Summer 2009: Graduate Research Assistant (policy paper development, evaluation criteria)

University of Guelph

Ajoy Bista received a master's degree in Economics in 1993 from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and received a second master's degree in Regional Development Planning in 1997 jointly from the Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany and the University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines. He completed a research term in Development Economics at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan in 2004. He did a graduate diploma in International Rural Development Planning at the University of Guelph in 2005 and is currently finishing a PhD in the Rural Studies Program. His research is focused on household inequality, rural poverty, and community sustainability.
Ajoy has worked as a planner, an economist, and an evaluation officer for several years in his native country, Nepal. He has experience working in policy research as well as evaluation in diverse international settings. He was awarded an International Prize for the Promotion of Youth in Agriculture from the German Agricultural Society, Frankfurt in 1998 in recognition of his work with women farmer groups in Nepal.