In 2012, a three-member team consisting of Pitamber Sharma, Bal Gopal Baidya and Dwarika Nath Dhungel was commissioned by the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare to prepare a comprehensive strategic plan document of a Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in Nepal, which would serve as ‘an apex institution devoted to the promotion and support of quality research in the social sciences’. The team was mandated to prepare a situation analysis that would include: i) an overview of the policy, social and political context that identifies all the stakeholders, the state of art of social sciences in Nepal and concrete lessons or practices that needs to be mainstreamed; ii) a strategic plan consisting of an overview of the vision, mission, values, goals and objectives of the proposed SSRC; and iii) an institutional development plan. The report was completed in December 2012.