NIMJN took its data journalism training to Panchthar district last week. Here is what happened.

When NIMJN’s trainers, Makar Shrestha and Shuphal Kafle, arrived in Phidim last week, they brought datasets, exercises, and examples drawn from NIMJN's own investigations. What they found was a room full of curious journalists who were largely starting data storytelling from scratch.​

From 22 to 24 May 2026, journalists from Panchthar district gathered in Phidim for a data journalism course. Sessions were on finding and collecting data, cleaning it for accuracy, analyzing it for patterns, and presenting it visually.

​Makar and Shuphal walked participants through investigations produced by NIMJN, showing how data was searched, cleaned, and visualized.

"We will continue practicing what we learned and apply it in our daily professional work. We will not let the skills we acquired fade away."

— Iwara Limbu, journalist, Panchthar.

​Another participating journalist, Kamal Ghimire, highlighted the need for advanced journalism training in the future.

Journalist Ram Chandra Tamang emphasized that data analysis and interpretation would also make it easier to identify angles for investigative stories.

​This training was organized by the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Panchthar chapter, with financial support from the Koshi Province Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law.

FNJ Panchthar chairperson Bhim Kumar Banskota thanked NIMJN for providing technical support for the training aimed at enhancing journalists’ capacity.

NIMJN is a non-profit organization founded by journalists to strengthen investigative and data-driven reporting across Nepal. Beyond training, we run fellowships that support journalists through the full arc of story production — from data gathering to publication. Our training portfolio covers data journalism, multimedia, artificial intelligence, climate change, disaster reporting, and human trafficking.