This program was led by Dr. Buna Bhandari one of the co-founders of Apara Innovations and a steward of AuthorAID. The mentorship program invited and matched 5 early career woman researchers with mentors of similar interest and skills. As a part of the program, a women researcher hub (Apara-AuthorAID hub) was established. An inception workshop was conducted to all mentors and mentees by Dr Buna in support with the Apara team and the representatives of INASP.

The paired mentor and mentees signed a learning agreement and continued to meet in fortnightly basis where they discussed the learning agendas agreed upon. Meanwhile, the managing team at Apara organized a webinar on “grant proposal writing techniques” for the mentees. The program meant to be successful in facilitating the career development of early career women researchers (mentees).

Community support group for non-communicable disease (NCD) management in Kathmandu is a feasibility study focused on the role of community support groups in promoting better health outcomes in patients with diabetes and/or hypertension

This project was led by Dr. Sujata Sapkota, a co-founder of Apara Innovations and funded by National Health Research Council (NHRC), Nepal, provincial grant, and Australia Alumni Award.

This study was conducted in close collaboration with Kageshwori Manahara Municipality of Kathmandu district in Nepal. Four varied groups were formed among people with diabetes and/or hypertension. Each group used to meet every fortnightly for three months. In that meeting, discussions were done on topics related to healthy lifestyles such as dietary management, physical activity, footcare and medication. Accordingly, group members were encouraged to share their experiences that focused on the self-management techniques applied for the control of diabetes and/or hypertension.

The baseline and endline data collection showed promising results regarding the acceptability of the community support group, fostering information exchange and shared learning that could motivate self-management behavior changes.