itself is already a step towards the better future that we've been dreaming of. "

Millennium Fellowship Project: PROJECT Aparaajit

Project: APAARAAJIT is a vital epilepsy awareness and anti-stigma project dedicated to transforming the sociocultural perspective for individuals living with epilepsy in the Duwakot area. Our core mission is to replace generations of fear and misunderstanding with factual knowledge and essential supportive skills, starting with the local youth.
​Phase I: The Awareness session at Ganesh School
​Our initiative begins with a strategic focus on students in Grades 8, 9, and 10 at Ganesh School in Duwakot. This high-impact age group is where social attitudes are formed. I structured the sessions to be highly comprehensive, moving well beyond simple definitions of epilepsy to actively busting common myths. We successfully tackled the specific, damaging belief prevalent in the Nepali community that epilepsy was the result of deities, spiritual issues, or curses. This dangerous misbelief often caused people to avoid seeking proper medical care. Crucially, we trained the students in Seizure First Aid, ensuring that they became confident kids who knew the correct steps to take. We empowered them to understand that they held the power to change how their peers were treated.around 50 students from grade 8 ,9 and 10 were educated making 150 total students who attended the 2 hour session that we conducted Phase II: Community Mobilization
​​As we had correctly identified, the worst impact of these cultural beliefs was isolation. When people believed epilepsy to be a spiritual issue, they often isolated and shunned the affected individual, rather than providing the support they desperately needed. Our awareness sessions directly confronted this tragic isolation by emphasizing that epilepsy is a treatable neurological condition, not a social taboo. We successfully fostered a community environment where the reflex action became compassion and medical support , ensuring that people with epilepsy were integrated, respected. Around 46 families were educated with door to door approach where we divided ourselves into group of 2 each And went door to door for the awareness session .

About the Millennium Fellow

Rhijuta Pokharel is an student intern doctor at Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital. Born in the rural village of Gorkha, Nepal, she has set her goal to work for the pediatric health. She has been involved in social services since her high school days. She has already been leading various organizations in her campus to work for the cause. She plans to work on Child Epilepsy with Millennium Fellowship Network.

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