Bhim Shrestha is the co-founder and executive director of Shramik Sanjal. He worked in Qatar as a migrant worker and experienced first-hand the poor working conditions that many Nepali migrant workers face. While in Qatar, he, along with some like-minded Nepali migrant workers, formed an informal group. Later, the group grew and transformed formally into Shramik Sanjal, an advocacy group for migrant workers. His work puts migrant workers’ voices at the center of migration and development and serves as a voice advocating for dignity and fairness. The direct outcome of his advocacy is that Shramik Sanjal now advocates for millions of Nepalese migrant workers, most of whom are low-income migrant workers in the Gulf countries and Malaysia.

Bhim learned from his experiences and was inspired to work to improve the well-being of those migrant workers who are deprived of enjoying even the most basic human rights in many countries of destination. Along with his inspiration to be the voice for the voiceless, he strongly practices the values of his life—Honesty, Humility, Humanity, and Hard Work. These values inspire him to engage more in community work, initiate and lead the grassroots movement for creating workers’ agency to combat social injustice and empower those marginalized people to amplify their voices. The goal of his work is to share the voices of migrant workers with the ear of decision-makers and policymakers.

Additionally, he holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS) degree from the Tribhuvan University of Nepal. He is also pursuing a Master’s in International Cooperation and Development (MICD)—a two-year master’s programme run under the partner of the Cooperation and Development Network of Pavia University, Italy (CDN), run by the Mid-West University of Nepal.