REFT 2020 Report

REFT LOCAL HEROES 2020 CHALLENGE
REFT 2020
REPORT
MARCH 2021 // PREPARED BY GHANSHYAM BHATTARAI & TEAM

REFT 2020 PAGE | 02
WHO WE
ARE?
Thought For Food® (TFF®) is food and agriculture’s
entrepreneurial innovation engine for impact.
Thought For Food® offers a unique next-generation innovation engine that engages 25k+ Millennial and
GenZ talents in 175+ countries on strategic food and agricultural topics and empowers them to develop
viable, cutting-edge, locally-relevant solutions through global collaboration.
In 8 years, TFF has helped launch 60+ startups that collectively raised US $200M+ and accelerated 5K+ new
ventures. Through its community of 500 Ambassadors and 14 Regional Coordinators, TFF is committed to
empowering next-gen innovators from all around the world and looking for breakthrough solutions in food
and agriculture.
TFF Nepal is the fastest growing community in Nepal under the supervision of TFF Global and it works on the
problems and challenges of national and local food systems.

PAGE | 03 REFT 2020
NEPAL
The year 2020 has been a nightmare for most of
us which we have witnessed in our very
comfortable life. This extraordinary circumstance
has changed our perspectives on health, family,
work, resilience, and the community. It has taught
us that the adversity we face and the resilience
we respond with have the power to shape our
lives. Despite all the constraints, this year has also
provided an opportunity to take a break and
prepare for the road ahead. We had an
opportunity to rethink our plans, explored our
creativity, and reconfigured our offering to the
young emerging food technologist, their roles,
power, and the ample impact they could bring to
change the world. To reframe the challenges of
2020 into opportunities that shape the global food
system, the team of highly enthusiastic youth
worked really hard with lots of dedication and
motivation and changed our dream to reality.
The problem of the hunger crisis, food insecurity,
and other food-related issues hit really hard to
vulnerable and marginalized local communities all
across the globe. The pandemic has revealed how
the global food systems can become vulnerable
and lead to an increase in food insecurity,
malnutrition, and poverty, especially among
marginalized groups. There were no sectors left
untouched by COVID-19. Among which the
hunger crisis was the burning issue so far. Amidst
the chaos, TFF Nepal has stepped forward to take
the challenge to solve the global crisis from the
grassroots level through critical thinking, and
youth involvement sharing the common platform.
Those innovative ideas from young minds,
incredible teamwork, generous support from
experts resulted in bringing impacts on thousands
of people with a common motive to solve the
hunger crisis is undoubtedly one of the most
amazing and surreal experiences. Each one of us
is capable of so many phenomenal things which
we have learned through the journey of REFT
2020. The impact we have made in different
communities and the response we’ve received is
unbelievable and praiseworthy.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to
our incredible partners, mentors, well-wishers,
supporters, all those helping hands, mesmerizing
participants, and diligent team, without the
support of which I’d never have come this long.
Looking forward to recognition and excitement to
influence more young leaders from different walks
of life to solve the global hunger crisis through
relevant solutions by accelerating the engagement
of the next generations and shaping up the global
food system.
Ghanshyam Bhattarai
Program Coordinator, REFT 2020
TFF Ambassador, Nepal
Thought For Food Foundatation

REFT 2020 PAGE | 05
WHAT WAS
REFT 2020
ABOUT ?
REFT 2020 (Redefining and Empowering Food
Technologists) was a program organized by
Thought For Food Nepal and a group of highly
enthusiastic youths to address another pressing
crisis i.e. Food Crisis which has been seen in
different parts of the world and within the country
as well. The COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide
lockdown imposed since March 24 presented a
unique challenge to all of us. We aimed to make this
program effective to mitigate this hunger crisis
happening everywhere by mobilizing young food
technologists who can transform the local food
system and resources to the next level with their
creative ideas, educational knowledge, research, and
engagement.
Hereby, the program was designed with a motive to
sensitize young food technologists about their roles
in combating food-related issues during and after
COVID-19. Adding to that, it also mobilized
different stakeholders towards their roles to achieve
SDGs amidst the global crisis after COVID-19.
We aimed to solve
the food problems
created by
The program was conducted to identify and solve
the problems related to food issues of the local
communities by young food technologists. More
than 100 participants along with mentors and
organizers were presented in the webinar to listen
to the ideas. Details of the webinar are given in the
project summary.
COVID-19

PAGE | 06
REFT 2020
WHY REFT 2020
WAS NEEDED?
1
LEARN
Aware young food technologists about their
roles
Develop leadership and empower young food
scientists and technologists
Solve the Hunger Crisis of respective
communities
Reduce the impact raised by COVID-19 in food
science and technology
2
ACT
3
CONNECT
Create an environment for building a strong network of food
technologists from all over the nation.
Understand and communicate various contemporary issues
regarding food insecurity.

REFT 2020 PAGE | 07
6000
PEOPLE
ENGAGEMENT
PROJECT
SUMMARY
2
LIVE
WEBINARS
The program was conducted with the intent to
include the enthusiastic young changemakers of our
society. With this aim, an application was opened
and circulated through social media for all the
enthusiastic food technologists and youths (in a
team of three) to present the food-related issues
(with their possible solutions) found in their
respective localities. Twelve teams with their highly
creative ideas were selected from 40 applications by
the pre-mentoring team.
50
PARTICIPATING
TEAMS
6 MENTORS
7 SPEAKERS
6 GUESTS
3 JUDGES
Eventually, REFT Local Heroes 2020 Challenge was
conducted through a Zoom meeting. In the first two
zoom sessions, we listened to all the ideas, issues,
solutions the team came up with. More than 100
audiences from different fields participated in the
webinar to listen to their ideas. After that, the
invited mentors, subject experts, and organizers
helped to polish their ideas, whereby the teams
were requested to present their refined ideas again.
One winner along with two runner-ups was selected
from 12 presentations during our final closing and
celebration session held in Zoom. They were then
provided with fundings to implement their ideas in
their respective community.
The program was conducted successfully with a
huge number of participation from audiences and
their questionnaires making these youths more
responsible towards their communities' food issues
despite the unprecedented scenario of covid-19.

PAGE | 08
REFT 2020
OUR PROGRAM
STRUCTURE
In this program, we shaped raw ideas into refined ones that could
create meaningful impacts at the ground level.
SEP 15
Official announcement of the program and application
form enrolled
SEP 25
SEP 28
Deadline to apply
Among the applicants, the final 12 teams were selected in the challenge
Orientation for Applicants
OCT
1 & 2
OCT 3
OCT 9
OCT 10
REFT Local Heroes 2020 Challenge
Idea Presentation
Mentorship
Period
12 selected teams were mentored by
assigned mentors during the given
time period to properly shape their
ideas from ground level.
REFT Local Heroes 2020 Challenge Finale
Final Ceremony
OCT 11
NOV
DEC
JAN 15
Implementation
or Execution of
of winning Ideas
3 winner teams implemented their ideas
at their own targeted communities with
the efficient usage of available resources.
(There were certain amount of funds for
all the winner teams. In addition to that,
the teams had also collaborated with
other local stakeholders for required
resources to execute their ideas.)

REFT 2020 PAGE | 09
REFT 2020
FINALISTS
Life is better with
Lemon
By-product Utilization of
Lemon
Only Safe Meat
Slaughtering and Safe
Handling Practices
Hunger Hunter
utilizing barren land for farming
Inaruwa Youth
Group
Establishment of Vegetable
Collection Centre
Hunger Gladiator
Utilizing Surplus Vegetables
or Fruits through Drying or
Fermentation Technique
Zero Waste
Vegetable
Preservation
through Drying
Technique
Balanced Snacks
Testing & Promoting
Cost-effective Nutritional
Fast foods
Sankalpa
Improving Storage
System from Local
Level
DMC fights Hunger
Low-income Diet Plan,
Subsistence Farming &
promoting Local Foods
Dream Team
Food Labeling and Food Safety
First
Runner-up
Black gold
Utilization of Food
Waste into Organic
Fertilizer
Being
Indi-genius
Second
Runner-up
Promoting & Uplifting Indigenous Foods

REFT 2020 PAGE | 10
IMPACTS ON
THE GROUND
Team Hunger Hunter
REFT 2020 Winner
Rima Shrestha
Anjana Nepal
The COVID-19 pandemic boosted the hunger
crisis to an alarming rate and to combat the crisis,
Team Hunger Hunter came up with the idea to
utilize barren land of local areas for the cultivation
of vegetables and to provide knowledge about
food fermentation and its health benefits so that
local people won't get deprived of food and fresh
vegetables during the pandemic and also in the
future. The main beneficiaries of the idea were
housewives and their husbands who had left out
their plots barren.
Their idea helped targeted beneficiaries minimize
vegetable scarcity by utilizing the unused arable
land which ultimately enabled people to be self
resilient with their own produce in the hard time of
the pandemic. It also provided economic support
to improve the financial aspects of many
households, especially housewives from the local
level. Also, the team trained people to minimize
fruit and vegetable waste by fermentation.
Targeted beneficiaries have started prioritizing
food fermentation and using fermented foods as
one of the food items of their diet and ultimately
promoting these underrated fermented foods in
their community and among other people.

PAGE | 11
REFT 2020
IMPACTS ON
THE GROUND
70
HOUSEHOLDS
Their idea was able to mobilize and impact 20+ households
of Diktel Rupakot Majuwagadi Municipality-2, Khotang,
Province- 1, Nepal to grow fruits and vegetables utilizing
barren land. On the other hand, the team conducted a
training program to 50+ households in Chautara
Sagachokgadi Municipality-14, Sindhupalchowk, Bagmati
Province, Nepal in collaboration with the local government
and campaigned a social media movement,
‘Ferment2Prevent’ to promote and produce fermented
foods e.g., pickles, Gundruk, etc. that engaged about 3000
people through social media platforms; Facebook and
Instagram.
However, Due to safety issues increased by COVID-19, the
team could not involve many people physically in their
project. That was the most challenging part for the team.
140+
PEOPLE ENGAGEMENT
REMOTELY
3000+
PEOPLE ENGAGEMENT
IN SOCIAL MEDIA

REFT 2020 PAGE | 12
IMPACTS ON
THE GROUND
Team Dream
REFT First Runner-up
Manju Chhetri
Karan Kumar Shrestha
Ranju Parajuli
The Dream team came up with an idea to aware
people about food labeling and safety with a
motive to sensitize them about packaged food
labels, the expiry date of products, food fraud,
adulteration, coronavirus myths on transmission
through food, and mislabeling. The team carried
out an awareness campaign for 6 days at different
localities of Hetauda-4, Kamaldanda, Nepal.
Overall, they were able to give basic knowledge to
the food consumers, retailers, and service
providers through posters, newspapers, surveys,
and social media platforms.
They were able to benefit about 500+ local people
of 150 households, 50+ food services, and
retailers especially local hotels, restaurants,
groceries, and marts of their community.
The consumers found a huge change in their
shopping habits after the awareness campaign
about misleading food labels. They started being
more conscious about food safety, labeling, and
their packaging condition.

PAGE | 13
REFT 2020
IMPACTS ON
THE GROUND
Also, the myths about coronavirus being transmitted
through food were dealt with through the same
awareness campaign. The team was successful to make
many people more conscious about the condition of
packaged food and its misleading labels.
150
HOUSEHOLDS
500
PEOPLE ENGAGEMENT
REMOTELY
50
FOOD SERVICES (RETAILERS,
HOTELS & RESTURANTS)

REFT 2020 PAGE | 14
IMPACTS ON
THE GROUND
Team Being Indi-Genius
REFT Second Runner-up
Swastika Bhandari
Saurav Jha
Ayushi Jha
With a motive to contribute to food security and
eradicate hunger and poverty, the team came up
with the idea to promote and uplift indigenous
foods through social media campaigns. They have
been able to engage 100+ people through 300+
posts and influence more than 2000 people
through Facebook and Instagram.
The team had conducted an awareness program
to 20+ households in Shanti tole Damak-9, Jhapa
Province 1, Nepal in collaboration with the local
government and campaigned a social media
movement, ‘Know your indigenous food’ to
promote and produce indigenous foods like
Chatamari, Maseura, Ghungi, Bhakka, Bara,
Khapsi, Kanchemba, Saatu, Chook, Yomari,
Chakku, etc.
Their idea helped to explore and promote the
variety of indigenous and traditional Nepalese
cuisines. Local people were inspired by the
promotion of their local foods that inspired them
to run local indigenous food businesses.

PAGE | 15
REFT 2020
IMPACTS ON
THE GROUND
Also, the team published booklets including most of the
indigenous foods, their nutrient value, and overall health
benefits. But, due to the pandemic, the team couldn’t
conduct awareness campaigns as per their plan.
Nevertheless, the underrated local foods are explored on
a national and international level. The perception of
people regarding local foods also changed which is the
most important achievement of the campaign.
100+
PEOPLE ENGAGED
IN SOCIAL MEDIA
300+
SOCIAL MEDIA
POSTS
2000+
PEOPLE INFLUENCED
IN SOCIAL MEDIA

The entire journey in the REFT 2020 helped us amplify our
mindset with innovative ideas and thinking-based learning
opportunities. It has changed the way we look at problems
and empathized with the youth's responsibility and
encouraged us to strive for the change needed in our
society. We've realized our major roles as being a student
of food technology to feed the world today and tomorrow.
REFT 2020 has manifested our pitching skills, design
thinking, critical thinking, creativity, and the impact we
could bring even by those small yet innovative ideas.
- Dream Team, REFT 2020 First Runner-up

PAGE | 17
REFT 2020
OUR GUESTS
Padam Baral
FOOD TECHNOLOGIST
Aastha Bhusal
AGRICULTURE EXPERT
Animesh Khadka
FOOD TECHNOLOGIST
Animesh Khadka
AGRICULTURE ENGINEER
Ujwal Koirala
FOOD RESEARCH OFFICER
Ashim Sigdel
FOOD ENTREPREUR

REFT 2020 PAGE | 18
OUR JUDGES
Alok Shrestha, PhD
FOOD EXPERT & ENTREPRENEUR
Sujita Pashachhe
YOUTH ENTREPRENEUR
Santosh Dhakal, PhD
FOOD RESEAECH EXPERT

PAGE | 19
REFT 2020
OUR GUESTS
Matt Glithero
MANAGING DIRECTOR & CFO, THOUGHT FOR FOOD
Jiwan Prava Lama
SENIOR FOOD TECHNOLOGIST, NABIC
Pramod Koirala
SENIOR OFFICER, MOALD
Nawaraj Upadhyaya
PRESIDENT, NEFOSTA
Janardan Ghimire
CEO, NATCM
Manoj Yadav
FOOD ENTREPREUR

REFT 2020 PAGE | 20
OUR KEY
SPEAKERS
Atul Upadhyaya, PhD
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
BALIYO NEPAL NUTRITION
INITIATIVE (BNNI)
Huma Bakkhim, PhD
SR. FOOD RESEARCH OFFICER
DEPARTMENT OF FOOD TECHNOLOGY & QUALITY CONTROL
(DFTQC)
Ishwar Subedi
FOOD RESEARCH OFFICER
DEPARTMENT OF FOOD TECHNOLOGY
& QUALITY CONTROL (DFTQC)
Harihar Guragain
QA MANAGER & SQF PRACTITIONER
LIVE BETTER SPROUTING INNOVATION
CANADA
Prof. Anil Kumar Anal, DVM PhD
HEAD DEPARTMENT OF FOOD
AGRICULTURE & BIORESOURCES
AIT, THAILAND
Sushil Koirala
FOOD RESEARCH OFFICER
AIT, THAILAND
Dibya Raj Ghimire
FORMER GENERAL MANAGER
HOUDHARY GROUP, SIKKIM UNIT

PAGE | 21
REFT 2020
OUR
PARTNERS
42
PARTNERS
were engaged in the program.

REFT 2020 PAGE | 22
OUR
PARTNERS

PAGE | 23
REFFT 2020
OUR FINANCE
OVERVIEW
500 USD
A total of USD 479.68$ funds collected from
different partner organizations, USD 15.06$ was
used for the communications expenses and USD
258.12$ for the fund prize which was used for
the implementation of winning ideas. The
Winner team, First Runner up and Second
Runner-up were awarded USD 129.04$, USD
86.03$, and USD 43.01$ fund prizes
respectively.
400 USD
300 USD
200 USD
The fund allowed us to complete the program
100 USD
and get more people involved. The adequate
financial resource was a milestone for the team
to reach the program’s mission to a ground level.
We have also gained valuable experience which
will help us run the challenge in new ways in the
coming year. We plan to increase the number of
youth involvement and bring out more innovative
solutions to solve the hunger crisis so that we
can reinforce the National Food System of Nepal
and also focus especially on activities that can
bring change from the local level to the global
level and solve the burning issues of Food and
Agriculture.
0 USD
Total Fund Collected
Total Expenses
Fund Prize
Communication
Second Runner-up
33.3%
Winner Fund Prize
33.3%
More than 70 % of the total
funds provided to the winning
teams have been utilized in
implementing their ideas to
solve the hunger problems of
their own communities.
First Runner-up
33.3%

"The pandemic of COVID-19 itself
has been a huge challenge due to
which the ideas were not implemented
as per plan in full phase. But we could
create this common platform and
connect innovative minds for a
common purpose; Food Security."

REFT 2020 PAGE | 25
MEET THE TEAM
PEOPLE BEHIND THE SUCESS
GHANSHYAM
BHATTARAI
TEAM LEADER
BINITA SUBEDI
RESOURCE
HEAD
BIGYAN SUBEDI
COMMUNICATION
& PUBLIC
RELATION HEAD
RUPA THAPA
DOCUMENTATION
HEAD
SAMIT KAFLE
TECHNICAL
HEAD
ANUSHA
SHRESTHA
CONTENT HEAD
NARESH SHRESTHA
DOCUMENTATION
CO-HEAD
BEEBIKA KOIRALA
TALENT
ACUIQUISION HEAD
CHIRAN BELBASE
MONITORING
HEAD
ALINA THAPA
SOCIAL MEDIA
HEAD
Team's
STRENGTHS
We were from diverse educational and
professional backgrounds which was an
authentic strength for the team. We
went beyond our limit, self-explored
ourselves, and created an innovative
space for all the young minds inspire to
be food heroes of their own
community.

"REFT is not just an event. It is a way of bringing
impact! It's a festival."
REFT Local Heroes 2020 Challenge was just an
initiation. We will be carrying this legacy forward
in the future to alleviate food insecurity through
youth engagement and new interventions in food
and agriculture.
............................................................................................