The 11th Kathmandu Marathon was organized this year, with “Run for SDGs” as its main theme. I was very excited to learn that the International Labour Organization (ILO) was supporting this marathon. At the marathon, the Director for the ILO Country Office in Nepal, Richard Howard and the Deputy Country Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sofia Kemkhadze were present. Richard’s six-year old son was also present to show his support for the cause.

I enjoy running as a hobby and had participated in a few other marathons in the past. I won the second place in the ultra-marathon from Jumla to Rara beating many veteran runners and completing approximately 60 kilometres in 13 hours. This marathon, however, was a different experience for me — it was a marathon for a cause. It was an exciting experience for me to be able to sport a t-shirt with ILO’s logo and run for a cause, which was to contribute to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) by 2030. The ILO is committed to contributing towards achieving the SDGs, and is particularly focused on Goal No 8, which promotes Decent Work and Economic Growth.

At the event, I participated in the half marathon (21K) and my colleague Saurav Joshi who was also there took part in 5K. Both of us completed the run with great enthusiasm. The marathon was a great way to promote love for running, as well as to show support for a good cause and advocate for decent work. The ILO should engage and lead more of such marathons, especially for the youth. Furthermore, I would also like to encourage all of my colleagues in the office to participate during such occasions in the future.

- Sanjeeb Manandhar, IT and Administrative Assistant