The Upper West Side of Manhattan, NY, is where intellectuals hang out. One such is Kaski-born Ashok Gurung, who for the last decade or so has been working to change the world. It could do certainly do with some improvement.

Ashok started working in development with agencies like George Soros' Trace Foundation in New York. His focus was on the Himalayan region and Tibet, developing and implementing the Foundation's work in the Tibetan areas of China. Before that, he was associated with the Trickle-Up Programme in New York as a programme adviser.

Ashok later moved to Columbia University and took a Master's degree from the School of International Affairs (and is now a visiting lecturer there). Ashok has also worked in Burma and Belize. In New York, he also worked with UNDP and UNICEF, again involved in development work in Tibet.

Last year, when the Ford Foundation decided to match a grant from Ted Turner and Bill Gates, they created an endowment of $330 million. This commitment features a new Ford Foundation International Fellowships Programme (IFP) that will provide $280 million over the next 10 years to support post-baccalaureate study for fellows from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Russia. IFP is designed as a major graduate fellowships programme and a complementary undergraduate initiative to help prepare a new generation of future leaders for the challenges of the 21st century. It aims to broaden the talent pool of future leaders by making a special effort to recruit exceptional individuals who would otherwise lack the opportunities for advanced study and interacting with a wider range of people. And whom should Ford Foundation choose to help direct this prestigious programme? Ashok Gurung.

At IFP Ashok's job will be a crucial one, but he is modest about it. "It's great to be associated with such an innovative new programme," Ashok told us on a visit to Kathmandu recently.

It's not only the programme he has to think about-he's also a doctoral candidate in applied anthropology at Columbia. From Namarjung in Kaski district to saving the world--that certainly is a long way.